Persecutor to Preacher: Apostle Paul 01 2024

The video series explores whether the Apostle Paul is a true or false disciple and apostle. It starts with an overview of Paul's life, the books he wrote, and whether he taught against or for the Torah. The series was prompted by a supporter's question and aims to provide an in-depth study. The introduction of Paul in the scriptures is not favorable, as he was involved in the stoning of Stephen. However, Paul later converted and became an apostle to the Gentiles. He traveled extensively, and according to some accounts, he was martyred by beheading. His body is claimed to be buried in St. Paul's Basilica in Rome. Paul is credited with writing 13 books in the New Testament. The Apostle Paul is a towering and sometimes controversial figure within history. During this series, we're going to explore the concept and ask the question, is Paul a true or false disciple, a true or false apostle? In this video, we're going to give a short overview of who the Apostle Paul was, some events in his life, the books that he wrote, and whether or not he taught against the Torah or for the Torah. All that coming up in this episode on The Apostle Paul. So stay tuned. So this teaching, or drash, is going to be all about the Apostle Paul. And like we said earlier, this teaching is going to be the beginning in about a three-part series teaching about Paul and whether or not he is a true or a false apostle. This issue, I guess you could say, came up last fall, beginning of last fall sometime, by one of our supporters. They were asking about this. I had never actually done an in-depth study, and I don't actually only heard people deny Paul in passing, like maybe once or twice. It was extremely rare. But one of the supporters asked me about this, so I decided to tell him that we would do an in-depth study, learn as much about the subject as we could, truly test whether or not Paul was a true or a false apostle, and then do a video series for him. So this is the beginning of that video series. We hope you enjoy it. We hope you get something out of it. We hope that you're enlightened and educated and know more about this subject so that you can go forth and defend the faith, as it were. Like always, if you would like some more information on this particular drash in teaching, we have this post on GodHonestTruth.com, and we have conveniently provided a link for you down in the description. Just go down there, whether you're on a video platform or whether you're listening through an audio podcasting platform. The link should be right down there in the description box. And on that post on GodHonestTruth.com, you'll be able to find the video, the on-demand video, the drash slides that you see here on your screen, so that you can go through them at your own pace, as well as the notes that we took for this subject and the transcript once that gets processed and uploaded. So like I said, go to GodHonestTruth.com, click on the post for this drash, or click on the link conveniently located for you down in the description box below. The Apostle Paul, this is going to be a basic scriptural dossier like the other dossiers that we have done in the past and will continue to do in the future. We just decided to jump ahead for the sake of this series to the Apostle Paul. And the first time that we find the mention of the Apostle Paul is in the book of Acts chapter 7, verse 57 through 59, and this has to do with the stoning of Stephen. And crying out with a loud voice, they stopped their ears and rushed upon him with one mind and threw him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Shaul. And they were stoning Stephanos as he was calling and saying, Master Yeshua, receive my spirit. So the introduction of the Apostle Paul in the scriptures is not a necessarily good one. It's their partaking in the stoning of a disciple of Yeshua, Stephen. And if you remember the situation, the Jews of that time brought forth false witnesses against Stephen and they were lying and saying that Stephen was teaching against the law of God, against the Torah. Now, of course, they were lying because the believers, the apostles and disciples did not teach against the Torah. They actually promoted it and taught others to follow the Torah. But they brought false witnesses and since it was adjudicated that he was teaching against the Torah, he wasn't, they stoned him for it. And Paul was here at this stoning, partaking with it and giving his consent to this stoning. So it's not that good of an introduction for the Apostle Paul. He actually goes on later in the Brit Hadashah to reference this very situation in Acts 22, verse 20. And when the blood of your witness Stephanos was shed, I was also standing by giving my approval to his death and keeping the garments of those who were killing him. Now by this point in history, Paul had already been converted to the correct way and correct belief, but he was recounting how his former life was and the things he had done back then. We can also find in Scripture that the Apostle Paul goes by two different names. First everyone knows him by the name Paul, but he also goes by the name Saul, Acts 13, verse 9. Then Shaul, who is also Paul, filled with a set-apart spirit, looked intently at him. Now he goes by these two different names, or actually Scripture records him by two different names throughout the Brit Hadashah. It's not that his name was changed like with some other people, like you see with Abram to Abraham. His name was changed by Yahweh himself. Jacob, his name was changed to Israel by Yahweh himself. However, there are also other instances of people going by two names that just had two names and depending on the situation was really the reason why. You look at the story of Joseph, Pharaoh gave him another name when he went into Pharaoh's employ. The story of Purim with Hadashah, her Persian name was Esther. You look at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and Daniel in Babylon, they went by Babylonian names as well as their Hebrew names. However, just like the Apostle Paul, their names were not changed by God. Paul, his Hebrew name was Saul or Shaul. However, his Greek or Roman name was Paul. And that's just the fact of the situation. His name was never actually changed from one to the other. He just went by both depending on the context and where he was at. Now regarding these two names, the word Saul comes from the Greek word Saulos and that is Strong's G4569. For those of you out there like me who are nerds and like this kind of information, here is your Strong's definition, your Thayer's Greek lexicon entry and your Greek English lexicon entry of the New Testament entry. And the word for Paul is the Greek word Saulos and that comes from Strong's G3972. And once again, here is your Strong's definition and your Thayer's Greek lexicon entry for Paulos. Now just some basic information about the Apostle Paul. He was born somewhere around 4 BCE in Tarsus, which would be located in modern day Turkey, what we know of as Turkey today. So that would place him to be about the same age of Yeshua. Not exactly, but somewhere similar. He was of the tribe of Benjamin, so he was a Benjamite, but he was also a descendant of the southern kingdom of Judea, so he was also a Jew in that respect. The first part of his life, he actually spent as a Pharisee, as most people know, and as a Pharisee, he was actually persecuting those in the faith who were following Yeshua. He was trained under the rabbi named Gamaliel and this was some very strenuous training and Gamaliel is actually the grandson of the well-respected Jewish rabbi Hillel. If you know anything about that time, there were actually two main schools of Jewish thought during this time. There was the house of Hillel and the house of Shammai. Well, Gamaliel comes down through the house of Hillel and therefore so does Paul. His training and teaching and way of religious thinking, all that kind of stuff. Interestingly enough, if you look through the Brit Hadashah and when Yeshua is coming against the Pharisees and he's rebuking them, he's correcting them, stuff like that, a lot of what Yeshua teaches, which is the truth and the correct way of looking at things, but Hillel actually gets a lot of these things right and in line with the way that Yeshua teaches them. So they kind of line up with Yeshua a lot more than the house of Shammai. Does that have anything to do with the way the apostle Paul thinks and the way he was trained and his being selected by Yeshua to be an apostle? I don't know, but it's something to think about anyways. Like we said and read earlier, Paul was present at the stoning of Stephen and even references that later on in scripture. His conversion to the correct faith and the correct way of thinking happened somewhere around 33 to 36 CE. Now all of these dates that we're giving you, just know that dates are wont to be disputed. Just the way things go. There was no record saying that I, Paul, was converted on August 6th of 33 BCE or CE. We don't have anything like that, so it's an educated guess and as such, different scholars place different dates on different things, just the way it is. But general consensus is that Paul was converted to the Messianic way of thinking somewhere between 33 and 36 CE. After his conversion, he was the apostle to the Gentiles as is described in the Brit Hadashah or more accurately to say he was one of the apostles to the Gentiles. As such, he traveled extensively throughout Asia Minor and Europe or Southern Europe anyways. Then sometime about 62 to 64 CE, he was martyred and according to the historian Eusebius, he was actually beheaded. Now this is also something that's in dispute as to how exactly he died, but I think most people actually do believe this account that he actually was beheaded. During that time, Roman citizens were exempt from crucifixion. So more than likely, he would not have been crucified like those in Israel who were not Roman citizens because Paul was not only a Hebrew but also a Roman citizen. So he would have been exempt from crucifixion, leading to the speculation that he was probably beheaded as part of his martyrdom. The Vatican of all places claims that Paul's body is actually interred or buried at the St. Paul's Basilica in Rome. Verified? Don't know about that. Can't say it is true, but can't say it's not true. It's just something that's claimed, so make of it what you will. He is credited with 13 of the 27 books of the Brit Hadashah or aka New Testament. We'll go over those in just a moment, including a general summary of each of those books, but from what I was able to find out, nine of those 13 books are undisputed as being written by Paul or authored by Paul anyways. The other four, there is some sort of dispute, but generally it's a consensus that he wrote these 13 of the 27 books. This does not include the book of Hebrews. Now Hebrews, the authorship is up in the air and there's a lot of disagreement about who actually did write it. I think the tradition is that Paul actually wrote it and I tend to lean that way as well, but it's not for certain. The first canon list that we find in history comes from Arrhenius, who lived about 180 CE and it includes 12 of the 13 books of Paul already. The only book that wasn't included in Arrhenius' canon list was the book of Philemon, which is a testament to what even the very, very early believers thought of the writings of Paul. Now, even though Paul and his writings make up a significant portion, like half of the B'rit Hadashah, there is evidence that he wrote much, much more during his lifetime. We just do not have those copies, at least not yet. Something else could come to light like the Dead Sea Scrolls when they were discovered. We may find some cave where a whole bunch more of Paul's writings are preserved, but we just don't have them right now. It's kind of interesting to think that there's so much more of the writings of Paul that were out there at least at one time, which don't have them now. Now for your benefit and for your notes and study, here is the 13 books that are accredited to Paul and the chronological order in which we believe they were written. This is not the order you find in most Bibles nowadays. Usually it begins with Romans, but chronologically speaking, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, and then the two books of Corinthians were written, followed by the book of Galatians, Romans, Laman, Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 Timothy, then Titus, and then 2 Timothy. There are the dates and when they are suspected to have been written, and the location from where they were written from or suspected to be written from. What's interesting to note, or a few interesting things to note, is that Paul was the first one to write any of the books of the Brit Hadashah, even before the Gospels were written. Also, all of his writings happened before the destruction of the temple in 70 CE. Make of that what you will as well, but I just thought that was kind of neat. Now like we said earlier, Paul traveled extensively throughout Asia Minor and Southern Europe, very very Southern Europe, and he took approximately about three major missionary journeys before he was imprisoned and then finally killed in Rome. During his first missionary journey, this is described somewhere around Acts 13, verse 4 through chapter 15, verse 35, this journey started out in Antioch, and as such he traveled to the Roman province of Cyprus at that time, and there he preached in the port city of Salamis, and then went on to Paphos. In Paphos, he confronted the sorcerer Bargesus, as you read in your scriptures, and converted the Roman governor Sergius Paulus to the correct way of thinking in the Messianic faith. After that, he concluded his journey back in Cyprus. During this first missionary journey, or during the time period of this first missionary journey, he did not write any of the books that we know of in Scripture. Then during his second missionary journey, which you can read about from Acts 15, verse 36 to 1822, again he starts from Antioch, and he travels through Galatia on to Macedonia and Achaia. In Philippi, or Macedonia, he encountered some opposition and was imprisoned. Not the only time he's in prison, but this happens in Macedonia. Then in Athens, or Achaia, he delivered his famous sermon on the Areopagus. And during this trip, he's credited with writing the books of Thessalonians, both 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. And then again, he ends the second journey in Corinth. Now, during this time, like we said, he's credited with writing the books of Thessalonians. And 1st Thessalonians, just a general overview, it is five chapters long. And as we go through each of these books, the number of chapters is just for your information. Keep in mind that when Paul wrote these letters to these various congregations, there were no chapter markings or verse markings for that matter. So, they would not have had the letters in the same format that we do today. It would all have been one line, one sentence right after the other. So, these links of books is just for your information and for your benefit. So, 1st Thessalonians is five chapters long. It's a letter of encouragement, and it emphasizes several things. It emphasizes hope and Messiah's return, the need for godly living, the importance of living holy lives and persevering throughout your faith. It emphasizes sexual purity, which is something Paul does in a lot of his letters. And it emphasizes loving each other. Now, once again, these are going to be general overviews of each of these books. There are people who devote entire series of sermons on just one book. So, you can really get in depth on each of these, but we're just going to give you a general overview for the sake of time. If you'd like to learn even more about the Apostle Paul, there are people who really specialize in this kind of thing also. People like M.T. Wright have written large volumes on the Apostle Paul. So, you can go check out people who specialize in this kind of thing as well. And then also during this second missionary journey, he wrote the book of 2nd Thessalonians. This book is three chapters long. Most of these are not that big, so they could really be easy reading as far as time-wise goes. In 2nd Thessalonians, it reassures believers that their hope is in Messiah's return, and it's an encouragement during our current trials and tribulations. It teaches on the end times and that the end has not already come, as some of them already thought. It encourages people, especially those in Thessalonica, not to worry, emphasizes Messiah's return, like we said, and implores them to live responsibly for and in Messiah. Then on his third missionary journey, which you can read about from about Acts 18.23-21.17, he again begins his journey in Antioch. He revisited Galatia and traveled through Asia, back to Macedonia, and finally back to Achaia. In Ephesus, he faced intense opposition from idol-makers, if you remember, the silversmiths who were there making the idols. And during this trip, he is credited with writing the books of Corinthians, the book of Galatians, and the book of Romans. And then he ended his third journey in Jerusalem. Now, these books that he is credited with writing during this trip, 1 Corinthians is 16 chapters long. It provides practical guidance for the assembly, or what some people call the body of Messiah. It addresses real-life issues and emphasizes unity, purity, and devotion to Messiah. It provides a model for how the assembly should address sin in regards to those within the assembly, not those who are outside, those who are in the believers. It calls for purity within the body of Messiah. It emphasizes unity, yet again. And it deals with various things like divisions, quarrels, sexual immorality, yet again. Lawsuits among believers, marriage and singleness. 1 Corinthians is huge on marriage, at least that's the way I see it. It deals with freedom in Messiah, orderliness in worship, the right use of spiritual gifts, and teachings on the resurrection. Then the book of 2 Corinthians is 13 chapters long. It describes personal insight on the life of Paul, something you almost rarely get, but 2 Corinthians really does do that. It urges the believers to give to the work that is going on in Jerusalem. It defends his apostleship, which he does a couple times throughout his writings. And it also defends the message that he is teaching. And it tells of his sufferings for Messiah, as well as his visions and revelations that he obtained from both Yahweh and Yeshua. The book of Galatians is six chapters long. Again, not that massive of a work, but definitely very impactful and very enlightening and insightful. But it talks about the justification by faith in Messiah, versus justification depending on works or salvation by works. It emphasizes, yet again, unity in Messiah. It urges them and also us not to follow after any other gospel that gets preached. And it teaches the proper place of Torah in our lives and our wall. Then the book of Romans, which, I don't know, there's a lot of good books by the Apostle Paul, but I've always liked the book of Romans. The book of Romans, in my opinion, is one of the best works by the Apostle Paul to teach and defend the use of Torah. Get off my soapbox. But the book of Romans is 16 chapters long. It discusses Yahweh's righteousness and his plan for salvation. It emphasizes that the righteous shall live by faith. Describes the sinfulness of mankind, which he does in other books as well. It emphasizes justification by faith. Describes sanctification. For those of you who don't know, sanctification is the process of becoming holy or set apart as we go through our life and our walk in the faith. That's sanctification. And it illustrates how to obtain salvation. Not the sinner's prayer. It's not adherence to any church creed. Again, like we said when we went over our drash of what is salvation, it's confessing with your mouth that Yeshua is Messiah and believing in your heart that Yahweh raised him from the dead. You shall be saved. Scripture is sufficient for guiding you to how to obtain salvation. You don't need any church creed. No faith and message from any particular denomination. It's right there in Scripture. And you can find it here in Romans, among other places. Then, after his third missionary journey, he then journeyed to Rome. You can find that portrayed in Acts chapter 27, verse 1 to chapter 28, verse 16. After being arrested in Jerusalem, remember he ended up his third missionary journey in Jerusalem, Paul appealed to Caesar because he was a Roman citizen and then was sent to Rome for trial. He sailed from Caesarea to Malta and survived a shipwreck. If you remember that encounter or that story, that's where they went up on the shore and he was bitten by the snake and he just shook it off and was fine and everybody was amazed. But after the shipwreck, he eventually arrived in Rome and during this journey, Paul demonstrated leadership, faith, and even, like we said, when facing adversity such as stormy seas, shipwrecks, snakebites, etc. His journey in Rome, or his journey culminated in Rome, obviously, where he continued to preach and write letters even from prison. Now during this time, he is credited with writing the rest of his books and this would include during his first imprisonment, the book of Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians, and Philippians. Then between his first and second imprisonments, he's credited with writing the book of 1 Timothy and the book of Titus. And then during his second imprisonment, he's credited with writing the book of 2 Timothy. In the book of Philemon, this is one chapter long and it's very interesting. It's almost out of the norm from what you see from the rest of it because it's a letter to a person, not a congregation. I know Timothy's like that too, but the content of this letter is all about a slave owner and regarding a former slave and how you should treat him with brotherly love and unity and human dignity and things like that. Like I said, it's only one chapter long, very interesting. Go check it out as soon as you get a chance. But this book of Philemon, the theme is love and forgiveness and it addresses a man named Philemon regarding a former slave named Onesimus and encourages showing human dignity, and especially between brothers in the faith because this former slave Onesimus is a believer and a brother in the faith, just like Philemon and Paul, or Philemon as we say in the Anglicized version. And in the book of Colossians, it is four chapters long. It addresses all teachers and teachings and doctrinal errors. A lot of people believe that Paul is addressing the issue of Gnosticism in the book of Colossians. Would definitely make sense. It encourages growth in Messiah and teaches on ethics for a believer's life. In the book of Ephesians, which a lot of people are familiar with this book, it's only six chapters long. It addresses the beginning of the assembly through the death, burial, and resurrection of Messiah, emphasizes practical living, describes discipline for the believer's life, aims to equip an assembly for the work of Messiah. There's a lot more than that, but like I said, this is a summary. Ephesians is a very good book, just like Corinthians and Romans, etc. Again, it's not that long. Then we get on to the book of Philippians. This is only four chapters long, and it portrays Messiah as a humble servant, not a humble submissive, a humble servant. It encourages believers to find joy in Messiah. It advises believers to embrace humility and encourages perseverance. Then in the book of 1 Timothy, it's only six chapters long. It addresses false teachers and teachings yet again, like he did previously, and encourages sound doctrine and beliefs, instructs on congregational leadership, teaches on discipline, and warns against arrogance and trusting in riches. Instead, we should trust in Messiah and the Torah. And if you remember some of those verses from 1 Timothy, it talks about the qualifications for bishops and elders or elders and deacons, depending on which translation you're reading anyways. But these qualifications include things like being married, having kids that are behaving, behaved children, being sober, being apt to teach, things like that. This is in the book of 1 Timothy. Then in the book of Titus, it's only three chapters long. Again, encourages growth in Messiah. Paul in this book is discipling Titus himself, and he warns about false teachings and addresses the qualifications for leaders yet again. And then finally, in the book of 2 Timothy, this is only four chapters long, and expresses concern for the congregations and also for Timothy himself. It encourages perseverance and proclaiming the word, getting out there and doing the great commission, as it were. Warns against false doctrine and practices yet again. Apparently, Paul had to deal with this in lots of different places. It advises against immorality yet again. So, apparently, sexual immorality and immorality in general was a plague back then, obviously, and tells about persecution and falling away in regards to what is to come in the end times. So, once again, this is just a general overview of each of these books. You can go out and find specific droshes or teachings on each one single book. It can go on for hours or even multiple episodes. But this is just meant to be a general overview for your information, for your notes, and just give you a somewhat more nuanced look into the life of the Apostle Paul. Now, if you come up in the mainstream background like I did in the Baptist tradition and similar denominations, they kind of teach that the law has been done away with. However, they don't nowadays generally point to Messiah, Yeshua, as teaching specifically or the specific teachings of Yeshua. Instead, most of the time when they want to teach against the law or teach that the law has been done away with, they will look and use the Apostle Paul to teach that the law is done away with. But if you have been listening to our droshes in the past, you know this is not the truth. And one of the reasons why Paul is so misunderstood as far as law or no law is because a lot of people don't really understand that Paul uses the word law in different contexts and in different ways. And he actually speaks about more than one law. That's why we're going to go over the laws of Paul. Not just the one law that he refers to, the law of God. No, he refers to about seven different kinds of law. Also, remember what the Apostle Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3, verses 15 and 16. And reckon the patience of our Master at deliverance, as also our beloved brother Shaul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him, as also in all his letters, speaking in them concerning these matters in which some are hard to understand, which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction as they do also the other scriptures. So, this is another reason why a lot of people, especially in mainstream churchianity, think that Paul teaches against the Torah, because it's hard to understand and you've got to take him in context. You can't just pluck out a single verse and try to use that the way you want to use it. We'll give an example of that a little bit later on. But speaking of the different laws of Paul, we'll start with the first one that we're going to present tonight, and that is the law of Elohim, or law of God. We find an instance of this in Romans chapter 7, verses 22 through 25. For I delight in the Torah of Elohim, according to the inward man, but I see another Torah in my members, battling against the Torah of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the Torah of sin, which is in my members. Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death, thanks to Elohim, through Yeshua Messiah our Master? So then, with the mind, I myself truly serve the Torah of Elohim, but with the flesh, the Torah of sin. So, here we've got a couple different things that we can get from this passage. Number one, like we said, he mentions the Torah of Elohim. This is the Torah, the first five books of scripture, that we generally think of when we think of just the general term Torah. But even in this one passage, we get some other uses of Torah and other laws, I guess you could say. You have the Torah, or law of my mind. You have the Torah, or law of sin, which we'll expound upon more in just a moment. But already, you can see at least three different uses of the word Torah from Paul in just this one passage. And even there at the very beginning of this particular passage, he says another Torah. So, he's practically telling you that he's going to be using Torah in more than one sense, and speaking of more than just one Torah. Also, regarding the law of Elohim, Romans chapter 8 verse 7. Because the mind of the flesh is intimacy towards Elohim, for it does not subject itself to the Torah of Elohim, neither indeed is it able. And then moving on to the law of the spirit of life that Paul uses. Romans chapter 8 verse 2. For the Torah of the spirit of the life in Messiah Yeshua has set me free from the Torah of sin and of death. So, here you see two different instances that he's using this term Torah or law. He uses it as the Torah of the spirit of life, and also he uses the term Torah of sin and death. That's going to be very, very important as well. But here, just to illustrate the point, that he uses the Torah or law of the spirit of the life. Yet again, another phrase where Paul uses the word Torah, but not necessarily meaning to the Torah that we know of. Then you have the Torah or law of Messiah. First Corinthians chapter 9 verse 21. To those without Torah, as without Torah, not being without Torah toward Elohim, but under Torah of Messiah, so as to win those who are without Torah. Here you see the Torah or law of Messiah. Then in Galatians chapter 6 verse 2. Bear one another's burdens and so complete the Torah of Messiah. Torah of Messiah. Yet again, another way that Paul uses the word Torah to mean more than just the Torah verse 5 books that we normally think about. Then Paul uses the term law or Torah of righteousness. Romans chapter 9 verses 30 through 31. What shall we say then, that nations not following after righteousness have obtained righteousness, even the righteousness of belief, but Israel following after the Torah of righteousness has not arrived at the Torah of righteousness? Here Paul is using the phrase Torah or law of righteousness. Before we go on to the other uses of the term Torah or law, let me bring to mind real quick about the word Torah itself. A lot of people, especially those of us who were brought up in the mainstream churchianity way of thinking of things, consider Torah to mean law, but that comes with a certain connotation of our modern day law, and that's not entirely correct. The scriptural use of the term Torah is more along the lines of instructions. That's actually a much better interpretation of Torah than law. However, if you look at all these verses we're referencing here, and instead replace the word law or Torah with the word instruction, it tends to come across a lot more clear, at least in my opinion. For instance, instead of saying the Torah of righteousness, of righteousness, instead think of it as the instruction of righteousness. See how much difference that makes? Instead of the law of righteousness, think of it as the instruction of righteousness. Just a thought. Then we go on to Paul's use of the law of belief. Romans chapter 3 verse 27. Where then is the boasting? It is shut out. By what Torah? Of works? No, but by the Torah of belief. So here he's referencing the Torah of works, but then also references the Torah of belief. Then obviously Paul references things like the law of sin. Romans chapter 7 verses 22 through 25. Again. For I delight in the Torah of Elohim according to the inward man, but I see another Torah in my members, battling against the Torah of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the Torah of sin, which is in my members. Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? Thanks to Elohim, through Yeshua Messiah our Master. So then, with the mind I myself truly serve the Torah of Elohim, but with the flesh the Torah of sin. Now, if you remember back in the book of Genesis, that we briefly looked at during our submission drosh, but back in the beginning, Yahweh is talking to Cain, and he's telling him that sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is toward you, but you shall rule over him. However, if sin somehow rules over you, you are under the Torah of sin, the instructions of sin, and doing according to sin. Make sense? The opposite of that would be the Torah of Yahweh. Then we go on to Paul's use of the law of sin and death. Most people have definitely heard of this before. It probably comes to mind already. However, you probably didn't think of it as Paul using it as a different kind of law than the law of God. Romans chapter 8 verse 2. For the Torah of the spirit of the life in Messiah Yeshua has set me free from the Torah of sin and death. So, these are the seven different ways that Paul uses the term law or Torah in his writings. Now, in order to properly understand Paul and what he's teaching when he says that we are no longer under the Torah or that a woman is bound by the Torah, even though he also said that we're not under the Torah. You have to take him in context and understand which use of the word law or Torah that he's referencing. And you get that from the surrounding verses, from who he's writing to, and the subject he's addressing, things like that. Once again, you cannot just take one verse out of context and expect to understand it in the way that you were brought up in whatever church you were a part of. So, an example of this and Paul's use of the word laws or Torah in Romans chapter 6 verses 12 through 18. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body to obey it in its desires. Neither present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to Elohim as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to Elohim. For sin shall not rule over you, for you are not under the law, but under favor. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the Torah, but under favor? Let it not be. Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves servants for obedience, you are servants of the one whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness. But thanks to Elohim that you were servants of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of teaching to which you were entrusted. And having been set free from sin, you became servants of righteousness. So, when he says this part right here that you are not under the law, what does that mean? Does that mean like most Baptist and most Methodist and Catholics and Presbyterians, et cetera, mean it to be that we are not under the first five books of Moses anymore? That law? Or does it mean another kind of law? This is an example of taking Paul in proper context. And if you look at just this surrounding context that I provided for you, he's talking about sin. And even right after that, he refers to sin and death. So, when he says you are not under the law, is he referring to the law of God or some other law, such as the law of sin and death? Right. And during this part where he says you are not under the law, he's actually referring to the law of sin and death, not the law of God. So, this is a great example in my opinion as to the fact that you need to take Paul in his proper context when he refers to the word law. So, now let's talk about Paul and Torah a little bit more, a little bit more in depth. We hit on this earlier, talking about how preachers and denominations and seminaries and schools of thought who consider the law to be done away with generally refer to Paul. Thinking that Paul taught against the Torah, the first five books of Moses. But is that true? We're going to go ahead and tell you, spoiler alert, spoiler alert, no, he did not teach against the Torah. When you first come to study in this and you come from a mainstream background like I did, you start reading Paul and you see that in one area, he's kind of promoting and supporting the Torah. And then in another area, he's teaching against the Torah and you find Paul in conflict. And this leads a lot of people to question even that whether or not Paul was a true apostle, thinking that maybe he's double-minded or schizophrenic or something like that. But when you learn to take Paul into context and learn to not take Paul, just one verse out of context, things start coming to light a lot more and you understand Paul a lot better. As far as Paul and the Torah go, the first five books of Moses or the law of God, Acts chapter 21, verses 18 through 26. And on the following day, Shaul went in with us to Jacob and all the elders came and having greeted them, he was relating one by one what Elohim had done among the nations through his service. And when they heard it, they praised the master. And they said to him, you see brother, how many thousands of Yehudim there are who have believed and all are ardent for the Torah. But they have been informed about you that you teach all the Yehudim who are among the nations to forsake Moshe, say not to circumcise the children nor to walk according to the practices. What then is it? They shall certainly hear that you have come. So do this, what we say to you. We have four men who have taken a vow, take them and be cleansed with them and pay their expenses so that they shave their heads and all shall know that what they have been informed about you is not so, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Torah. But concerning the nations who believe, we have written and decided that they should keep themselves from what is offered to idols and blood and what is strangled and whoring. Then Shaul took the men on the next day and having been cleansed with them, went into the set apart place to announce the completion of the days of separation until the offering should be presented for each one of them. A lot going on in this one particular passage here, but you can see that Paul is coming back to Jacob or what we call James nowadays. And James is telling him that there's been rumors that you do not keep the Torah, but we don't want people to misunderstand you. Instead, we want them to understand that Paul actually does keep the Torah. So in order to prove this, Paul went and took what's called a Nazarite vow along with four other gentlemen. So we can see here one evidence, proof positive, that Paul actually did keep and teach the Torah. Like with Stephen, there were liars, false witnesses, trying to defame and misalign Paul. They were lying, saying that Paul was teaching against the Torah. But Paul was not. And Paul proved it by taking the Nazarite vow. Also remember that this was an accusation against Yeshua as well. He was accused of teaching against Moses, teaching against the Torah. But we already know Yeshua also did not teach against the Torah. In fact, he taught the Torah and he kept the Torah. In fact, he's the only one who ever perfectly kept the Torah. Then in Acts chapter 24, verse 14. And this I confess to you that according to the way which they call a sect, so I worship the Elohim of my fathers, believing all that has been written in the Torah and the prophets. So again, he's alluding to the fact that he keeps the Torah. He taught the Torah. He told others to keep the Torah when they came into the faith. Something interesting here is that if you look in the Greek when it says that according to the way which they call a sect, in certain translations it'll say according to the way which they call a heresy. So back during that time, the first believers were by some groups referred to as heretics. So if nowadays some people falsely accuse you of being a heretic, hey, know that you're in good company because they were falsely accused of being heretics back then as well. Romans chapter 3, verse 31. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yay, we establish the law. And this is the King James rendering. Powerful right there. He is teaching against all the mainstream thought processes nowadays that once we come into the faith that the law is done away with. Paul's saying, no, God forbid that we do that. Instead, we establish the Torah. Galatians chapter 3, verse 21. Is the Torah then against the promises of Elohim? Let it not be. For if a Torah had been given that was able to make alive, truly righteousness would have been by the Torah. Romans chapter 7, verses 1 through 3. Or do you not know brothers? For I speak to those knowing the Torah, that the Torah rules over a man as long as he lives. For the married woman has been bound by the Torah to the living husband. But if the husband dies, she is released from the Torah concerning her husband. So then while her husband lives, she shall be called an adulteress if she becomes another man's. But if her husband dies, she is free from that part of the Torah. So that she is not an adulteress having become another man's. Here, even after the death, burial, resurrection of Yeshua, and the personal conversion by Yeshua of the Apostle Paul. He's still stating that the Torah still rules over a man as long as he lives. And even at that time that a married woman is bound by the Torah still to her husband. Again, enforcing the fact that Paul promoted and taught the Torah. Colossians chapter 2, verses 16 through 17. Let no one therefore judge you in eating, or in drinking, or in respect of a festival, or a new moon, or Sabbath, which are a shadow of what is to come, but the body of the Messiah. So here we got mention of what to eat, what to drink, and also the Moedim, or these days, or festivals. Where do you find these things? In the Torah. He specifically refers right here, notice the language that is used. He says these things, the Torah, are a shadow of what is to come. Not that these things were, past tense, a shadow of what is to come. But that they are present, current, and ongoing shadow of what is to come. Again, Paul promoted Torah. 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16. All Scripture is breathed out by Elohim, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for setting straight, for instruction in righteousness. Now think about this one passage real quick, and try to think deeply. Remember what we learned earlier in this drash, that the writings of Paul were the very first books of the New Testament to be written. And at that time, when he was writing these, there was no New Testament canon. I mean, the other books hadn't been written yet, much less all compiled in a list for believers to go off of, like we have today. So, when Paul says that all Scripture is profitable for teaching, reproof, setting straight, and instruction, what does he mean by all Scripture? What is he considering to be Scripture at this point? The Torah. Especially the Torah, but I'm assuming he would also include the writings and the prophets as well. So again, instead of saying all Scripture, it could have instead said the Torah, or even the Tanakh. Again, going back to the fact that Paul taught and promoted the Torah, Paul taught and promoted the Torah. Because at that time, that was their Scripture. We need to keep that in mind when we're reading the Hadashah, or New Testament. Every time it says Scripture there, they are referring to the Tanakh, to the Torah. They're not referring to the New Testament. That's the section on Paul and the law, Paul and Torah, the different laws that Paul references. So, just keep in mind that when you're reading through the works of Paul, and he speaks about the law, or even the Torah, which use of that term is he using? The law of God, the law of Messiah, the law of sin, the law of sin and death, etc. Make sure you take it all into context in order to be able to properly understand what Paul is getting at, and what Paul is teaching. In summary, Paul was a Benjamite of the tribe of Benjamin, and also of the southern kingdom of Judea. He was about the same age as Yeshua, though probably not exact. If it happens to be that he was exactly the same age, that would be an interesting coincidence. He was trained under Gamliel, who was the grandson of the well-respected Jewish teacher Hillel. Paul began his career as a Pharisee, persecuting those in the faith. He was converted by Yeshua himself. He traveled extensively throughout Asia Minor and Europe, teaching and establishing various congregations around the area. He is credited with 13 of the 27 books of the Brit Hadashah. And once again, that number 13 does not include the book of Hebrews. So, it could be even higher than that. He died of beheading, allegedly, around 62 to 64 of the common era. He is one of the most misunderstood of the apostles, even though Peter tells us, hey, he's hard to understand. He is taught, promoted, and believed, or I'm sorry, he himself taught, promoted, and proved that he held to the Torah. And even to this day, he still remains one of the most influential men of the faith. And that is the God honest truth. We hope that you enjoyed this teaching. And if you got something out of it, let us know what it is that comes to mind from this teaching down in the comments below. Or if you have a comment on any of the production quality or anything related, let us know down in the comments as well. While you're down there, make sure to hit that thumbs up like button. Also hit that subscribe button and ring the bell so that you're notified every time that we go live or upload a new on-demand video. 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