The subject here is the Torah. The first 5 books of the Bible that a lot of people say were only for the Jews, or were "done away with" by Jesus Christ (the hebrew word for Torah is Law). In my studies, I notice a lot of things about the Apostle Paul that seem to disagree with this ideology. I want to hear from those who honestly believe that Paul taught the church not to follow those guidelines. The following is a list of 20 biblical facts about Paul. Please show me how these scriptures are compatible with certain commandments of God being abolished or removed.
1. Paul was a Pharisee. A teacher of God's law. He continued to call himself a Pharisee even after joining the church.
(Acts 23:6) Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, "My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead."
2. Paul loved God's law. It was a delight to him.
(Romans 7:22) For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
3. Paul called God's law holy.
(Romans 7:12) So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
4. Paul knew that breaking God's law is the very definition of sin.
(1 John 3:4) Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
5. Paul said that we don't nullify the law of God by our faith in Jesus Christ.
(Romans 3:31) Do we nullify the law by this faith? By no means! Rather we uphold the law.
6. Paul often read from the scriptures on the sabbath (which is kept by the apostles 84 times in the book of Acts). And the only scriptures at that time was the old testament.
(Acts 17:2) As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures.
7. Paul was accused of forsaking the law of Moses when he first joined the church. (And ironically, he's still being accused today.)
(Act 21:21) They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs.
8. These accusations were shown to be false.
(Acts 21:21) Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law.
9. When Paul was accused of forsaking the law of Moses, he always denied this, and said he does live according to the law.
(Acts 24:14) But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets,
10. Paul said that those who refuse to submit to the law are "carnal minded" and hostile to God.
(Romans 8:7-8) The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
11. Paul continued to travel to Jerusalem to celebrate God's feast days after joining the church.
(Acts 18:21) But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.
12. Paul often quoted from Moses's writings, and cited it as authority.
(1 Corinthians 9:9-10) Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned? Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest.
13. Paul claimed that ALL scripture is good for instruction in righteousness, and given through inspiration of God. He never singled out Moses' writings.
(2 Timothy 3:16) All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
14. Paul mentions that the levitical priests are still offering sacrifices to God even after Christ's death on the cross.
(Hebrews 8:3-4) Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law.
15. The most well known teaching in Paul's letters is the one where he says "you are not under law but under grace". Millions of people repeat this statement over and over again everyday. But when they quote this scripture, they almost always leave out the scripture that immediately follows it. Watch what happens when you add the context....
(Romans 6:14-16) For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
16. Paul told the Colossians not to let anyone judge them because they were observing God's sabbaths and feasts because these appointed times are "a shadow of things to come". Meaning they reveal future events, just like the passover foreshadowed Christ's sacrifice on the cross.
(Colossians 2:16-17) Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
17. Paul never repremanded anyone for obeying God's law. Instead, he repremanded new gentile converts, the Galatians, who were trying to be justified by the law, instead of faith in Jesus Christ.
(Galatians 2:16) Know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
18. The Galatians, who Paul was repremanding for trying to be justified by the law, were going back to serving other gods after they were circumcised. This is why Paul had to explain that the works of the law can't earn your salvation.
(Galatians 4: 8-11) Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10 You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.
19. Paul understood that obedience to God's law is a natural result of salvation. Once you become a true christian, God writes His law on your heart and mind, and causes you to walk in them.
(Hebrews 10:16) "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds."
20. Paul's letters come with a warning label attached to them.
(2 Peter 3:16-17) He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position.
1. Paul was a Pharisee. A teacher of God's law. He continued to call himself a Pharisee even after joining the church.
(Acts 23:6) Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, "My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead."
2. Paul loved God's law. It was a delight to him.
(Romans 7:22) For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
3. Paul called God's law holy.
(Romans 7:12) So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
4. Paul knew that breaking God's law is the very definition of sin.
(1 John 3:4) Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
5. Paul said that we don't nullify the law of God by our faith in Jesus Christ.
(Romans 3:31) Do we nullify the law by this faith? By no means! Rather we uphold the law.
6. Paul often read from the scriptures on the sabbath (which is kept by the apostles 84 times in the book of Acts). And the only scriptures at that time was the old testament.
(Acts 17:2) As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures.
7. Paul was accused of forsaking the law of Moses when he first joined the church. (And ironically, he's still being accused today.)
(Act 21:21) They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs.
8. These accusations were shown to be false.
(Acts 21:21) Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law.
9. When Paul was accused of forsaking the law of Moses, he always denied this, and said he does live according to the law.
(Acts 24:14) But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets,
10. Paul said that those who refuse to submit to the law are "carnal minded" and hostile to God.
(Romans 8:7-8) The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
11. Paul continued to travel to Jerusalem to celebrate God's feast days after joining the church.
(Acts 18:21) But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.
12. Paul often quoted from Moses's writings, and cited it as authority.
(1 Corinthians 9:9-10) Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned? Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest.
13. Paul claimed that ALL scripture is good for instruction in righteousness, and given through inspiration of God. He never singled out Moses' writings.
(2 Timothy 3:16) All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
14. Paul mentions that the levitical priests are still offering sacrifices to God even after Christ's death on the cross.
(Hebrews 8:3-4) Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law.
15. The most well known teaching in Paul's letters is the one where he says "you are not under law but under grace". Millions of people repeat this statement over and over again everyday. But when they quote this scripture, they almost always leave out the scripture that immediately follows it. Watch what happens when you add the context....
(Romans 6:14-16) For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
16. Paul told the Colossians not to let anyone judge them because they were observing God's sabbaths and feasts because these appointed times are "a shadow of things to come". Meaning they reveal future events, just like the passover foreshadowed Christ's sacrifice on the cross.
(Colossians 2:16-17) Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
17. Paul never repremanded anyone for obeying God's law. Instead, he repremanded new gentile converts, the Galatians, who were trying to be justified by the law, instead of faith in Jesus Christ.
(Galatians 2:16) Know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
18. The Galatians, who Paul was repremanding for trying to be justified by the law, were going back to serving other gods after they were circumcised. This is why Paul had to explain that the works of the law can't earn your salvation.
(Galatians 4: 8-11) Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10 You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.
19. Paul understood that obedience to God's law is a natural result of salvation. Once you become a true christian, God writes His law on your heart and mind, and causes you to walk in them.
(Hebrews 10:16) "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds."
20. Paul's letters come with a warning label attached to them.
(2 Peter 3:16-17) He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position.
