The Law of the Lord is Good – Understanding Paul

 

Though it may seem to be a huge endeavor to deal with the difficult issue of understanding the words of Paul/Rav Shaul as it deals with issues related to the Torah, but this endeavor is guided by a simple axiom that I was taught by Dr. Mark Nanos, one of the premier scholars of the writings of Paul, including the books The Mystery of Romans and The Irony of Galatians.

First off in understanding Paul you must realize that he was writing primarily to Gentile churches.

With the first understanding clear then when reading Paul’s writings telling believers that they were not bound to Torah commands like circumcision and Jewish rituals then each of these statements per Nanos add “for non-Jews” to each statement.

In so doing it helps to clarify the point that Paul was telling the non-Jews that he was writing to that they were not bound to the Torah.  This is the same opinion that any mainstream Rabbi will give that non-Jews are not required to observe Torah and more to Paul’s stand should not observe Torah.  The special place of Torah as the Jewish people’s rights and privilege can be seen that potential converts to Judaism are to do one act that violates Shabbat so as to keep them from completely observing Shabbat before they were Jewish.

But for Paul himself as a Jew, A life observing Torah was his responsibility and the only way for him to live, even in his final speech Paul declared himself to be “as in relation to the Torah, a Pharisee”. This showing that even at the end of his life he still considered his life of Torah observance to be living to the standards of his Pharisaic training with the sage Gamaliel.

So then if we understand that Paul in addressing his non-Jewish audiences was saying that the non-Jews are not bound to the Torah’s commands (which is the same thing understood in Judaism today) this should help in understanding his philosophy. Paul as a Jew lived a life of Torah faithfulness, even after becoming a follower of Yeshua.  His harsh words in Galatians being pointed at those non-Jews who came to believe in Yeshua and were told that their new faith was inadequate without becoming Jews or becoming “super-believers” by observing Torah.  Both these views are wrong and were rightly condemned by Paul.

Hopefully this will be of help in understanding Paul/Rav Shaul…

The Paradigm Shift

In the twenty-first century, can a movement born out of Christianity
become a kind of Judaism?

Mark Nanos, from his endorsement of Postmissionary Messianic Judaism by Mark Kinzer

In his endorsement of Kinzer’s book, Nanos lays out a question that we who are seeking to build a Messianic Judaism are striving for and that is to build a mature and credible 21st century Judaism out of a movement that was spawned from our evangelical Christian past.

This is what a Messianic Judaism is. It truly is a paradigm shift and a complete change from one religious grounding (Christianity) to a new grounding that being Judaism, Messianic Judaism.

We have seen this transformation beginning with the early Hebrew Christians, coming to embrace their “Hebrewness” in the context of their Christian faith.

This later led to the Messianic Jewish movement that more fully sought to grasp onto a Judaic life and worldview.

We now are seeking to take the next step and see ourselves and our movement as not just a Jewish form of Christianity but a full member of the Jewish world and a Torah responsive Jewish faith community, a Judaism that honors Yeshua as the Messiah.

This is a journey and something that we are seeking to move toward.

May we do the work that needs to be done!

Why towardblog?

This is towardblog.

For those new to “blogs”, a blog is basically an online journal or internet diary.

Blogs are used for many purposes religion, politics, technology, music, art, culture and other uses.

My inspiration to begin writing was twofold:

One I know that I have been gifted to write and this has been confirmed by others so for one I am using my spiritual gifting,

and

secondly after seeing all that is out on the internet putting forward many perspectives on what Messianic Judaism is or should be ranging from Jewish missions groups like Jews for Jesus and others putting forward anti-Torah attitudes, groups like the “Ephraimites” putting forward false teachings and many other perspectives not reflective of a Torah honoring, Yeshua focused Judaism, I decided rather than cursing the darkness, I needed to jump into the fray and put forward my vision on Messianic Judaism.

This vision that I seek to share is reflective of my own study and mentorship of many of the great teachers and thinkers of that have played a role in the development of our movement, including Dr. Mark Kinzer, Dr. Kay Silberling, Dr. Mark Nanos, R. Kendall Soulen and not to be left out my mentor and Rabbi Dr. Stuart Dauermann.

Paul 101 – Understanding Rav Shaul

Though it may seem to be a huge endeavor to deal with the difficult issue of understanding the words of Paul/Rav Shaul as it deals with issues related to the Torah, but this endeavor is guided by a simple axiom that I was taught by Dr. Mark Nanos, one of the premier scholars of the writings of Paul, including the books The Mystery of Romans and The Irony of Galatians.

First off in understanding Paul you must realize that he was writing primarily to Gentile churches.

With the first understanding clear then when reading Paul’s writings telling believers that they were not bound to Torah commands like circumcision and Jewish rituals then each of these statements per Nanos add “for non-Jews” to each statement.

In so doing it helps to clarify the point that Paul was telling the non-Jews that he was writing to that they were not bound to the Torah.

But for Paul himself as a Jew, even in his final speech declared himself to be “as in relation to the Torah, a Pharisee”. This showing that even at the end of his life he still considered his life of Torah observance to be living to the standards of his Pharisaic training with the sage Gamaliel.

So then if we understand that Paul in addressing his non-Jewish audiences was saying that the non-Jews are not bound to the Torah’s commands (which is the same thing understood in Judaism today) this should help in understanding his philosophy. Paul as a Jew lived a life of Torah faithfulness, even after becoming a follower of Yeshua.

Hopefully this will be of help in understanding Paul/Rav Shaul…

To read Nanos’ books (click below):

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