UNDERSTANDING PAUL, PART II:
In Jerusalem 58 CE, Keeping the Law.
Rome 63 CE, the Law of Moses Abolished?
UNDERSTANDING PAUL,
PART II:
In Jerusalem 58 CE, Keeping the Law.
Rome 63 CE, the Law of Moses Abolished?
JAN LILLEBY
The first part I had focused on Paul’s whereabouts – compared to what he taught and lived. He ministered from out of his jail cell in Rome, by having letters brought by couriers to the addressees. Epaphras is mentioned as one of his couriers, Col. 1:4-8, NASB,
“4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints;
5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel
6 which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth;
7 just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf,
8 and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.”
Not only was Epaphras Paul’s co-worker in the faith, but he also brought Paul the latest news on the congregation at Colossae and other towns. This happened when he arrived at Rome visiting Paul; thus he could bring with him back a letter of faith doctrine to be read aloud to the congregations there. The prison-epistles are originally circular letters used by the believers all over Asia Minor (now Turkey).
In this Part II we shall make an astonishing comparison….as anticipated in the headline. At one moment Paul was found keeping/observing the Law of Moses. And at a later moment in time, he did the opposite – declaring that the Law with its ordinances were abolished and taken off the roster. What a contrast!
How could it possibly be that such an action took place?
We shall have a closer look at this remarkable incident in Bible history.
PAUL PARTICIPATING IN THE STONING OF STEPHEN
Was Paul serious about being a keeper of the Law of Moses?
Indeed he was. And we are introduced to Paul already in his early youth, when he was a student under Gamaliel, a renowned Pharisee and a teacher of the Law. The Pharisees held Jesus for a sinner and Law breaker, deserving to be executed. They thought He was a heretic and falsehood, and so He was crucified. And thus His followers, such as Stephen obviously, deserved to be killed for being a heretic, accusing him of opposing the temple etcetera. Using false ‘witnesses’ just like they had done regarding Jesus. And Paul was fired up, wanting to serve God by having Stephen stopped, for good.
Acts 7:58, NASB,
“When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.”
Saul was the Hebrew name of Paul, who was later using the Greek equivalent for saying his name.
Oh yes – Saul/Paul was a fervent intense follower of the Law…and so he was in company of the Pharisees at Jerusalem.
Paul mentioned his former beliefs and his persecution of the Jesus-believers before he was converted. One quote is found in 1 Cor. 15:9, NASB,
“For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”
And in 1 Tim. 1:13, NASB,
“..even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief”
Finally we have Acts, 26:9-11, NASB, Paul in his defense before King Agrippa II,
“9 "So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10 "And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them.
11 "And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities. “
I can tell you straightaway, I sure am glad I didn’t meet Paul in a dark back-alley, him being in this mood!!
What a confession he made in Agrippa’s court hearing. It’s totally brutal. He even went so far as to make them throw blasphemies against Jesus, by using physical force! Verse 11.
Wow!
Making them blaspheme Jesus’ name, and he also cast votes in favor of having several of the believers executed. I shiver by the thought.
Folks: This really was Paul before he was converted in Acts 9 on the road to Damascus. This is real heavy stuff.
THEN WE JUMP TO PAUL AT JERUSALEM 58 CE
AND HIM STILL KEEPING THE LAW
He was a Law keeper in Acts 7 during Stephen’s stoning and on, until Acts 9 and his conversion. And after his conversion to Christ, he remained a keeper of the Law of Moses. This is openly demonstrated in Acts 21:18-20, NASB, as he met the leadership of the Messianic assembly,
“18 And the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.
19 After he had greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
20 And when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law”.
The brethren had Paul go through a seven-day cleansing ritual – the Nazirite - of shaving his hair and sacrificing a dove in the temple with witnesses, so to defeat the false rumor against Paul being a Law-breaker, Acts 21:23-26.
Paul genuinely was a Law-keeper in his faith in Jesus. He went to Jerusalem for the feast of the Weeks, the Pentecost. And so on and so forth. His ministry had been up to this day as an apostle of Christ to Jews, Gentiles and kings (Acts 9:15). He knew nothing of any revelation from God telling him otherwise. (The Grace Gospel as seen in Ephesians and Colossians was still unknown to Paul).
Paul’s stay at Jerusalem 58-59 CE proved him as a faithful observer of the Law of Moses and the ordinances attached to it.
The Nazirite, for your information,
“In the Hebrew Bible, a nazirite or a nazarite (Hebrew: נָזִיר Nāzīr) is an Israelite (i.e. Jewish) man or woman who voluntarily took a vow which is described in Numbers 6:1–21. This vow required the nazirite to: Abstain from wine and strong drink as well as all other grape products, such as vinegar.”
THE LAW OF MOSES ABOLISHED AT THE CROSS -
BUT KEPT SECRET UNTIL PAUL HAD A REVELATION
If you have not yet understood how it is that God do alter the dispensations, the ‘oiconomia’ (Greek for administration or household etc) – the abrupt change in Paul’s beliefs is an excellent example proving this.
In Jerusalem 58-59 CE he made a public use of a well-known cleansing-rite in Jewry confirmed by four witnesses staying with him seven full days, watching Paul as he kept away from wine and things attached to this.
Eph. 2:14-16 and Col. 2:13-17, NASB, on the abolishment of the Law of Moses,
“14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,
15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,
16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.” -------- --------
“13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,
14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-
17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.”
Can it be told any clearer and concisely than this? I think not.
But this abrupt change of Gospel-message came not because of Paul’s bright mind and excellent brains. It was brought forth by Jesus Christ revealing this to him, as he was in jail in Rome 63-67 CE.
Jesus explained to Paul how He had abolished and nailed to the cross (to die) the Law of Moses, and so He created the ‘One new Man’ – the Body of Christ, the Church. The enmity between Jews and Gentile was taken away, and made into one body by faith in Christ.
In other words: The Law of Moses had to be removed once and for all, so that the church could be established.
The reason for this was that Israel first had fallen away from God, and He was no longer their God. Acts 28:25-28 proves this. The entire time of Acts was a time when Christ tested Israel to see if they would repent and take the water baptism. So, at the falling away of Israel, Christ revealed this abolishment of the Law, as a part of the Mystery he revealed to Paul according to Eph. 3:1-9. This happened in around 63 CE as he sat in jail for the second time.
Paul was authorized by Christ to announce the abolishment of the Law in 63 CE, so preaching/teaching the free new Grace Gospel as we find in Ephesians and Colossians.
This abolishment must have been a huge spiritual bomb in the time of Paul’s new ministry as a ‘Prisoner for us Gentiles’ (Eph. 3:1-9).
Gracepano.com
