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There are some Torah-abiding Messianic and law-following Christian believers who have rejected Paul as a false apostle and prophet. This article will affirm that Paul was a true apostle and prophet of God and declare that those who reject Paul are misguided and misinformed by mainstream Christianity’s teachings, and are not understanding the true meanings of Paul’s Scripture writings.
At the heart of the matter as to why some have decided to reject Paul is the following Romans verse:
ROMANS 6:14 (NKJV):
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but grace.
Romans 6:14 is perhaps the single greatest twisted verse in all of Scripture. The mainstream Christian gospel of grace rejects the need for believers to repent, live righteously, and obey God’s laws. Lawless-minded believers use Romans 6:14 to reject God’s Tanakh (Old Testament) laws, live lawlessly, teach others to live lawlessly, and to live solely under God’s grace. The mainstream Christian gospel of grace rejects the need for believers to repent and to live righteously by obeying God’s laws.
Lawful-minded Messianic and Christian believers have rightfully rejected the gospel of grace that negates the need for repentance and righteous living. In doing so, some have incorrectly accepted mainstream Christianity’s twisted teaching and understanding of Paul’s words, recorded in Romans 6:14, and have therefore rejected Paul as a false apostle and prophet who advocated lawlessness and infinite grace.
MATTHEW 5:17-19 (NKJV):
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Yeshua (Jesus) plainly stated that He did not come to destroy the law and that the law would not pass away. Believers who reject Paul claim that Paul’s words contradict Yeshua’s (Jesus’) words in the B’rit Hadashah (New Testament), so therefore Paul should be rejected as a false apostle and prophet.
PAUL’S WORDS IN ROMANS 6:14 ARE TAKEN OUT-OF-CONTEXT, TWISTED, AND ARE DIFFICULT FOR SOME TO
UNDERSTAND
2 PETER 3:15-16 (NKJV):
Our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, IN WHICH ARE SOME THINGS HARD TO UNDERSTAND, WHICH UNTAUGHT AND UNSTABLE PEOPLE TWIST to their own destruction, as they do also THE REST OF THE SCRIPTURES.
The Apostle Peter confirms the Apostle Paul as having wisdom that was recorded in his written epistles, of which some things contained within them are hard to understand, which improperly taught people twist to their own destruction. Peter also confirms that Paul’s written epistles are Scripture. Peter mentions Paul’s writings as being part of the rest of the Scriptures, thereby confirming Paul’s writings as Scripture. Paul wrote in Romans that we should not sin freely and live under grace alone, but we should establish, not make void, the law:
ROMANS 3:31 (NKJV):
Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, WE ESTABLISH THE LAW.
ROMANS 6:1-2 (NKJV):
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
ROMANS 6:6 (NKJV):
Our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
ROMANS 6:11-13 (NKJV):
Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
ROMANS 6:15 (NKJV):
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
Does Paul contradict his own writings, and the rest of the Scriptures, with his most often quoted (and twisted) verse, Romans 6:14?
ROMANS 6:14 (NKJV):
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
Scripture does not contradict Scripture. Paul’s writings are Scripture and he did not contradict himself, nor did he contradict the rest of the Scriptures. Romans 6:14, when taken out-of-context and read alone, has been twisted by many in mainstream Christianity for the deceitful intent purpose to live lawlessly, and to teach others to likewise live lawlessly, under grace alone.
Romans 6:14 should be understood by believers in the following manner:
ROMANS 6:14 (NKJV) [WITH INTERPRETATION]:
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under [THE ORDINANCES FOR BREAKING THE] law but under [GOD’S FAVOR AND SANCTIFYING] grace.
Yeshua (Jesus) paid the ordinance penalty for us, for our breaking of the law, which was death. Yeshua (Jesus) did not die so that we could sin freely and live under infinite, unending, unlimited grace.
MATTHEW 7:15 (NKJV):
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”
MATTHEW 7:21-23 (NKJV):
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
MATTHEW 24:11-12 (NKJV):
“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because LAWLESSNESS WILL ABOUND, the love of many will grow cold.”
Many false prophets in mainstream Christianity have taken a few difficult things Paul has written out-of-context, twisted the meanings of his words, and have deceived many into believing that they are permitted to live lawlessly under perpetual grace.
It is not the law-abiding who will be turned away from entering the kingdom of heaven by Yeshua (Jesus), but the lawless (Matthew 7:23).
Paul is a true apostle and prophet of God who did not advocate living lawlessly in a state of perpetual grace. Paul wrote that sin shall not have dominion over us, that we should not be slaves of sin, thereby negating the idea that we can keep sinning freely. Paul said that we should certainly not continue in sin to establish grace, so that grace should abound, but stated we should no longer sin and establish the law (Romans 3:31. 6:1-15).
The objections to Paul’s writings come from some law-abiding, Messianic believers, who would like to dismiss Paul’s epistles as being unscriptural. Yet, the Apostle Peter confirms Paul’s writings as being part of the Scriptures (2 Peter 3:15-16).
The objectors of Paul’s Scripture letters do not understand God’s purpose in using Paul writings to serve His kingdom’s purpose. God inspired all of the apostles’ writings, and Paul’s epistles were also inspired (2 Timothy 3:16).
Certainly, the Tanakh (Old Testament) is clear. God’s commandments are eternal, perpetual, and they shall not pass away. Numerous verses confirm this. The epistles of Paul are not essential to the Scriptures.
What then was God’s purpose with some of the apparent ambiguous Scripture language used in the writings of the Apostle Paul?
MARK 4:2-9 (NKJV):
Then He [YESHUA (JESUS)] taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching:
“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”
And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Paul is a sower, as are all of the apostles. Some of Paul’s words have been misused by false prophets as a means to abolish the commandments of God, to make many fall by the wayside, to fall by the stony ground, to choke and wither away, to yield no fruit.
God has used Paul’s words to separate the good crop from the bad crop, the good seed from the tares (Matthew 13:24-43), the great from the least, those who seek to worship Him in spirit and truth, obeying all of His commandments, from those who obey only some of His commandments (Matthew 5:18-19; John 4:23-24; 1 John 4:4-6).
