Apostle Paul: Advocate or Adversary 05

In this video, the speaker addresses objections brought against the Apostle Paul. One objection is that Jesus warned against a ravaging wolf in sheep's clothing, which some claim refers to Paul, who was from the tribe of Benjamin. However, the speaker argues that Jesus was specifically referring to false prophets, not apostles like Paul. Additionally, the speaker points out that not all Benjamites were bad, citing examples like the judge Ehud and Mordecai from the story of Esther. The speaker concludes that being from the tribe of Benjamin does not automatically make someone a ravaging wolf. They also mention that King Saul, the first king of Israel, was from the tribe of Benjamin and was chosen by Yahweh, further disproving the claim against Paul. Paul of Tarsus actually wrote many things on the issue of marriage, but did he actually teach on marriage contradictory to the rest of scripture? And also, did Jesus or Yeshua warn us about a ravaging wolf implying that he was teaching and warning us against Paul of Tarsus? In this teaching video, we're going to examine those two claims to see if those objections which are brought against Paul of Tarsus are true and compare those to what we find in the rest of scripture. All this coming up in this video. So this is another video, or I'm sorry, another teaching continuing in our series testing Paul as to whether or not he was a true apostle or a false apostle, whether he was a disciple or deceiver. So just to recap, in our first episode, we did a basic dossier on Paul of Tarsus, where he comes on scene, some important events in his life, his background, where he was taught, stuff like that. In episode 2, we went over just a short basic introduction for this series, what it was all about, what it was based on, things like that. In episode 3, we really started testing some of the accusations that are brought against Paul. Was there to be only 12 apostles according to scripture? Was Paul rejected in scripture? So go check out that episode if you'd like to find out more about those subjects. In episode 4, in our second video testing Paul and the objections brought against him, we tested some of the criteria for being an apostle as it comes from scripture. We also looked at Paul's conversion story and whether or not that was evidence for his claim to apostleship. And that was the last video we did in this series. Now in this video, we're going to be doing episode 5 or part 5 in our third video testing the objections that are commonly brought against Paul. If you would like more information about this, you can go to our website and click on the post for this teaching, or go right down below and click on the link in the description. And that should be there whether you are listening on an audio podcast platform or watching through a video podcast platform. And there in that article on our website at GodHonestTruth.com, you'll be able to find the on-demand video, the draw slides that you see here on your screen that you can go through at your own pace. You'll also be able to find the notes that we took for this subject and the transcript if that so happens to be a benefit to you, all right there at one convenient location. So go check it out today at GodHonestTruth.com or by clicking the link down in the description below. So we're going to be examining two different objections brought against the Apostle Paul in this teaching. The first one relates to Paul's lineage from the tribe of Benjamin and also how it relates to Jesus' warning against wolves coming in sheep's clothing. The objection that is brought from Justin Best and his 50 Reasons to Never Quote Paul Again, he states in his video, Messiah warned of a ravenous wolf in sheep's clothing pointing to the Pharisee Paul's claim to be from the tribe of Benjamin, the wolf tribe. I believe that there's no coincidence is right and I believe that there's too many coincidences in this section of scripture. Here with verse 15 which says, Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. So in Philippians 3.5 we see Paul telling us again how much of a Pharisee he is, that he was circumcised on the eighth day, that he was of the people of Israel, and that he was of the tribe of Benjamin. So he's letting us know he's a Pharisee and most importantly of the tribe of Benjamin. Jacob said Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves, tribe of Benjamin, ravenous wolf, Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. It sounds kind of weird when it's copied like that but basically I copied this from the transcript from that video which is why it's like that. But the basic premise, the objection that's brought here is that Messiah is teaching that in the latter times that there would be false teachers that come in that are ravenous wolves but they are dressed in sheep's clothing. From that point, Justin Beth then goes back to where Jacob was telling all his sons right before he died and describing them and he calls Benjamin a wolf. We'll get into that scripture in just a minute. And then he connects that with Benjamin being called or being described as a wolf and the tribe of Benjamin and then Yeshua warning against wolves in sheep's clothing and then relating that to Paul being a Benjamite and therefore the wolf that Yeshua was warning us against. That's the basic objection that's brought against Paul. So let's look at the scripture that goes along with this objection. The first one, it comes from Genesis 49 verse 27. This is Jacob speaking to his 12 sons and he gets to Benjamin or Benjamin and he states, Benjamin is a wolf that tears. In the morning he eats prey and at night he divides the spoil. Then in Matthew chapter 7 verses 15 and 16 Yeshua states, but beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are savage wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? And then in Romans 11.1 Paul is writing and he states, I say then, as Elohim rejected his people, let it not be, for I also am of Israel, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. And then again in Philippians chapter 3 verses 4 through 5, if anyone else thinks to trust in the flesh, I more. Circumcise the eighth day of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, according to Torah, a Pharisee. So these are the points from scripture that those who are opposed to Paul, like Justin Best, are bringing against Paul to try to say that Yeshua was warning us against the ravenous wolf that they claim to be Paul. But is that true? Is all this connected and is this truly scripture interpreting scripture as the objectors to Paul claim it to be? Number one, as a basic reading just from normal reading comprehension, no. Look at Yeshua's words here in Matthew chapter 7 verses 15 through 16. He starts out this passage by saying, beware of the false prophets. Unless I'm wrong, and I've looked, and if I am wrong, please let me know, point out some scripture, stuff like that. But as far as I know, Paul never anywhere claimed to be a prophet. He does claim the title of apostle, but never prophet. Now Yeshua here is speaking about false prophets, not false apostles. Maybe a correlation could be made there, some kind of connection. I think it might be very loose at best. But just basic reading comprehension tells us that Yeshua is speaking about false prophets and not about false apostles. So that would be at the very onset, not a connection to Paul or the Benjamites. Number two, not every Benjamite is a bad person or was a bad person. For instance, we find several Benjamites throughout scripture who are not bad people. Number one, the first one I want to bring up is the judge named Ehud. We get that from Judges chapter 3 verses 12 through 30. And the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. And Yahweh made Eglon, sovereign of Moab, strong against Israel because they had done evil in the eyes of Yahweh. And when the children of Israel cried out to Yahweh, Yahweh raised up a savior for them, Ehud, son of Gerah, a Benjamite, a man impeded in his right hand. And by him the children of Israel sent a present to Eglon, sovereign of Moab. And on that day, Moab was humbled under the hand of Israel and the land had rest for eighty years. So, during the time of Judges, Yahweh raised up a Benjamite from the same tribe as Paul to deliver Israel from the hands of Eglon, the king of Moab. And once this Benjamite delivered them, they had peace for, it says here, eighty years. And as we go on, we find what we all should know by this point, the man named Mordecai from the story of Esther. Esther chapter 2 verse 5. In the citadel of Shushan, there was a certain man, a Yehudi, whose name was Mordecai, son of Yair, son of Shemi, son of Kish, a Benjamite. And also we see in Esther chapter 10 verse 3, for Mordecai, the Yehudi, was second to sovereign Ahasuerus and great among the Yehudim and pleasing to his many brothers, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his seed. So, we see directly from Scripture that Mordecai was a Benjamite, a Benjamite. And he was doing good. He wasn't a ravaging wolf. So again, there's no correlation there like the objectors to Paul want there to be. Just because someone is from the tribe of Benjamin doesn't automatically make them a ravaging wolf. Going on, we also see that the very first king of Israel, King Shaul or King Saul, however you want to put it, was also from the tribe of Benjamin. First Samuel chapter 9 verses 1-16. And there was a man of Benyamin, and he had a son whose name was Shaul, young and handsome. And there was not a more handsome man than he among the children of Israel, taller than any of the people by the shoulders and upwards. And Yahweh had revealed to Shemuel in his ear the day before Shaul came, saying, At this time tomorrow I, speaking of Yahweh, shall send you a man from the land of Benyamin, and you shall anoint him leader over my people Israel, and he shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. Going on in the next chapter, first Samuel chapter 10 verse 1. And Shemuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, Is it not because Yahweh has anointed you leader over his inheritance? So the very first king of Israel was selected and anointed by Yahweh himself. This man was a Benjamite, the very first king of Israel selected by Yahweh was a Benjamite. Now starting out, King Shaul, King Saul was doing good. He had a good run at the beginning. Later on, he eventually ended up disobeying Yahweh and having the throne stripped from him and killed in battle. But he started out with good progress. He was very promising in the beginning. So it doesn't follow that just because Jacob is describing one of his sons specifically as a raging wolf, that every single other person that comes from Benjamin is also going to be that exact same way according to the description that Jacob gave. That just does not follow. This is the kind of thing that we call in argumentation and logic as a non-sequitur. According to Merriam-Webster, a non-sequitur is an inference that does not follow from the premises, specifically a fallacy resulting from a simple conversion of a universal affirmative proposition or from the transposition of a condition and its consequence. Or in the second definition I've got here, a statement such as a response that does not follow logically from or is not clearly related to anything previously said. So we can see that trying to lump every descendant of Benjamin into this description of the specific son of Jacob is just a non-sequitur. It doesn't follow and we can see from scripture hard proof that it's not true that every single descendant of Benjamin is a ravaging wolf. Therefore we cannot connect this statement to the Apostle Paul and call that definitive proof. We have to look at each person individually, not everyone as a group. I mean think about it. How many atrocities have been committed throughout history simply based on ethnic or hereditary lineage? I don't need to bring up the examples. You can probably already think of some right now. But yeah, that's exactly the same kind of thing that's going on here. So moving on and thinking about Paul and marriage, Paul actually had a lot to say about marriage. But in these things that Paul said about marriage, did he end up contradicting other scriptures? Let's look at the objections that are brought forth. In his video, 50 Reasons to Never Quote Paul Again, Justin Best states, Paul's teachings which says it's better not to be married, that's literally contrary to Torah right there in the book of Genesis. It says it is not good for a man to be alone. He's saying it's really not good to get married. You're going to have a lot of trouble getting married. In another place, Paul says that he himself is single and he wishes that everyone would be single like him. So again, that is completely contrary to Torah. In fact, not only is it in Genesis, but it says that when you're in Babylon to get married, to plant gardens and to become established in Babylon, while you're there, that of course goes along with, again, the teachings of the Torah. It's not good for a man to be alone and it is a blessing to have a wife, a great blessing. So why is Paul encouraging people to not get married? And does that contribute to the sexual immorality we see in the Catholic Church and in other churches where they think it's best for people to not get married? I think it is a contributing factor. So again, this just comes from the transcript of that video from Justin Best. But what he's saying here is that Paul, in certain passages, does allude to the fact that it's good or better to not be married and that he's also claiming that there is a command in Scripture back in the Torah that we should be getting married. And these two things are in conflict and therefore Paul, in his teaching on marriage here, is contradicting a command from Torah. Also in his paper called the Paul paper from 2019, Justin Best writes this. Paul, on a few different occasions in his letters, talks about how it's better to be as he is in that he had no wife. This is not only completely contradictive to what we see in the rest of Scripture, i.e. be fruitful and multiply, a woman is a helper and a gift from YAH, and children are a blessing, but it also puts people in a position where they think that it's better to try to abstain from sexuality completely. So there's the objections that are brought against Paul and his teachings on marriage. There's a lot that's put in here. Let's try to take a couple of those points real quick. In the previous one, in this objection, he alludes to the fact that Scripture says that it's a blessing to have a wife. And I'll agree, Scripture does say that, that he who finds a wife finds a good thing. He who finds a virtuous wife finds something that is worth far more than rubies. Things like that. But does it say in Scripture, is there a command that we should be getting married? And does Paul actually contradict that? First, let's take a look at what Paul says in regards to this objection here. 1 Corinthians 7, verses 6-9. And I say this as a concession, not as a command, for I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from Elohim, one in this way and another in that. And I say to the unmarried and to the widows, it is good for them if they remain even as I am, but if they do not have self-control, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn. First thing to point out, again, basic reading comprehension here. The very beginning of this passage, Paul is stating that he is telling the Corinthians this as a concession, not a command. What does he mean? He's basically saying, this is my opinion, not Torah, in a nutshell. Then he goes on to say that he would wish that everyone was like him, unmarried. Now, some people I've heard state that Paul was a widower at this point, that he was previously married and that she had died. I don't know if he was single his whole life or if he was a widower, but it doesn't really matter. He was single and he's stating that he wished that everyone was like him, but that he also understands that some people actually have this fire, as it's described here, that kind of analogy, and that it's better for these kinds of people to go ahead and marry in order to have a method of release than to burn from that fire. So even here, he's conceding the fact that, hey, it's okay to get married, but he would rather see it that everyone was like him. So why does he say that it would be good for everyone to be like him, that he wishes for it to be that way? We look on down the chapter in 1 Corinthians 7, looking at verses 32 and 33, and he states that, I wish you to be without concern, he who is unmarried is concerned about the matters of the master, how to please the master, that he who is married is concerned about the matters of the world, how to please his wife. And I think this goes for both men and women. When you're single, you have less attachments, less things to be concerned about, less things to take up your time. Therefore, you could take that time that you would otherwise be spending with a spouse and spend it in scripture study and service to Yahweh and helping the poor and helping to spread the word, get the gospel out, to making disciples of all nations, as it were. Right? That's what I see Paul as saying here. You can devote more time to the service of Yahweh and to the service of Yeshua's mission for us. But if you're married, obviously you want to fulfill your role as a husband, to fulfill your role as a wife, and part of that role is attending to your spouse in whatever way that is, whether it be marital rights, whether it be housework, car maintenance, landscaping, whatever that might entail as far as your role as a husband or a wife. So there would be less time, naturally, that you could devote to the service of Yahweh and Yeshua. Paul is stating here that he wishes everyone were unmarried so they could devote more time to the service of Yahweh. That's what he's stating. But he's not stating that it's a command that everyone remain unmarried. Now, with that being said, we find many unmarried people in Scripture and not once do we ever see them condemned for being unmarried. For instance, we look at Miriam, the sister of Aaron, back with the whole story of Moses, right? In Scripture, we are never given the evidence that she is married. We go through all the Scripture, everything that mentions Miriam, and never see anything about her being married. Now, Jewish tradition and Jewish legend has it that she was married, and depending on what source that you go to would determine what her husband's name was. There's one tradition I saw where she was one of four wives of Caleb that's mentioned in Scripture, but that doesn't come from Scripture. There is another story from Jewish legend that states she was the wife of someone named Her, H-U-R, but again, that doesn't come from Scripture. That's just coming from things like the Talmud and also from the writings of Josephus. There's a part in there that's stating that Miriam was married, but we don't find that from Scripture. One of the most famous single people in all of Scripture was the prophet Jeremiah. Remember, we looked over this when we did the dossier not too long ago. In Jeremiah 16, verse 2, Yahweh himself tells Jeremiah, do not take a wife, nor have sons or daughters in this place. So this is a specific command, yes, to this one prophet, but it's not contradicting anything else in Scripture. Yahweh is telling Jeremiah to be single. We also see the prophet Nehemiah. Again, this is something that we find no evidence for in Scripture that Nehemiah was married. John the Baptist, we don't see in Scripture that he was married. The most famous single guy in all of Scripture, Yeshua our Messiah. Now if being single was a contradiction of the Scripture, and there was a command to get married, then by Yeshua not getting married, that would make him a sinner because he would be violating one of the commands of the Torah. But Yeshua was single, and he was sinless, so that connection right there should tell us that there is no command for everyone to get married. And yes, I read the Da Vinci Code, but right there in the beginning of the book, Dan Brown even states this is a work of fiction. So no, Yeshua was not married. Then we get to the mention of Anna in the book of Luke. Now she was a widow, but she was single when she comes on the scene here in the book of Luke. But you can also see what she's doing, she's in service of the temple as a widow, as a single person, which kind of correlates with what Paul tells us, that we can devote more time to the service of Yahweh if we're single. Anna, the widow, was doing that in the temple. And then of course we've got Paul. Now I know this is a series testing whether or not Paul was a true disciple or not, but he is mentioned, regardless of what you think, and Paul spent a lot of time going out and about, round and about, spreading the word. He had that time, and he says he wished that everyone was like him, because when you're single you have more time to devote to the ways and the things of Yahweh and Yeshua. So this is just a short list of people who, in scripture, are single. And we'll get into some more scriptures here in a minute. But yeah, take note especially of Yeshua, the sinless and spotless lamb, who never broke any of the commandments. Even Yeshua himself states in Matthew 19 verse 12, For there are eunuchs who were so born from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the reign of the heavens. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it. So here he's speaking about eunuchs, those who are naturally eunuchs, so they were created that way. And then we see that there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs, and this is for the sake, for the good of the kingdom of heaven. Maybe you want to make a case for eunuchs getting married. That makes zero sense to me, but I'm willing to hear you out. But we can assume here, just from common sense, that these eunuchs would not be married. So again, Yeshua is alluding to people being single and not condemning them for their singleness. When we look at the references to marriage back in the Torah, we don't see any general command such as, Thou shalt get married. There's nothing like that. We see the references to marriage back in the Torah is for specific people at specific times in specific situations. And that holds true everywhere we look. In Genesis chapter 2 verse 18, And Yahweh Elohim said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I am going to make a helper for him as his counterpart. Specific reading comprehension here. Is this saying that it's not good for any man to be alone, he should get married? No. It says it is not good for the man, specific man, to be alone. Who is that specific man? Adam. Even in the Hebrew, when you look at it, it says, Ha-adam. Ha, the prefix meaning the, and adam, meaning man or Adam. So it's speaking about a specific man in a specific situation saying that it was not good for him to be alone. This was the very first person that was ever created, he was in the garden, he would need help in multiple ways, so Yahweh created a helper for him. He created woman for the man. That's the way scripture puts it. He would need help multiplying, as it were. He couldn't do it by himself, obviously, so he would need that helpmate. Then we go on to look in Jeremiah chapter 29, verses 4-7, Thus said Yahweh of Hosts, Elohim of Yisrael, to all the exiles whom I exiled from Jerusalem to Babel, build houses and dwell in them, plant gardens and eat their fruit, take wives and bring forth sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, and let them bear sons and daughters, and be increased there and not diminished, and seek the peace of the city where I have exiled you, and pray to Yahweh for it, for in its peace you have peace. So again, this holds up that when it's speaking about marriage, it's speaking to a specific person or specific people, or a specific person for a specific purpose, at a specific time. How many times can I say specific in the same phrase? But here in this passage we can see that it's specifically talking to all the exiles who were exiled from Jerusalem and were exiled to Babel. It's telling them to get married and have children and increase. Why is it telling them to do that? Because even in the exile, Yahweh did not want them to be eradicated or just die out. He says to be increased there and to not be diminished. That is the reason and the purpose for telling them to get married and have children. So once again, we see that there is no general command in all the scriptures such as thou shalt get married. Therefore, when Paul says that it's his opinion that everyone was like him in order to be able to devote more time to the service of Yahweh, i.e. be single, Paul is not contradicting anything in Torah. No command, no general principles, nothing like that. So in summary, number one, Yeshua was not warning us against Paul as a wolf. This is a non-sequitur because to associate the general description of just one of the sons of Jacob, i.e. Benjamin, as a concrete attitude and personality of every one of his descendants is a non-sequitur. It does not follow. Not everyone in a lineage is the exact same way, therefore we cannot just put two verses together and say, hey, because of this loose connection and this loose connection, therefore we have a sure thing. No, Yeshua was not warning us against Paul as a ravaging wolf. Paul in speaking about singleness, again, was stating his opinion, not a command, and he was not contradicting Torah because there is no command in the Torah to marry. And many of the great men and women of Scripture were unmarried, including the most famous bachelor in Scripture, our Messiah, Yeshua. And that's just the God honest truth. So thank you for joining us for this teaching. We hope that you got something out of it, and if you did, make sure to go down below and let us know in the comments, or if we happen to miss anything or misspeak about something, let us know that down there in the comments as well. While you're down there, also make sure to hit that subscribe button and ring the bell, hit that like button, and also hit that share button and share this around with someone that you may know. Once again, just to remind everyone that if you would like the draw slides, the on-demand video, the notes that we took for the subject, you can find that all down there in the description by following the link to our website at GodHonestTruth.com. Thank you for joining us for another production from God Honest Truth Ministries. We hope that we have been of service to you, and if you have any feedback, then please reach out to us by email. And make sure to visit our website at GodHonestTruth.com for more information, resources, and contact.