Was Paul A Lawless Apostle?

Was Paul A Lawless Apostle?

By Brother R. Michel Lankford

                     

Paul Did Not Advocate Lawlessness

The vast majority of modern-day Christianity, whose worship practices closely imitate Babylonian and Roman Imperial pagan worship traditions more than the rightly divided Scriptures is extremely fond of teaching that the mixing pagan practices with worshiping the Creator is NOW acceptable even though the Almighty specifically COMMANDED us NOT to do such things (Deuteronomy 12:1–4, 8, 29–32; Jeremiah 10:1-2). Most evangelical Christians CLAIM to believe that the Bible is the true, infallible written Word of the Almighty, yet they insist on forsaking the Creator’s seventh day Sabbaths, choosing instead to worship around the venerable day of the sun (which was the commandment of Roman emperors and Roman Catholic Popes, but violates the explicit Commandments of the Almighty. They insist on commemorating the Messiah’s birth and first coming on December 25th, and they adopt Christmas trees, wreaths, mistletoe and other pagan practices which can be easily directly traced back to Druid, Babylonian, Roman, and Nordic fertility sex worship. At the same Time the same Christians who CLAIM to believe the Bible insist on forsaking the Feast of Tabernacles (which is when the Messiah was truly born).

The majority of Christians insist on honoring Messiah’s death through the practice of ‘Holy Communion’ which is a tradition that was clearly taken from the Roman Catholic Church who adapted their tradition from the Roman Imperial worship of the pagan ‘deity’ Mithras. Most Christians will gladly hold to the Roman pagan traditions while they openly reject commemorating the LORD’s Passover, which is the true Biblical picture of Messiah’s death for our sins.

The LORD Biblically appointed the Feasts of Unleavened Bread and First-fruits to commemorate the purity and resurrection of Messiah, but do most Christians choose to honor these things? Of course they do not. Most believers do not even know about the LORD’s appointed feasts, let alone respect them. Instead, the majority of Christianity insists on celebrating Easter. The very name of that ‘holiday,’ the very same calendar day upon which it is celebrated, the decorations used to honor the day (bunnies, decorated eggs, chocolate), Sunday sunrise services, and even the use of the traditional Easter ham can easily be directly traced to the worship of the Babylonian fertility sex goddess Ishtar. Once again, Protestant churches celebrate these things not because it is biblical (in fact it is directly contrary to Scripture), but it is accepted because it was brought into the Protestant churches through Roman Catholic tradition. The Roman Catholics adopted it through Roman Imperial idolatrous worship traditions, and the pagan Roman emperors brought it into Rome through Babylon.

The question that every honest Christian must face is at what point did God change? Repeatedly, throughout both Testaments of Scripture the Almighty Creator of the universe has repeatedly stated that we are not to imitate the ungodly world while we try to worship and walk with the LORD. So, at what point did the things which Creator specifically identifies as being a disgusting abomination suddenly become ‘Good’ and pleasing in His eyes? At what point in Scripture did Yahweh’s definitions change, so that what He called evil is now supposedly good, and what He called good, is now supposedly evil (Isaiah 5:20-24)? What biblical proof do we have that Yahweh Almighty in fact made such a radical reversal of His opinions and decrees? Again, if we’re going to claim to be Bible believing and biblically pursuant Christians, then it really does make a difference.

When you talk to the majority of modern theologians about these penetrating questions, most of them will refer you exclusively to church tradition and certain writings of the apostle Paul. They will claim that Paul received special revelation from Christ, and they will then go on to pick out certain verses from Paul’s writings which they claim illustrates that Paul taught that God’s Law was nailed to the cross and not applicable to the Christian.

While it is true that some of Paul's writings can be easily misconstrued to suggest that we no longer have to obey God's Laws and Commandments. The huge problem is that in order to draw that misguided conclusion you have to ignore other key concepts which Paul HIMSELF specifically taught:

Paul HIMSELF taught the predominantly Gentile congregations that the Old Testament was written for OUR instruction and it was able to make us wise unto salvation, and that it was ALL profitable for Doctrine (True beliefs about God and how to live for Him; Romans 15:4; 2 Timothy 3:15-17). Paul wrote these things well after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So if they were done away with, and not to be respected or used any longer, how can they be written for our instruction, and how could they still be profitable for doctrine?

Paul HIMSELF wrote to the predominantly Gentile congregation at Corinth that they must NOT mix pagan idolatrous worship traditions with worshiping the Almighty, and he referred to the Old Testament to prove his point (1 Corinthians 10:1-21; cf. Exodus 32:1-10; 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1). If God's Law had truly been done away with by that point, and it didn't matter anymore, then why would he make such a point to teach it to the Corinthian church?

Paul HIMSELF wrote to the predominantly Gentile congregation at Corinth that they should KEEP the feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover. Notice, that HE DID NOT SAY ignore the feast because it's been done away with through Christ's death. He did not say reinvent the feast, and make up your own feast to replace it, he said to KEEP it (1 Corinthians 5:8). Once again, if Paul really believed and taught that God's Commandments were abolished and people should not keep it anymore, then why would he teach a predominantly Gentile congregation of believers to KEEP the feast?

Paul HIMSELF wrote that we should be on our guard, that we should be careful that we are not led astray and brought into the captivity of following the rules and traditions set by MEN  instead of obeying Christ (Colossians 2:8). This is one of Paul's teachings that is almost completely ignored by modern-day Christianity, but this teaching is in direct agreement with the Commandments of God and teachings of Jesus Christ (Deuteronomy 12:1-4, 8, 29-32; Jeremiah 10:1-2; Matthew 15:9; Mark 7:1-13). These teachings and principles all agree with each other.

Paul HIMSELF taught the predominantly Gentile congregation in Rome that one of the chief characteristics of being carnal minded was that the carnal mind does not subject itself to the Law of God, and this leads to death (see Romans 8:5-8). If God's Law was no longer valid and had no bearing, then why would Paul say that it was carnal minded not to subject ourselves to God's Law?

Paul HIMSELF specifically bore public witness that he did not believe or teach anything contrary to the Laws and customs which God gave to Moses (See Acts 25:7-10; Acts 24:14-16; Acts 28:17-21). Now, this leaves a serious dilemma for modern-day Christianity. You see, if Paul told the truth in the book of Acts, then he was NOT teaching people to break or leave behind God's teachings and Commandments as we so commonly believe today.

If on the other hand modern-day Christianity has the correct understanding of Paul's writings; if Paul did in fact teach that because of Christ's death, it no longer matters whether you honor the biblical Sabbath and people are now free to bring in pagan practices into godly worship in direct defiance of God's Commandments, then Paul would've been lying in his public statements in the book of Acts. If he said that he was not teaching contrary to the Law when in fact he was, he would be lying. If on the other hand he was telling the truth and he was not teaching contrary to the Law of God, when modern-day Christianity insists that he did, then modern-day Christianity has seriously misunderstood Paul.

These key passages are by no means an exhaustive list. I challenge you to search the Scriptures and find the others yourself. There are countless more passages and examples of Paul where he spoke, taught and exemplified that he supported and instructed people to obey God's Laws Commandments and Instructions found in the so-called Old Testament.

I do not deny that some of Paul's writings lend themselves to misinterpretation. When Paul's writings are read in a certain light and filtered through preconceived ideas originating from human religious traditions instead of God, then one could certainly draw the misguided conclusions that Paul must have been teaching that the Laws Commandments and Instructions of God have no bearing on us since we are now "Under Grace." It's an extremely popular teaching to believe that God's law has been nailed to the cross (when in reality, it is the penalty for violating God's law, and not the law itself that was nailed to the cross)

The enormous problem is that in order to maintain the false doctrine and claim that that Paul was teaching that the Law Commandments and Instructions of God have been done away with at the cross; one has to reject every teaching of the prophets. In order to continue to misrepresent Paul in the way that is so commonplace, one has to reject the explicit teachings of the Messiah (e.g. Matthew 5:17-20; Matthew 7:21; Matthew 15:9; Mark 7:1-13). In order to continue teaching Paul that way, one also has to disregard every other apostolic teaching in the New Testament. Most importantly for this discussion, in order to continue to misrepresent Paul in that manner, one would have to reject many of Paul's own teachings and what he himself said about his own ministry. Lawlessness is popular. Lawlessness is easy, but It is extremely far from sound doctrine.

Brother R Michel Lankford