During the last several weeks we have looked at the Apostle Paul and what he taught and there is no doubt that he taught the Torah and was Torah observant himself. This week we will look at some passages in light of Paul's Torah observant lifestyle to help free them from many preconceived assumptions taught by many today. Once we look at these passages through Paul's Torah observant life, the evidence for otherwise turns out to be faulty. So, lets look at a few of the passages that some use to "prove" that Paul was not Torah observant nor did he teach others to be.
1. "If you are led by the Spirit then you are not under law ." But being led of the Spirit is closely linked to to obedience to God's Law (Ezek 36.26-27). The term "under Law" in Greek simply means that you don't rely on the Law for righteousness.
2. "Do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, new moon or Sabbath" (Col 2.16-17). Those causing the trouble here were those teaching "deceptive philosophies, human tradition, idle notions and human commands in contrast to the Sabbath, feasts and dietary laws given by God, not man (Col 2.20-23).
3. "Man of Lawlessness"- Now, the word "lawless" is the word "anomos" in Greek and it means "without Torah, no Torah or without the Law". If the false messiah is called the "man of lawlessness" how can people think that they are to be without the Law?
4. " If you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ is of no value to you" (Gal 5.2). This relates to ritual circumcision as a Jewish convert, which was a rabbinical command but not from God. Some came to Galatia and told the believers there that they needed to be circumcised to be saved and Paul was telling them that they did not have to. But if they believed their faith was incomplete and they had to "do something else" then Messiah was of no value to them. This ritual circumcision was an issue in the first century. It crops up in Acts 15.1 and also in Galatia but it is not to be confused with Abrahamic circumcision. This is biblical and to be done to a descendant of Abraham. Paul said that this circumcision is of great value (Rom 3.1-2) and Paul personally circumcised Timothy because he was a descendant of Abraham in the flesh and this was according to the commandment.
5. "Christ is the end of the Law" ( Rom 10.4). The word "end" means goal or target in Greek This would make sense in the context of what Paul was teaching in Rom 10 and would agree with the Old Testament. Psalm 40, Luke 24 and John 5 say that the Scriptures point and teach and testify about Yeshua.
Paul himself believed everything that agreed with the Law and the prophets (Acts 24.1) Translators chose to translate "telos" as end which gives the impression that the Torah is no longer a reliable guide. That idea agrees with the religious traditions of the translators but it disagrees with numerous passages in the Torah and Prophets. By choosing "end" the translators have not only made Paul contradict what he said he believed. Also, they have led people think that the Law has been done away with, even though Yeshua said otherwise in Matt 5.17-19. Peter warned that in his day Paul's writings were being misinterpreted (2 Pet 3.16). Since people have been misinterpreting Paul's writings, how can we interpret them correctly. We are to use the same test that He has set forth in the Scriptures. Isaiah 8.20 and Acts 17.10-11 says that we are to test everything by the Scriptures. Paul's teachings will agree with the Old Testament Scriptures. The problem is people have not been taught the truth nor do they pursue it themselves. They want to be told what to believe without knowing the Scriptures themselves. Anybody can quote the Scriptures to you but not everybody can tell you what it means accurately. The New Testament must be seen through the eyes of the writers and who they were and they all were Torah observant Jews and to interpret their writings to be anti-Torah is a gross miscalculation.
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