From the Preface

One of the primary issues in New Testament studies today is the place of Paul in the formation of the Christian church. Did he simply advance the teachings of Yeshua (Jesus) as the Apostle to the Gentiles, or did he begin something new?1 Some scholars have gone as far as to say that Paul was a complete farce, deceiving himself and those who read his epistles.2 Others have concluded that Paul’s teachings were molded and reformed to fit a post- Apostolic Christianity that needed to define itself away from the synagogue.

As more and more of God’s people are returning to an appreciation of the Torah as God’s design for His people, the teachings of Paul are a constant matter for discussion. Did he, as so many have claimed, think that the Law or the Torah was actually something that would impede the success of the gospel among the Gentiles? Was he convinced that Yeshua had initiated a new era in which the Torah was no longer relevant to the daily life of the believer and did he write to the congregations of his day to convince them of this “new way?”

Or has Paul been misunderstood? Have his teachings been interpreted from a prejudice fostered in the post-Apostolic church, a prejudice which saw all things “Jewish” as inferior to the way of the “gospel?” Is it possible that Paul never moved away from a typical Jewish love for Torah and that we have read him with theological eyes jaundiced by years of tradition?

In the books I hope to write (as the Lord gives grace and ability), I want to focus on these questions by looking at Paul himself—seeking to know as best we can what his background was, his training, his worldview, and how these factors may inform his writings. I want to look again at the history given to us in Acts, and at Paul’s epistles themselves, and listen to what he says about the Torah. In all, I want to look at three broad arenas: The Letter Writer, in which his background and worldview will become the backdrop for understanding his view of the Torah; The Letters, in which a closer look at the actual texts dealing with the issue of Torah will be addressed; and The Letter Reader, suggestions for how Paul’s view of the Torah could be implemented among the redeemed people of God.

The steady flow of scholarly books on Paul shows that Pauline studies are going through a significant reformation. The groundbreaking book of E. P. Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism (1977) has finally required scholarship in general to rethink Paul from the ground up. Several books that appear to be significant responses to and further reworking of Sanders have unfortunately arrived too late to be consulted for my work in this book. They are: Justification and Variegated Nomism edited by Carson, O’Brien, and Seifrid (Baker Books, 2001), Paul and the New Perspective by Seyoon Kim (Eerdmans, 2002), and Paul, the Law, and the Covenant by A. Andrew Das (Hendrickson, 2001). Likewise Thomas Schreiner’s Paul: Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ (IVP, 2001) arrived in my hands too late for significant interaction in preparation for writing on Paul’s theology. Gabriele Boccaccini’s work Roots of Rabbinic Judaism (Eerdmans, 2002) is also an important work that has just appeared.

In writing this book I have once again been made aware of my many inadequacies. Yet in spite of my weaknesses, it is my earnest hope that these words might lead many to reconsider and even embrace God’s teaching, the Torah, for what it truly is: Abba’s gracious and loving teaching in righteousness; Messiah-centered instruction that calls the righteous to walk by faith.

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