Did Paul Contradict Jesus’ Statements About God’s Law?
Did the Apostle Paul teach differently concerning God’s law than Jesus did in the Gospel accounts?
Romans 3:28: “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”
Paul is not teaching here that God’s law has been made void. As with Jesus when He spoke to the rich young ruler, Paul rather insisted that aligning with God’s law is essential for having faith in Jesus. Unlike many today who use Paul’s words out of context, Paul did not preach a faith in Jesus that does not require subjection to God’s law. Those who use Romans 3:28 to say Paul contradicted Jesus are depending on you not reading and regarding the verses which are immediately afterwards.
Romans 3:29-31: “Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”
Now consider Ephesians 2:14-15: “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain (i.e. two) one new man, so making peace;”
Paul is speaking about how Jews and Gentiles are brought together in one body through faith in Christ. Paul is obviously referring to the ceremonial aspect of the Law of Moses in Ephesians 2:14-15. However, it must be pointed out that Jesus was surely including the ceremonial aspect of the Law of Moses when He said the following.
Matthew 5:17-18: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
Was Paul teaching then that the ceremonial aspect of the law passed away in Ephesians 2:14-15? No, not in the sense that Jesus was speaking of in Matthew chapter 5. We still need to hear it and take heed to what it teaches. The Mosaic ceremonies themselves point to a time when the need to actually perform them would be abolished. To deny that is to deny that redemption from sin is only in Jesus Christ and negate the significance of His first coming.
We are still obligated to take heed to the things which the Mosaic ceremonies teach about being redeemed from sin and being reconciled to God through Christ. This is surely not so with lawless professing Christians and Jews who reject Jesus as the Messiah. Yet it is also great presumption and strange fire to attempt to keep the Mosaic ceremonies now. That is because Gentile Christians were released from these through the Acts 15 council. Ephesians 2:14-15 echoes what was decreed at that council. The decrees made at that council were arrived at collectively by the Apostles. Paul did not teach differently than they did after that council as he had not taught differently than them beforehand.
Every principle and lesson which is related to the Mosaic ceremonies remains in full force. Rather than teaching otherwise, Paul proved that he believed this.
1 Corinthians 5:6b-8: “… Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
When Paul told the Corinthians to keep the feast (in relation to Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread), he was referring to putting away sin which leaven represents in relation to these.
Ephesians 2:14-15 refers to Gentiles no longer being required to convert to Judaism in order to be partakers of God’s covenant. Jewish Christians eventually also stopped observing the Mosaic ceremonies since they could not faithfully keep them after the Jewish Temple was destroyed in AD 70.
Did Jesus Himself say within the Gospel accounts that a time was coming when the Mosaic ceremonies would no longer be observed by God’s own appointment? Yes. He did so by warning of the destruction of the Temple.
Luke 21:5-6: “And as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
No one can faithfully keep the Mosaic ceremonies without the Levitical Priesthood in place and the Temple. This destroys the basis for Messianic Judaism and all isms which attempt to place anyone under the ceremonial laws of Judaism. The Law of Moses taught that the Jewish feasts (which are an aspect of the Mosaic ceremonies) had to be kept in the land formerly known as Canaan in the place God would choose to cause His name to dwell. It can be seen in Acts 18:21 how Paul knew he needed to go to Jerusalem to keep the feast which he intended to keep at that particular time. Most of the Mosaic ceremonies require the Tabernacle (which had become incorporated into the Temple) and a functioning Levitical Priesthood to faithfully perform. A crucial related lesson here is that Judaism is now utterly impossible to faithfully practice in line with the Law of Moses while Biblical Christianity is possible to faithfully practice anywhere on earth.
We also read in Luke 21:24: “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”
The times of the Gentiles continue to this day. The Lord’s appointed worship is not centered in Jerusalem at this time nor will it be until Jesus returns. The establishment of the modern nation of Israel is in itself an act of rebellion against Jesus Christ. That is because He kicked the Jews out of the land long ago through the Romans for their rejection of Him on a national level. Modern Israel being allowed to exist for over 75 years now has resulted in many obtaining an ungodly delusion that has caused them to believe that the Israelis and their supporters are getting away with this sin. The shattering of that delusion will only be all the more remarkable when modern Israel is judged with extreme severity. In relation, it is very foolish now to continue living in Israel due to the severe judgment hanging over it.
Attempting to rebuild the Temple after AD 70 before Jesus returns is an even greater act of rebellion against Him. It has indeed been tried before without success. If such an attempt were to be successful, it would also be a great delusion which would also culminate in an utterly severe judgment.
Jesus’ death, resurrection, second coming, Judgment Day, and lessons pertaining to these things are basically the substance of the things foreshadowed by the Mosaic ceremonies. The realities which these ceremonies represent remain. Since this is so, neither one jot nor one tittle has passed from the law.
It is important to understand that Paul often addressed abuses of the law which were prevalent among the Jews in his epistles. Not accounting for this reality can make it seem like he preached a lawless gospel. Yet failing to account for this reality involves lying or at least being extremely irresponsible with the Bible. Since this failure is very common, many indeed preach a lawless gospel which is based on twisting verses from Paul’s epistles.
Here are some key examples along these lines.
Philippians 3:6: “Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.”
When Paul said that he was “touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless” in regard to his former life, he meant that he had adhered to the Mosaic ceremonies as strictly as anyone. If the sacrifices prescribed in the ceremonial law could justify anyone, he would surely have been justified by them. Yet they were intended to point people to the Messiah whose blood alone is able to take away sin. The righteousness which is through faith in Christ which Paul forsook his former life to pursue does not do away with the law. It rather delivers from transgressing the law. Those who live by faith in the real Jesus of the Bible do righteousness in accordance with the morality of the Law of Moses through the power of God’s Spirit.
Romans 8:1-4: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus (my note- many stop right here- you must keep reading), who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Workers of lawlessness are not walking in a living faith in Christ.
Romans 10:4: “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”
Christ is the target or goal of the Law of Moses. Paul is addressing Jews who thought that extreme scrupulousness in the Mosaic ceremonies was able to justify them. As a result, they rejected Jesus. It is obvious that those who deny that the Jewish Messiah would have to suffer and die to make an atonement for sin before He came back to reign would reject Jesus as being the Jewish Messiah.
Romans 10:4 is not teaching that people can throw away the law when they come to Jesus. He is the King who gave the law through Moses. Christians are still obligated to walk in the morality of the Law of Moses in order to live by faith in Jesus. In order to believe in Him unto justification, one must turn from transgression of the law. In order to continue in faith in Him and remain justified, one must continue in subjection to the law. How can you abide in Jesus without referencing His law as the guide to doing what is pleasing to Him? You cannot. Though works cannot earn salvation, they are a necessary expression of faith. As is seen in Romans 3:31, Romans 8:4, and all over the New Testament, the law must be referenced as a guide to walking in a living faith in Christ and continually obeyed.
The rich young ruler who came to Jesus and asked what good thing he should do that he might have eternal life had already been a faithful Jew outwardly who practiced the Mosaic ceremonies. If Jesus had taught differently than Paul within the Gospel accounts, He would have told the rich young ruler that he needed to be more scrupulous and exact in his performance of the Mosaic ceremonies in response to the man’s question. Jesus rather answered the young man by essentially confronting his idolatry concerning his possessions and telling him that he needed to forsake that in order to have eternal life. The Apostle Paul preached in agreement with what Jesus told the rich young ruler.
Acts 26:19-21: “Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me.”
Ephesians 5:5-6: “For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.”
Romans 6:14: “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”
As in Galatians 5:18, when Paul spoke of not being under the law here, he was referring to not being under the law’s condemnation. It is seen in Galatians 5:19-21 that those who practice sin will not inherit the kingdom of God. Look how Paul continued after Romans 6:14.
Romans 6:15-16: “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
Jesus also said the same basic thing in the Gospel accounts as Paul said in Romans 6:14-16.
John 8:31-36: “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
Those who are not under condemnation could not be so without being in agreement with God’s law and submitted to walk in righteousness as defined thereby. Without the atonement Jesus made on the cross, they would yet be bound by sin and under condemnation. Jesus’ authority and redemption only work hand in hand. As the Passover Lamb had to be eaten in its entirety, He must be received in His entirety in order to partake of His grace. He is the ultimate King as well as the only Savior from sin. Law without grace leaves man utterly hopeless since God’s law only works wrath without grace in the equation. Grace without law is a delusion. The true God is not mocked and His authority will always prevail. His grace is only given to those who are aligned with His law in repentance and looking to the only remedy which He has provided for sin in Jesus Christ.
Aaron’s email is: gospeltruth768@yahoo.com