Christians claim that Paul ‘clearly writes that the Law is done away with through Yeshua.’ If fact all of Christianity is based on the ‘clear’ understanding that Paul taught there is a new doctrine and a new covenant.
Yet Peter (who got the same revelations) tells us that Paul’s letters are “hard to understand” and that ignorant and unstable people twist his words to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:15-17). Peter lived at the same time as Paul – they shared the same language, customs, and faith, so we can assume that he knew Paul better than we do, so if Peter said that Paul’s words on the law of God were difficult to understand, then his words on the law of God are indeed difficult to understand.
We have no reason to doubt Peter’s first hand testimony about Paul’s letters in the first century. Peter obviously read those letters and knew the subject matter intimately. Who are we to say anything different 2,000 years of history and culture removed? Paul certainly did not become any easier to understand. So using Paul to say that “we are not under the law of God” is nothing new . . . Peter already warned us some 2,000 years ago about that error, and in fact, he called it the error of lawless people. So let us begin examining some of the reasons Paul is so difficult to understand.
We should want to be very careful in understanding Paul in matters of the law of God. It is very easy to make Paul appear as though he is contradicting himself. Thus, there are at least six problems we all should attempt to avoid in our reading of Paul. Meaning anytime we read Paul, to take Peter’s warning into consideration, we want to make sure that we do the following to avoid the six common problems in understanding him.
1) We need to examine the back of the Bible in light of the front of the Book. The Bible constantly reuses Biblical terms that are already defined for us if we are willing to seek them out. We need to examine the Bible holistically, and not ignore what was already written in the Word. Remember, there was no “New Testament” in the time of Paul.
2) We need to make sure that we are not verse plucking out of Paul’s letters. Paul’s teachings bring in the wealth of knowledge he acquired over decades of learning – he did not dabble in sound-bites. We also need to remember that a letter is a letter and is intended to be read from front to back. We also need to recognize that the letters are not to us, but to a specific group of people with specific problems.
3) We also need to not place so much trust in man. Just because our favorite teacher, pastor, etc., gives their own opinion on how to understand Paul, that does not mean you should not challenge that perspective and Test Everything. Even in the first century, Peter mentioned that self-proclaimed teachers and experts were making the same mistake of using Paul to teach against the Law of God. We do not want to fall into the same trap, especially since Peter specifically warned us beforehand.
4) We also need to realize, that just like there are popular debates today, there were popular debates that were occurring in the first century. There were Jewish sects and denominations each with their own corrupted views of the Scriptures. Many times, Paul is teaching against a particular Jewish sect, and their doctrine, not the Law of God. This is revealed using historical evidence, and even Paul’s own letters.
5) All of us have a past, preconceived ideas and glasses that we use to read the Scriptures. We need to be aware of those glasses, and be willing to take them off to see the Scriptures with our own eyes, to understand what the Bible really says. Sometimes this involves goings slow and taking a deep breath. Sometimes the best approach is to assume nothing, and Test Everything.
6) Lastly, we need to understand that Paul uses the word “law” in many different contexts and ways, at least six different ways:
(1) the Law of Sin (Romans 7:23-25)
(2) the Law of Sin and Death (Romans 8:12)
(3) the Law of Faith (Romans 3:27)
(4) the Law of Righteousness (Romans 9:31)
(5) the Law of God (Romans 3:31; 7:22-25; 8:17)
(6) the Law of Christ (Romans 8:2; 1Corinthians 9:21)
We need to understand which “law” Paul is writing about; use context to define these laws; and understand how they relate, or don’t relate to us in the faith.
119 Ministries has a wonderful, multi-video, in-depth examination of Paul and his writing entitled, “The Pauline Paradox”. Make the time.
