There is so much confusion in the religious world today with regards to the Old and New Testaments. It is amazing. There are people claiming these are two different gospels. Others claiming that the Old Testament was only for the Jews and the New Testament for the Gentiles. Some claim the Ten Commandments are “fulfilled” and abolished, while others claim we must keep all 600+ laws of the Old Testament. And some claim that Jesus only came for the Jews and nothing He taught is for us, the Gentiles. (The text they chose to verify this is John 3:16. “For God so loved the “Jew”, that He gave His only Son, that whoever “of the Jew” believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16. Amazing how people overlook the simplest texts while they jump over the moon to try and prove their wild and satanic ideas. But that is what happens when we selfishly hold on to a belief system that doesn’t work. 2 Peter 3:16)
The arguments go back as far as the day after Christ ascended to Heaven. It really comes down to one concept, “I don’t want to live in obedience to Jesus.” People love their sins and they don’t want to give them up. The spirit of Lucifer and his rebellion against the Law of God is deeply seated in the human heart.
In the books Paul authored, he attempts to bring people out of the luciferin grip of rebellion and back to the love and freedom Jesus offers through obedience to the Ten Commandments. Let us follow Paul in his attempt to separate the temple laws of sacrifices, services, rituals, circumcision, traditions, feast days and rites (in short, from going to church) from the simple keeping of the Ten Commandments for our eternal life.
Galatians 2:1 to Galatians 2:21
Then fourteen years later I again went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus with me.
At times, I think, we subconsciously compact the timelines of the Bible. We read a book of the Bible and forget the immense amount of time that can take place between the first chapter and the last. For example, in the book of Daniel, between the first chapter and the last chapter, there are about 70 years in the writing and over 2,600 years in content. Think about that. The book of Jeremiah was written over twenty-three years. Listen to Jeremiah. “For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened.” Jeremiah 25:3. No they did not. Neither are the churches listening today.
Then, of course, there are those who read Genesis and assume that Exodus came a few months later. Just because the books are side by side in the Bible doesn’t mean they were a few years apart. There were approximately 2,400 years from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Genesis. According to Exodus 12:40, there were 430 years from the beginning of Exodus until Israel came out of Egypt. (Some understand the 430 years to begin with Abraham.) Understanding time is very important in understanding when certain conditions and rites and activities were required by God and when they were finished by God. Time is important in understanding how and why God did what He did with the people of their era, and the understanding of God for our time.
For many it gets worse when reading the New Testament. Many look at the writings of Paul and on a subconscious level seem to think he sat down and wrote all those books right after being converted. For many, subconsciously, they think Jesus walked around teaching from the books of Paul. What am I trying to say? It has to do with Paul’s theology. Many pastors, churches and denominations think Paul was converted a few days after Christ rose from the tomb, wrote his books a few days later and the early Christians threw out the Old Testament and began reading and living by the “new” theology given by Paul.
What most do not realize is, there was no “new” Testament as we have it today, until 300 years after Christ. As we see in this first text, Paul hadn’t written much, if anything, within the first maybe 17 years after Christ. For those 17 years he was still in the formative years of traveling, learning and setting up churches. Most of Paul’s writings were written approximately 17 years after Christ and about 30 years after Christ as a prisoner.
I went in response to a revelation, and in a private meeting with the reputed leaders, I explained to them the gospel that I’m proclaiming to the gentiles.
What was Paul teaching? All he had was the Old Testament! He told Timothy, years later, to study the Old Testament for his salvation. “From childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings (Old Testament), which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:15-17.
Therefore, what was he teaching to the Gentiles? The Old Testament! What Jesus revealed to him personally through revelation was Himself as revealed in the Old Testament. Jesus didn’t give Paul a new gospel. How could He? Jesus commanded, just before ascending to Heaven, that the disciples were to go to the world “teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you.” Matthew 28:20. Everything Jesus taught came from the Old Testament. There is no authorization to change or modify anything Jesus taught for salvation when He was the God of the Old Testament or as God of the New Testament. He doesn’t change. Approximately five times in the Bible we are told that God doesn’t change. “For I, Jehovah, change not.” Malachi 3:6. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8. “You shall know no other gods than Me. For there is no Savior besides Me (Jesus of the Old Testament).” Hosea 13:4.
So why was the “church” in Jerusalem so disturbed by Paul’s teaching? Because he was teaching a salvation in Jesus that had nothing to do with Jewish orthodoxy: their church. Paul was teaching that circumcision, temple rites, services and feast days had nothing to do with salvation. Why did he teach this concept? Because they had nothing to do with salvation in the Old Testament. “Samuel said, ‘Does the LORD delight as much in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the LORD? Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.’” 1Samuel 15:22. “Oh, that one of you would shut the Temple doors.” Malachi 1:10. Throughout the Old Testament it was plainly stated that all those temple rites, traditions, services, sacrifices, feast days and ceremonies were useless for eternal life. “When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.” Isaiah 1:11-14. “I hate—I despise—your feast days, and your solemn convocations stink. Amos 5:21. Nowhere is it ever mentioned that God hates the Ten Commandments. They are eternal, righteous and never done away with. The Ten Commandments are the Character of Jesus.
I did this because I was afraid that I was running or had run my life’s race for nothing.
Paul wanted to work with the disciples who were in Jerusalem preaching to the Jews. Remember, the Jews were waiting for the Messiah. The disciples and early Christians were teaching that the Messiah had already come. But the converted Jews wanted to combine the knowledge of the Messiah with their temple services, rites, feast days, traditions and rituals. Those people we call “Messianic Jews” today. Keep in mind, all the temple and church laws were expressed in the concept of “circumcision”. Therefore, when Paul mentions “circumcision” he is referring to all the temple regulations wrapped up in that one term. The Jews didn’t want to let go of what was familiar and made them feel comfortable in their sins. They still wanted to hang on to their own works for salvation. And, they wanted the Gentiles to join their “church” to be saved. Paul wanted to bring this controversy to a decided head.
But not even Titus, who was with me, was forced to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.
Eventually, even the leading disciples had to admit that salvation was only through the teachings Jesus gave and coinciding with the understanding and belief in Jesus as the Messiah, the Lamb of God. Jesus never taught anything that had to do with the temple, or the nation of Israel, for eternal life. It was God’s design that the nation of Israel was to teach the world about the work of the Messiah, His coming and His Ten Commandments. They failed. Jesus taught the Ten Commandments for eternal life. That is what Paul taught. He taught that the laws of the temple rites, ceremonies and traditions of the Jews were no longer of any value, even though they had been given by God. They had only existed to point people to the Ten Commandments which were housed in the Holy of Holies, and to Jesus, the Messiah who had to die because the Ten Commandments had been broken. Everything relating to the temple, except the Ten Commandments, were done away with in Jesus. “These are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality belongs to the Messiah.” Col 2:17.
“On the fourteenth day of the month, at even, the Passover was celebrated, its solemn, impressive ceremonies commemorating the deliverance from bondage in Egypt, and pointing forward to the sacrifice that should deliver from the bondage of sin. When the Saviour yielded up His life on Calvary, the significance of the Passover ceased, and the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper was instituted as a memorial of the same event of which the Passover had been a type.” PP 539.
While the Jews wanted to make the temple, and all it encompassed, their way to heaven, it is very plain, even from Stephen, that the early disciples understood the temple was not, nor was it ever, necessary for eternal life. It simply housed the Ten Commandments. Listen to Stephen before the Sanhedrin. “But it was Solomon who built a house for Him. However, the Most High does not live in buildings made by human hands. As the prophet says, ‘Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. What kind of house can you build for Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘or what place is there in which I can rest? It was My hand that made all these things, wasn’t it?’ You stubborn people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do.” Acts 7:47-51. And why were they “stubborn”? They didn’t want to give up their temple (church) organization and all that went with it.
This concept is what has the pastors, churches and denominations all tied up in knots today. They want to make their buildings, ceremonies, feast days, rituals and traditions their salvation. They hear the word “law” and only think of the Ten Commandments. Therefore, when they hear Paul talking about doing away with the “law” they think of the Ten Commandments. But Paul, when talking about doing away with the “law” is really talking about the temple church laws of ceremonies, feast days, rituals and traditions. When Paul is talking about keeping the Law he is talking about the Ten Commandments. Same word, “law”, just applied in two very different concepts. Otherwise we make Paul and Jesus out to be idiots and liars. And remember, no liars will be in Heaven.
And of course, this is what brought out the ire of the Jews. They were not willing to dig deep into the nuance of what Paul was saying. They wanted to lump everything under the word “law” and make all the Christians conform to all the Jewish traditions, rites, rituals and services for their salvation. It was too humiliating to realize that everything they had done their whole life was meaningless for eternal life. And please keep this in mind, not once in all the Bible are we instructed to “go to church”. There was no “church” until the Babylonian Captivity. In other words, “church” is a pagan, man-made concept.
However, false brothers were secretly brought in. They slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in the Messiah Jesus so that they might enslave us.
No different today. “False brothers” are constantly being “brought in” to spy on people. The churches spy on their members. Members spy on each other. It is all of the devil. The freedom they were spying on was not a freedom from the Ten Commandments, it was freedom from the church rituals, rites, traditions, services and feast days. And by keeping the Ten Commandments they were free from sin. The church did a lot of huffing and puffing about keeping the Ten Commandments, but their actions in putting an innocent man, Jesus Christ, to death showed otherwise. And by the way, the church made money off all those church rituals, sacrifices, rites, traditions, services and feast days. Do you see the same happening in your church?
But we did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you.
And neither should we “give in to them for a moment”. The “truth of the gospel” is to always remain in us. The keeping of the Ten Commandments should always be in us. We are never to let a pastor, church or denomination bully us into substituting church rituals, traditions, rites and services for living the perfect, sinless and Commandment keeping life. Keep the gospel always within you.
One more point, God is only concerned with character development. Without a perfect character no one will enter Heaven. The Ten Commandments have to do with character building. The temple rites, services, sacrifices, holy days, feast days and traditions had nothing to do with character development. You could attend all the church nonsense and still be sinning; as the Jews were doing.
Now those who were reputed to be important added nothing to my message. (What sort of people they were makes no difference to me, since God pays no attention to outward appearances.)
You’ve seen those people in your church, haven’t you? Those who are “reputed to be important”? They walk around dressed up looking and acting so important. They walk around greeting each other by their titles and wearing church paraphernalia to look so righteous. It is all about church and belonging to the denomination. It is all about what you eat, drink and wear. They may even want you to be circumcised. They may want you to attend feast days. However, “God pays no attention to outward appearances”. God only looks at the heart and is watching to see if you are living the perfect, sinless and Commandment keeping life. No church is needed for that.
In fact, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised.
Putting aside all their outward appearances, the core truth was, Paul was teaching nothing different about salvation than the disciples at Jerusalem were. Paul and Peter were teaching the same “gospel” Jesus taught. God is the God of the whole world, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples (churches) made by man.” Acts 17:24.
For the one who worked through Peter by making him an apostle to the circumcised also worked through me by sending me to the gentiles.
Again, you must keep the timeline straight in your head. After the conversion of Paul, he didn’t go running out to the Gentiles and begin teaching them. As a matter of fact, it took many years before Paul actually began teaching Gentiles. Most of his early work was with the Jews. But when they rejected the gospel by his hand, he shook the dust off his feet and went to the Gentiles. “And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, ‘Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.’” Acts 18:6. That was approximately 51 AD, about 20 years after Christ.
So when James, Cephas, and John (who were reputed to be leaders) recognized the grace that had been given me, they gave Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the gentiles and they to the circumcised.
As in any organization, leaders look for the strengths and weaknesses of those around them. They want to utilize their strengths to their best ability. Therefore, Paul showed great power in converting Gentiles to the same gospel Peter was giving to the Jews. God uses us as best to suit His needs. Let us never interfere with what God is doing in our lives and in His work. But the work they did was not exclusive. They crossed over to all nationalities in their work.
The only thing they asked us to do was to remember the destitute, the very thing I was eager to do.
Every Christian is to be Christ-like. We must always be “eager to do” for the worthy poor.
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly wrong.
Here is where we see the “context” of what we have been talking about. Here is the living example where we are shown the practical demonstration of the difference between the laws Paul is talking about.
Until some men arrived from James, he was in the habit of eating with the gentiles, but after those men came, he withdrew from the gentiles and would not associate with them any longer, because he was afraid of the circumcision party.
Now if the fuss was only about the Ten Commandments, not a problem. But it wasn’t. Both sides agreed that the keeping of the Ten Commandments, along with keeping the 7th-day Sabbath holy, was what was needed for salvation. There is nothing in the Ten Commandments forbidding eating with gentiles. However, here we see where years of indoctrination kicked in and church rituals and traditions overcame Peter and the other Jews. The habits between the Jews and Gentiles were very different. Peter had no problem eating and associating with Gentiles until more orthodox Jews arrived from the “church”. The same is happening today in our Christian lives. We may be eating with homosexuals and murderers and sex offenders, but as soon as someone from the “church” arrives, we get hypocritical and remove ourselves.
The other Jews also joined him in this hypocritical behavior, to the extent that even Barnabas was caught up in their hypocrisy.
Habits are very hard to overcome. Whether they be eating, drinking, clothes or church, we must overcome. “Because everyone who is born from God has overcome the world.” 1 John 5:4. “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.” Revelation 3:21. Have you overcome as Jesus did? Or is your church still in control of your behavior, emotions and thinking?
But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas in front of everyone, “Though you are a Jew, you have been living like a gentile and not like a Jew. So how can you insist that the gentiles must live like Jews?”
How can you? How can we point to “sinners”, such as homosexuals, murderers and sex offenders, while continuing to sin in our own lives? Until we get out of our churches, go to Jesus and live in obedience to what He has commanded, we have no right to speak of anyone else’s sins.
We ourselves are Jews by birth, and not gentile sinners, . . .
Substitute Christian for Jews. We must read the Bible not as some story of the past to make us feel good, but as relevant to our lives today. Plug your life into the story. You can’t condemn sinners if you are sinning.
. . .yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.
The Jews, as Christians today, were not justified by all those church traditions, rites, rituals and services. The accumulation of all that was the “law” Paul was talking about. And he was talking about “justification”; not sanctification. Faith in what Jesus did and taught is our justification. Jesus lived the perfect, sinless and Ten Commandment keeping life. As we have faith in Him for keeping the Ten Commandments and being our sacrifice, so we will live in obedience to Jesus who called us to follow His example: our Sanctification. If Jesus sinned by breaking the Ten Commandments, we would have no eternal life.
We, too, have believed in the Messiah Jesus so that we might be justified by the faithfulness of the Messiah and not by doing what the Law requires, for no human being will be justified by doing what the Law requires.
All who have sinned, not just those whose sins we don’t like, but all who have sinned, yet, turned from their sins to believe in Jesus and His sacrifice for our sins, will be justified. Only Jesus through His blood can justify us. Your church can’t justify you. All the laws or rituals, rites, services, feast days, foods, clothes, what you drink and other church ordinances will do nothing for your eternal life. Church “laws” will never justify you.
Ok, so let’s get this straight. They were eating and drinking with Gentile converts, sitting with them and mixing with them. None of that is against the Ten Commandments. They were not breaking the Moral Law. The problem was, they were not “doing what the law requires” by the church. That is why looking at context with an open mind helps us to understand Paul and the words he uses. God never required those sacrifices and temple rites, rituals and ceremonies for salvation. “You take no delight in sacrifices and offerings—You have prepared My ears to listen—You require no burnt offerings or sacrifices for sin.” Psalm 40:6. Only obedience to the Ten Commandments are required for salvation. Are your ears prepared to listen?
Now if we, while trying to be justified by the Messiah, have been found to be sinners, does that mean that the Messiah is serving the interests of sin? Of course not!
Therefore, if you believe in Jesus, going to church and are still sinning, does that mean that Jesus serves the interests of sin? “Of course not!” Keep in mind, we are talking about justification, not sanctification. Go to church all you want but it won’t get you into Heaven if you are still sinning. God will not serve your “interests of sin”.
For if I rebuild something that I tore down, I demonstrate that I am a wrongdoer.
Tearing down sin in your life and then rebuilding those sins after becoming a Christian still makes you a sinner. Sitting in church won’t help you. “The person who keeps on sinning is going to die.” Ezekiel 18:4.
For through the Law I died to the Law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with the Messiah.
In the Old Testament, it was through the sacrificial temple laws, which pointed to the Messiah, by which they died once, and were justified, when they accepted the coming Messiah as the true sacrifice. Now those church sacrifices, rites, rituals, services and traditions were no longer needed for the people were now dead to those church laws. No longer needed! Jesus replaced them. They were the shadow of the Substance. As Jesus was crucified on the cross for our sins, so we are to crucify our sins and no longer live in them through obedience to the Ten Commandments as Jesus was. Instead of going to the temple to sacrifice, we go to Jesus who was sacrificed for our sins. Then we confess and turn away from our sins living in Sanctification as we live in obedience to the Ten Commandments.
I no longer live, but the Messiah lives in me, and the life that I am now living in this body I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
If you are a Christian, or claim to be a Christian, then you are no longer to live in sin since Jesus does not sin. If Jesus lives in you, then you cannot go on sinning. Light and darkness cannot dwell together. You are now to live by the faithfulness of the Son of God. How does Jesus live? Perfect, sinless and Commandment keeping. Now you can check yourself to see if Jesus is living in you.
I do not misapply God’s grace, for if righteousness comes about by doing what the Law requires, then the Messiah died for nothing.
How true! If you continue in sin, you are misapplying the grace of God. If you think you can go on sinning just because you claim to be a Christian while going to church, Jesus has died in vain for you. If you are continuing in the church laws of rites, rituals, services and traditions but refuse to live the perfect, sinless and Commandment keeping life, Jesus has died in vain for you. The grace of God in offering His life for you is in vain if you keep on sinning.
The other aspect is this: “for if righteousness comes about by doing what the Law requires, then the Messiah died for nothing.” Correct! If we were able to become righteous by doing all those church activities and sacrifices, Christ would not have had to die. But they could not justify us nor make us righteous. They could not wash away our sins. Only the death of Jesus can justify those of us who believe in, and trust in, His sacrifice.