This is the continuation of “Paul the Apostle (1) – Law and Works” and “Paul the Apostle (2) – The Chameleon?”. I encourage you to read Parts 1 and 2 first; the material won’t be repeated here.
The Bible New Testament (NT) says that only Jesus the God-man was sinless (1Pe.2:21-22). We humans all make mistakes and sin. A few Old Testament (OT) and NT incidents: Jacob deceived his father Isaac; Moses struck the rock the Lord told him to speak to; David committed adultery; Peter denied Jesus three times; Thomas doubted Jesus’ resurrection.
I’ve been defending Paul, in Paul (1) and Paul (2). But Paul/Saul (Ac.13:9) too had his faults and made mistakes. The Pauline epistles show that his understanding of scripture and of Jesus was incomplete. Yet Paul and the letters attributed to him have had a huge impact on religion! Wikipedia: Paul the Apostle “From Antioch [Ac.11:19-26] the mission to the Gentiles started, which would fundamentally change the character of the early Christian movement, eventually turning it into a new, Gentile religion.”
Let’s assess Paul’s character and actions. Saul/Paul said he studied in Jerusalem “at the feet of” the famous Gamaliél (Ac.22:3). Gamaliel was the first teacher given the title rabban (above rabbi). Saul was an apt student, and surpassed his peers (Ga.1:13-14). The unconverted Pharisee Gamaliel advised tolerance toward Jewish Christians (Ac.5:38)! But the unconverted Pharisee Saul (Ac.23:6) ravaged and imprisoned Jewish Christians (Ac.8:1-3). He threatened and murdered them (Ac.9:1). Saul even sided with the rival Sadducee high priest (Ac.5:17, 7:1, 58-59, 9:1), in stoning Stephen! What all were Saul’s motives, in that he didn’t follow the tolerant advice of his esteemed teacher, a fellow Pharisee? It’s unclear. Nevertheless Mic.6:8 “What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.” (Mt.23:23 Jesus noted justice, mercy and faith, alluding to Mic.6:8.) Gamaliel’s good advice also reflected mercy, but the actions of Saul didn’t. It seems Saul/Paul disregarded his acclaimed tutor. Though later Paul dropped Gamaliel’s name when defending himself as a believer in Jesus (Ac.22:1-3)!
Was Paul distantly related to Herod; further motivation? Paul’s father was a Benjamite (Php.3:5). Paul wrote in Ro.16:11, “Greet Herodíon [Strongs g2267, Greek], my kinsman”. Paul was Herodion’s relative, who was perhaps kin to Herod’s family. The Iduméan Herod 1 the Great was raised as a Jew. Dr. Taylor Marshall Was St Paul Related To Herod? “Saul/Paul favored the theology of the Pharisees before his conversion, but his family connections relate him to the inner circle of Herod Agríppa. In the first century, Hebrews with Roman privilege were linked to the Roman appointed rulers of Palestine – the Herod’s. Saul/Paul gained his Roman citizenship by birth. The Pharisees and the Herodiáns worked together!” Mk.3:6 “The Pharisees went and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians [g2265] against Jesus.”
The Jerusalem church leaders sent Barnábas to lead the early church at Antioch in Syria (Ac.11:22-26). As it grew, Barnabas went to Tarsús in Cilicía to get the now converted Paul (ref Ac.9:1-22) whom he’d mentored (Ac.9:27), to assist him in Antioch. Ac.14:12 the pagans at Lýstra called “Barnabas Zeus, and Paul Hermés”. Zeus was the chief pagan deity; whereas Hermes was Zeus’ son, lesser. Dr. Heikki Raisanen Paul and the Law, p.253 “For quite a long time Paul worked as junior partner of Barnabas.”
Paul considered both Barnabas & himself apostles, 1Co.9:5-6. However, Paul didn’t witness Jesus’ resurrection. 1Cor.15:8-9 Paul acknowleged, “I am as one untimely born, the least of the apostles”. He’s been called Jesus’ ‘after-taught’. (Though elsewhere Paul said he reckoned he “isn’t inferior to the chiefest of the apostles”, 2Co.11:5.) There’s no indication that Saul knew Jesus prior to Jesus’ ascension.
Due to Paul’s misunderstanding of eschatological timing, ca 55 AD he advised Christians in Greece not to marry, 1Co.7:24-31. What?! Paul wrongly presumed time was “short….the present form of this world is passing away”. (cf. Php.4:5, Ro.13:11-12.) Dr. Tony Garland Paul and the Imminent Return of Jesus “The apostle thought that the 2nd advent of the Lord would take place in his time. He seemed so sure about it. He goes on to even dissuade marriages among Christians (provided they can exercise self-control).” How could Paul, who asserted he was taught by Jesus in visions (Ga.1:12, 2Co.12:1), make a mistake so life-altering?
Unlike Jesus’ original apostles, Paul didn’t audibly hear Jesus’ Olivet prophecy, about “this generation shall not pass” (Mk.13, Mt.24). We Christians believe Jesus is/tells the truth! But Paul misunderstood the region & the scope, so Europeans best not marry. Jesus’ relative James wrote ca 50 AD. Ja.5:9 “The Judge [Jesus] is standing at the door.” (Good News Translation “The Judge is near, ready to appear.”) James, leader of the Jerusalem church; he understood. JFB Commentary Ja.5:9 “The Lord coming to destroy Jerusalem is primarily referred to.” Jesus ‘came’ as Judge against those Jews in Judea who opposed Him.
Dr. S.G. Wilson The Gentiles and the Gentile Mission, p.71-76 “What did Mark mean in 13:12-ff? It appears that he saw the destruction of Jerusalem as connected to the End. Lk.13:1-9, an impending judgment on Israel. He [Luke] could have meant the destruction of Jerusalem, prophesied elsewhere. This was probably Jesus’ meaning, an integral part of End events.” Jerusalem/Judea and the temple would be destroyed in 70 AD. But the “present form of this world” wasn’t passing away then. Paul erred.
Jesus had told His disciples (Peter, James & John, Andrew) of the temple’s destruction back in Mk.13:1-4, 14, 30. “When you see the abomination of desolation, let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. I say to you, ‘This generation shall not pass until all these things take place.” Jews living then. In the parallel Mt.24:1-3, 15-20, Jesus told them to pray their flight from Judea wouldn’t be on the Sabbath day. Also Lk.21:5-7, 20-22 “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, recognize her desolation is at hand. Let those in Judea flee to the mountains. For these are the days of vengeance.” Vengeance is the Lord’s (De.32:41), coming as Judge against antagonistic disbelieving Jews in Judea.
The ‘mountains’ they fled to (east of the Jordan River) weren’t to be destroyed. Greece wasn’t destroyed. Wikipedia: History of Jews in Greece “The Jews of Greece didn’t participate in the First Jewish-Roman War [66-73 AD] or later conflicts.” Paul could have sought counsel from Peter, John, or Barnabas’ relative Mark who wrote the gospel account. They knew Jesus’ Olivet prophecy. But there’s no indication Paul asked them. His mistaken advice to Corinth against marrying wasn’t good. In that, Paul contradicted God’s word of Ge.2:18 “It is not good for the man to be alone” and Gen.1:28 “Be fruitful and multiply”. (All this isn’t to imply that Jesus won’t come again, e.g. Ac.1:9-11, 3:19-21. see “The Last Days” topic.)
Maybe Paul, in his mind, misapplied Je.16:1-4. The Lord had told Jeremiah to “not take a wife” in Judea, prior to Nebuchadnézzar’s horrific siege of Jerusalem in 587 BC (Je.38:23, 39:1)! cf. Ezk.24:18-21. The Lord then told the Jewish exiles in Babylon to “take wives and beget sons and daughters” (Je.29:4-6). And Paul was writing to Greece…not to Jerusalem/Judea which Rome would destroy in 70 AD. (Paul’s outlook in 1Co.7:1, 26-27 also contradicts his allowance in 1Co.7:2.) 1Co.7:26-ff his advice may have caused a moral nightmare for church leaders in Greece, pertaining to unmarried sex! And there’d be no family, no sons or daughters, as descendants for those Christians! No son to help provide for those aging (social security didn’t pay much back then). Paul gave them unwarranted bad advice! Surely Jesus didn’t tell him to disfavor wedlock in Greece. Yet Paul tried to reinforce his notion, v.40 “I think I have the Spirit of God”.
Paul’s advice wasn’t ‘inspired by God’. De.18:22 “If his prediction doesn’t happen, the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You shall not revere him [Aramaic Bible].” Over the centuries, numerous Christian leaders have set wrong dates for Christ’s ‘return’. But few of them erred as drastically as Paul; most all who thought ‘time was short’ didn’t advise their followers to stay single. If a church leader today tells his followers not to marry, presuming ‘the end’ is near, he’d risk being labeled a wacky cult leader!
baptistnews.com Problems With Second Coming Theology “The apostle Paul was apparently convinced that Christ’s coming/parousía would happen soon. He told the unmarried in the church at Corinth it would be best if they stayed unmarried because the world as they knew it was about to end (1Cor.7:25-31)….And here we are two millennia later.” Paul’s understanding was flawed. Yet later in the 60s AD, in 1Ti.5:14 Paul advised “that the younger widows marry, bear children”. Paul’s expectation changed?
Re.21:10, 14 the apostle John envisioned the wall of the city New Jerusalem having “12 foundation stones, on which were the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb”. Jesus’ original disciples (11 men) plus Matthias, Judas’ replacement. Cambridge Bible Re.21:14 “St Paul being excluded.” Jn.15:27, Ac.1:21-26 the 12 walked with Jesus and witnessed His resurrection. Mt.19:28 Jesus said, “When the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you shall sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel”. Paul isn’t included in either scenario! The 12 apostles would judge Paul’s tribe of Benjamin. (Ge.49:27 “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf.”) Ep.2:20 Paul himself said the church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets”. Ellicott Commentary Ep.2:20 “As in Rev.21:14, ‘the foundations’ bear ‘the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.” The 12 knew Jesus prior to His ascension, heard His ‘Sermon on the Mount’, etc.! Saul/Paul didn’t.
Yet Paul wrote in Ga.2:6-10, “Those who were highly esteemed added in conference nothing to me. James, Peter, and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship.” Bible historians say Paul wrote Galatians 15–20 years after his conversion. By then Paul should’ve known the gospel & doctrine of the 3 lead apostles, ‘pillars’ in the church (the eschatological figurative ‘temple’). And from their broad experience of having walked & talked with Jesus, they could’ve added much understanding to Paul, the self-proclaimed “least of the apostles”!
Jesus had given the “keys of the Kingdom” to Peter (Mt.16:18-19), and James was Jesus’ relative (Ga.1:19); they both spent years with Jesus in the Land! ref 1Co.15:4-9. Peter, James, Barnabas were Paul’s seniors in the faith from the lead church, in Jerusalem (Ac.15:7, 13, 19). Paul faults them. In Ga.2 Paul substantiates his ministry; he accuses in regards to a past apostolic contention at Antioch. Who was (more) at fault?
Paul rebuked Peter for racial Judaizing. Ga.2:11-14 “When Cephás [Peter] came to Antioch [Ac.12:17?], I opposed him to his face, for he stood condemned. Prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the gentiles; but he began to withdraw, holding himself aloof, fearing the circumcision party. The rest of the Jewish Christians joined him in hypocrisy. Even Barnabas was swept along with them.” But Peter had had his own experience, Ac.10, when uncircumcised gentile Godfearers at Caesárea received the Holy Spirit (HS). Maybe some racism or superiority complex still existed in the psyche of Paul-Peter from Jewish oral law? cf. Ga.2:15 Paul wrote, “We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners”.
In the 1st century, some non-Godfearer gentiles customarily ate meat from idol temples and set a place at the table for a pagan god. Paganism was the norm at Lystra in Galatia; they sacrificed to idols (Ac.14:11-13). Ga.4:8 “When you did not know God you were slaves to those who are no gods.” learnreligions.com “In terms of morality, Antioch was deeply corrupt. The famous pleasure grounds of Daphne were located on the outskirts of the city, including a temple dedicated to the Greek god Apollo.” Robertson Commentary Ac.11:20 “These Greeks in Antioch were in part pure heathen, not Godfearers like Cornelius [Ac.10:22].” Bengel Gnomen Ac.11:20 “Cornelius had been a devout gentile, but these converts [Antioch] were Greeks, idolators.” Ac.15:7 the first apostle God sent to gentiles was Peter (not Paul). Peter had said in Ac.10:35, “Every person who fears Him [Godfearers] and does righteousness is accepted by Him”. Raisanen op. cit., p.41 “Many Godfearers observe the sabbath and the food regulations.” Peter ate with Cornelius, and boldly defended his action (Ac.10–11). Peter hadn’t ‘feared’ the believing Jerusalem Jews who’d at first opposed his eating with Godfearers in Caesarea.
Possibly some Antiochian non-Godfearer converts were eating blood and meat sacrificed to idols? The churches in Pérgamos (Re.2:12-14) & Thyátira (Re.2:18-20) ate sacrifices to idols. Jews feared committing a form of ‘second-hand idolatry’; they didn’t know if leftover food had gone to the marketplace from pagan rites. see the topics “Acts 15 – Four Prohibitions” and “Sacrifices To Idols and Romans 14”.
The “men from James” (from Jerusalem) would object to eating with such! Peter & Barnabas quit eating with gentile converts. Paul himself wrote in Ro.14:3, “Let not him who eats regard with contempt him who doesn’t eat”. v.23 “Whoever has doubts, yet still eats, is condemned, because his eating isn’t from faith; whatever is not from faith is sin.” The non-eaters in Antioch were Peter, Barnabas and all Jewish Christians!
It appears a difficult choice had to be made in Antioch! Peter didn’t want to risk offending James’ “men”. Paul didn’t want the converts of he & Barnabas to be offended or misled. But Barnabas agreed with Peter. And Paul also wrote in 1Co.10:32, “Give no offense, either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God”.
Paul went on in Ga.2:16, “Knowing that a man isn’t justified by works of the law [érgon nómos], but by the faith of Jesus Christ”. Besides Galatians & Romans, “works of the law” is found elsewhere only in the Dead Sea Scrolls 4QMMT. They were selected purity rituals, cooking pots, etc. ref “Paul (1)”. Possibly Jewish converts in Antioch & Galatia and “men from James” had concerns about impurity resulting from practices of/contact with those who hadn’t been Godfearers. (cf. Jn.18:28 Jerusalem Jews didn’t enter the gentile Roman Praetorium for fear of becoming defiled for the Passover Chagigáh.) If sectarian purity rites were the concern…then Paul’s objection seems valid. Ac.15:9 God “purified their hearts by faith”.
However, eating with past pagans who didn’t do washings/míkvehs for personal hygiene and commonly ate creatures containing parasites would put group health at risk. General life expectancy in the 1st century Roman Empire was only 40-45 years! And James urged purifications, Ja.4:8, Ac.21:24-26 Paul did so.
Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica 1-2, Q.103, Art.4, Reply Obj.2 “According to Jerome, Peter withdrew himself from the Gentiles by pretense, in order to avoid giving scandal to the Jews, of whom he was the Apostle. Hence he did not sin at all in acting thus. On the other hand, Paul in like manner made a pretense of blaming him, in order to avoid scandalizing the Gentiles, whose Apostle he was.” Furthermore, Paul even claimed in 1Co.9:19-21, “to the Jews I became as a Jew”. Peter did so at Antioch (Ga.2:11-12).
J. Christiaan Beker Paul the Apostle, p.295 “In Galatia, Paul is charged with distorting the ‘Jerusalem gospel’, because his law-free gospel is attributed to his deviance from the gospel of the mother church in Jerusalem….Although he claims to be an accredited apostle, he cannot be called a personal disciple of Jesus.” Peter, James, John, Barnabas represented the ‘Jerusalem gospel’. Dr. Raisanen op. cit., p.216 “The conflict over the law; Luke’s account [Luke-Acts] serves to underline that it is Paul who is the odd man out in early [NT] Christianity.” Benson Commentary Ga.2:14 “Paul is single against Peter and all the Jews.” It’s Paul vs 2 or 3 apostles et al. Peter was an elder (1Pe.5:1). 1Ti.5:1, 19-20 Paul later told Timothy to not rebuke or accuse an elder without 2–3 supporting witnesses. Yet solely Paul accused Peter (not privately, cf. Mt.18:15) in Antioch; the ‘witnesses’ backed Peter! Paul himself counteracted what he’d instruct Timothy.
Wikipedia: Incident at Antioch “The outcome of the incident remains uncertain.” It’s not in Luke’s history of Acts. He’s generally for harmony. Only Paul felt the need to relate it. What did Paul want to achieve by telling churches in provincial or ethnic Galatia of Peter’s action in Syria? Dr. L. Michael White From Jesus to Christianity “The blowup with Peter was a failure of political bravado.” Did Paul consider Peter a rival?
Zero original apostles adopted Paul’s ‘version’ of Jesus’ gospel. Raisanen op. cit., p.198-200 “Paul is alone in setting up a contrast between the Toráh with its demands on the one hand and God’s grace or man’s faith in Christ on the other. No one else [in NT] shares Paul’s radical association of the law with sin [e.g. Ro.5:20a].” Some Bible scholars see Paul’s writings as antinomian, or partially so.
Barnabas and his assistant/co-apostle Paul also had a sharp disagreement about Mark, and separated, Ac.15:35-39. Maybe the issue at Antioch factored in? Ellicott Commentary Ga.2:13 “Antioch…The beginning of the breach which would soon afterwards lead to the definite separation of the two apostles seems to be traceable here.” Lightfoot NT Commentary Ga.2:13 “A temporary feeling of distrust [at Antioch] may have prepared the way for the dissension between Paul and Barnabas.” Barnabas and Mark then sailed to Cyprus. It seems that Paul was wrong regarding Barnabas’ relative John Mark (Ac.12:11-12, 13:5, 13, Col.4:10). Perhaps a young Mark had even met Jesus (Mk.14:50-52)? 2Ti.4:11 Paul later told Timothy, “Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me in the ministry.” Paul had a change of heart regarding Mark’s service value, or they both repented of the schism.
Luke (an eyewitness) indicated in Acts that Paul’s going to Jerusalem ca 57 AD disobeyed the Holy Spirit (HS). Ac.20:22-24 the HS kept warning that bonds and afflictions awaited Paul if he went to Jerusalem. But Paul was determined to go, regardless. Ac.21:3-4 Christians at Tyre told Paul “through the Spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem”. v.8-15 then at Philip’s house in Caesarea the prophet Ágabus bound his own hands & feet with Paul’s belt, telling him “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt”. Luke and the others besought Paul with tears not to go!
But Paul wouldn’t be dissuaded. 2020scripturalvision.com “God graciously warns him. God said no but Paul said go….a sin of omission.” A martyr complex? sermons.logos Paul Is Warned “Could our hesitancy to assign blame to Paul be an indication of our holding him in too high regard? Even Paul was capable of acting apart from God’s will.” Ac.21:31-33 and at Jerusalem, the Roman chíliarch did bind Paul.
Pastor Ray Stedman Paul’s Mistake “Even Paul’s close associates recognized the voice of the Spirit, to which the apostle seemed strangely deaf. He refused to listen. Here we see what can happen to a man of God when he is misled by an urgent hunger to accomplish a goal which God has not given him to do.” The afflictions Paul was to suffer (Ac.9:16) needn’t have included chains in Jerusalem. Cambridge Bible Ac.26:17 “The mission to the Gentiles seems to have been made clear to Saul from the very first.” Ac.22:17-21 in defending himself, Paul recounted how the Lord years ago had told him to “Make haste and get out of Jerusalem; they won’t accept your testimony concerning Me. Go! I will send you far away to the gentiles.” That was still Jesus’ will. Paul wasn’t to prove Christ to Jews in Jerusalem!
Paul’s disregarding the HS had grave repercussions! According to the church historian Eusebius, Paul’s presence then in Jerusalem even factored into those Jews slaying Jesus’ relative James a few years later!
Eusebius (265-340 AD) Ecclesiastical History 2:23:1-2, The Martyrdom of James “After Paul, in consequence of his appeal to Caesar [Ac.25:11-12], had been sent to Rome by Festus [Procurator in Judea, succeeding Felix], the Jews, being frustrated in their hope of entrapping him [Paul]…turned against James, the brother of the Lord. They demanded that he [James] renounce his faith in Christ. He, before the whole multitude confessed that our Lord and Savior Jesus is the Son of God. But they were unable to bear the testimony of the man [James] who was esteemed by all as the most just of men, and consequently they slew him.” Jesus had told Paul to go to gentiles (Ep.3:8), not to Jerusalem ca 57 AD.
Paul reminded Timothy in 2Ti.3:15-16, “From a child you have known the holy scriptures. All scripture inspired by God is useful.” The scriptures Timothy had as a child was the OT. Not Paul’s letters. Zero OT books themselves are letters! 1st century AD writers of epistles, such as Paul, wouldn’t have considered their epistles ‘holy scripture’. (Paul’s letters are longer than most 1st century letters, though not Rev.) Tim Hegg The Letter Writer, p.157 “It is hardly possible that he [Paul] thought his own writings to be on the same canonical level as the books of Moses.” Jesus’ red-letter spoken words were likely regarded as ‘scripture’, cf. 1Ti.5:18 & Lk.10:7.
2Pe.3:15-17 Peter said Paul’s letters are “hard to understand”. Was Peter really raising them to the level of ‘God’s written word’!? Paul acknowledged that some of his writing was just his own opinion (at times plainly mistaken, e.g. 1Co.7:26-31), not God-breathed. ref 1Co.7:6, 12, 2Co.8:8. Yet the elderly apostle Peter in 2Pe.3:15 spoke graciously of Paul as a “brother”, though not as an “apostle”. christianquestions.com/doctrine “There is no written record of either God or Jesus confirming Paul’s apostleship [?]. We only have Paul himself saying he is an apostle, along with a claim by his friend Luke in Acts [14:14].” In the NT text, Jesus’ original apostles don’t refer to Paul specifically as an “apostle”. Ga.2:9 they did recognize Paul and previously Barnabas (Ac.11:22-24) as fellow-laborers.
2Pe.3:18 Peter went on to say that Christians are to “grow in the grace and knowledge” of Jesus. Paul, and Peter too, ‘grew’ over the years. While learning to walk with the Lord in His will, Paul, and we too, have misstepped; we’ve made mistakes.
But God is compassionate. Ps.103:8, 12 KJV “The Lord is merciful and gracious. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Upon repentance, He forgives the mistakes and sins of Paul, of Peter, and of us. Thanks be to God!
This topic is continued in “Paul the Apostle (4) – Discrepancies”. There, are cited several scriptural discrepancies & contradictions found in the epistles that bear Paul’s name.
Bible Topic Exposition 