I recently heard a couple of anti-missionary "podcast hosts" (who spend most of their time "debunking Jesus") discussing the Apostle Paul with some Christian professor. NONE of them had any real clue about Paul, and were making all kinds of ridiculous statements including this one: “Yes, we agree, Paul consistently taught that Gentiles don’t have to bother with Torah!”
REALLY, people? Then why do we see passages such as these throughout Paul's writings?
Acts 28: 23 "From morning till evening the Apostle Paul explained and declared the Kingdom of God and tried to convince people about Yeshua from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets."
Acts 24: 14. But this indeed I (Paul) acknowledge, that in that same doctrine of which they speak, I do serve the Elohim of my fathers, believing all the things written in Torah and in the prophets.
Acts 15: 19 "Therefore, my opinion is that we should not put obstacles in the way of the Goyim who are turning to God. 20 Instead, we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from fornication, from what is strangled and from blood. 21 For from the earliest times, Moshe has had in every city those who proclaim him, with his words being read in the synagogues every Shabbat."
Note verse 19 which says: "Therefore, my opinion is that we should not put obstacles in the way of the Goyim who are turning to God!" Read in context Acts 15 plainly states that the expectation of the non-Jewish converts was that they would learn Moshe (Torah) as they grew in their relationship with Mashiyach and his people. Read in context, Acts 15:20-21 shows there is one Torah for Israel and the Gentile who dwells with her - yet, many try to use it as "proof" that Christians don't have to keep Torah. That is because they don't realize that Acts 15 is referring to man-made laws and not the Torah itself....
Why would God have different rules for His natural and adopted children? Are only “the Jews” expected to be holy? There were 12 tribes (not just “the Jews”) standing at the foot of Mt. Sinai…12 tribes AND the pagan Gentiles who had followed Moshe out of Egypt! YHWH made it clear FOUR TIMES IN A ROW in Numbers 15:13-16, that ALL who accept Him were to do exactly as HIS people do. And His people have always obeyed His Divine Instructions! (For more, please see Should Gentiles be Torah Observant?)
If one is not grounded in Torah/Tanakh, Paul will send one over the cliff. That is pretty much the conclusion my wife and have come to this last year. And from the Greek only manuscripts to English, Paul is twice as difficult to "...study to present yourself before Elohim perfectly, a laborer who is not ashamed, one who correctly announces the Word of Truth'. (II Tim 2:15 AENT) Context, context, context!:-) May Abba YAH open the eyes of our hearts our inward parts to see, as he removed the 'scales' from Paul's eyes.
ReplyDeleteYes, you are absolutely correct! Even Peter warned that Paul’s writings would be hard to understand and that people would ultimately twist Paul's teachings. Take a look:
Delete2 Peter 3: 14. Therefore, my beloved, as you expect these things, strive that you may be found by him in peace, without spot and without blemish. 15. And account the long suffering of Master YHWH to be redemption; as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom conferred on him, wrote to you; 16. as also in all his letters speaking in them of these things in which there is something difficult to be understood; (and) which they who are ignorant and unstable pervert, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17. You therefore, my beloved, as you know (these things) beforehand, guard yourselves or else, by going after the error of the Torahless, you fall from your steadfastness. 18. But be you growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Master and Redeemer Y’shua the Mashiyach and of Elohim the Father: whose is the glory now and always and to the days of eternity. Amen. (AENT)
It’s rather shocking that Peter writes of how Paul’s letters had already been turned into a Torahless fiasco, even in Peter’s day! Certainly it was not the Pharisees who were renouncing Torah Observance, but the humanist, pagan and materialist, “modernists” who operated under “Christian” labels.