The Apostle Paul’s anti-Rabbinic teachings in the NT

Rabbi Michael Skobac takes you on a fascinating exploration of how a small Messianic movement within Judaism, 2,000 years ago, transformed into a radically non-Jewish world religion. In this lecture, you will learn about the Jewish roots of Christianity, how those roots became obscured over the course of time and what surprising developments may lie ahead. 

The Apostle Paul’s anti-Rabbinic teachings in the NT
from OvadYah Avrahami

It is hard for anyone to admit the possible error of one's most cherished theories.  To most NT believers, the apostle Paul's instructions seem to have taken precedence over the instructions of G-d.  It is the NT teachings of the apostle Paul, who regarded himself a Pharisaic Jew, that have caused much of the anti-Judaism, anti-Rabbinism and anti-Torahism which is so prevalent in the Church – even amongst ardent Hebraic Roots Restorers who have returned and accepted so much of Torah Judaism, that they live and even dress like Jews.   ‘Rabbinic authority’ and acceptance of the Oral Torah, even for these to-Torah-returned and Torah practising non-Jews seems to present the final insurmountable stumbling block. It remains an obstacle to the ultimate goal of Prophecy, namely,   reconciliation between the two divided Houses of Israel and Peace in the House of G-d.

The reader should withhold judgment on this issue of the correctness or not of Paul until having carefully perused and considered the content of this chapter. The prevailing popular misconceptions concerning Paul will become clear, especially if considered in the light of the other convincing evidence presented in this book, viz.:

·                 The Halachic Jewish foundations hidden in the NT.

·                 The clear evidence presented in the NT that the Nazarene himself was a traditional Jew connected to the culture of Rabbinic Judaism.

·                 The phenomenon of the current Hebraic Restoration movement across the entire earth, confirming the fulfilment of the main Prophecies of Scripture and the ultimate Divine Goal for humanity.

Any justification of Paul’s anti-Rabbinic teachings should be weighed up against these confirmations.

Taking a sobering look at Paul, the main spokesman in the NT

The author of the thirteen Pauline epistles plainly admitted that he had not reached perfection; and it is a gross injustice to his character to present him to the world as infallible and the author of a "new Gospel".

A diligent search through all thirteen of the epistles of Paul will show that he was every whit as subject to the weaknesses and prejudices of mankind as is any other human being in this world  This fact is thus emphasized,  NOT because we have any desire to belittle this apostle;  but rather that the false overrated image of this man might crumple and fall and the final obstacles to peaceful reunion in the House and Nation of G-d be removed so as to pave the way for the establishment of the re-united 12-Tribed Kingdom of G-d.

It is regrettable that popular, traditional NT interpretation have so wrested the words of a man of G-d, that he has become a substitute for the Word of G-d.   Thus, the instructions of Paul, when colliding head-on with the clear Command of G-d in the Tanach (O.T.), is taken above that of G-d!  For this purpose, many Christian teachings have openly done away with the ‘Old Testament’ in defence of Paul’s reasoning's! Consequently, the Rabbinic interpretations are discarded as man-made Laws, while Paul, just another man, is regarded as infallible and above the spirit of the Word of G-d as founded in the Jewish Tanach.

Surely it is high time that the authority of the Word of G-d (Tanach) be restored, and the inflated image of this admittedly ‘carnal’ man (according to his own admission in Romans 7:14) be deposed from the minds of G-d-fearing individuals.  Let the faithful and true Jeremiah's dare "to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy" this mistaken impression of the apostle Paul, and “build and plant again in the hearts of G-d's  people the true Word  of G-d”.

At the outset of this overview, let us realize, that what we have today in the ‘New Testament’ and which is attributed to the Hebrew apostle Paul, sections which are very ‘un-Jewish’ for a learned orthodox Jew such as Paul, may never have been written by him. One such instance is the whole Church leadership system of ‘elders and deacons’ - a system which is in contradistinction to the historic Judaic transmission, management and teaching process.  He is closer to the pagan concept unknown to the initial Messianic Faith.  Sections like this may well have been inserted by the Roman Catholic establishment which had almost exclusive rights over the original NT Scriptures (which are ‘lost’ to this day) and during a time when there were no printing presses or means of copying outside of the powerful hold of the Church.

The utterances and Commands of G-d never change or become obsolete - His admonitions and precepts are everlasting - they shall endure forever, The NT itself has this to say concerning them:

"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35)

The Nazarene proclaimed:   “Till heaven and earth disappear, not one yud (the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet) not one little stroke shall disappear from the Law until its purpose is achieved”  (Matthew 5:18).

Yet, we have to conclude that the Scriptures contain an account of many of man's words, as well as a record of the Words of G-d.   Consider, for example, the classic advice offered to Job, by his wife, when she saw him sitting "down among the ashes",  covered with boils, and scraping himself with a chunk of broken pottery: her cheerful recommendation was that he should "curse G-d and die” (Job 2:9) -  obviously not a G-d-inspired utterance!

No believer would dispute the fact that God's Words are perfect.  If the record of His words bears any imperfections, they result solely from man's clumsy handling of the material.  This is made evident in the many conflicting translations of and commentaries on the Bible, which are widely circulated at the present time.

The sober answer to the question: “is all Scripture Truth?”,  must be "No”.  for although all Scripture does give a true account of what took place, there are actually numbers of statements and quotations in ‘The  Book’ which are merely a record of what someone has thought or said - and many of these, while accurate quotations of man’s remarks or reflections, are actually in their content and meaning,  Untruths:  "You shall not surely die" (Genesis 3:4),  the serpent breathed beguilingly to the woman - but she did die!

The discrepancies noted in the above-cited Words of man are glaringly evident - but there are many instances where the inconsistency is not so obvious.  Many of the "dark sayings" of the prophets are truths which are veiled in the aura of metaphor and symbol. When these are taken out of their place or context they create no end of confusion.  Peter said, concerning the writings of Paul, that there were some things hard to be understood, “which uneducated and unbalanced people distort, in the same way as they distort the rest of Scripture” (2 Peter 3:16).

"Rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Tim.2:15), is an exact science.  The apostle here advises that believers should study to show themselves "approved unto G-d".

It should not be difficult for anyone to believe that only God's words are the infallible standards: His Word is always Truth. Neither should it be confusing for anyone to accept the fact that the words of man are often one-sided and obscure.

Much of the darkness and error rife among many professing believers today, is largely due to unstable doctrinal foundations, a great number of which are unwittingly based upon distorted views and misconstruction of statements found in the epistles of Paul.

No one searching for Truth should be offended by the declaration that the Words of G-d are superior to the words of Paul.  Yet, some may contend that G-d was the Author of every word which Paul wrote. But by studying Paul's own words, such a position can be disproved "I speak not by Commandment ... and herein I give my advice" (2 Cor. 8: 8-10). Paul's ‘advice’ undoubtedly was good, but it certainly was not always the Word of G-d.

Now notice the two different sources of the commands which Paul has written:  "Unto the married I command, yet not I,  but the L-rd .., but the rest is from me, not from the L-rd” (I Cor. 7:10-12). The apostle here makes it plain that he sometimes wrote what G-d commanded; and sometimes he wrote his own advice.  The apostle himself is showing that these "Words from the L-rd" are superior to his own remarks.

Here is a quotation which definitely tells us that some of the apostle Paul's utterances and admonishments were of his own making: “Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the L-rd:  but I give my own opinion” (1 Cor . 7 : 25 ).  Is the apostle's ‘opinion’ to be considered on a par with the Tanach and the Torah  G-d?   Surely  not!

One other line from Paul's epistles should settle forever that his writings were not verbatim Inspiration of G-d:  "What I am going to say now, is not prompted by the L-rd, but said as if in a fit of folly, in the certainty that I have something to boast about”  (2 Cor, 11:17).

The wonderful thing about the Bible is that it does not hide the frailties of the men who were “subject to like passions as we are”.  We read of Adam and Eve’s failures right at the outset – Paradise Lost!  Noah's drunkenness, of Jacob and Rebecca’s scheming, of Moses' mistake in striking the rock instead of speaking to it – he missed entry to the Land, king Solomon in his old age making a series of mistakes,  and of the failings of many others.  None of these great men were angelic or superior to the Word of G-d.  For those who believe in the NT, why would the same not apply to Paul?

It would be well for people everywhere to examine the writings of Paul with unbiased minds, taking into consideration what they were, and realizing also what he was – simply “a man with like passions”.

This misrepresentation of the True Purpose and Plan of the Creator G-d for man - as embodied in the ‘New Gospel of Grace’, which is accredited to the apostle Paul, who seems to have strayed from the original Hebrew roots of it all.

It is claimed that Paul wrote 13 letters, and each one of them started with his own name!  He used the personal pronoun ‘I, me, or my’, 949 times!  In the twelfth chapter of 2 Corinthians, the big personal pronoun was used seven times in the sixth verse alone;  60 times in the same chapter of 21 verses!

Certainly no other Hebrew teacher has displayed so much egotism, in so many different ways, as the apostle Paul has exhibited throughout all of his writings.  We find that the apostle Paul declared that he was  "not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles" (2 Cor. 11:5); and again:  "In nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles" (2 Cor. 12:11).  Masses of Christians today regard him as just such - and even more, considering that they allow Paul to have authority over the Law of G-d, claiming it to have been replaced, done away with, nullified,  “nailed to the Cross!”   As such, they regard him as author of a ‘New Gospel’.

Devotees of the theology of ‘grace unlimited’ find abundant support for their teachings in the epistles of Paul.  It is this teaching that has opened the door to the world for unrestricted license, freedom and liberty from all law to any who will accept and believe the new Gospel.  It is this interpretation which has contributed to these present times of lawlessness and crime without proper judgment in the world.

The thirteen epistles of this proponent from Tarsus representing Nazarene teaching are written in a style that is like an amazing obstacle course: Truth angled in such a fashion that it freely yields to the manipulations and devices of the triflers.

Here are some further audacious claims by Paul:  "According to my Gospel" (Rom. 2:16; 16:25; 2 Tim. 2:8). No other NT contributor ever spoke of the Messianic Gospel as ‘my’ Gospel.  Even the Nazarene himself never referred to it as ‘My’ Message.

It seems from a NT perspective, that it would be uncalled for, for anyone to attempt to introduce another Gospel. This is even contrary to Paul's own teaching.

Those who rebel against G-d, despise the Divine Commandments and rebel against Go-d’s Law - eagerly grasp at Paul’s teachings which apparently sanction lawlessness. Doctrines related to the Law seem to have been the most confusing issues in the mind of the author of these thirteen letters to the Messianic congregations.  At times he wrote one thing to a congregation in one city, and then again, he would write just the opposite letter to another group: "A man is not justified by the works of the Law”  (Gal. 2:16) he told the Galatians - but to the Romans he wrote; "For not the hearers of the Law are just before G-d,  but the doers of the Law shall be justified” (Rom 2:13).  Surely the man was not double-minded?   Could it have been that he was in confusion on this subject of Law?

Consider the following quotations, taken from two different epistles, written by this same man: "Once, when there was no Law, I was alive; but when the Commandment came, sin came to life, and I died.  The Commandment was meant to lead me to life, but it turned out to mean death for me" (Rom.7:9,10); and, "... if the administering of death, in the written letters engraved on stones, was glorious ...  if there was any splendour in administering condemnation,  there must be very much greater splendour in administering justification ... if what was done away with was glorious, there must be much more in what is going to last for ever”  (2 Corinthians 3:7-11).

If words mean anything, then the author of these epistles is saying that the Ten Commandments were done away with, abolished, ended.  At least, this is the meaning as it appears on the surface and as it has been accepted by most of Christianity: but remember, that the words of this scribe are tricky and they are especially designed to trap the carnal mind which rebels against the Truth.

Paul said that there was a veil upon the hearts of the Jews when they read Moses (2 Cor. 3:15); but that veil, he claims, created upon the hearts of those Pharisees of old by the writings of the great patriarch is as nothing compared to the covering which the works of Paul have effected to envelop many hearts in our generation. The words of Moses never offered even any remote excuse for carnality; no way out for those who would try to dodge the Divine Command - but many of the things set forth in the epistles of Paul are loaded with bait to snare the hypocrite and the rebels against the Law!

If the following words are to be taken literally, consider the latitude they offer for licentiousness: “All things are lawful unto me ... all things are lawful for me" (I Cor. 6:12); and again, "All things are lawful for me" (I Cor. 10:23).  Add to these, the verse,  "Happy is he that condemns not himself in that thing which he allows" (Rom. 14:22). If this combination does not offer a license to sin, then words have no meaning!

If NT believers insist that it is Divinely inspired, then they have to conclude that G-d allowed the above seeming misinformation to be in it.   Yes! The Most High has designed many snares and set numerous traps for the feet of the deceitful: The NT itself confirms "G-d shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie" (2 Thess. 2:11).

The attitude of every sincere seeker of Truth should be one of prayerful caution with regard to the writings of the apostle Paul.  No explanation in his messages should ever be accepted as valid, unless such conclusions can be confirmed by the Word of G-d as contained in and guarded in the Tanach (OT).  How is it possible that this apostle so often appears to be misquoting,  and even misrepresenting the Scriptures as interpreted by the Guardians of G-d’s Oracles (the Jews - Romans 3:2) in such a seemingly careless manner?

Many of the statements in Paul's letters are extremely misleading.  Examine this apparent contradiction concerning those who died in the plague of Midian.  In Numbers 25:9 we read:  “And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand." Now compare the above statement, made by Moses, with that of Paul’s in (1 Cor. 10:8),  “Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day twenty three thousand".  Did Paul miss the number by one thousand?

With several direct statements Paul intimates that the Law no longer exists:

- “We are now dead to the Law” (Rom. 7:4)

- “We are now rid of the Law ... free to serve in the new spiritual way and not the old way of a written Law” (Rom. 7:6)

In his contradictory way he then continues in the next few paragraphs (Rom. 7:7-25) to uphold the Law with statements like:

- “The Law is sacred” (Rom. 7:12)

- “The Law is spiritual” (Rom. 7:14)

- “he dearly loves God’s Law” (Rom. 7:22)

- “he serves the Law” (Rom. 7:25)

In 1 Cor. 7:25-40, Paul embarks on a further contradictory advisory position regarding virginity and intimate practices of married couples. It is a perfect doctrinal essay for Catholic Celibacy - which makes one think: who really wrote this section of Scripture?  Judaism advocates celebration not celibacy, in other words, active reproduction of life according to G-d's Command in Gen. 1:28: "G-d blessed them saying: 'Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it’". Isaiah says that world was created to be inhabited, not desolate. Paul prescribes non-marriage and even withholding of intimate relations within marriage.  G-d saw that "it is not good that the man be alone, I will make him a help mate ..." Gen. 2:18.  So G-d created a female partner for Adam!  Paul says it is better to stay single and not give your daughter away in marriage!  He puts marriage as a good second, as a fatal alternative because of reigning immorality.  In other words, "O.K. rather than immorality, if you cannot exercise self-control, then get married!"  Intimacy between married partners is sin - is the loud and clear message of this section.

Paul’s unadulterated egotism is clear from his arrogant statement in1 Cor. 4:16, when he boldly says, “I beseech you, be ye followers of me,"  and again in:

Phil. 3:17 and 2 Thess.3:7.  “Be ye followers of me even as I am also of Messiah”  (1 Cor. 11:1).

Yet, Paul admitted to "sin that dwelleth in me" and he talked about the evil which he would not do, and  “that I do" (Rom. 7:19). He stated that in his flesh “dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18).  Can a NT follower really take this man as their perfect example and allow him to declare the Law of G-d as ‘abolished’ while the Nazarene himself declared the Law “has NOT been abolished” Matt, 5:17.

Over the matter of the doctrine of circumcision. he bragged to the Galatians that he had dressed down the apostle Peter: “I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed ... I  said unto Peter before them all ...” (Gal 2:11-21).  “Behold I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Messiah shall profit you nothing .. . ye are fallen from grace" (Gal. 5:1-4).  Nowhere did the Nazarene ever indicate that circumcision would be done away with – while he and all the apostles were circumcised themselves  “on the 8th day” as the Torah requires.  Is Paul inferring here that the apostles, followers of their Messiah, do not profit from their Messiah?

But the astonishing thing about this whole matter is that a number of years after he publicly withstood Peter to his face over the matter of circumcision,  he himself circumcised a man!   The father of his friend Timothy, was a Greek - so, before he took this young preacher with him on his missionary journeys, Paul himself, performed the Abrahamic Covenant rite upon him. “... and Paul, who wanted to have him as a traveling companion, took and circumcised him.  This was on account of the Jews in the locality ...” (Acts 16:3).

In Galatians 2:7 Paul recognizes his mandate:  "I had been commissioned to preach the Good News to the uncircumcised..." and then he makes an astonishing statement in total contradiction of what the NT states about the mission of the apostle Peter, shown to Peter in the Vision of the unkosher animals.  Paul erroneously concludes in this text "... just as Peter had been commissioned to preach to the circumcised."  Clearly, by insisting to go "to the Jew first" with the Gospel, Paul was either confused - or else he challenged his Divine mandate!

Doesn’t anyone else find it incongruous that not a single utterance from the Nazarene’s teachings in the Gospel accounts are found in Paul’s many letters?  If the apostles were handpicked and trained by the Nazarene, it was obviously in order that their witness would be full and superior to others. Then it should be incumbent on Paul to learn from them.  Yet, by Paul’s own admission, he fails to do so for years. How then can Paul form the greater body of NT Scripture when his ideas are not based on the Nazarene’s teachings?  When his teachings so often oppose and overthrow the Torah and Tanach (OT) teachings? Christianity is being expounded by someone who never spent any extended time with the Nazarene, never trained under him, and whose writings are devoid of utterances of the Nazarene - except for one small unique aphorism and only one inaccurate quote from the Nazarene’s Last Supper (Pesach Seder) account.

Other respected thinkers have been astonished by Paul’s lack of mentioning any lessons of the Nazarene. Albert Schweitzer once said:  “Where possible, he (Paul) avoids quoting the teaching of Jesus, in fact even mentioning it. If we had to rely on Paul, we should not know that Jesus taught in parables, had delivered the Sermon on the Mount, and had taught his disciples the ‘Our Father.’ Even where they are specially relevant, Paul passes over the words of Jesus.”. Refs.:  Albert Schweitzer Library: The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle (John Hopkins University Press: 1998). 28.Hans van Campenhausen, The Formation of the Christian Bible (J. A. Baker, trans.) (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1972).

Paul shows himself up by his final blunders

Driven by an over-zealous self-determination to accomplish what G-d had said could not be done,  Paul still believed that he could convert the Jerusalem Jews to Messianism. Shortly after Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus, the Nazarene told him plainly: "Hurry, leave Jerusalem at once; for they will not accept the Testimony concerning me ... Go! I am sending you to the Gentiles far away.”  (Acts 22:18-21).

However, after many years of preaching, he must have felt that he had acquired persuasive powers sufficient to open the eyes of the most stubborn Jew. At any rate, "Paul purposed in the spirit ... to go to Jerusalem” (Acts 19:21).  Only a thoroughly self-willed, headstrong person would brush aside so many warnings such as Paul were given on his way south: "The Holy Spirit, in town after town, has made it clear enough, that imprisonment and persecution await me”. (Verse 23).  But blind self-will is a deceitful thing.  He thought that he was doing God service; he purposed in his spirit to go, and that was that!

At the city of Tyre, he found certain disciples and “stayed there a week.  Speaking in the Spirit, the disciples kept on telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem” (Acts 21:4)... Notice that this instruction came through more than one disciple.  According to the NT, the Living G-d was speaking “through His servants” to this headstrong, misguided servant.

On his way to Jerusalem, Paul simply ignored all warnings and all Commands "through the Spirit”.  He had only one thing in mind: he must convert the Jews to Messianism.

The question may arise, “Why was Paul not stopped in his tracks because of his wilful disobedience to the Divine Command?”

Paul, accordingly, was in fact severely punished for his rebellion.  From the very day that he turned from the Divine Commandment which he perceived, he was very much on his own.  His six days in the big city are a disgrace upon his ministry. He compromised his whole message against priest craft in an abortive attempt to reach the Jews. He did the very thing for which he had openly rebuked his brethren.

He discarded all that he had preached and taught, by offering an animal sacrifice!  Hear these words from the records of the book of Acts (with our comments in brackets to emphasize the essence of this amazing section from the NT):

We read from Acts chapter 21:19 onwards about Paul’s arrival and meeting with his Messianic brothers in Jerusalem.  “After greeting them, he gave a detailed account of all that G-d had done among the pagans through his ministry.  They gave glory to G-d when they heard this.  ‘But you see, brother’ they said, ‘how thousands of Jews have now become believers (in Messiah), all of them staunch upholders of the Law (of Moses), and they have heard that you instruct all Jews living amongst the Gentiles, to break away from Moses (admitting therefore that Paul did teach “doing away with the Law”. The New Testament writings of Paul abounds with such instructions), authorising them not to circumcise their children or to follow the customary practices (Rabbinic Halacha). What is to be done?”

The leaders of the Messianic congregation at Jerusalem then arrive at the following solution: Acts 21:23, “We have four men here who are under a vow.  Take these men along and be purified with them (a ritual process according to Jewish Law) and pay all the expenses connected with the shaving of their heads.  This will let everyone know that that there is no truth in the reports and that you still regularly observe the Law.  As for those Gentile believers (who have accepted the Messianic Faith) we wrote them and told them our decisions (regarding the need to keep the Law), that they must abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from fornication (This according to a prior ruling which they had made and in line with the minimum requirements set by the ‘Noahide Covenant’ - Acts 15:19).”

“So, the next day Paul took the men along and was purified with them, and he visited the Temple to give notice of the time when the period of purification would be over and the offering would have to be presented on behalf of each of them.  The seven days were nearly over, when some Jews caught sight of him in the Temple and stirred up the crowd and seized him, shouting, ‘Men of Israel, help!  This is the man who preaches to everyone everywhere against our people, against the Law and against this place!’”

In a hearing against him, shortly after, Paul admitted: Acts 24:17 “After several years I came to bring alms to my nation and to make offerings.  It was in connection with these that they found me in the Temple.”

From this time to the end of his life, Paul remained a prisoner. NT readers may contemplate whether it was the ’Rod of G-d’ that had fallen on his back as punishment for his stubborn rebellion against the advice of G-d?

Conclusion

Paul’s teachings have also been rejected also by the Ebionites and the Nazarenes who were the Hebraic rooted Messianic community of that period.  They regarded Paul as an imposter, as a Gentile who tried to marry the daughter of a Jewish priest, got circumcised but was still rejected by her family. According to this rejection belief, he went out with a chip on his shoulder to argue against the Sabbath, circumcision, which he called in Greek ‘mutilation’ and the laws of Torah.

Eusebius, a Roman bishop who canonized the NT, describes the Hebrew rooted Ebonite community negatively, because “the Ebonites thought that the letters of Paul ought to be wholly rejected and called Paul an apostate from the law” (HE 11 127, 3-6 - translation of Eus, HE by K.Luke in the Loeb series).

The ‘saved by Grace’ believers have the foundation for their belief based upon their own interpretations of the writings of Paul.  Take these epistles away from them, and in the rest of their Bibles they have no foundation for their teaching of “Grace which has done away with the Law”.  These teachings of Paulinism have influenced the teachings of most of the denominations of Christianity and it forms part of the ‘pagan baggage’ which the noble Hebrew Roots Restoration Movement has not fully recognized yet for what it really is.   To these people, Paul has virtually superseded the Nazarene whose servant he should have been.  Paul’s words and interpretations are taken above the Word of G-d as defined in the Tanach and the Torah.

On the positive side though, there is a wide awakening amongst re-awakening Ten Tribers of the Hebraic Roots Restoration awareness. This process has received fiery momentum by the knowledge explosion of the last few decades, true to the prophecy in Daniel 12:9,  “These words are to remain secret and sealed till The Time of the End ... the learned will understand”. The advent of the technology revolution has made knowledge available on a scale never imagined before.

Out of this has grown a gradual movement amongst serious and sincere Christians, back to the True System of G-d. Seventh Day Sabbath churches popped up as early as the 19th century and restored the true ‘Jewish Sabbath’. This was followed by the restoration of the Sacred Feasts of G-d (‘Jewish Feasts’) as was powerfully promoted by Herbert Armstrong’s ‘World Wide Church of God’ movement.

Then followed the Sacred Name Movement, restoring the original Hebrew versions of G-d’s Name.  And of late, there arose  “The Restoration of Hebrew Roots Movement” amongst dedicated Christian sectarians.  This movement promotes the original Biblical (‘Jewish’) customs and Hebrew language terms are used freely and intermittently. For many Restoration believers, this has led to a desire for full conversion to Judaism - which completes the full circle back to the original – as foretold in numerous Prophecies of the Tanach (O.T.).

These Hebraic Restorers and Returnees to Torah had to, and continue to ‘wrestle’ with the writings of Paul.  Notwithstanding the positive denunciation by Paul of many true tenets of Judaism, many of these Returnees, while defending Paul, are nevertheless progressively returning to the Law and Customs of Judaism, the Original True Faith.

The contents of the study above and its headlong confrontation with ‘Paul’s written statements’,  should shed much light on the true facts, namely, that only G-d is infallible and mankind, including the powerful apostle Paul,  are merely beings ‘of like passion’. Source: