The Rest of the Story

While clearly, many of Paul’s followers[1] remained loyal to him and his divergent teachings,  it would not be until a few decades later that the full impact of Paul’s NuGospel of antinomianism (Lawlessness) against the TRUE Law of God would be felt as it reverberated through out the known world and indeed history itself. In the middle of the next century, Paul’s NuGospel found its greatest ally in the wayward leadership of the up-and-coming, anti-Semitic, proto-orthodox, and ostensibly universal (catholic) “Christian” churches in Rome, Antioch, Carthage and Alexandria.

Take note of where this issue of two differing, two opposing “gospels” gets undeniably damning for Paul. The Apostles continued to keep the holy festivals of AHYH—at least to some degree. We can see that in Acts 2, the Apostles had gathered for Pentecost. Pentecost is actually the Greek name for Shavuot, or the Jewish Feast of Weeks.

However, Paul condemns and even belittles those who have been keeping God’s holy days. In Paul’s letter to the churches in the region of Galatia, he admonishes the churches for keeping God’s Holy Festivals when he says,

“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 principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.”[2]

We can see that Paul had indeed been teaching the churches in Galatia not to observe these Festivals because here Paul admonishes the churches for doing just that!

Specifically, Sabbath-keeping and/or Festival-keeping Christian denominations should have well-recognized and taken steps to correct this issue of Paul’s divergent gospel. These denominations indeed rely on Torah, the Tanakh, the Messiah and His Apostles’ own examples within the Gospels for the understanding that the observance of these Sabbaths is paramount to the Character of God. Yet Paul is unilaterally and specifically tossing the Sabbath out the window as being a “weak and miserable principle”!

Paul’s revisionism of the Scriptures and his tendency to use Torah passages way out of their intended context has not gone unnoticed by authentic Jewish scholars. Take serious note that this is not some personal “interpretation” issue between rival religions, Judaism and Christianity; rather it goes to the heart of who Paul says he is and what his words and actions actually reveal about himself. Rabbi Tovia Singer[3] offers this review of Paul’s scripture quotes:

A classic example of [Paul’s] biblical revisionism can be found in Romans 10:8 where Paul announces to his readers that he is quoting directly from scripture as he records the words of Deuteronomy 30:14.  Yet as he approaches the last portion of this verse, he carefully stops short of the Torah’s vital conclusion and expunges the remaining segment of this crucial verse.  In Romans 10:8 Paul writes, But what does it say?  “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach).

Predictably, the last words of Deuteronomy 30:14, “that you may do it,” were meticulously deleted by Paul.  Bear in mind that he had good reason for removing this clause—the powerful message contained in these closing words rendered all that Paul was preaching as heresy.

This stunning misquote in Romans stands out as a remarkable illustration of Paul’s ability to shape scriptures in order to create the illusion that his theological message conformed to the principles of the Torah.  By removing the final segment of this verse, Paul succeeded in convincing his largely Gentile readers that his Christian teachings were supported by the principles of the Hebrew Bible. [4]

Deuteronomy 30:14

But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

 

Romans 10:8

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach).

The question that immediately comes to mind is: How can Paul deliberately remove a vital clause from Moses’ message and still expect to gain a following among the Jewish people? While considering this question, we can begin to understand why Paul attained great success among his Gentile audiences and utterly failed among the Jews who were unimpressed with his contrived message.

It is for this reason that although both Paul and Matthew quoted extensively from the Jewish scriptures, they achieved a very different result. Paul was largely a minister to Gentile audiences who were ignorant of the Jewish Bible (the only Bible in existence at the time).  As a result, they did not possess the skills necessary to discern between genuine Judaism and Bible tampering. These illiterate masses were, as a result, vulnerable, and eagerly consumed everything that Paul taught them.  In fact, throughout the New Testament it was exclusively the Jewish apostates to Christianity who challenged Paul’s authority, never the Gentile community.[5]

Singer offers a stunning historical revelation that is consistent with many other scholars of Judaic and Christian history. It is high time we within Christianity took a very good and hard look at the context and background of all of Paul’s referenced Scripture before we begin to call him “infallibly inspired”.

Does Paul Belong in the Bible?

I understand your consternation about hearing these things about a beloved author who has been canonized in the Bible. I have BEEN where you are – I used to LOVE Paul! In fact, I spent most of my life lifting Paul up and making him the final end of my doctrine!

As Christian believers, we have all been completely raised and educated — even indoctrinated — within a culture and perspective where Paul is the central figure for our understandings of the Gospel. It is this education / indoctrination that becomes the basis of our perspective, a Pauline perspective, which indeed shapes our cultural understanding of how we see facts and history and then develop our version of what we believe to be “the truth”.

To the mainstream Christian perspective, one would probably ask, “How can you even be a Christian and not be following Paul?!” But as I’ve been discovering, to the earliest Christians living in and around Jerusalem and the Synagogue founded by Jesus and carried on by James and Peter, the question to us who are living today would indeed be, “How can you even call yourself a Christian and be following Paul’s NuGospel!?”

I have heard the argument ad nauseum—“Well, you are totally looking at Paul from a very Jewish (i.e. “Judaizing”) perspective; of course you are going to ‘see’ him as apostate from the Law!”  In reality, it was Paul himself who attempted to illustrate that he was in fact a  bona fide Jew!

God allows wicked men their evil desires—even if those desires will mean misleading other good intentioned people for centuries. Indeed, this is exactly what happened to the ancient Priesthood of Israel—the priesthood deliberately misled the whole nation into idolatry and sacrifices. The Roman Catholic Church has ironically accused by Protestants of doing the exact same thing—installing idolatry into Christendom!

Perhaps it could be argued that God indeed put Paul into the Bible—not as an apostle to be followed, but rather as a test—a test to see whom we would choose to follow: the sacrificial paganism of Israel and idolatry of Rome, or the simple faith of Jesus the Messiah who indeed taught, “Go and learn what this means, ‘[AHEYEH] desire[s] mercy and not sacrifice.’”[6]