Webinar- DID PAUL WRONGLY DEGRADE MOSAIC LAW- Internal Consistency of the Bible

 

 

Did the Law really bring death to all those under it? Didn’t the Apostle Paul misconstrue the Hebrew Scriptures? Wasn’t he too disparaging of the Law of Moses, seeing it as the inevitable source of condemnation and death, rather than a source of wisdom and blessing (Psalm 19:8)? In Why the Jews Rejected Jesus, David Klinghoffer, a columnist for the Jewish Forward, offers a resounding “yes!”

 

“Paul had misunderstood the verse… from Deuteronomy [27:26]: ‘Cursed be every one who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them.’ The Hebrew word he took to mean ‘abide by’ really means ‘uphold.’ In other words, the Jew was expected to uphold all the Torah’s commandments, affirming that they were God’s will. But there was no expectation of perfect conformity in his actions. The rabbis made this clear.”^[1]

 

God wanted more than affirmation that the Law came from Him:

·       Deuteronomy 28:15  “But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.”

 

KLINGHOFFER CORRECTLY INTERPRETED PAUL:

1. “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Col. 2:13-14).

 

2. “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me” (Romans 7:9-11; also 3:19-20; 2 Cor. 3:6, 9). [God hasn’t wiped out the moral laws, like the Ten Commandments, but the Mosaic Covenant of the Law, which had placed us under a curse for any disobedience.]

 

3. “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them’ [quoting Deuteronomy 27:26]. But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "the just shall live by faith." Yet the law is not of faith, but "the man who does them shall live by them’” (quoting Leviticus 18:5)" (Galatians 3:10-12).

 

 

Rabbis   ·       Partial Conformity to the Law ·       Law Gives Life

Bible   ·       Complete Conformity to the Law ·       Law w/o Mercy Kills

 

 

PAUL’S INTERPRETATION MATCHED THAT OF JESUS AND HIS APOSTLES

 

1. JESUS also taught that one infraction was enough to bring condemnation: "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire.” (Matthew 5:21-22).

 

2. JAMES: “But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:9-10).

 

3. JOHN: “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2).

 

 

CONSISTENT WITH THE TEACHINGS OF THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES:

 

• IT ONLY REQUIRED ONE SIN:
• To kill Adam and Eve! (Gen. 3); Achan and family (Joshua); Korah’s rebellion. Breaking Sabbath
• To prevent Moses from entering the Promised Land (Deut. 34)
• To require an animal sacrifice.

 

Klinghoffer and Rabbis: “But there was no expectation [requirement] of perfect conformity in his actions [to the Law]. The rabbis made this clear.” 

 

• THE SAME TEACHING THROUGHOUT! “But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart…” (Leviticus 26:14-16; also Exodus 20:6; 23:21-22; 24:3; Deuteronomy 5:29; 6:24-25; 8:1; 10:12; 11:8, 26-28, 32; 12:28; Jer. 11:3-5; 7:22-23).

 

• "But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die” (Ezekiel 18:24).

 

CONSISTENT WITH REASON:

• Why 99% conformity is not okay.

 

• What if you could trust God only 364 days out of the year?

 

• What if any infraction didn’t carry penalties? – Speeding Ticket

 

CONSISTENT WITH GOD’S HOLINESS AND SEVERITY:

·       Exodus 33:2–5   “I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’”

 

·       Romans 3:23-26   for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

 

·       OVERLY STRICT? “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.” (Revelation 6:9-11)

 

 

IF THE LAW DIDN’T KILL:

 

1. NO NEED FOR A MESSIAH: Isaiah 53:4-6  “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all”.

 

2. NO NEED FOR A NEW COVENANT: Jeremiah 31:31-32 "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah--not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt,

 

3. NO NEED FOR GOD TO SUPPLY A NEW HEART: Ezekiel 36:25-27 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

 

 

“PROBLEMS”

 

1.     Obedience to the Mosaic Law was also a source of blessing, but faith in the mercy of God seems to have been the necessary ingredient:

·       Psalm 16:1–2 Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”

 

·       Mercy depended on confession/repentance: Psalm 32:1–2 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

 

·       Job 41:11 “Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.”

 

Israel couldn’t earn anything from God. Their obedience were received by the mercy of God through faith. Without a right heart, their offerings would not be received by God:

 

• Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.

 

• Proverbs 21:27 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; how much more when he brings it with evil intent.

 

• Proverbs 28:9 If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.

 

 

2.     Psalm 19:7–8 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes:

 

HOW? Only by the grace of God for those who trust in Him and turn to the Law, through faith/trust/repentance.

 

3.     Rabbis: Cross unnecessary if God was merciful in the OT

·       OT INCOMPLETE WITHOUT NT: “For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture [the Law] has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:21-24).

 

·       MERCY COPNTINGENT ON CHRIST’S RETROACTIVE ATONEMENT: Hebrews 9:13–15 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

 

·       Hebrews 10:19–22 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

 

CONCLUSIONS

 

·       God’s limited mercy to Israel in view of the coming atonement of the Messiah.

·       The Rabbis failed to understand the Law and the mercy of God.

·       The writers of the NT, even though they were uneducated got it right.

·       Scriptural harmony must have been the result of the Holy Spirit.

·       One consistent plan throughout = One Supreme Author

·       The Bible is intelligently designed.