What WAS Paul REALLY Teaching?

By brother R Michel Lankford

In recent blog entries, we have been looking more closely at the writings and teachings of the apostle Paul. Modern Christian theology routinely teaches us that Paul the apostle supposedly taught that Yahweh Almighty’s eternal Laws, Commandments and Instructions were completed, and therefore done away with and abolished at the cross. Using their interpretations of Paul’s teachings, modern theologians now directly teach that openly defying and doing the direct opposite of the Creator’s Laws, Commandments, and Instructions, is NOW supposedly an act of God’s Grace through Jesus Christ.

What God previously called a disgusting abomination is NOW SUPPOSEDLY good, pleasing and acceptable in His sight, as if God’s righteousness and His decrees and standards completely reversed themselves when Messiah died for our sins.

The Creator’s fundamental definitions of what is good, and what is evil, DID NOT change when Messiah died and rose again. What was evil in the Creator’s eyes (Breaking Almighty God’s decrees),  DID NOT suddenly become a good thing, and what was good in Yahweh’s sight (Loving God and KEEPING His Commandments), DID NOT suddenly become a wicked act of unfaithfulness after Messiah died for our sins, yet that is exactly how modern-day Christianity actually functions, and they believe they can function that way because the apostle Paul supposedly taught the suspension and doing away with God’s Laws Commandments and Instructions through the cross of Messiah.

Now, there is no doubt that certain pieces of Paul’s writings can easily lend themselves to being misinterpreted that way. The problem is that in order to continue to interpret and apply Paul’s writings in the way that is most commonly accepted today, you have to reject and/or twist a ton of Scripture completely out of shape to try and make that work. In order to favor the Lawless interpretation of Paul’s writings that is most commonly accepted and taught today, you have to completely reject and/or twist the Law and the Prophets. You have to reject and/or twist the explicit teachings of Messiah Himself. You would have to completely reject and/or twist the teachings of every other apostle. What is perhaps the most shocking is that in order to apply Paul’s letters that way, you have to reject and/or twist many of the writings and teachings of Paul himself. Even Paul himself taught the opposite of the way that Paul is represented today. The long and short of it is that in order to interpret and apply Paul’s writings the way that is most commonly accepted today, one has to reject or rewrite so much Scripture, that it cannot possibly be sound doctrine, no matter how long-standing and devoutly held that interpretation has been accepted.

In the last two blog entries, we looked at some key passages (but not all) of Paul’s writings where he specifically wrote to Gentile congregations in direct support of doing God’s Laws Commandments and Instructions, because those parts of Paul’s writings are sorely neglected in favor of the more common Lawless interpretations.

We started in part one by examining a key teaching from Paul in Romans 8:5-8:

“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5–8, NASB95)

So let’s review quickly. How does Paul himself describe the carnal mind or the mind that is set on the flesh or set on the sinful nature?

It leads to death (That’s the direct opposite of eternal life by definition)


It’s hostile against God, and why does he say it’s hostile against God?


It’s hostile against God for or because it does not subject itself to the Law of God. So according to Paul, not subjecting our minds to agree with God’s Laws and Commandments, is carnal minded, it’s hostile against God, and it leads to death and not life.

The mind set on the sinful nature CANNOT subject itself to the Law of God, it is not able to do so, (which of course means that a mind that is controlled by the Holy Spirit CAN subject itself to God’s Law).

Lastly, the carnal mind that is set on the sinful nature, which is hostile against God because it does not subject itself to God’s Law CANNOT please God.

If one is truly born again, then you are going to grow in loving Yahweh Almighty with all your heart soul mind and strength, right? If we are truly growing in that manner, then you are going to want to please God. If we are going to please the Most High, then we must allow Him to transform our thinking so that we agree with His Laws Commandments and Instructions, because we cannot please the Almighty unless we subject ourselves to His Laws.

So if you even come close to reading, understanding and believing Romans 8:5-8, then you understand that there is not a snowball’s chance in Death Valley that Paul was teaching people to disregard God’s Law after coming under grace, because doing that is not grace, it is death according to Paul himself. I cannot believe how clueless I was!

How do you know your interpretations are the right ones?

How do I know that the interpretation of Romans 8:5-8 which I have just laid out in the previous paragraphs is indeed the correct one? That’s a good and fair question. Very simply, the weight of Biblical evidence supports the interpretation I described for the following reasons:

First, I have looked at the Word for its own sake. I have paid attention to what the physical text of the passage actually says, and I have NOT re-defined and edited those words or their meaning through the filter of human religious tradition. That’s critical (Matthew 15:9; Mark 7:1-13; Colossians 2:8).

Second, it agrees with and does not contradict Yahweh’s Law or His prophets Deuteronomy 4:2;  Deuteronomy 8:3; Deuteronomy 12:29-32).

Third, it agrees with and does not contradict the teachings and doings of Messiah which Yahweh Almighty has sent (Matthew 5:17-20; Matthew 7:21-23; John 14:21; John 15:10-14).

Fourth, it agrees with and does not contradict the teachings of the other apostles (e.g. James 1:19-25; 1Timothy 1:8; Romans 7:16; 1 John 3:4; 1 John 2:1-6),

So if an interpretation of a Biblical passage meets these for underlying criterion, then it is safe to accept such an interpretation is Biblically sound doctrine. If it violates any of these four principles, then it must be rejected if we are to remain biblical.

To Decipher Paul Correctly We Must Learn to Ask the Right Questions

Many of us often read that the Scriptures on autopilot. It’s not intentional. We just fall into the habit of believing what we have been taught without thoroughly confirming it for ourselves. We start out with certain ideas and definitions of key concepts that we already believe before we’ve ever open our Bibles on any given day, and then we filter our understanding of what we are reading through what we previously believed the Scripture to be saying. Here is the key. Sometimes, if we are not careful to guard against it we can actually edit or filter out and mentally edit out some of what the physical text of Scripture actually says in order to make it fit with what we already believe. In other words we can mentally tune out what doesn’t fit with what we already believe. In a sense we are mentally rewriting Scripture to fit what we already believe instead of reading Scripture for what the text actually physically says. That’s called “Reading into the text.” Whether we like it or not what we read into Scripture will affect how we interpret and understand what Scripture is teaching. It will affect what we draw out from Scripture.

For example whenever we read the phrase “The law,” or under the law,” in Paul’s letters, we often automatically ASSUME that Paul is ALWAYS exclusively referring to God’s law.”

For example Romans 6:14 reads as follows:

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Romans 6:14 (KJV)

Most people who read Romans 6:14 AS IF it read something like this (WHICH IT DOESN’T):

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the God’s law, but under grace. In actual fact, Romans 6:14 does NOT refer to God’s law all, but we trained ourselves to believe and read that interpretation into the text and we assume that it is talking about the believer not being under God’s law. We have read that understanding into the text even though that is not what the text actually says.

Here we have a perfect example. IF Paul were referring to GOD’S LAW in BOTH Romans 6:14, and in Romans 8:5-8, then we have a real problem because Paul would clearly be contradicting himself, and if he were contradicting himself he clearly could not be speaking under the Holy Spirit of God, because God cannot deny Himself. Nevertheless, there appears to be a serious contradiction here. On the one hand, he APPEARS to be saying that we are not subject to God’s law but under grace in Romans 6:14, on the other hand, he clearly states outright that not subjecting yourself to Yahweh’s Law is a clear sign that you are carnal minded and walking in death in Romans 8:5-8. So there appears to be a conflict. We know that he is clearly referring to God’s Law in Romans 8:5-8, because he clearly identifies it. The question then becomes, to which particular law is Paul referring in Romans 6:14? The answer could not be more critical, since it’s quite literally a matter of life and death, even by Paul’s own estimation of the subject. In this specific instance finding the answer is easy.

In this case all we have to do is go back to Romans 6:1, and read slowly and methodically through to verse 23. If we read carefully we will notice that God’s law is NOT mentioned a single time in Romans 6, but sin is mentioned no less than 17 times in this single chapter.

In this chapter one can clearly see that Paul is making the case that if we are renewed by Yahweh through Messiah we should no longer subject ourselves to the law of sin and death, because we have God’s power and grace to overcome the law of sin and death and not to subject ourselves to the law of sin and death anymore. So, Romans 6:14 and Romans 8:5-8 actually agree with each other when we understand to which law Paul is referring.

Next time we will look at more of Paul’s writings, to see if what we assume Paul is saying measures up to the actual text of Scripture. See you then.

Brother R Michel Lankford