{"id":8733,"date":"2025-05-28T11:05:02","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T16:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nazarenespace.com\/blog\/?p=8733"},"modified":"2025-05-28T11:05:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T16:05:04","slug":"paul-defended-the-torah-so-why-is-he-accused-of-rejecting-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nazarenespace.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/28\/paul-defended-the-torah-so-why-is-he-accused-of-rejecting-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Defended the Torah\u2014So Why Is He Accused of Rejecting It?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Paul Defended the Torah\u2014So Why Is He Accused of Rejecting It?
by
James Scott Trimm<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul is greatly misunderstood as having taught that the Torah is not for today. I have met a great many who feel uncomfortable with his writings. Some of these have even, like the Ebionites of ancient times, removed Paul\u2019s from their canon (Eusebius; Eccl. Hist. 3:27:4). This belief that Yeshua may not have abolished the Torah, but that Paul did, has been propagated since ancient times. The \u201cToldot Yeshu\u201d for example, an ancient hostile Rabbinic parody on the Gospels and Acts, accuses Paul of contradicting Yeshua on this very issue (Toldot Yeshu 6:16-41; 7:3-5). At least one modern Dispensationalist, Maurice Johnson, taught that the Messiah did not abolish the Torah, but that Paul did several years after the fact. He writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cApparently God allowed this system of Jewish ordinances to be practiced about thirty years after Christ fulfilled it because in His patience, God only gradually showed the Jews how it was that His program was changing\u2026. Thus it was that after God had slowly led the Christians out of Jewish religion He had Paul finally write these glorious, liberating truths.\u201d<\/em>
(Saved by \u201cDry\u201d Baptism! ; a pamphlet by Maurice Johnson; pp. 9-10)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Kefa warns us in the Scriptures that Paul\u2019s writings are difficult to understand. He warns us saying:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201c\u2026in which are some things hard to understand, which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.\u201d<\/em>
(2 Peter 3:15-16)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Paul knew that his teachings were being twisted, he mentions this in Romans, saying:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cAnd why not say, \u201cLet us do evil that good may come\u201d? \u2014 as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say.\u201d<\/em>
(Romans 3:8)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Paul elaborates on this slanderous twist of his teachings, saying:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cWhat shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!\u2026\u201d<\/em>
(Romans 6:1-2)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cWhat then? Shall we sin because we are not under the Torah but under grace? Certainly not!\u201d<\/em>
(Romans 6:15)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So then, Paul was misunderstood as teaching that because we are under grace, we need not observe the Torah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon his visit to Jerusalem in Acts 21 Paul was confronted with this slanerous twist of his teachings. He was told:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cYou see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who believe, and they are all zealous for the Torah; but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.\u201d<\/em>
(Acts 21:20-21)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In order to prove that this was nothing more than slander, Paul takes the nazarite vow and goes to make offerings (sacrifices) at the Temple (Acts 21:22-26 & Num. 6:13-21) demonstrating that he himself kept the Torah (Acts 21:24). Paul did and said many things to prove that he both kept and taught the Torah. He:<\/p>\n\n\n\n