so I'm thinking about this... if you're of Jewish heritage, then that might be different from gentile christians keeping Torah...
in the days of the apostles, there were areas with lots of Jewish people who believed that Jesus was the Christ... James tells Paul about this when Paul comes to Jerusalem... James doesn't seem interested in trying to get these Jewish believers to stop keeping Torah, rather he gives Paul advice on how to 'fit in'...
very different from Paul's talk with Peter in Galatians, which deals with gentile christians...
Well the instructions on following Torah are the same, but my personal opinion on what they were teaching was not to just jump and splash into Torah. My belief on it is they were teaching
First and foremost, come to salvation through Yeshua. Because you cannot follow Torah without Yeshua in it.
Second go to synagogue (church, however you want to put it) on sabbath (the 7th day sabbath), and they taught Torah their.
Third part 1 (for gentiles coming to salvation) not to just jump into Torah observance or opposite (don't be scared of it), take baby steps. For example start with just sabbath observance, and then when you're comfortable take another step.
Third part 2 (for Jews coming to salvation) Not to judge the gentiles coming into salvation, do not ridicule them, or chastise them for not immediately picking up Torah. Also not to use Torah as a means of salvation. Which I do believe that may have been happenning at the time, because there was some confusion on how to do this walk from both Jewish and Gentile perspective.
There are people who may agree with this theology, there are people who disagree. I honestly believe everyone who comes to Christ should be walking in Torah, and that just because of the basics, that Torah is holy, and we are called to be holy, also again it's what was being taught in the in the synagogues at that time, they were teaching Moses and the prophets.
Now I do also believe some of the leaders were corrected by Paul becuase some of the leaders were teaching salvation is in the Torah, and Paul basically slapping his head at that (which I would too if I heard someone preach that salvation is in Torah). I also believe some of the leaders were pressing really hard on the gentiles to basically get everything together on Torah observance, and were trying to give too much information at once. So I believe Paul was teach alot against this, because the way it was being taught can be lead to confusion and could be misleading.
That's also why there is a lot of confusion when reading Paul, when you see stuff for example it looks like he's against the Torah and then turns around and is for it. If taught improperly the Torah can be legalistic, if taught right it's not legalistic. If it's taught with the knowing that it's a life style of holiness and being obedient to God, it's not legalistic. And I apologize for the redundency, but again if Torah is taught as a means for salvation, that is what legalism is.
I'm not sure if that explains it or not. Again this is my view on it, and I want to be sure and clear that you know I'm not pushing you or anyone else on it.