The following comments are from my own research... I did not get any of the ideas here exposed from any other book or source than the Scriptures... I’m not teaching any of this... I’m only bringing into the open some serious considerations that were overlooked in most recent posts that I read on this subject... It must be made very clear in our minds that the NT is no more than a supplement or appendix to the Tanakh, it informs us about the life and times of Yahushua and it adds no new REVELATION to what is already known in the Tanakh, only documentation which is found mainly in the ‘Gospels’. In other words... in the worse case scenario we can do without Shaul’s writings. The debate here shouldn’t be whether to accept or reject Shaul, but... WHAT NEW DOCTRINE CAN WE LEARN FROM SHAUL/PAUL THAT WE CANNOT LEARN ELSEWHERE IN THE SCRIPTURES? Is Shaul the carrier of new and strange doctrines? Do like the Bereans... check them out... if they don't square with the Torah... put a question mark right there and share your finding with someone else... but let us not be so quick to stone anyone because he/she doesn't agree! Shaul said many good things about the Torah, too. Let us be fair -- Shaul said... 'Let Yahweh be true and every man a liar!'. We are not commanded to trust anyone, either.
As soon as Yahweh will start intervening in the affairs of this world through the tribulation, the chosen ones will most likely start receiving direct and precise messages from Him through His malaks/messangers. Only Torah keepers are promised this kind of service. Any reliance on the NT writings to escape the tribulation will be futile. Whatever direct protection that one may enjoy now is until Yahweh’s plan is fulfilled in the life of the chosen ones. So the NT is not a reliable source of information on how to get out of the tribulation... It is a GOOD source, but NOT TOO RELIABLE... You need to visit the Psalms for that, especially Psalm 91.
I’m sure that none of the NT authors ever thought that their writings were going to be placed at the same level with the Tanakh. It was at Trend in 1546 that the Roman Catholic Church came up with the dogma of ‘the inspiration of the NT writings.’ During the first 100 years of their existence the Protestants under Martin Luther rejected practically all the Scriptures except for the letters of Paul, less Hebrews and a few other ones. Read the appendix 'NT CANON' that is attached to this post for an important piece of documentation taken out of the Catholic Encyclopedia... The NT CANON that was in dispute until the 1700’s. It was through the efforts of the Universal (Catholic) Christian Mother Church that the NT canon as we know it today is included in a dogma that most Christians cannot question at all, under the intimidation of severe sanctions.
I notice several oddities in Shaul’s own writings... However, hardly any ‘early curch fatrher’ seems to have minded... All their concern was centered around the truthfulness of the ‘4 Gospels’... In other words, the integrity of the Gospels seemed to have been of much greater concern that whatever variance they must have found in Shaul’s letters...
Shaul/Paul was a Pharisee --- Yahushua warned his disciples about the LEAVEN of the Pharisees... because they were arrogant, they were puffed up, they bragged all the time to be the #1 Torah keepers... Check Shaul’s own writings and you will soon sense that he never stops bragging about everything he has ever done... He is always the number uno/one on either side of HaDerek/The Way. Before knowing Yahushua he says to have been a blameless Torah keeper -- Never mind that he persecuted and put to death the followers of Yahushua -- Then he turns around and says that he is the chief (#1) law breaker (sinner), too... So, how does the ‘pilpul’ principle applies here?
-- Philippians 3:6 * Concerning zeal, PERSECUTING THE ASSEMBLY; TOUCHING THE RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH IS IN THE LAW, BLAMELESS. [How can anyone be blameless under the Torah persecuting the righteous believers in Yahushua? Could have Shaul actually said that?]
--1 Tim. 1:15 * This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Yahushua HaMashiach came into the world to save sinners; of whom I AM CHIEF. [Here Shaul says that he is the #1 Torah breaker... what’s up?]
I don't think that Yahushua ever taught that way... Shaul must have learned that at the feet of Gamaliel, but certainly not from Yahushua or any of his disciples... Shaul highly regarded Gamaliel, but hardly recognized any of Yahushua’s apostles, he didn’t care about Kefa/Peter, either.
-- Gal. 2:1-2, 6 * Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain. 2:6 As for those who seemed to be important--whatever they were makes no difference to me; Yahweh does not judge by external appearance -- those men added nothing to MY MESSAGE.
Please notice how personal is Shaul’s ‘gospel’ and ‘message,’ and how disrespectful he is of the best trained disciples in the world! Shaul is calling them ‘those who seemed to be leaders’ and ‘those who seemed to be important.’ No wonder he didn’t think much of Kefa/Peter at Antioch! According to some Christian Zeus-logians, the 14 year figure is thought to represent the years that Shaul spent with Yahushua somewhere in an Arabian desert’s back alley learning from him... but I wonder if it isn't the same brand of Pharisee leaven that Yahushua warned us about... It is a known Hebrew expression to quadruple any amount to make it look good [2 Samuel 12:6, Luke 19:8]. Shaul/Paul and the Greeks also used the same expression... The disciples spent 3.5 years learning from Yahushua; nonetheless, Shaul claims to have spent a 4-fold time with him, 3.5 years X 4 = 14 years... Actually, NOBODY KNOWS what the 14 years is all about! If they tell you that it was training time with Yahushua... watch out!
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LETTERS OF ST. BASIL THE GREAT
LETTER XXI: To Leontius the Sophist.
...But possibly you have a preference for the famous "four-times-as-much." For even the Pythagoreans were not so fond of their Tetractys, as these modern tax-collectors of their "four-times-as-much." Yet perhaps the fairer thing would have been just the opposite, that a Sophist like you, so very well furnished with words, should be bound in pledge to me for "four-times-as-much."
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Kefa/Peter took the humble Yahushua’s approach... Yahushua knew about it but never attacked Judah publicly for stealing money from the common bag and at the same time worrying about the poor... In the same manner, Kefa also overlooked Shaul’s public condemnation of his actions. Kepha could have written about how badly he was put down by Shaul at Antioch [the birthplace of Christianity] but he didn’t.
Shaul didn’t seem to care that Yahushua put Kefa in charge of feeding the sheep. In any case, Kefa/Peter didn’t complain about it. Here we see the different schools of learning that Kefa and Shaul attended... If both of them would have gone to the same school, not Gamaliel’s but the one ran by the greatest teacher that the world has ever known... The Yahushua HaMashiach’s Tanakh School Shaul/Paul would have warned Kefa PRIVATELY about his conduct. He would have done everything possible not to undermine Kefa’s authority handed down to him by Yahushua himself, in front of everybody.
I’m surprised that Shaul doesn’t remember his own teaching. Yahushua had this kind of teaching about judging among ourselves very high in his agenda, too. NOBODY by virtue of holding a microphone in his hand has the upper-hand on anyone else. Shaul acted as a judge in the case of Kefa. Was he right? I wonder... but if Shaul is right and Kefa is guilty as charged, who can trust any of his writings? Was Kefa feeding the wrong food to the Goyim sheep? We will probably never know the whole truth in this life of what transpired at Antioch. History is always written by the owner of the pen. Every other "early church father" also wondered about what may have happened at Antioch. They are amazed that Kefa/Peter had to endure such a public confrontation and rebuke from Shaul. So this event goes beyond a mere mistranslation because at the same time Shaul seems to be claiming superior spirituality, in the same letter...
-- Gal. 2:11 * But when Cephas came to Antioch, I resisted him to the face, because he stood condemned... 2:14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel [Shaul calls it MY GOSPEL -- Rom. 2:16], I said to Cephas in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?.."
-- Gal. 6:1 * Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in any trespass, ye who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
-- Rom. 2:1 * You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
-- Mat. 7:1-3 * "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?..."
According to Kefa’s report, Shaul’s writings were subject of concern and controversy... The rest of the Apostles also expressed concern about the reports that Shaul was teaching to abandon Moshe... To defuse such rumor Shaul goes on to a public demonstration of Torah zeal, by taking a vow... Acts 18:18 * And Paul, having tarried after this yet many days, took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila: having shorn his head in Cenchreae; for he had a vow.
-- Acts 21:23-24 * Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men that have a vow on them; these take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges for them, that they may shave their heads: and all shall know that there is no truth in the things whereof they have been informed concerning thee; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, keeping the law.
Now pay attention to what you read in the above paragraph because it is from the same person who said... Gal. 2:4-5 * [This matter arose] because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Yahushua HaMashiach and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.
Thus, I’m satisfied and am fully convinced that Shaul is a Torah keeper... Was he playing politics?... I don't know... Only Yahweh, the True Judge knows... I cannot judge Shaul except to publish my concern of what I read in the Scriptures that he supposedly wrote... and if there is anything that he wrote that doesn’t square with the Tanakh, I cannot accept it... simple as that. We should have enough Tanakh knowledge to help us out.
Somebody posted an eloquent apology of Shaul’s writing technique on this forum that I’m pasting in the next paragraph -- I was also strongly biased in favor of Shaul’s writings until I started to pay closer attention to what I was reading... In spite of all my findings I still believe that Shaul is quotable... I’m still quoting him whenever I can... I trust that any apparent contradiction is probably due to translator error... I’m still investigating Shaul’s writings, though. The Bereans never stopped doing it.
"...I have now started paying extra close attention to Sha'uls writings...but as of yet I see no contradiction. One thing to remember about Sha'ul... he studied under the great sage of his time... Gamaliel {Acts 22:3}... [I wonder, am I reading that Gamaliel outperformed Yahushua as a teacher? BTW, Shaul claims both teachers and it is true that he won’t take a lesson from the apostles] so Sha'ul is going to be quite a bit deeper than some of the other Sh'liachim/Apostles. He uses the 'pilpul' method of discussing in much in his writings... this is the same method that is used to teach in the Beit Mikdrash/House of Study of old and Yeshivot/Hebrew Torah schools of today..."
If the above is true, then we should down at the teaching of Yahushua and look for different sources of "deeper" knowledge. I’m quite convinced that Yahushua used the Tanakh text as we know it today [Luke 24:27 * And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.]
Kefa/Peter didn’t think that the Tanakh was insufficient, either. The Bereans didn’t accept anything that Shaul or anybody else for that matter said until they verified everything in the Tanakh... So can we! They wouldn't buy the ‘inspiration’ bit, and yet they were called of ‘more noble character.’ The Tanakh has all the information we need from Yahweh’s inspired source. Kefa says so...
Acts 3:19-26 * Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of Yahweh;
20 and that he may send the Messiah who hath been appointed for you, [even] Yahushua:
21 whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, whereof Yahweh spake by the mouth of His holy prophets that have been from of old. [I see clearly here that all that we need to know about the future is already written in the Tanakh.]
22 Moses indeed said, A prophet shall Yahweh Elohenu raise up unto you from among your brethren, like unto me. To him shall ye hearken in all things whatsoever he shall speak unto you.. [I see clearly here the necessity to have a supplement to the Tanakh to learn about the life, times and words of Yahushua HaMashiach. The question is which books of the NT are we going to accept as inspired or written evidence]
23 And it shall be, that every soul that shall not hearken to that prophet, shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. [The prophet spoke and the first hand eyewitnesses made note of it... this excludes Shaul, Mark and Luke, isn’t it? Unless Shaul was shown a re-run of Yahushua’s teaching life, certainly not from his disciples because he didn’t think much of them]
24 Yea and all the prophets from Samuel and them that followed after, as many as have spoken, they also told of these days.
25 Ye are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which Yahweh made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
26 Unto you first Yahweh, having raised up his Servant, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.
Shaul and Kefa knew the Tanakh. They both had the same information available to them before any writing of the NT ever appeared. They both knew what prophetic events to look forward to because they knew the Tanakh. So can we know.
Another thing that bothers me is that Yahchannan/John said that there can be so many books written about Yahushua’s deeds that no room would be found in the world to accommodate them... [John 21:25 * And there are also many other things which Yahushua did, the which if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that should be written]... Then comes Mark and Luke, and the only thing they can do is to hijack Matthew’s eyewitness documented account and with a few modifications they came up with the "synoptic gospels" formula. Later on, the "early church fathers" decided that 4 gospels are needed simple because of "mystical reasons," not because Yahweh said so. Christianity is deeply rooted in paganism. The very early Christian church fathers made it very plain the way it ought to be for the Christians.
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IRENAEUS OF LYONS -- AGAINST HERESIES (182-188 CE)
Book III, Chapter XI
8. It is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are. For, since there are four zones of the world in which we live, and four principal winds, while the Church is scattered throughout all the world, and the "pillar and ground" of the Church is the Gospel and the spirit of life; it is fitting that she should have four pillars, breathing out immortality on every side, and vivifying men afresh. From which fact, it is evident that the Word, the Artificer of all, He that sitteth upon the cherubim, and contains all things, He who was manifested to men, has given us the Gospel under four aspects, but bound together by one Spirit.
As also David says, when entreating His manifestation, "Thou that sittest between the cherubim, shine forth." For the cherubim, too, were four-faced, and their faces were images of the dispensation of the Son of God. For, [as the Scripture] says, "The first living creature was like a lion," symbolizing His effectual working, His leadership, and royal power; the second [living creature] was like a calf, signifying [His] sacrificial and sacerdotal order; but "the third had, as it were, the face as of a man,"--an evident description of His advent as a human being; "the fourth was like a flying eagle," pointing out the gift of the Spirit hovering with His wings over the Church. And therefore the Gospels are in accord with these things, among which Christ Jesus is seated.
For that according to John relates His original, effectual, and glorious generation from the Father, thus declaring, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Also, "all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made." For this reason, too, is that Gospel full of all confidence, for such is His person.
But that according to Luke, taking up [His] priestly character, commenced with Zacharias the priest offering sacrifice to God. For now was made ready the fatted calf, about to be immolated for the finding again of the younger son.
Matthew, again, relates His generation as a man, saying, "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham;" and also, "The birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise." This, then, is the Gospel of His humanity; for which reason it is, too, that [the character of] a humble and meek man is kept up through the whole Gospel.
Mark, on the other hand, commences with [a reference to] the prophetical spirit coming down from on high to men, saying, "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in Esaias the prophet,"--pointing to the winged aspect of the Gospel; and on this account he made a compendious and cursory narrative, for such is the prophetical character. And the Word of God Himself used to converse with the ante-Mosaic patriarchs, in accordance with His divinity and glory; but for those under the law he instituted a sacerdotal and liturgical service. Afterwards, being made man for us, He sent the gift of the celestial Spirit over all the earth, protecting us with His wings. Such, then, as was the course followed by the Son of God, so was also the form of the living creatures; and such as was the form of the living creatures, so was also the character of the Gospel.
For the living creatures are quadriform, and the Gospel is quadriform, as is also the course followed by the Lord. For this reason were four principal (katholikai') covenants given to the human race: one, prior to the deluge, under Adam; the second, that after the deluge, under Noah; the third, the giving of the law, under Moses; the fourth, that which renovates man, and sums up all things in itself by means of the Gospel.
9. These things being so, all who destroy the form of the Gospel are vain, unlearned, and also audacious; those, [I mean,] who represent the aspects of the Gospel as being either more in number than as aforesaid, or, on the other hand, fewer. The former class [do so], that they may seem to have discovered more than is of the truth; the latter, that they may set the dispensations of God aside.
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I firmly believe that the whole truth has to shine forth, regardless of who gets hurt... People perish for lack of knowledge... So I suggest that we continue searching for the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth that will make us free... Read the appendixes attached to this post.
I was very much impressed by the many disturbing evidences presented in this forum against Shaul. I didn’t know that there were so many... After trying to take a position on this I realize that I’m unable to... I can only hope that when the tribulation starts we should receive new revelations or instructions directly from Yahweh or any of His malaks/messangers.
One must be thoroughly Torah knowledgeable to discern the spirits that will abound in the last days... So it is vain to argue any point in the Scriptures only to convince someone else... At the right time the True Shepherd of the sheep will direct us the rest of the way. Those who don't care to know the truth and love to dwell in THE LIE about the true sacred name of Yahweh, will follow another mighty one who goes by a different name whose initials are Gimmel-Daleth (G_D)... (Isaiah 65:11).
Shabbat Shalom,
Lou
PS/ In one of the posts somebody was upset that Shaul/Paul ended the Book of Acts in Rome with the following happy note: ‘Boldly and WITHOUT HINDRANCE he preached the kingdom of Yahweh and taught about the Sovereign Yahushua HaMashiach.’ -- Acts 28:31. I wonder, have you ever stop to think that perhaps he achieved ‘ecumenical’ unity? When you are not opposed, they must have agreed with you on something. Can we look forward to the same?