Are we required to wear fringes
on the borders of our garments?

Under the Old Covenant, the children of Israel were a stiff necked and disobedient carnally minded people. In addition to the sacrifices and rituals, they needed to constantly have physical reminders before them to remember YAHWEH'S covenants and to keep HIS laws and commandments and be holy. Fringes on the borders of their garments and circumcision of the flesh are two good examples of those reminders. Each one was a precursor or forerunner of something that was to come when the Messiah ratified the New Covenant with His own blood.

In order to understand what YAHWEH had in mind with the fringes, we need to first understand what HE had in mind with the circumcision of the flesh, a token of HIS covenant.

Gen. 17 (9) And [YAHWEH] Elohim said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep MY covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. (10) This is MY covenant, which ye shall keep, between ME and you and thy seed after thee; every man child among you shall be circumcised. (11) And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt ME and you. (12) And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. (13) He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and MY covenant shall be in your flesh for an *everlasting [# 5769 'owlam i.e. a long, indefinite, unlimited, undisclosed, hidden or a concealed period of time] covenant. (14) And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken MY covenant.

Paul wrote the following concerning the Circumcision of the flesh. Surely he knew the will of YAHWEH!

Rom. 2 (29) But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of YAHWEH.

Col. 2 (10) And ye are complete in Him [Yahshua], which is the head of all principality and power: (11) In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Messiah:

I Cor. 7 (18) Is any man called being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised. (19) Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of YAHWEH [is]. (20) Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.

From the above scriptures, it is obvious that the circumcision of the flesh was not part of the New Covenant that contained YAHWEH'S laws written in the hearts and minds of the Believers in the Messiah. With the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, YAHWEH'S laws written in their hearts and minds, and with their sins forgiven them, their sins of the flesh were stripped away from their hearts! The stripping away of the flesh under the Old Covenant was the precursor or forerunner to the spiritual circumcision of the heart in the New Covenant!

The reason for the fringes with a border cord of blue was so that the carnally minded children of Israel would remember and do all the commandments of YAHWEH, and to be holy to HIM.

Num. 15 (37) And YAHWEH spake unto Moses, saying, (38) Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribbon of blue: (39) And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of YAHWEH, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring: (40) That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your Elohim. (41) I am YAHWEH your Elohim, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your Elohim: I am YAHWEH your Elohim.

(Now, we should compare spiritual things with spiritual things!)

I Cor. 2 (13) Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual [things].

Comparing spiritual things with spiritual things, the circumcision of the flesh and the fringes on the borders of their garments had the same fulfillment in the Messiah and in the terms of the New Covenant! After one considers the following facts, one will surely come to that conclusion too.

According to the following verses, the true Believers have the mind of Messiah, put on Messiah, have the Spirit of YAHWEH and worship YAHWEH in Spirit and in Truth.

I Cor. 2 (16) For who has known the mind of YAHWEH, that he should instruct HIM? But we have the mind of the Messiah.

Gal. 3 (27) For as many of you as were baptized into Messiah put on Messiah.

Rom. 8 (9) But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of YAHWEH dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of the Messiah, he is none of his. (10) And if the Messiah is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

John 4 (23) But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the FATHER in spirit and in truth: for such does the FATHER seek to be HIS worshippers.

My conclusion: The New Covenant Believers have received the coming of the Messiah, the ratifying of the New Covenant with the blood of the Messiah, the preaching of the Gospel, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the coming of faith, and YAHWEH'S laws written in their hearts and in their minds. Therefore, I do not believe that YAHWEH requires those (Jews and Gentiles) who are imbued with, live in, walk in and worship in His Holy Spirit to have the physical reminders such things as fringes on their garments or circumcision of their flesh to remind them to remember HIS covenant, keep HIS laws and be holy. (The reminder of YAHWEH’S covenant and the will to obey HIS laws and be holy are already present in the New Covenant Spiritual Minded Believer’s Heart!)

* What is "owlam" or "forever"?

When we hear the words everlasting, for ever, and perpetual we automatically think of never ending, but that is not the only meaning of the Hebrew "'owlam" from which they were translated.

Strongs # 5769. 'owlam, olawm'; or 'olam, olawm'; from H5956; prop. concealed, i.e. the vanishing point; gen. time out of mind (past or fut.), i.e. (practically) eternity; freq. adv. (espec. with prep. pref.) always:--always (-s), ancient (time), any more, continuance, eternal, (for, [n-]) ever (-lasting, -more, of old), lasting, long (time), (of) old (time), perpetual, at any time, (beginning of the) world (+ without end). Comp. H5331, H5703.

Strongs # 5956. 'alam, aw-lam'; a prim. root; to veil from sight, i.e. conceal (lit. or fig.):-- X any ways, blind, dissembler, hide (self), secret (thing).

Meanings of everlasting, forever, and perpetual from the American Heritage Dictionary.

ev·er·last·ing (µv"…r-l²s"t¹ng) adj. 1. Lasting forever; eternal. 2.a. Continuing indefinitely or for a long period of time. b. Persisting too long; tedious: everlasting complaints. --ev·er·last·ing n. 1. Everlasting. God. Used with the. 2. Eternal duration; eternity. 3. Any of various plants, such as the straw flower or one of the genus Anaphalis, that retain form and color long after they are dry. --ev"er·last"ing·ly adv. --ev"er·-last"ing·ness n

per·pet·u·al (p…r-pµch"›-…l) adj. 1. Lasting for eternity. 2. Continuing or lasting for an indefinitely long time. 3. Instituted to be in effect or have tenure for an unlimited duration: a treaty of perpetual friendship. 4. Continuing without interruption. See Synonyms at continual. 5. Flowering throughout the growing season. [Middle English perpetuel, from Old French, from Latin perpetu³lis, from perpetuus, continuous : per-, per- + petere, to go toward; see pet- below.] --per·pet"u·al·ly adv.

for·ev·er (fôr-µv"…r, f…r-) adv. 1. For everlasting time; eternally: No one can live forever. 2. At all times; incessantly: was forever complaining about the job. --for·ev·er n. A seemingly very long time: It has taken forever to resolve these problems.

It should be most obvious that many times everlasting, forever, and perpetual should have been translated as a long, indefinite, unlimited, undisclosed, hidden or a concealed period of time. It is certainly YAHWEH'S prerogative to make any of these long, indefinite, unlimited, undisclosed, or concealed period of time to extend without end. For us to naturally assume that they are without end is incorrect.

If one understands that all everlasting covenants, statutes that are "for ever," and statutes that are "perpetual" mean that they are never ending, then one would have to believe that the Levitical priesthood with all their everlasting covenants, statutes that are "for ever," and its statutes that are "perpetual" will never end. Examine these next four sets of scriptures. Surely one can not believe that they will be in effect without end. (Without end would be throughout eternity!)

Lev. 6 (14) And this is the law of the meat offering: the sons of Aaron shall offer it before YAHWEH, before the altar. (15) And he shall take of it his handful, of the flour of the meat offering, and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon the meat offering, and shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour, even the memorial of it, unto YAHWEH. (16) And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it. (17) It shall not be baken with leaven. I have given it unto them for their portion of MY offerings made by fire; it is most holy, as is the sin offering, and as the trespass offering. (18) All the males among the children of Aaron shall eat of it. It shall be a statute for ever [# 5769] in your generations concerning the offerings of YAHWEH made by fire: every one that toucheth them shall be holy.

Lev. 6 (20) This is the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they shall offer unto YAHWEH in the day when he is anointed; the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a meat offering perpetual, half of it in the morning, and half thereof at night. (21) In a pan it shall be made with oil; and when it is baken, thou shalt bring it in: and the baken pieces of the meat offering shalt thou offer for a sweet savour unto YAHWEH. (22) And the priest of his sons that is anointed in his stead shall offer it: it is a statute for ever [# 5769] unto YAHWEH; it shall be wholly burnt.

Lev. 16 (34) And this shall be an everlasting [# 5769] statute unto you, to make an atonement for the Children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as YAHWEH commanded Moses. [Will atonement be made once a year without end throughout all eternity? Why?]

Lev. 24 (1) And YAHWEH spake unto Moses, saying, (2) Command the Children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. (3) Without the veil of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before YAHWEH continually: it shall be a statute for ever [# 5769] in your generations. (4) He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before YAHWEH continually. (5) And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake. (6) And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before YAHWEH. (7) And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto YAHWEH. (8) Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before YAHWEH continually, being taken from the Children of Israel by an everlasting [# 5769] covenant. (9) And it shall be Aaron's and his sons'; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of YAHWEH made by fire by a perpetual [# 5769] statute.

According to the following scriptures, these things have been taken care of once and for all.

Hebrews 9 (I) Then verily the First Covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. … (6) Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of YAHWEH. (7) But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which He offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: (8) The Holy Spirit this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing: (9) Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; (10) Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. (11) But Messiah being come a High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; (12) Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His Own blood He entered in once into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. (13) For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: (14) How much more shall the blood of Messiah, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to YAHWEH, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the Living Elohim?

Hebrews 10 (5) Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering THOU wouldest not, but a body hast THOU prepared Me: (6) In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin THOU hast had no pleasure. (7) Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me,) to do THY will, O [YAHWEH] Elohim. [Psalm 40:6-8] (8) Above when He said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin THOU wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; (9) Then said He, Lo, I come to do THY will, O Elohim. [Psalm 40:6-8] HE taketh away the first, that HE may establish the second. (10) By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of YAHshua Messiah once for all.