Episode Transcript
[00:00:17] Speaker A: I will never forget a statement I had in a post sermon conversation with someone.
I don't remember what the teaching was about. I gave it years ago. I'm certain it was something different than what this person had ever heard before because it probably came from a jewish perspective, taking into account the history, the context, the tradition, all those things that we do, the practices of Yeshua, of Judaism in Yeshua's day. And most importantly, it probably challenged the traditional perspective that this person had known from their Bible reading and all of their religious upbringing. And here's the statement that they said to me, you know, at my church, we read the Bible literally.
That's what bothers me about you messianics. You read so much into the text, why don't you just read it for what it says?
Well, friends, here I go again. In the words of Ronald Reagan or whoever said it, that's not always the way it works.
And we're learning that as we look through the book of Romans. And you can see from the title of today's sermon teaching message. As I promised last week, we've got a doozy here because Romans has much to say on the the Torah, on works on law, works of the law.
And if we had a year to go through it, we could probably tackle it all. But the truth is, I don't think either of us would survive that.
I know I wouldn't. It is difficult business trying to condense all these things into something that's manageable. But I'm going to give the Torah its due today, this week with Paul. The Torah, the Jews, because as Paul says to the Jews first. Right? So we need to talk about that and understand if there's one thing we can certainly derive from traditional, or what we might call lutheran interpreters of Paul. One thing is certain, Paul did not like the Torah.
That much we can decipher.
Now, speaking of the language of my critics comment, the person who told me, why don't you just read the Bible for what it says?
When you do that, it actually sort of makes sense why people would say Paul doesn't like the Torah, right? You read difficult comments in here, which that actually just reading it for what it says is also derived from a famous guy named Martin Luther who told us, sola scriptura, just read it for what it says. But all you have to do in this case is read it to find some things that are difficult to swallow. If we're making a case for Torah, Paul's own words provide all the proof one would seemingly need to make. What is called an antinomian case. The word nomos in greek law. Law. Antinomian, anti law. Okay, here are some quick samples. Galatians three, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Romans seven five. While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive.
The oldness of the written code, its sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment produced in me all kinds of covetousness.
Galatians, before faith, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law. Galatians three, cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law. Wow. Paul, tell us what you really think. Right? I mean, is there even a point to continue this message? At this point, the Bible makes its own case, right?
Plain Reed says, I don't have a leg to stand on up here to try to convince you of Paul's affection for the Torah. These are his own words. He just made the traditionalist day. Martin Luther is celebrating. I won. I beat him. He can't make a good Romans case.
And again, the traditional viewpoint, which I will, let's just say I think it's prominent. I think it's certainly popular. I think it's mainstream. But here again suggests that Paul was, quote, the wedge that split apart the new grace filled christian church from Judaism and its law.
Traditionalist perspective. Paul declared the end of the law as a futile effort by the jewish people to earn God's favor. He's imagined to have proclaimed the law free gospel because he discovered that one could not become righteous by doing good works, since no one was without sin.
Now, I know that I have repeated this viewpoint multiple times so far, but it's important because Luther and the reformation and the post reformation builders constructed this idea, antinomian law, free gospel, constructed it into a seemingly impenetrable theological fortress.
How can you say anything different when you read these things? Here's a quote from Luther's preface to the Old Testament.
Therefore, we see that these many laws of Moses were given not only to prevent anyone from choosing ways for his own, for doing good and living a right, but rather that sins might simply become numerous and be heaped up beyond measure.
The purpose this is of the law, Barton Luther says, was to burden the conscience so that the hardened blindness would have to recognize itself and fell its own ability and nothingness in the achieving of good. In other words, human beings could never do anything good on purpose, and the law only points you to your miserable self.
Paul seems to dial this, even dial it in even further with another term in Greek, ergonomu, which means works of the law.
Works of the law. Romans 320. For by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. Romans 328. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Galatians nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law. More ammunition. Right, we've got the Torah. We've got nomos. Now we've got erga nomu, the works of the law. Ernest de witt Burton, a 19th century very well respected theologian, he says this, by erga nomu, Paul means deeds of obedience to formal statutes done in a legalistic spirit with the expectation of thereby meriting and securing divine approval and award.
Everything you do, in other words, is because you think you're gonna get saved by doing it, that it meant trying to earn your salvation. Now, I will return to that term in detail, but for now, I want you to track this flow with me. It's very easy. Works of the law are jewish things generally. Then the Torah falls under this category. Okay? Which was then building a contrast between faith and works. Works are contrasted with trust, which ends up being Jews versus Christians.
That's where it leads.
So the supposed Gospel of Paul is read to be in direct opposition to this jewish gospel of what?
Law, legalism, works of the law, earning your way to salvation. So even though.
Even though the Torah represented a special relationship between God and his people, it was now to be undone, cast aside. And it's not a leap too far to add Judaism into that mix. And then once you do that, you completely write the jewish people out of the story, and they have been superseded, which is where we get the term supersessionism. The church replaces Israel. I'm just giving you the logical flow. Are you with me? Are you tracking with me?
Abolished, undone, unnecessary and damaging things. Damaging and dangerous for people to get close to. So from the termination of Torah, we apparently buy this traditional interpretation and even new perspectives on Paul. We get our hard dividing line between Judaism and Christianity. Christianity, a thing that didn't even exist in Paul's day. Okay, you always have to remember that, for you have heard of my former life in Judaism, right?
This is used to make the point that Paul did indeed have a conversion to Christianity, which we spent time debunking last week. But we read these texts, like you've heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God. Former life, right, former life, what once was, but implies I don't have that anymore. Philippians two. Even though I have reason for confidence in the flesh, if anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more. And then he lists his Jewish resume, circumcised on the 8th day, a member of the people of Israel, tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew, a Pharisee.
But then, yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.
Another thing, I had all these jewish things. But first, Corinthians, very, very famous one. To the Jews I became a jew, right? To the Jews I became as a jew, so that I might win Jews to those who are under the law. This suggests that Paul had to do what he had to act like something he wasn't anymore.
My former life. But when I got around them, I had to start acting like them again.
So, friends, taking the advice again of a plain read, we've got an apparent difficulty. And this is the. The prevailing opinion, the function, the significance, the works of the law. Torah, Judaism, in essence, the Jewish people. It's done for. As Paul says in Romans ten, Christ is the end of the law.
Is this Paul telling it like it is?
Are we, all of us with a Torah scroll in our midst? Are we just completely missing it? Is this Paul telling it like it is?
Or should we consider looking deeper at the audience, at the mission, at the message, at the messenger? Well, since you're here, let's look deeper.
The most important consideration component of all of these scriptures is who is who? Who he's talking to the audience. Who he's talking to. Paul is the apostle to who writing to who?
Where in Rome, the gentile center of the universe of the first century. As I told you, we may have assumed, can assume that some Jews would have overheard the letters being read in the communities, but it was nothing written to Jews. The letter was written to Gentiles.
I made that point. He is speaking to Gentile audience in Rome. These statements about the law, Torah, especially the works of the law, they are made with intention to that audience.
Anchor that in your mind right now.
Romans is not the story of universal salvation or doctrinal teaching for the world. It is not the condemnation of Judaism. And this is a fundamental understanding for you as a reader of Romans. Paul's presentation depends on who he's talking to. Is that logical? Is that common sense? Of course it is.
He says so himself. And I just told you in one corinthians nine, depending on who I'm talking to, that's who I talk. Like that's what he's saying.
I became a jew. I might win Jews under the law as though not myself under the law. So that's another one. But we won't talk about it. This is a basic rule of communication. Know your audience. If I start talking to you in some kind of Gen Z code that I don't even understand myself, how much of it are you going to get?
Like we're about to put on the ribs of Romans.
Come on, players and bras. Let's check. Like, you don't do that. You know your audience.
And if we know that, if we know Paul's audience, his mission, his purpose, his goal, we can make sense of this difficulty. So given today's topic, talk about what Paul really thinks about the Torah. You up for it?
Got a little bit to say first, though, I just need to touch briefly on Paul's jewish life. I covered some of it last week. Was Paul's Judaism something he cast off?
We said, we said no. An inferior religious option of no value anymore. I shared those scriptures previously, but that one really, really hits my former life in Judaism. My former life. You can translate that word former, and some translations do. You can also translate it a different way by saying, my earlier life in Judaism, my earlier life, earlier, previously, before, now, the former, that word former means it's something I don't do anymore. That was. It's not anymore.
He lists his jewish credentials in Philippians, and then he says, yet whatever gains I had, these I've come to regard as loss, right? Which people say heaped it on the junk pile. I don't need that anymore. But listen to me. You count something worthwhile as a loss if you give it up. Do you understand what I'm saying? If he's talking about some sinful, dreadful life and he says, I count that as loss, that's stupid. It would be counting that as gain if you got rid of it. I got myself out from under the burden of Judaism, thank God. That's not what he says. He says it was valuable to me, and yet when compared to being a disciple of Messiah, it's not equal. I still count it as loss.
He's saying that belonging to the people of Israel, circumcised on the 8th day, a Hebrew of Hebrews and more, he now has the opportunity to impact all of humanity, to usher in the kingdom, participate in the redemption of the world. It's a big thing. So he puts his Judaism secondary to that. Not in the garbage can.
It doesn't mean it was bad.
Now, regarding Paul and his ongoing, lifelong connection to Judaism, that did not change. I'll give you very quick little run. I should have had these scriptures up. I'm sorry. Acts 22. Paul says these words. You ready? Acts 22. This isn't like at the beginning, before he figured it out. I am a jew, born in Tarsus, Cilicia, brought up in this city, educated under Gamliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, just as you are today.
Romans. I say, then God has not rejected his people, has he? May it never be, for I, too, am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham. Present tense, Romans eleven.
Galatians. We are Jews by nature, not sinners. Like all the Gentiles. Paul, he wouldn't hold it back.
No matter what you think you know, from a prior reading of Romans or anything that you've ever heard, I want you to just understand.
Paul may have changed the way he lived in Judaism, but he never, ever, ever stopped being a jew.
Now, no matter, I want you to sit up straight, move to the edge of your seat, and stay there for what I'm about to tell you. And never, ever forget it. As you read Romans. You ready?
Paul never condemns the Torah.
Just let it come in there and settle in. And all the doubts and questions about everything I just said and the contradictions. Pauldin never condemns the Torah.
But all the stuff you just said. Ah.
Having established that Paul was and remained a jew, let's recap in a few short statements what the Torah meant for the jewish people. And that means for Paul. Okay? For Paul, the Torah is not only a set of law. The word nomos, it means a lot of different things. It's a way of life for the Jewish people. It represents the scripture. It's God's instruction for living in relationship with him. Keeping Torah means much more than empty preservation of texts and studying the material. It means to study, to teach, to live by its principles, to use it to settle disputes, to maintain positive relationships within your community. That's what the TORAH means. But most importantly, it represents a covenant between Hashem, God, and the Jewish people. It represents a covenant arrangement.
The people made promises at SINAI. So did God. That relationship is unique, and it defines what is known as the chosen people.
Torah, covenant election. IsraEl did not earn it, and they never thought they did. It was an act of grace in which Israel was chosen by God to receive the Torah, this promise, this covenant, is eternal. God.
I'll ask, can God break his promises?
When we get to romans eleven, we'll see. Paul, confirm that God cannot break his promises.
And yes, without a doubt, Judaism places emphasis on what one is supposed to do and not do. That was a reflection of a covenantal relationship. This was a representation of faith in God, if you'll remember, Ep standards called this covenantal gnomism, saying the jewish people observe the Torah because it's part of their covenant relationship, like a marriage.
That's what that meant. The simplest example is a marriage. I honor my wife because we are in covenant, but also because I love her.
And so it's not a burden for me to do things.
It's silly to see it any other way. But never, never, ever, ever, never, ever, never, ever did the Torah represent a means to salvation for the jewish people. Okay, it's another Anchor. You gotta Anchor it. The Torah never, ever, ever represented a means of salvation. As a matter of fact, the ToRah presumes that the people will fail and fall and sin. It is a presumption in the text, and they did fall and fail and sin. And yet within that system of God given instruction were specific ways in which God's grace and mercy and favor were to be received. The sacrificial system, the priesthood, Yom Kippur, it's in the Torah.
In other words, all humans sin. No one is righteous. Not one.
And no one can earn their way to right standing with God through the Torah. There are rewards for good behavior, punishments for bad behavior, calamitous events in Israel's history of disobedience, Pamela Eisenbaum says it best.
There were sure signs of divine displeasure when Israel went far away, but there was never disfavor among God to his people. You understand the difference.
So the idea regarding erga nomu works of the law as an effort by Jews to earn them salvation and garner up enough God points to be saved from burning in hell. Doesn't exist.
It doesn't exist.
And when you get rid of that, you can begin to see. And yet, it has become the most prevalent idea in the interpretation not only of Romans, but of Judaism in Paul's day. And that Paul was an enemy, therefore, of it, because he was a Christian, which is not true. More importantly, and maybe more confusingly, is that Paul says all these things, and then he goes on to talk about good works and how you should do them.
Remember when second Peter says, Paul is sometimes hard to understand?
First Corinthians. So then, my beloved just as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. What for? It is God who is at work in you, both to desire and to work for his good pleasure. First, Timothy, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly, discreetly, not with braided hair and gold and pearls or expensive apparel, but rather how should a woman adorn herself? Rather by means of good works, colossians, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work.
What is going on here, man?
It's an interesting consideration to suggest that when one follows God's law, that he is doing it solely for a manipulative and selfish purpose. That's weird, isn't it?
Or worse yet. Or worse yet, that God is displeased when one follows his instructions. That's the most asinine of things that you could put in to say that faith, and only faith is where it's at is.
I'm sorry. Let me just take a breath.
It's like saying, taylor's at the back of the room. My daughter, my middle child. It's like her coming to me and saying, dad, you know, I don't know. I just felt like I should help this person on the street. And then somebody needed to borrow money and I needed to let. Somebody needed help building part of their home, and then somebody needed a ride to the hospital, so I did it. Taylor, what's the matter with you?
That's ridiculous, right?
I would commend my child for following in those good ways.
I know this kid's desperately wicked and only attempting to get on my good side by doing these things.
So don't ever do them again.
Pay particular attention in romans. It is not. This is maybe the most confusing and we're getting to the end.
For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God's sight, but who the doers?
Huh?
It's not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God's sights, but the doers of the law who will be justified when gentiles who do not possess the law by nature, do what the law requires. These, though, not have any the law or a law to themselves.
There are good gentiles. Did you guys know that? I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. Goodness sakes, all this jew and gentile talk can get. We gotta, like, be put a little funny in there every once in a while.
It's a bit confusing, I know. Believe me. We'll come back. That's from Romans two. We're not in Romans two. But the point is Colossians, philippians, Galatians, Corinthians, Romans. Paul is saying it's good. It's good for Jews and gentiles to engage in righteous deeds, works, and sometimes acts of following Torah. And part of that responsibility includes that God is the creator of the universe, as Paul says.
Is he the God of the Jews only? No, of course not. He's the God of the Gentiles. It says. Paul says that the knowledge of God and desire for his creation is found within the words of the Torah. It speaks to the nations. It was IsraEl's national calling to represent it and themselves as a light, as an example of human conduct. And still, within all of that, the Torah serves a uniquely jewish purpose. But I want you to say, I want you to just let me summarize it.
Paul, with all of his jewish education and knowledge, knew that the Torah was a positive gift, part of the Covenant of Israel, and a blessing that was essential to all the world. He understood that the Torah was an expression of God's grace to the jewish people, not as Martin Luther. The Law, like a mighty hammer, is meant to crush human self righteousness. That seems very ungodlike, doesn't it?
But listen, as a matter of fact, the idea of God, if the Law is a hammer meant to crush you, just listen to this. I'm sure you've thought of it.
The idea of God giving such a weak and insufficient law is fraught with problems of theodicy.
Justice, God's justice, the appearance of evil. If God gave a law that is so weak and insufficient, it raises questions about God's own justice and goodness.
Why would a just and good God provide a law that is destined to fail or lead people to sin? Putting it plainly, if God given law to Moses at Sinai increased, caused, exacerbated sin universally, then God caused it.
That doesn't make sense, does it?
Of course not.
We can't believe any of that. And I can't. Neither would Paul. Neither should you. But are we to assume that all of this changed when Paul met Jesus? That what Yeshua really explains to Paul on the Damascus road, Washington, bright flashing light, blind, can't see. But he comes up and whispers in his ear and says, paul, daddy made a boo boo.
I'm here to fix it. Go tell all the nations about it.
He didn't mean to give anybody the law. I'm here to fix it.
Is that what Jesus said to Paul on the Damascus road? Of course, nothing. It's ridiculous.
When he says in Romans three, listen, Paul knows no one is justified by the law before God. It's evident the righteous man shall live by faith. He believes that no one is justified by the law, but by faith. When he says in Romans three, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory, he believes that Jews and Gentiles, the Torah makes room for sinners. And the Torah was never, ever, ever about salvation relationship. Jewish salvation, that is the world to come, was about faith. Faith that God was going to live up to his promises. That what he said in the Torah, even in dispersion and exile and war and persecutions, that that would be realized. Why? Because God is faithful. And he said it, and he cannot change what he said.
Thank you. It's to him, right.
Because of God's faithfulness, the Jews believed they could be saved not because of their faithfulness, but because of whose gods? Hashems?
And because it was more than just the Torah. It was also another covenant before that, the Abrahamic Covenanthe. But LISTEN to me. This is where it gets real tricky. And this is the end. I promise you.
The nations, the Gentiles, ethne, no matter what the Torah means for the Jewish people, when Paul is writing alive, the Gentiles had no connection to either of those covenants.
The Torah was not theirs to claim.
The Abrahamic covenant was not theirs to claim. Without some kind of miraculous happening. Was there a miraculous happening?
Yeah.
They were idolaters, polytheists. They had no relationship with the monotheist Abraham. They had no connection to the covenant relationship between God and the Jewish people. But something did change. The nations had been brought in, a connection had been made. And with all of that goodness we've just discussed surrounding the Torah, is it any wonder that the Torah is found in the thick of the discussions of Romans as it relates to the nations? But without a doubt, we are presented with a pessimistic, at times downright dismissive attitude toward Torah and Romans. How do we reconcile these contradictions? How do I make sense of what he actually said? Well, I have good news for you.
We are done now with the foundational stuff. Okay? These last three or four weeks are the foundations of Paul, of Judaism, of Torah.
Next week, Darren will bring a message, probably in preparation for Tisha Bav. I don't know what he's going to talk about.
And then when I return, we are into the book of Romans, chapter one, and we'll start talking about what's actually happening, and we get to the purpose of Romans. You ready for that?
Foundation laid? Yep. I read behind and beneath more than what the Bible said today, much to the chagrin of my critic from years ago. There's more to see than just what's on the page in black and white.
Shabbat Shalom.
[00:36:20] Speaker B: Please visit our website, shalommakin.org, to learn more about us. Join our live services, access other teachings, sign up for our newsletter, join our private network that will connect you with our greater community from around the world, or contribute to the work of Shalom. Macon, thank you for watching, and we look forward to connecting with you.
