October 5, 2025 • 44 mins
We test a hard question: did the apostles continue Jewish practice while preaching grace, and how does that reshape Acts 15, Acts 21, Galatians 2, and Romans 14? Do we see in the gospel distinction without discrimination—Jew and Gentile worshiping with one voice—while rejecting legalism’s return to boundary-making?
• Acts 15 as the table-fellowship framework for Gentiles via the apostolic decree
• Acts 21 and Paul’s purification to affirm he lived in observance of Torah
• Galatians 2 as a unity crisis, not a dietary ban on Jewish practice
• Hebrews 8 and the transition toward the new covenant consummation
• Ephesians 2 and the end of law-as-boundary, fulfilled in love
• Rethinking the “weak” in Romans 14 in synagogue settings
• AD 70’s impact on temple worship and covenantal shift
• Modern legalism critiqued; grace as the engine of love and unity
Blog Post: https://wakinguptograce.com/064-paul-rebukes-peter-part-2-galatians-2-11/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker (00:01):
Hello and welcome to the Waking Up the Grace podcast,
where we celebrate and explorethe finished work of our Lord,
Jesus Christ.
Tune in to the Waking Up toGrace podcast on every major
platform.
You can also listen to ourepisodes and read our full
transcript atWakingUpTograce.com.
And now, here's Lenny.
(00:22):
Welcome back to the podcast,everyone.
(00:54):
We left off our last study withthe question, did the apostles
practice the Mosaic Law?
This is a question that'srarely asked.
In fact, based on datacollected by Google, it appears
that this subject getsapproximately zero searches per
month.
Although there are results thatcome up for the search query,
it would seem that most of thehuman race has come to a
(01:16):
conclusion on this topicalready.
But is the popular assumptioncorrect?
Does it help us to understandour biblical text?
Today most believe that theapostles rejected observance to
Torah, especially Paul.
At the very least it's heldthat Paul fully rejected
practice of Mosaic law, beingthat his ministry went out to
(01:37):
the Gentiles.
The biggest problem we run intowith today's assumption is not
where Paul rebukes Peter inGalatians 2.11.
Paul rebuking Peter in Antiochin and of itself is no issue at
all.
We can shape that passage tofit this paradigm just fine.
It's when we get to Paul'sletter to the Romans where we
run into an issue.
There seems to be a trap set inRomans fourteen for those who
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see Paul rejecting the practiceof Mosaic law.
We'll be investigating theseissues in this study so that we
can get to the bottom of whatseems to be a contradiction in
Paul's theology.
Do you think our apostlesobserved Torah even after the
cross and resurrection?
I know I didn't.
I never would have entertainedthe notion until it presented
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itself to me.
Just the thought of this wouldhave made me see red flags
waving in the air.
Legalism would have to be atwork in a doctrine like that,
right?
Someone would have to be underthe curse of the law to even
suggest such a thing.
And here I stand, presenting itto you, and I can assure you
that this view has noconsequence in regards to the
(02:41):
grace we have been given inChrist Yeshua.
Did Peter and Paul observe thelaw?
If you've been following thisargument so far, including my
last messages number sixty twoand sixty three, you might be
starting to understand thatJewish Christians continuing in
Jewish customs didn't have toimply that they promoted a works
based salvation or a worksbased righteousness.
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Paul proclaimed justificationapart from the law, Romans 3 21,
but salvation from Christ wasbased on the law, in that the
law pointed to Christ, John 5.
This makes the gospel alaw-based salvation in a sense.
But it's not by works of thelaw that one is justified,
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Ephesians 8 2 through 9.
Whatever we believe about thelaw, we must agree that the law
was still being observed in thetransition period before the
consummation of the new covenantage.
The author of Hebrews makesthis statement regarding Torah
observance in that first centuryof the apostles.
Hebrews 8 13 reads In speakingof a new covenant, he makes the
(03:48):
first one obsolete, and what isbecoming obsolete and growing
old is ready to vanish away.
Growing old and ready to vanishis not yet irrelevant, and was
not yet obsolete.
In speaking of a new covenant,Yeshua made the first one
obsolete.
This simply means hisintroduction of the new covenant
would make the first oneobsolete when it was fully
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consummated.
But in regards to their currentstate it is written, what is
becoming obsolete and growingold is ready to vanish away.
The apostles lived at the endof the old covenant age and the
beginning of the new covenantage.
The sacrifice of Christ Yeshuafulfilled the law and those who
believed.
Matthew five seventeen reads,Do not think that I have come to
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abolish the law or theprophets.
I have not come to abolishthem, but to fulfill them.
For truly I say to you, untilheaven and earth pass away, not
an iota, not a dot will passfrom the law, until all is
accomplished.
That's Christ Yeshua.
I bring this up often becauseit's important.
And as I mentioned in Messagefifty seven, and detail out in
(04:54):
several messages following it,the return of Christ would come
at the end of the age.
Heaven and earth passing awayis not what we think.
It was prophetic language thatshould be common knowledge to
those with biblicalunderstanding.
My point is that Christfulfilled the law at the cross
and resurrection.
This made the practice of thelaw old and fading at the time
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of the apostles, and theyunderstood that the works of
Torah as they knew it would soonreach their final end.
Yeshua promised them that hewould soon return.
The question that remains inthis context is how did the
apostles deal with Torah whileit was still operative?
Was it still holy and good?
Was it holy and good for Jewsand Gentiles to practice the
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Mosaic law?
Interestingly, at the JerusalemCouncil in Acts 15, Gentiles
receive instruction on how tobehave, but we never hear a
decree for Jewish Christians.
Why do you think that would be?
The believers from the party ofthe Pharisees never receive any
behavioral instruction, nor doany Jewish Christians.
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It seems as though they alreadyhad instruction.
They only needed to stopimposing the fullness of their
customs on the Gentiles.
The apostolic decree, which wasderived from the Noahide laws,
allowed both the Jews andGentiles to share table
fellowship and accomplishGentile acceptance into the
Jewish communities, even amongthose who did not yet believe in
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Christ as Messiah.
In our last study, wediscovered that we have little
to no evidence proving thatPeter made any actual dietary
changes.
And when it comes to Paul, wehave a couple of passages that
strongly seem to indicate thathe was in fact still a
practicing Jew, even after theJerusalem Council.
My first example is toward theend of Paul's missionary
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journeys when Paul travels toJerusalem for Pentecost, despite
all who warned him not to go.
In Acts 21, 17 through 26, weread When we had come to
Jerusalem, the brothers receivedus gladly.
On the following day Paul wentin with us to James, and all the
elders were present.
After greeting them, he relatedone by one the things that God
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had done among the Gentilesthrough his ministry.
And when they heard it, theyglorified God, and they said to
him, You see, brother, how manythousands there are among the
Jews of those who have believed.
They are all zealous for thelaw, and they have been told
about you that you teach all theJews who are among the Gentiles
to forsake Moses, telling themnot to circumcise their children
(07:25):
or walk according to ourcustoms.
What then is to be done?
They'll certainly hear that youhave come.
Do therefore what we tell you.
We have four men who are undera vow.
Take these men and purifyyourself along with them and pay
their expenses, so that theymay shave their heads.
Thus all will know that thereis nothing in what they have
been told about you, but thatyou yourself also live in
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observance of the law.
But as for the Gentiles whohave believed, we have sent a
letter with our judgment thatthey should abstain from what
has been sacrificed to idols,and from blood, and from what
has been strangled, and fromsexual immorality.
Then Paul took the men, and thenext day he purified himself
along with them, and went intothe temple, giving notice when
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the days of purification wouldbe fulfilled, and the offering
presented for each one of them.
We learn several importantthings from this passage.
Let's take a moment to review,shall we?
One, there were thousands ofJewish Christians in Jerusalem
for Pentecost who were zealousfor the law.
two, these thousands ofChristians were being told that
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Paul taught Jews not to obey thelaw.
three, Paul agrees to purifyhimself and the four men in
order to display to the Jewishbelievers that he lived in
observance with the law so theywould be satisfied.
four, James reminds Paul thatthe Gentiles have received the
apostolic decree from theJerusalem Council.
First I want to say howincredible this scene must have
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been to experience.
Thousands of Jewish believersfrom all over were glorifying
Yahweh at Pentecost.
Had Israel finally become alight to the Gentile nations?
I see this as something theywould have celebrated and taken
great joy in.
The mission of the apostles wasbeing fulfilled in Jerusalem.
It would be easy to miss thisdetail due to the issues that
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had arisen.
Certain people were telling theJewish believers that Paul
spoke out against theirtraditions.
If we hold to the common viewsthat we have today, wouldn't we
see Paul thinking, What's theproblem here, James?
I do speak out against lawobservance.
Instead, Paul agrees to do whatthey recommended in order to
allow the believers to see thathe himself holds to Jewish
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tradition, and does not teachJewish Christians to reject
those things.
Is Paul playing both sideshere?
Does he secretively despise theviews of James and the others
and decide to pretend to agreewith them?
Is this what Paul means when hesays To the weak I became weak,
that I might win the weak?
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I've become all things to allpeople, that by all means I
might save some.
That's in 1 Corinthians 9 22.
Does Paul see honesty andtruthfulness as something that
can be set aside in order tohelp others?
I can't accept this about Paul,can you?
Something seems a bit off inthis thinking, in my opinion.
Another thing we must examineis would Paul consider these
(10:20):
Christians to be the weak?
Interestingly we see Jamesbring up the apostolic decree
here, which removed the burdenof circumcision and Torah from
the Gentiles, while keeping somesimple commands for them to
share fellowship with Jews.
At the Jerusalem Council, wesaw no instruction for the
behavior of Jewish believers,only that they treat Gentiles as
(10:40):
equals apart from the law.
But here we see Jamesinstructing Paul on how to be
sure the Jewish believers sawhim as obedient to Torah.
And the real kicker here isthat Paul very clearly seems to
be on the same page with Jamesand accepting of his help.
I know these facts are shockingto our paradigms, but can we
actually convince ourselves thatPaul, who went to Jerusalem,
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even though his life was on theline, backed down out of fear?
Like Peter did in Galatiansafter Paul rebukes Peter for
what seemed to be observing thelaw in Antioch?
I can't believe that aboutPaul, can you?
I see something else happeninghere.
Peter could not have beenlabeled a hypocrite by eating a
Jewish diet.
I believe Paul rebukes Peterfor separating himself from the
(11:25):
Gentiles and influencing them todesire being in the inner
circles with the Jewishbelievers who were pushing
circumcision on them.
If it was about Peter followingJewish customs, then in Acts 21
we witnessed Paul, James,Peter, and thousands of
Christians in Jerusalem playingthe hypocrite, and even
condoning each other's behaviorwhile they did it.
(11:46):
This should have beenconsidered outrageously out of
line with the gospel.
Yet they seem to have no issuewith it at all, and wanted Paul
to be seen by his Jewishbrothers as obedient to Torah.
Based on our examination, Ithink we have to deal with the
fact that Christian Jewsremained as Jews, and Christian
Gentiles remained as Gentiles,respectful of Jewish tradition,
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and meeting the minimumrequirements laid out by the
Jewish leaders for sharing inthe community.
This was the whole basis of theapostolic decree stemming from
the Noahide laws.
Both groups of people, Jew andGentile, continued as they were,
but became equals in salvation,by grace through faith, and
were to treat each other asequal.
We see distinction withoutdiscrimination.
(12:31):
Jews did not become Gentiles,and Gentiles did not become
Jews, but they came togetherwith one voice, giving praise
and glory to Yahweh, the Fatherof our Lord Yeshua Christ.
Romans 15 6.
As the story unfolds, Paul endsup getting into trouble, as was
prophesied about him prior toheading into Jerusalem.
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But it wasn't on the account ofthe believing Jews.
Luke makes this very clear forus.
Acts twenty one twenty seven.
When the seven days were almostcompleted, the Jews from Asia,
seeing him in the temple,stirred up the whole crowd and
laid hands on him, crying out,Men of Israel, help! This is the
man who is teaching everyoneeverywhere against the people
(13:12):
and the law in this place.
Moreover, he even broughtGreeks into the temple and has
defiled this holy place.
For they had previously seenTrophimus, the Ephesian, with
him in the city, and theysupposed that Paul had brought
him into the temple.
Then all the city was stirredup, and the people ran together.
They seized Paul and draggedhim out of the temple, and at
(13:34):
once the gates were shut.
Paul being as brave as he was,took the opportunity to preach
the gospel among the largecrowds who were gathered in
Jerusalem for Pentecost, despitethe Jews from Asia stirring up
his persecution.
Paul did not fear death and didnot back down when it came to
truth.
That is something I believe wecan know about Paul.
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When Paul was seized, he wasable to avoid flogging by
proclaiming he was a Romancitizen.
Paul's Roman citizenship camein quite handy for him.
That is certainly nocoincidence.
We should note that Paul hadwanted to visit Rome to preach
his gospel there, but had beenprevented thus far.
It was, however, still his planto go there.
(14:16):
Romans one nine.
For God is my witness, whom Iserve with my spirit in the
gospel of his son, that withoutceasing I mention you, always in
my prayers, asking thatsomehow, by God's will, I may
now at last succeed in coming toyou.
For I long to see you, that Imay impart to you some spiritual
gift to strengthen you, thatis, that we may be mutually
(14:36):
encouraged by each other'sfaith, both yours and mine.
I do not want you to beunaware, brothers, that I have
often intended to come to you,but thus far have been
prevented, in order that I mayreap some harvest among you, as
well as among the rest of theGentiles.
Paul made his way fromJerusalem to Rome by appealing
to Caesar and escaped beingmurdered by a Jewish mob who
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dedicated their lives to killinghim.
At the end of his ministry, hewas allowed to preach to the
Romans for two whole years whileon house arrest.
The Lord opened a door for himin a way that no one could have
ever imagined.
But rewinding back, when Paulfirst landed in Rome, he called
the Jewish leaders together andsaid this Acts twenty eight,
(15:17):
seventeen Brothers, though I haddone nothing against our people
or the customs of our fathers,yet I was delivered as a
prisoner from Jerusalem into thehands of the Romans.
What do you think he means byour people and the customs of
our fathers?
Would it not be the Jewishpeople and their customs?
What were their customs?
(15:38):
Torah was their custom, wasn'tit?
This further proves that Paullived his life in obedience to
Torah.
He was completely innocent inhis ways according to the Judaic
laws.
He was being persecuted forpreaching that Christ Yeshua was
the Messiah King from the lineof David that they awaited, and
there would be a resurrection ofthe dead.
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All of his claims were provenin the Hebrew scripture.
Christ was the fulfillment ofthe law.
Paul was constantly accused ofrejecting Torah, but he was
innocent of all chargesaccording to his own claims.
To the Jews, Paul would havebeen considered apostate for
rejecting the Mosaic law, andthat is what the Christ
rejecting among them wanted tobelieve.
(16:21):
But they could never prove itin their scripture.
Hostility was always theanswer.
On the note of hostility, it'svery interesting that despite
Paul being persecuted inJerusalem and being accepted as
well as misunderstood by manythroughout the Diaspora, the
Jewish leaders in Rome stilldidn't know what he actually
taught.
We have to realize they didn'thave a telephone.
(16:43):
In Acts twenty eight, twentyone we read, and they said to
him, We have received no lettersfrom Judea about you, and none
of the brothers coming here hasreported or spoken any evil
about you.
But we desire to hear from youwhat your views are, for with
regard to this sect, we knowthat everywhere it is spoken
against.
Are you gathering all this?
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Not only had they not heardwhat Paul was preaching
throughout the Diasporasynagogues, but they were
genuinely interested in what hehad to say.
There seems to be no hostilitywhatsoever coming from them.
Had the Gentiles in Rome donetheir job of not causing the
Jews to stumble?
Was this all in order for thestage to be set for Paul to
(17:24):
fulfill his apostolic mission inRome?
I think so, and it'sincredible.
With Paul now preaching to theJewish leaders in Rome, there
would be unity among the Jewishand Gentile believers.
The multitude of Gentilebelievers in the Roman
synagogues would display to theJews that Paul was fulfilling
prophecy everywhere he went.
Malachi one hundred elevenreads for from the rising of the
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sun to its setting, my namewill be great among the nations,
and in every place incense willbe offered to my name, and a
pure offering, for my name willbe great among the nations, says
the Lord of hosts.
Then in Isaiah fifty six, six,and the foreigners who join
themselves to the Lord, tominister to him, to love the
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name of the Lord, and to be hisservants, everyone who keeps the
Sabbath and does not profaneit, and holds fast my covenant,
these I will bring to my holymountain, and make them joyful
in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and theirsacrifices will be accepted on
my altar, for my house shall becalled a house of prayer for all
peoples.
The Lord God who gathers theoutcast of Israel declares, I
(18:34):
will gather yet others to him,besides those already gathered.
In response, those Jews couldbecome a light to all nations,
as was their purpose all along.
In Christ, together withGentiles, worshipping Yahweh,
the true living God.
I want to highlight again whatwe've been learning the last
couple of episodes, Messagesixty two and sixty three.
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Christianity was considered asect of Judaism.
In Acts 28 22 we read, but wedesire to hear from you what
your views are, for with regardto this sect, we know that
everywhere it is spoken against.
Christians were not consideredto be off on their own.
They were not a religion apartfrom Judaism.
(19:17):
According to the Jews of thatfirst century, Christianity,
known as the Way, was consideredto be a type or sect of
Judaism.
In order to be considered inthis way, would it not have to
display conformity to Jewishtradition and Torah?
Okay, I think I've built a casefor believing that the apostles
were still holding to Jewishtradition.
(19:38):
But there's still a major piecemissing in our study.
Are the weak in Romans fourteenChristians?
As we discussed earlier, whenPaul rebukes Peter in Galatians
2.11, Paul makes himself ahypocrite if he suddenly begins
to promote acceptance of weakChristians who are obedient to
the Mosaic law in their eating.
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Romans 14 13 says, Thereforelet us not pass judgment on one
another any longer, but ratherdecide never to put a stumbling
block or hindrance in the way ofa brother.
I know and am persuaded in theLord Jesus that nothing is
unclean in itself, but it isunclean for anyone who thinks it
is unclean.
For if your brother is grievedby what you eat, you're no
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longer walking in love.
By what you eat, do not destroythe one for whom Christ died.
Romans fourteen twenty.
Do not for the sake of fooddestroy the work of God.
Everything is indeed clean, butit is wrong for anyone to make
another stumble by what he eats.
Is it not also a littlestrange, based on what we've
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examined so far in our study, toimagine that Paul would call a
Christian weak for obedience toTorah?
If Paul himself proclaimed tobe obedient to Torah, then he
would have to place himself inthe category of weak.
That certainly doesn't fit thecontext at this point, does it?
So who would Paul be addressinghere if this passage is to
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remain in harmony with whatwe've reviewed so far?
Let's consider again a few keypoints.
The apostles as well as Peterunderstood that unclean food was
now clean, otherwise Gentileswould be unclean unless they
followed the full Torah baseddiet.
two, the apostles continued inobedience of the law.
(21:23):
Despite all things being clean,they remained as Jews.
three, Christian Jews andChristian Gentiles should have
no issue with table fellowshipunder the guidance of the Noaic
Laws and the Apostolic Decree.
Who does that leave us withother than non Christian Jews?
Non Christian Jews would havebeen likely to give Gentiles a
(21:45):
hard time about what they ate.
Especially if they were to noteat according to the Nohide
laws.
If they were to express theirfreedom in Christ out of
arrogance, for example.
The most challenging part inbelieving this may be that Paul
regards his Jewish brethren asbrothers, not only to himself,
but also to the Gentiles.
Paul makes these non ChristianJews to be brothers to the
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Gentile Christians if we see itthis way.
This is likely the primaryreason that we would never go
there in our thoughts.
On top of that, when we seethis through the lens of today's
theology, we don't evenconsider alternative views of
the passage unless we'retroubled by the hypocrisy that
today's theology creates.
But with all of the culturalunderstanding we've obtained
(22:29):
through our investigation, Ithink it becomes easier to
understand why Paul woulddeclare nonbelieving Jews to be
brothers of the Gentiles, don'tyou?
Additionally, we can simplyunderstand that when they were
among the Jewish people, therewould always be some of the
elect among them as well.
They could never know who thosepeople might be.
Faithful Jews who had not yetaccepted the Messiah would be
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brothers to the Gentiles byfaith.
They were made brothers withthe Jews as much as Paul was a
brother to the Jews throughChrist and his fulfillment of
Torah.
They were Jews at heart, justas the faithful Jews were Romans
two twenty nine.
The believers received acircumcision of the heart.
This was a spiritualtransformation.
Paul had not made it to Rome atthe time of his Romans letter,
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but he remained optimistic thatwhen he brought his apostolic
ministry there, with hisspiritual gift that many
faithful Jews would acceptChrist.
Meanwhile, the faithful amongthe Jews worshipped alongside
the Gentiles, which Paul wroteto in Romans within the
synagogue communities.
The Jews of those daysworshiped Yahweh through the
Mosaic Law.
(23:35):
They worshiped the right Lord,but many had not yet accepted
the Messiah.
It was from their people thatthe Messiah came.
Paul saw Gentiles as equalparticipants in salvation,
therefore they were to considerJews as brothers just as he did.
Paul desired for the Gentilesto have the same view of the
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Jewish race that he did, whichinvolved having the same level
of respect for their customs.
When Paul rebuked Peter andAntioch, food was not the issue,
but rather Peter separatedhimself from the Gentiles out of
fear of the circumcision group.
Peter was afraid of beingjudged by some of the Jewish
brothers, even though he knewbetter than to separate himself
(24:16):
from table fellowship with theGentiles.
Peter had the vision as well asthe experience of Cornelius and
the Gentiles among him whoreceived the Holy Spirit apart
from the law and circumcision,making them equal participants
in salvation by grace throughfaith alone.
Peter's behavior would havecaused the righteous Gentiles or
God fearers among them whobelieved in Christ Yeshua to
(24:38):
desire the inner circlefellowship that Peter was
promoting.
Peter was very influentialamong the apostles, even leading
Barnabas astray.
Imagine how that must have beenfor Paul to witness.
The church was in trouble atthat moment.
Paul rebuked Peter in truth andspirit, and to protect the
church from falling away fromgrace and into a salvation based
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on works.
Peter's behavior was rebuildingthe dividing wall of hostility
that Paul wrote of in Ephesians.
About Peter in the Antiochincident, Paul wrote, For if I
rebuild what I tore down, Iprove myself to be a
transgressor.
That's Galatians two eighteen.
I see this as a reference towhat he described in his letter
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to the Ephesians.
Ephesians two thirteen.
But now in Christ Jesus, youwho were once far off have been
brought near by the blood ofChrist, for he himself is our
peace.
He has made us both one, andhas broken down in his flesh the
dividing wall of hostility, byabolishing the law of
commandments expressed inordinances, that he might create
(25:42):
in himself one new man in placeof the two, so making peace,
and might reconcile us both toGod in one body through the
cross, thereby killing thehostility.
When Paul says abolishing thelaw of commandments expressed in
ordinances, he seems to betelling them that the law is not
relevant to them at all,doesn't he?
(26:02):
I think the key to thisstatement is in the fact that it
was expressed in the ordinancesand not by faith.
If you're familiar with Paul'swritings, you may have noticed
that he uses the terms under lawand under sin interchangeably.
It's as if he sees them as oneand the same.
In other words, if you're underlaw, you're also under sin.
(26:23):
Paul illuminates this argumentin Romans chapter seven.
In the seventh chapter ofRomans, Paul teaches that the
law itself is good, but what itproduced in mankind was not
good.
How can this be?
Because of sin.
First Corinthians fifteen fiftysix The sting of death is sin,
and the power of sin is the law.
(26:45):
Christ Yeshua did away with sinat the cross.
The purpose of the law wasfulfilled at the cross.
The entire notion of being maderight with God by works was
abolished and utterly destroyed.
Romans six fourteen.
For sin will have no dominionover you since you are not under
law but under grace.
The Jews who believed werereleased from the bondage of
(27:08):
their sin, that the law producedin the people of Israel.
This was faith in Christ.
The Gentiles would be set freeby this same faith apart from
the law.
Christ Yeshua was theestablishment of the law.
The law pointed to him, Johnfive thirty nine, and was
fulfilled in those who believeRomans eight four.
(27:28):
Jewish Christians in that firstcentury, before the end of the
age, were now able to live byfaith alone.
Living by faith meant they werenow alive to God.
Sin was no longer gettingbetween them and Yahweh, and
they were sealed for redemptionby the Holy Spirit.
The Jewish traditions they heldto could now be practiced
(27:50):
freely by grace, giving thanksinstead of seeking mercy.
The sacrifice that ChristYeshua made at the cross
released the faithful of Israelfrom their bondage to sin.
Those who had faith were nolonger under sin or under law.
They were set free.
The sin that was produced inthem through Torah was wiped
(28:10):
out.
The curse was over.
They were now in a rightstanding with Yahweh.
Galatians three hundredthirteen says Christ redeemed us
from the curse of the law bybecoming a curse for us.
Gentile Christians couldworship Yahweh in truth and
spirit apart from the law byfaith in Christ.
It was no longer necessary orbeneficial in any way for them
(28:32):
to become Israelites bycircumcision and become obedient
to Torah.
But they could worship togetherin Christ with the faithful
Jews, and glorify the trueliving God, Yahweh.
Believing Israelites no longerhad to see faithful Gentiles as
foreigners or as unclean.
Isaiah fifty six seven.
These I will bring to my holymountain, and make them joyful
(28:54):
in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and theirsacrifices will be accepted on
my altar, for my house shall becalled a house of prayer for all
peoples.
Malachi one eleven.
For from the rising of the sunto its setting, my name will be
great among the nations, and inevery place incense will be
offered to my name, and a pureoffering, for my name will be
(29:16):
great among the nations, saysthe Lord of hosts.
Is this not what Paul describesat the end of his Romans
letter?
Romans fifteen fifteen.
But on some points I havewritten to you very boldly, by
way of reminder because of thegrace given me by God, to be a
minister of Christ Jesus to theGentiles in the priestly service
of the gospel of God, so thatthe offering of the Gentiles may
(29:38):
be acceptable, sanctified bythe Holy Spirit.
Paul desired to see thefulfillment of the
eschatological prophecy whereJews and Gentiles worship
together as one voice.
May the God of endurance andencouragement grant you to live
in such harmony with oneanother, in accord with Christ
Jesus, that together you maywith one hand voice glorify the
(30:01):
God and Father of our Lord JesusChrist.
Therefore welcome one anotheras Christ has welcomed you for
the glory of God.
Paul's work would be madecomplete when his apostolic
ministry brought this unity toRome.
This is an incredible view ofthe fulfilled prophecy at the
end of the age, is it not?
I mean wow, this is reallycool.
(30:21):
But on the flip side, can younow see the damage that
Judaizers would be doing in thechurches in those days?
Judaizers were trying torebuild that dividing law of
hostility that was destroyed atthe cross.
They wanted to keep Christ forthe Jews alone.
To this way of thinking, Paulwrites in Romans three twenty
seven, then what becomes of ourboasting?
(30:42):
Is excluded by what kind oflaw?
By a law of works?
No, but by the law of faith.
For we hold that one isjustified by faith apart from
works of the law.
Or is God the God of Jews only?
Is he not the god of Gentilesalso?
Yes, of Gentiles also.
Since God is one, who willjustify the circumcised by faith
(31:07):
and the uncircumcised throughfaith.
Do we then overthrow the law bythis faith?
By no means, on the contrary weuphold the law.
Paul rebuked Peter for behavinglike a Judaizer and separating
himself from the Gentiles.
The Jews and Gentiles becauseof Peter's strong influence
began eating at separate tables.
(31:27):
The dividing wall of hostilitythat was destroyed at the cross
was being rebuilt in Antioch.
The gospel broke down thisdividing wall Ephesians two
thirteen but now in Christ Jesusyou, who were once far off,
have been brought near by theblood of Christ, for He himself
is our peace, who has made usboth one and has broken down in
(31:49):
his flesh the dividing wall ofhostility.
Fear caused Peter to behave ina way that was out of line with
the gospel according to Paul.
The circumcision group musthave had a strong influence in
those times.
You can imagine how good andpious they must have looked.
We see the same things today inChristianity we have large
(32:09):
masses of Christians who focuson works rather than faith.
Lordship doctrines are anextreme example of this, going
as far as proclaiming if youdon't act like a Christian, you
probably are not a Christian.
Therefore you must not besaved.
Other doctrines will teachtheir participants that if they
don't behave like a Christian,then they don't love God, or
(32:30):
they are out of fellowship withGod All of these perspectives
can only give a vaguedescription of exactly what that
Christian behavior actually is.
How much love do we need to bein fellowship?
Which sins put us out offellowship and for how long?
How do we self-cleanse thesesins so we can be blessed again?
(32:51):
Why do we need to self-cleansein the first place?
Isn't that something Christ didfor us?
These doctrines are no betterthan those of the Judaizers and
are possibly worse.
Think about this for a minute.
The Jews had a specific set oflaws to follow.
Prior to the cross even thefaithful were brought to justice
for disobedience.
(33:12):
You broke a law you paid aprice That's the way it works,
right?
In this same way when you drivedown the road you have speed
limit signs.
You know if you speed youdeserve a ticket according to
the law.
You're going to pay a price ifyou get caught.
What if those speed limit signswere removed and you were told
that you no longer needed them?
The only caveat is that you canget a ticket any time if you
(33:35):
don't drive at an appropriatespeed.
You have to discern whatspeeding is for yourself now and
if law enforcement sees you aswrong you pay the price.
And by the way, law enforcementis very strict anybody out
there wanting those speed limitsigns again?
That's ridiculous, isn't it?
But that's what we're taughtout there today, and we're
(33:57):
afraid to stand up to theleaders because they're so
pious.
We're afraid to believe outsideof these lines for fear of
being cast out of our church orbe rejected by our friends.
This is a real fear.
Peter himself fell victim toit.
Should we follow in hisfootsteps?
Placing Christians out offellowship with God and telling
(34:17):
them they're being punished byGod for sin is a crime.
These views do not come fromScripture, although they use
scripture to prove their points.
We need to be seeking context,you guys.
Don't fall for the modern dayJudaizing doctrines.
These doctrines cause thoseunder them to crave rules
instead of grace.
It's not the behavior that'swrong, it's the mindset.
(34:39):
Their heart is not right.
Christianity is not a selfdevelopment program, it's a
spiritual mind transformationthat comes from understanding
the love of our Lord.
If Christians are beingpunished by God today, if sin is
still being counted against us,which it's not, Romans, then
Yahweh has placed us in a newcovenant of terror.
(35:01):
It would be similar to athriller or horror film.
Love one another or else I willremove a limb while you watch
it happen is not the gospel.
Love one another or I'll zapyou with cancer is not the
gospel.
How much love saves you fromthis kind of wrath?
Nobody can answer that questionbecause it was never meant to
(35:22):
be a question that Christiansshould be asking.
We need to know that Yahweh ismolding and shaping us through
all the things we experience inlife.
Our Lord can make good of allthe worst things we can imagine.
He loves us, he guides us, hebuilds us up, he disciplines us
by shaping our lives.
We're always in fellowship withYahweh even when we ignore his
(35:43):
guidance and fall into earthlysuffering.
He is always with us in ourChristian suffering as well.
The view of a punishing God hasChristians seeking laws and
rules because they no longertrust that the Spirit of God is
guiding them.
They can only see a punishingLord who is always watching and
only he knows the true rules youhave to learn by experience.
(36:05):
If you get ill it's probablybecause of sin.
If you suffer hardship it'sprobably sin.
Run out of money you probablysin too much.
You'll tell yourself it's notsin, but let's be honest, it's
your sin.
Can you see the problems thatlegalism causes in the church
when we live by itwholeheartedly the only other
(36:27):
option is to pretend and livearrogantly by ignorance but
that's okay.
Mainstream Christian theologyisn't completely dead it's just
very badly wounded.
The only rule in Christianityis to believe in the finished
work of Christ Yeshua, and eventhat's only possible when we've
been given life by him.
Christ makes the rules andfulfills them in us.
(36:49):
We're called to be guided bythe Spirit not by our own rules
and made up punishments forthose rules.
Yeshua told his disciples tobeware the leaven of the
Pharisees Matthew sixteen sixthis wasn't directly about their
teaching itself.
Though it was part of theproblem he spoke of their
influence.
The influence of the Judaizerscaused Peter to change lunch
(37:11):
tables and next thing you know,Jews and Gentiles were all
eating separately and Gentileswere made to feel not good
enough.
Are we letting ourselves beinfluenced by error because of
its outward appearance?
Let's stop being afraid of thetruth.
Let's stop being afraid to befree in Christ.
Let's stop being afraid of whatpeople will think of us if we
(37:32):
reject error and behave like thenew creation that we are, shall
we?
I know the ideas I've presentedyou today are shocking.
The thought of the apostlesobserving the law freaked me out
if I'm being honest.
This is a substantial shift ofthinking for me, but I'm
extremely confident after divingdeep into this that it'll make
many very difficult passagesbecome crystal clear as we go
(37:53):
through our studies together.
The message of full graceremains the same, but like a
complex math problem, we learnmore when we fully understand
how to come up with the finalanswer.
When we understand how to dothe full math rather than taking
a shortcut or having the answerjust given to us, we grow
rapidly in our understanding.
We can now solve other mathproblems with ease because we
(38:14):
know the formula.
So it is with studyingscripture.
Hermeneutics help us to do themath in our scriptures.
Context must be understood tobreak down that cultural barrier
of the first century writers ofour New Testament as well as
those of the first covenant.
In closing I think we need toaddress a few more questions.
One is how does the law applyto Christians and Jews today?
(38:36):
For the first century ChristianJews and all truly faithful
Jews for that matter, Torah wasnot observed out of obligation.
It was a cherished act ofworship.
It's difficult to wrap ourbrains around that today.
The thought of a restrictivediet is not going to make many
Americans zealous for the Lord.
Out here we're more likely togo full apostate under those
(38:58):
terms.
The apostles didn't see the lawlike we do today.
They saw it as their worship.
Contrary to popular belief, onecould be obedient to Torah and
even do it faithfully.
This does not mean one could bewithout sin.
Christ Yeshua proved this quitewell in the Sermon on the Mount
Sin had placed all of mankindin bondage from the beginning.
(39:19):
We often see the apostles asspeaking against the law in our
thinking.
Even Christ Yeshua can be seenthis way as he went around
calling the Phariseeshypocrites.
But Yeshua was fully obedientto Torah.
It was the Pharisees who werein error building fences around
the laws and even putting fencesaround those fences to protect
them from breaking the law.
(39:40):
They were no longer obedientfrom the heart.
They turned obedience intoobsessive misery and were
hardened as a result.
When Christ healed on theSabbath, they didn't even care
about the miracle.
They only cared that he broketheir false rule system.
The cross of Christ Yeshua tookthe curse away from the law and
(40:00):
allowed the Gentiles to beequals without having the law.
Christ Yeshua was thefulfillment of the intentions of
Torah, which was to lead all ofthe faithful from all nations
to him.
Gentiles at the end of the agewere free in all things but were
taught to respect the Jews,both Christian and non Christian
in their worship of Yahweh.
This was pleasing to the Lord,not a requirement for being
(40:22):
right with him.
This was a genuine love thatwas produced by grace.
Christians are called to loveand therefore prosper when
living by this calling it's ourworship.
The works of the law producedsin in mankind while grace
produced love in mankind.
The law was fulfilled in loveRomans thirteen eight pride in
the law and its works madeIsrael covetous, causing them to
(40:44):
look down upon Gentiles whodidn't have the law.
Grace was the establishment ofthe true purpose of the law that
sin did not allow to be carriedout.
Further we might ask, how doesany of this study apply to Jews
today who observe the law?
It doesn't, because they cannotobserve the law.
They haven't observed the lawfor almost two thousand years
(41:04):
and never will again There was ameans to an end for the first
century Jews and Christians.
Christ was coming soon Romanssixteen twenty The God of peace
will soon crush Satan under yourfeet the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you.
This is written at the end ofour Romans letter and ties into
the eschatological event ofSatan being destroyed and the
(41:26):
new covenant age beingestablished.
In AD seventy, Jerusalem andits holy temple were destroyed
as prophesied in our scriptureand recorded by Josephus and
other historians.
All Levite lineage wasdestroyed and the old covenant
age along with its physicaltemple worship had once and for
all time come to an end thirteencheck out my last several
(41:46):
messages starting with numberfifty seven for more details on
that.
Case in point, Judaism is overand there are no law observant
Jews in existence today, just asGod intended The body of Christ
is the new spiritual Jerusalemand we are all part of his
spiritual temple.
In Christ all have become asone.
We no longer need a physicaltemple and Yahweh wiped it out
(42:09):
when he consummated his newcovenant age in Christ so that
this might be fully understood.
Yahweh dwells among usspiritually now through the body
of Christ, the new spiritualJerusalem.
And let's look at one finalquestion.
How does Torah affectChristians today?
Grace is still grace for us.
This study changes nothingabout the message of full grace.
(42:32):
We're not on an apostolicmission to reach Jews in the
temple and synagogues.
You can if you want to but thatwas the mission for the first
century apostles and Christians,not you.
I don't think you'll find thesynagogues today to be anything
like those of the genuine Jewsof the first century who
possessed the Torah and thetemple worship before the end of
that age.
The apostles recognized thatChrist Yeshua had dealt with sin
(42:55):
once and for all by his onesacrifice, and Yahweh would no
longer be keeping a log of theirsin twelve and ten seventeen
The apostles understood that allthings were now clean, Romans
fourteen fourteen otherwise theGentiles would have been in
defiance of Torah and consideredunclean.
We see at the end of the OldCovenant age a beautiful picture
(43:16):
of Jew and Gentile comingtogether and worshiping the true
living God Yahweh with onevoice Romans fifteen six.
The Jews who were reconciled toYahweh continued in Jewish
worship freely, knowing that sinwas no longer getting him
between them and their Lord.
The Messiah of the Jews was theMessiah of all people now.
Sin would no longer be abarrier for the Gentiles all who
(43:39):
call on the name of the Lordwill be saved Romans ten
thirteen.
It was the end of the age fornational Israel and the
beginning of the age of Christand his church would soon be
fully established.
And if you're willing tobelieve it, Yahweh's new
covenant has been consummated asof AD seventy.
All of salvation is apart fromTorah now.
The law is fulfilled in thosewho have faith in Christ Yeshua
(44:03):
and those with faith put onimmortality and can now live a
life of purpose guided by theHoly Spirit in a perfect union
with the Lord.
That's what I have for todayguys.
I'll talk to you next time andhave a great day out there.
God bless thank you for listening to the Waking Up to
Grace podcast brought to you bythe finished work of our Lord
(44:24):
Jesus Christ.
If you enjoyed today's episodewe would love to hear from you
you can send encouragement ourway right from our episodes and
transcripts page or reach Lennyprivately from the contact form
at wakinguptograce.com
Hello and welcome to the Waking Up the Grace podcast,
where we celebrate and explorethe finished work of our Lord,
Jesus Christ.
Tune in to the Waking Up toGrace podcast on every major
platform.
You can also listen to ourepisodes and read our full
transcript atWakingUpTograce.com.
And now, here's Lenny.
(00:22):
Welcome back to the podcast,everyone.
(00:54):
We left off our last study withthe question, did the apostles
practice the Mosaic Law?
This is a question that'srarely asked.
In fact, based on datacollected by Google, it appears
that this subject getsapproximately zero searches per
month.
Although there are results thatcome up for the search query,
it would seem that most of thehuman race has come to a
(01:16):
conclusion on this topicalready.
But is the popular assumptioncorrect?
Does it help us to understandour biblical text?
Today most believe that theapostles rejected observance to
Torah, especially Paul.
At the very least it's heldthat Paul fully rejected
practice of Mosaic law, beingthat his ministry went out to
(01:37):
the Gentiles.
The biggest problem we run intowith today's assumption is not
where Paul rebukes Peter inGalatians 2.11.
Paul rebuking Peter in Antiochin and of itself is no issue at
all.
We can shape that passage tofit this paradigm just fine.
It's when we get to Paul'sletter to the Romans where we
run into an issue.
There seems to be a trap set inRomans fourteen for those who
(02:00):
see Paul rejecting the practiceof Mosaic law.
We'll be investigating theseissues in this study so that we
can get to the bottom of whatseems to be a contradiction in
Paul's theology.
Do you think our apostlesobserved Torah even after the
cross and resurrection?
I know I didn't.
I never would have entertainedthe notion until it presented
(02:21):
itself to me.
Just the thought of this wouldhave made me see red flags
waving in the air.
Legalism would have to be atwork in a doctrine like that,
right?
Someone would have to be underthe curse of the law to even
suggest such a thing.
And here I stand, presenting itto you, and I can assure you
that this view has noconsequence in regards to the
(02:41):
grace we have been given inChrist Yeshua.
Did Peter and Paul observe thelaw?
If you've been following thisargument so far, including my
last messages number sixty twoand sixty three, you might be
starting to understand thatJewish Christians continuing in
Jewish customs didn't have toimply that they promoted a works
based salvation or a worksbased righteousness.
(03:04):
Paul proclaimed justificationapart from the law, Romans 3 21,
but salvation from Christ wasbased on the law, in that the
law pointed to Christ, John 5.
This makes the gospel alaw-based salvation in a sense.
But it's not by works of thelaw that one is justified,
(03:27):
Ephesians 8 2 through 9.
Whatever we believe about thelaw, we must agree that the law
was still being observed in thetransition period before the
consummation of the new covenantage.
The author of Hebrews makesthis statement regarding Torah
observance in that first centuryof the apostles.
Hebrews 8 13 reads In speakingof a new covenant, he makes the
(03:48):
first one obsolete, and what isbecoming obsolete and growing
old is ready to vanish away.
Growing old and ready to vanishis not yet irrelevant, and was
not yet obsolete.
In speaking of a new covenant,Yeshua made the first one
obsolete.
This simply means hisintroduction of the new covenant
would make the first oneobsolete when it was fully
(04:09):
consummated.
But in regards to their currentstate it is written, what is
becoming obsolete and growingold is ready to vanish away.
The apostles lived at the endof the old covenant age and the
beginning of the new covenantage.
The sacrifice of Christ Yeshuafulfilled the law and those who
believed.
Matthew five seventeen reads,Do not think that I have come to
(04:32):
abolish the law or theprophets.
I have not come to abolishthem, but to fulfill them.
For truly I say to you, untilheaven and earth pass away, not
an iota, not a dot will passfrom the law, until all is
accomplished.
That's Christ Yeshua.
I bring this up often becauseit's important.
And as I mentioned in Messagefifty seven, and detail out in
(04:54):
several messages following it,the return of Christ would come
at the end of the age.
Heaven and earth passing awayis not what we think.
It was prophetic language thatshould be common knowledge to
those with biblicalunderstanding.
My point is that Christfulfilled the law at the cross
and resurrection.
This made the practice of thelaw old and fading at the time
(05:15):
of the apostles, and theyunderstood that the works of
Torah as they knew it would soonreach their final end.
Yeshua promised them that hewould soon return.
The question that remains inthis context is how did the
apostles deal with Torah whileit was still operative?
Was it still holy and good?
Was it holy and good for Jewsand Gentiles to practice the
(05:38):
Mosaic law?
Interestingly, at the JerusalemCouncil in Acts 15, Gentiles
receive instruction on how tobehave, but we never hear a
decree for Jewish Christians.
Why do you think that would be?
The believers from the party ofthe Pharisees never receive any
behavioral instruction, nor doany Jewish Christians.
(05:58):
It seems as though they alreadyhad instruction.
They only needed to stopimposing the fullness of their
customs on the Gentiles.
The apostolic decree, which wasderived from the Noahide laws,
allowed both the Jews andGentiles to share table
fellowship and accomplishGentile acceptance into the
Jewish communities, even amongthose who did not yet believe in
(06:20):
Christ as Messiah.
In our last study, wediscovered that we have little
to no evidence proving thatPeter made any actual dietary
changes.
And when it comes to Paul, wehave a couple of passages that
strongly seem to indicate thathe was in fact still a
practicing Jew, even after theJerusalem Council.
My first example is toward theend of Paul's missionary
(06:41):
journeys when Paul travels toJerusalem for Pentecost, despite
all who warned him not to go.
In Acts 21, 17 through 26, weread When we had come to
Jerusalem, the brothers receivedus gladly.
On the following day Paul wentin with us to James, and all the
elders were present.
After greeting them, he relatedone by one the things that God
(07:03):
had done among the Gentilesthrough his ministry.
And when they heard it, theyglorified God, and they said to
him, You see, brother, how manythousands there are among the
Jews of those who have believed.
They are all zealous for thelaw, and they have been told
about you that you teach all theJews who are among the Gentiles
to forsake Moses, telling themnot to circumcise their children
(07:25):
or walk according to ourcustoms.
What then is to be done?
They'll certainly hear that youhave come.
Do therefore what we tell you.
We have four men who are undera vow.
Take these men and purifyyourself along with them and pay
their expenses, so that theymay shave their heads.
Thus all will know that thereis nothing in what they have
been told about you, but thatyou yourself also live in
(07:48):
observance of the law.
But as for the Gentiles whohave believed, we have sent a
letter with our judgment thatthey should abstain from what
has been sacrificed to idols,and from blood, and from what
has been strangled, and fromsexual immorality.
Then Paul took the men, and thenext day he purified himself
along with them, and went intothe temple, giving notice when
(08:10):
the days of purification wouldbe fulfilled, and the offering
presented for each one of them.
We learn several importantthings from this passage.
Let's take a moment to review,shall we?
One, there were thousands ofJewish Christians in Jerusalem
for Pentecost who were zealousfor the law.
two, these thousands ofChristians were being told that
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Paul taught Jews not to obey thelaw.
three, Paul agrees to purifyhimself and the four men in
order to display to the Jewishbelievers that he lived in
observance with the law so theywould be satisfied.
four, James reminds Paul thatthe Gentiles have received the
apostolic decree from theJerusalem Council.
First I want to say howincredible this scene must have
(08:54):
been to experience.
Thousands of Jewish believersfrom all over were glorifying
Yahweh at Pentecost.
Had Israel finally become alight to the Gentile nations?
I see this as something theywould have celebrated and taken
great joy in.
The mission of the apostles wasbeing fulfilled in Jerusalem.
It would be easy to miss thisdetail due to the issues that
(09:15):
had arisen.
Certain people were telling theJewish believers that Paul
spoke out against theirtraditions.
If we hold to the common viewsthat we have today, wouldn't we
see Paul thinking, What's theproblem here, James?
I do speak out against lawobservance.
Instead, Paul agrees to do whatthey recommended in order to
allow the believers to see thathe himself holds to Jewish
(09:37):
tradition, and does not teachJewish Christians to reject
those things.
Is Paul playing both sideshere?
Does he secretively despise theviews of James and the others
and decide to pretend to agreewith them?
Is this what Paul means when hesays To the weak I became weak,
that I might win the weak?
(09:57):
I've become all things to allpeople, that by all means I
might save some.
That's in 1 Corinthians 9 22.
Does Paul see honesty andtruthfulness as something that
can be set aside in order tohelp others?
I can't accept this about Paul,can you?
Something seems a bit off inthis thinking, in my opinion.
Another thing we must examineis would Paul consider these
(10:20):
Christians to be the weak?
Interestingly we see Jamesbring up the apostolic decree
here, which removed the burdenof circumcision and Torah from
the Gentiles, while keeping somesimple commands for them to
share fellowship with Jews.
At the Jerusalem Council, wesaw no instruction for the
behavior of Jewish believers,only that they treat Gentiles as
(10:40):
equals apart from the law.
But here we see Jamesinstructing Paul on how to be
sure the Jewish believers sawhim as obedient to Torah.
And the real kicker here isthat Paul very clearly seems to
be on the same page with Jamesand accepting of his help.
I know these facts are shockingto our paradigms, but can we
actually convince ourselves thatPaul, who went to Jerusalem,
(11:03):
even though his life was on theline, backed down out of fear?
Like Peter did in Galatiansafter Paul rebukes Peter for
what seemed to be observing thelaw in Antioch?
I can't believe that aboutPaul, can you?
I see something else happeninghere.
Peter could not have beenlabeled a hypocrite by eating a
Jewish diet.
I believe Paul rebukes Peterfor separating himself from the
(11:25):
Gentiles and influencing them todesire being in the inner
circles with the Jewishbelievers who were pushing
circumcision on them.
If it was about Peter followingJewish customs, then in Acts 21
we witnessed Paul, James,Peter, and thousands of
Christians in Jerusalem playingthe hypocrite, and even
condoning each other's behaviorwhile they did it.
(11:46):
This should have beenconsidered outrageously out of
line with the gospel.
Yet they seem to have no issuewith it at all, and wanted Paul
to be seen by his Jewishbrothers as obedient to Torah.
Based on our examination, Ithink we have to deal with the
fact that Christian Jewsremained as Jews, and Christian
Gentiles remained as Gentiles,respectful of Jewish tradition,
(12:07):
and meeting the minimumrequirements laid out by the
Jewish leaders for sharing inthe community.
This was the whole basis of theapostolic decree stemming from
the Noahide laws.
Both groups of people, Jew andGentile, continued as they were,
but became equals in salvation,by grace through faith, and
were to treat each other asequal.
We see distinction withoutdiscrimination.
(12:31):
Jews did not become Gentiles,and Gentiles did not become
Jews, but they came togetherwith one voice, giving praise
and glory to Yahweh, the Fatherof our Lord Yeshua Christ.
Romans 15 6.
As the story unfolds, Paul endsup getting into trouble, as was
prophesied about him prior toheading into Jerusalem.
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But it wasn't on the account ofthe believing Jews.
Luke makes this very clear forus.
Acts twenty one twenty seven.
When the seven days were almostcompleted, the Jews from Asia,
seeing him in the temple,stirred up the whole crowd and
laid hands on him, crying out,Men of Israel, help! This is the
man who is teaching everyoneeverywhere against the people
(13:12):
and the law in this place.
Moreover, he even broughtGreeks into the temple and has
defiled this holy place.
For they had previously seenTrophimus, the Ephesian, with
him in the city, and theysupposed that Paul had brought
him into the temple.
Then all the city was stirredup, and the people ran together.
They seized Paul and draggedhim out of the temple, and at
(13:34):
once the gates were shut.
Paul being as brave as he was,took the opportunity to preach
the gospel among the largecrowds who were gathered in
Jerusalem for Pentecost, despitethe Jews from Asia stirring up
his persecution.
Paul did not fear death and didnot back down when it came to
truth.
That is something I believe wecan know about Paul.
(13:54):
When Paul was seized, he wasable to avoid flogging by
proclaiming he was a Romancitizen.
Paul's Roman citizenship camein quite handy for him.
That is certainly nocoincidence.
We should note that Paul hadwanted to visit Rome to preach
his gospel there, but had beenprevented thus far.
It was, however, still his planto go there.
(14:16):
Romans one nine.
For God is my witness, whom Iserve with my spirit in the
gospel of his son, that withoutceasing I mention you, always in
my prayers, asking thatsomehow, by God's will, I may
now at last succeed in coming toyou.
For I long to see you, that Imay impart to you some spiritual
gift to strengthen you, thatis, that we may be mutually
(14:36):
encouraged by each other'sfaith, both yours and mine.
I do not want you to beunaware, brothers, that I have
often intended to come to you,but thus far have been
prevented, in order that I mayreap some harvest among you, as
well as among the rest of theGentiles.
Paul made his way fromJerusalem to Rome by appealing
to Caesar and escaped beingmurdered by a Jewish mob who
(14:56):
dedicated their lives to killinghim.
At the end of his ministry, hewas allowed to preach to the
Romans for two whole years whileon house arrest.
The Lord opened a door for himin a way that no one could have
ever imagined.
But rewinding back, when Paulfirst landed in Rome, he called
the Jewish leaders together andsaid this Acts twenty eight,
(15:17):
seventeen Brothers, though I haddone nothing against our people
or the customs of our fathers,yet I was delivered as a
prisoner from Jerusalem into thehands of the Romans.
What do you think he means byour people and the customs of
our fathers?
Would it not be the Jewishpeople and their customs?
What were their customs?
(15:38):
Torah was their custom, wasn'tit?
This further proves that Paullived his life in obedience to
Torah.
He was completely innocent inhis ways according to the Judaic
laws.
He was being persecuted forpreaching that Christ Yeshua was
the Messiah King from the lineof David that they awaited, and
there would be a resurrection ofthe dead.
(16:00):
All of his claims were provenin the Hebrew scripture.
Christ was the fulfillment ofthe law.
Paul was constantly accused ofrejecting Torah, but he was
innocent of all chargesaccording to his own claims.
To the Jews, Paul would havebeen considered apostate for
rejecting the Mosaic law, andthat is what the Christ
rejecting among them wanted tobelieve.
(16:21):
But they could never prove itin their scripture.
Hostility was always theanswer.
On the note of hostility, it'svery interesting that despite
Paul being persecuted inJerusalem and being accepted as
well as misunderstood by manythroughout the Diaspora, the
Jewish leaders in Rome stilldidn't know what he actually
taught.
We have to realize they didn'thave a telephone.
(16:43):
In Acts twenty eight, twentyone we read, and they said to
him, We have received no lettersfrom Judea about you, and none
of the brothers coming here hasreported or spoken any evil
about you.
But we desire to hear from youwhat your views are, for with
regard to this sect, we knowthat everywhere it is spoken
against.
Are you gathering all this?
(17:04):
Not only had they not heardwhat Paul was preaching
throughout the Diasporasynagogues, but they were
genuinely interested in what hehad to say.
There seems to be no hostilitywhatsoever coming from them.
Had the Gentiles in Rome donetheir job of not causing the
Jews to stumble?
Was this all in order for thestage to be set for Paul to
(17:24):
fulfill his apostolic mission inRome?
I think so, and it'sincredible.
With Paul now preaching to theJewish leaders in Rome, there
would be unity among the Jewishand Gentile believers.
The multitude of Gentilebelievers in the Roman
synagogues would display to theJews that Paul was fulfilling
prophecy everywhere he went.
Malachi one hundred elevenreads for from the rising of the
(17:48):
sun to its setting, my namewill be great among the nations,
and in every place incense willbe offered to my name, and a
pure offering, for my name willbe great among the nations, says
the Lord of hosts.
Then in Isaiah fifty six, six,and the foreigners who join
themselves to the Lord, tominister to him, to love the
(18:09):
name of the Lord, and to be hisservants, everyone who keeps the
Sabbath and does not profaneit, and holds fast my covenant,
these I will bring to my holymountain, and make them joyful
in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and theirsacrifices will be accepted on
my altar, for my house shall becalled a house of prayer for all
peoples.
The Lord God who gathers theoutcast of Israel declares, I
(18:34):
will gather yet others to him,besides those already gathered.
In response, those Jews couldbecome a light to all nations,
as was their purpose all along.
In Christ, together withGentiles, worshipping Yahweh,
the true living God.
I want to highlight again whatwe've been learning the last
couple of episodes, Messagesixty two and sixty three.
(18:57):
Christianity was considered asect of Judaism.
In Acts 28 22 we read, but wedesire to hear from you what
your views are, for with regardto this sect, we know that
everywhere it is spoken against.
Christians were not consideredto be off on their own.
They were not a religion apartfrom Judaism.
(19:17):
According to the Jews of thatfirst century, Christianity,
known as the Way, was consideredto be a type or sect of
Judaism.
In order to be considered inthis way, would it not have to
display conformity to Jewishtradition and Torah?
Okay, I think I've built a casefor believing that the apostles
were still holding to Jewishtradition.
(19:38):
But there's still a major piecemissing in our study.
Are the weak in Romans fourteenChristians?
As we discussed earlier, whenPaul rebukes Peter in Galatians
2.11, Paul makes himself ahypocrite if he suddenly begins
to promote acceptance of weakChristians who are obedient to
the Mosaic law in their eating.
(19:59):
Romans 14 13 says, Thereforelet us not pass judgment on one
another any longer, but ratherdecide never to put a stumbling
block or hindrance in the way ofa brother.
I know and am persuaded in theLord Jesus that nothing is
unclean in itself, but it isunclean for anyone who thinks it
is unclean.
For if your brother is grievedby what you eat, you're no
(20:21):
longer walking in love.
By what you eat, do not destroythe one for whom Christ died.
Romans fourteen twenty.
Do not for the sake of fooddestroy the work of God.
Everything is indeed clean, butit is wrong for anyone to make
another stumble by what he eats.
Is it not also a littlestrange, based on what we've
(20:42):
examined so far in our study, toimagine that Paul would call a
Christian weak for obedience toTorah?
If Paul himself proclaimed tobe obedient to Torah, then he
would have to place himself inthe category of weak.
That certainly doesn't fit thecontext at this point, does it?
So who would Paul be addressinghere if this passage is to
(21:03):
remain in harmony with whatwe've reviewed so far?
Let's consider again a few keypoints.
The apostles as well as Peterunderstood that unclean food was
now clean, otherwise Gentileswould be unclean unless they
followed the full Torah baseddiet.
two, the apostles continued inobedience of the law.
(21:23):
Despite all things being clean,they remained as Jews.
three, Christian Jews andChristian Gentiles should have
no issue with table fellowshipunder the guidance of the Noaic
Laws and the Apostolic Decree.
Who does that leave us withother than non Christian Jews?
Non Christian Jews would havebeen likely to give Gentiles a
(21:45):
hard time about what they ate.
Especially if they were to noteat according to the Nohide
laws.
If they were to express theirfreedom in Christ out of
arrogance, for example.
The most challenging part inbelieving this may be that Paul
regards his Jewish brethren asbrothers, not only to himself,
but also to the Gentiles.
Paul makes these non ChristianJews to be brothers to the
(22:08):
Gentile Christians if we see itthis way.
This is likely the primaryreason that we would never go
there in our thoughts.
On top of that, when we seethis through the lens of today's
theology, we don't evenconsider alternative views of
the passage unless we'retroubled by the hypocrisy that
today's theology creates.
But with all of the culturalunderstanding we've obtained
(22:29):
through our investigation, Ithink it becomes easier to
understand why Paul woulddeclare nonbelieving Jews to be
brothers of the Gentiles, don'tyou?
Additionally, we can simplyunderstand that when they were
among the Jewish people, therewould always be some of the
elect among them as well.
They could never know who thosepeople might be.
Faithful Jews who had not yetaccepted the Messiah would be
(22:50):
brothers to the Gentiles byfaith.
They were made brothers withthe Jews as much as Paul was a
brother to the Jews throughChrist and his fulfillment of
Torah.
They were Jews at heart, justas the faithful Jews were Romans
two twenty nine.
The believers received acircumcision of the heart.
This was a spiritualtransformation.
Paul had not made it to Rome atthe time of his Romans letter,
(23:14):
but he remained optimistic thatwhen he brought his apostolic
ministry there, with hisspiritual gift that many
faithful Jews would acceptChrist.
Meanwhile, the faithful amongthe Jews worshipped alongside
the Gentiles, which Paul wroteto in Romans within the
synagogue communities.
The Jews of those daysworshiped Yahweh through the
Mosaic Law.
(23:35):
They worshiped the right Lord,but many had not yet accepted
the Messiah.
It was from their people thatthe Messiah came.
Paul saw Gentiles as equalparticipants in salvation,
therefore they were to considerJews as brothers just as he did.
Paul desired for the Gentilesto have the same view of the
(23:56):
Jewish race that he did, whichinvolved having the same level
of respect for their customs.
When Paul rebuked Peter andAntioch, food was not the issue,
but rather Peter separatedhimself from the Gentiles out of
fear of the circumcision group.
Peter was afraid of beingjudged by some of the Jewish
brothers, even though he knewbetter than to separate himself
(24:16):
from table fellowship with theGentiles.
Peter had the vision as well asthe experience of Cornelius and
the Gentiles among him whoreceived the Holy Spirit apart
from the law and circumcision,making them equal participants
in salvation by grace throughfaith alone.
Peter's behavior would havecaused the righteous Gentiles or
God fearers among them whobelieved in Christ Yeshua to
(24:38):
desire the inner circlefellowship that Peter was
promoting.
Peter was very influentialamong the apostles, even leading
Barnabas astray.
Imagine how that must have beenfor Paul to witness.
The church was in trouble atthat moment.
Paul rebuked Peter in truth andspirit, and to protect the
church from falling away fromgrace and into a salvation based
(25:00):
on works.
Peter's behavior was rebuildingthe dividing wall of hostility
that Paul wrote of in Ephesians.
About Peter in the Antiochincident, Paul wrote, For if I
rebuild what I tore down, Iprove myself to be a
transgressor.
That's Galatians two eighteen.
I see this as a reference towhat he described in his letter
(25:21):
to the Ephesians.
Ephesians two thirteen.
But now in Christ Jesus, youwho were once far off have been
brought near by the blood ofChrist, for he himself is our
peace.
He has made us both one, andhas broken down in his flesh the
dividing wall of hostility, byabolishing the law of
commandments expressed inordinances, that he might create
(25:42):
in himself one new man in placeof the two, so making peace,
and might reconcile us both toGod in one body through the
cross, thereby killing thehostility.
When Paul says abolishing thelaw of commandments expressed in
ordinances, he seems to betelling them that the law is not
relevant to them at all,doesn't he?
(26:02):
I think the key to thisstatement is in the fact that it
was expressed in the ordinancesand not by faith.
If you're familiar with Paul'swritings, you may have noticed
that he uses the terms under lawand under sin interchangeably.
It's as if he sees them as oneand the same.
In other words, if you're underlaw, you're also under sin.
(26:23):
Paul illuminates this argumentin Romans chapter seven.
In the seventh chapter ofRomans, Paul teaches that the
law itself is good, but what itproduced in mankind was not
good.
How can this be?
Because of sin.
First Corinthians fifteen fiftysix The sting of death is sin,
and the power of sin is the law.
(26:45):
Christ Yeshua did away with sinat the cross.
The purpose of the law wasfulfilled at the cross.
The entire notion of being maderight with God by works was
abolished and utterly destroyed.
Romans six fourteen.
For sin will have no dominionover you since you are not under
law but under grace.
The Jews who believed werereleased from the bondage of
(27:08):
their sin, that the law producedin the people of Israel.
This was faith in Christ.
The Gentiles would be set freeby this same faith apart from
the law.
Christ Yeshua was theestablishment of the law.
The law pointed to him, Johnfive thirty nine, and was
fulfilled in those who believeRomans eight four.
(27:28):
Jewish Christians in that firstcentury, before the end of the
age, were now able to live byfaith alone.
Living by faith meant they werenow alive to God.
Sin was no longer gettingbetween them and Yahweh, and
they were sealed for redemptionby the Holy Spirit.
The Jewish traditions they heldto could now be practiced
(27:50):
freely by grace, giving thanksinstead of seeking mercy.
The sacrifice that ChristYeshua made at the cross
released the faithful of Israelfrom their bondage to sin.
Those who had faith were nolonger under sin or under law.
They were set free.
The sin that was produced inthem through Torah was wiped
(28:10):
out.
The curse was over.
They were now in a rightstanding with Yahweh.
Galatians three hundredthirteen says Christ redeemed us
from the curse of the law bybecoming a curse for us.
Gentile Christians couldworship Yahweh in truth and
spirit apart from the law byfaith in Christ.
It was no longer necessary orbeneficial in any way for them
(28:32):
to become Israelites bycircumcision and become obedient
to Torah.
But they could worship togetherin Christ with the faithful
Jews, and glorify the trueliving God, Yahweh.
Believing Israelites no longerhad to see faithful Gentiles as
foreigners or as unclean.
Isaiah fifty six seven.
These I will bring to my holymountain, and make them joyful
(28:54):
in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and theirsacrifices will be accepted on
my altar, for my house shall becalled a house of prayer for all
peoples.
Malachi one eleven.
For from the rising of the sunto its setting, my name will be
great among the nations, and inevery place incense will be
offered to my name, and a pureoffering, for my name will be
(29:16):
great among the nations, saysthe Lord of hosts.
Is this not what Paul describesat the end of his Romans
letter?
Romans fifteen fifteen.
But on some points I havewritten to you very boldly, by
way of reminder because of thegrace given me by God, to be a
minister of Christ Jesus to theGentiles in the priestly service
of the gospel of God, so thatthe offering of the Gentiles may
(29:38):
be acceptable, sanctified bythe Holy Spirit.
Paul desired to see thefulfillment of the
eschatological prophecy whereJews and Gentiles worship
together as one voice.
May the God of endurance andencouragement grant you to live
in such harmony with oneanother, in accord with Christ
Jesus, that together you maywith one hand voice glorify the
(30:01):
God and Father of our Lord JesusChrist.
Therefore welcome one anotheras Christ has welcomed you for
the glory of God.
Paul's work would be madecomplete when his apostolic
ministry brought this unity toRome.
This is an incredible view ofthe fulfilled prophecy at the
end of the age, is it not?
I mean wow, this is reallycool.
(30:21):
But on the flip side, can younow see the damage that
Judaizers would be doing in thechurches in those days?
Judaizers were trying torebuild that dividing law of
hostility that was destroyed atthe cross.
They wanted to keep Christ forthe Jews alone.
To this way of thinking, Paulwrites in Romans three twenty
seven, then what becomes of ourboasting?
(30:42):
Is excluded by what kind oflaw?
By a law of works?
No, but by the law of faith.
For we hold that one isjustified by faith apart from
works of the law.
Or is God the God of Jews only?
Is he not the god of Gentilesalso?
Yes, of Gentiles also.
Since God is one, who willjustify the circumcised by faith
(31:07):
and the uncircumcised throughfaith.
Do we then overthrow the law bythis faith?
By no means, on the contrary weuphold the law.
Paul rebuked Peter for behavinglike a Judaizer and separating
himself from the Gentiles.
The Jews and Gentiles becauseof Peter's strong influence
began eating at separate tables.
(31:27):
The dividing wall of hostilitythat was destroyed at the cross
was being rebuilt in Antioch.
The gospel broke down thisdividing wall Ephesians two
thirteen but now in Christ Jesusyou, who were once far off,
have been brought near by theblood of Christ, for He himself
is our peace, who has made usboth one and has broken down in
(31:49):
his flesh the dividing wall ofhostility.
Fear caused Peter to behave ina way that was out of line with
the gospel according to Paul.
The circumcision group musthave had a strong influence in
those times.
You can imagine how good andpious they must have looked.
We see the same things today inChristianity we have large
(32:09):
masses of Christians who focuson works rather than faith.
Lordship doctrines are anextreme example of this, going
as far as proclaiming if youdon't act like a Christian, you
probably are not a Christian.
Therefore you must not besaved.
Other doctrines will teachtheir participants that if they
don't behave like a Christian,then they don't love God, or
(32:30):
they are out of fellowship withGod All of these perspectives
can only give a vaguedescription of exactly what that
Christian behavior actually is.
How much love do we need to bein fellowship?
Which sins put us out offellowship and for how long?
How do we self-cleanse thesesins so we can be blessed again?
(32:51):
Why do we need to self-cleansein the first place?
Isn't that something Christ didfor us?
These doctrines are no betterthan those of the Judaizers and
are possibly worse.
Think about this for a minute.
The Jews had a specific set oflaws to follow.
Prior to the cross even thefaithful were brought to justice
for disobedience.
(33:12):
You broke a law you paid aprice That's the way it works,
right?
In this same way when you drivedown the road you have speed
limit signs.
You know if you speed youdeserve a ticket according to
the law.
You're going to pay a price ifyou get caught.
What if those speed limit signswere removed and you were told
that you no longer needed them?
The only caveat is that you canget a ticket any time if you
(33:35):
don't drive at an appropriatespeed.
You have to discern whatspeeding is for yourself now and
if law enforcement sees you aswrong you pay the price.
And by the way, law enforcementis very strict anybody out
there wanting those speed limitsigns again?
That's ridiculous, isn't it?
But that's what we're taughtout there today, and we're
(33:57):
afraid to stand up to theleaders because they're so
pious.
We're afraid to believe outsideof these lines for fear of
being cast out of our church orbe rejected by our friends.
This is a real fear.
Peter himself fell victim toit.
Should we follow in hisfootsteps?
Placing Christians out offellowship with God and telling
(34:17):
them they're being punished byGod for sin is a crime.
These views do not come fromScripture, although they use
scripture to prove their points.
We need to be seeking context,you guys.
Don't fall for the modern dayJudaizing doctrines.
These doctrines cause thoseunder them to crave rules
instead of grace.
It's not the behavior that'swrong, it's the mindset.
(34:39):
Their heart is not right.
Christianity is not a selfdevelopment program, it's a
spiritual mind transformationthat comes from understanding
the love of our Lord.
If Christians are beingpunished by God today, if sin is
still being counted against us,which it's not, Romans, then
Yahweh has placed us in a newcovenant of terror.
(35:01):
It would be similar to athriller or horror film.
Love one another or else I willremove a limb while you watch
it happen is not the gospel.
Love one another or I'll zapyou with cancer is not the
gospel.
How much love saves you fromthis kind of wrath?
Nobody can answer that questionbecause it was never meant to
(35:22):
be a question that Christiansshould be asking.
We need to know that Yahweh ismolding and shaping us through
all the things we experience inlife.
Our Lord can make good of allthe worst things we can imagine.
He loves us, he guides us, hebuilds us up, he disciplines us
by shaping our lives.
We're always in fellowship withYahweh even when we ignore his
(35:43):
guidance and fall into earthlysuffering.
He is always with us in ourChristian suffering as well.
The view of a punishing God hasChristians seeking laws and
rules because they no longertrust that the Spirit of God is
guiding them.
They can only see a punishingLord who is always watching and
only he knows the true rules youhave to learn by experience.
(36:05):
If you get ill it's probablybecause of sin.
If you suffer hardship it'sprobably sin.
Run out of money you probablysin too much.
You'll tell yourself it's notsin, but let's be honest, it's
your sin.
Can you see the problems thatlegalism causes in the church
when we live by itwholeheartedly the only other
(36:27):
option is to pretend and livearrogantly by ignorance but
that's okay.
Mainstream Christian theologyisn't completely dead it's just
very badly wounded.
The only rule in Christianityis to believe in the finished
work of Christ Yeshua, and eventhat's only possible when we've
been given life by him.
Christ makes the rules andfulfills them in us.
(36:49):
We're called to be guided bythe Spirit not by our own rules
and made up punishments forthose rules.
Yeshua told his disciples tobeware the leaven of the
Pharisees Matthew sixteen sixthis wasn't directly about their
teaching itself.
Though it was part of theproblem he spoke of their
influence.
The influence of the Judaizerscaused Peter to change lunch
(37:11):
tables and next thing you know,Jews and Gentiles were all
eating separately and Gentileswere made to feel not good
enough.
Are we letting ourselves beinfluenced by error because of
its outward appearance?
Let's stop being afraid of thetruth.
Let's stop being afraid to befree in Christ.
Let's stop being afraid of whatpeople will think of us if we
(37:32):
reject error and behave like thenew creation that we are, shall
we?
I know the ideas I've presentedyou today are shocking.
The thought of the apostlesobserving the law freaked me out
if I'm being honest.
This is a substantial shift ofthinking for me, but I'm
extremely confident after divingdeep into this that it'll make
many very difficult passagesbecome crystal clear as we go
(37:53):
through our studies together.
The message of full graceremains the same, but like a
complex math problem, we learnmore when we fully understand
how to come up with the finalanswer.
When we understand how to dothe full math rather than taking
a shortcut or having the answerjust given to us, we grow
rapidly in our understanding.
We can now solve other mathproblems with ease because we
(38:14):
know the formula.
So it is with studyingscripture.
Hermeneutics help us to do themath in our scriptures.
Context must be understood tobreak down that cultural barrier
of the first century writers ofour New Testament as well as
those of the first covenant.
In closing I think we need toaddress a few more questions.
One is how does the law applyto Christians and Jews today?
(38:36):
For the first century ChristianJews and all truly faithful
Jews for that matter, Torah wasnot observed out of obligation.
It was a cherished act ofworship.
It's difficult to wrap ourbrains around that today.
The thought of a restrictivediet is not going to make many
Americans zealous for the Lord.
Out here we're more likely togo full apostate under those
(38:58):
terms.
The apostles didn't see the lawlike we do today.
They saw it as their worship.
Contrary to popular belief, onecould be obedient to Torah and
even do it faithfully.
This does not mean one could bewithout sin.
Christ Yeshua proved this quitewell in the Sermon on the Mount
Sin had placed all of mankindin bondage from the beginning.
(39:19):
We often see the apostles asspeaking against the law in our
thinking.
Even Christ Yeshua can be seenthis way as he went around
calling the Phariseeshypocrites.
But Yeshua was fully obedientto Torah.
It was the Pharisees who werein error building fences around
the laws and even putting fencesaround those fences to protect
them from breaking the law.
(39:40):
They were no longer obedientfrom the heart.
They turned obedience intoobsessive misery and were
hardened as a result.
When Christ healed on theSabbath, they didn't even care
about the miracle.
They only cared that he broketheir false rule system.
The cross of Christ Yeshua tookthe curse away from the law and
(40:00):
allowed the Gentiles to beequals without having the law.
Christ Yeshua was thefulfillment of the intentions of
Torah, which was to lead all ofthe faithful from all nations
to him.
Gentiles at the end of the agewere free in all things but were
taught to respect the Jews,both Christian and non Christian
in their worship of Yahweh.
This was pleasing to the Lord,not a requirement for being
(40:22):
right with him.
This was a genuine love thatwas produced by grace.
Christians are called to loveand therefore prosper when
living by this calling it's ourworship.
The works of the law producedsin in mankind while grace
produced love in mankind.
The law was fulfilled in loveRomans thirteen eight pride in
the law and its works madeIsrael covetous, causing them to
(40:44):
look down upon Gentiles whodidn't have the law.
Grace was the establishment ofthe true purpose of the law that
sin did not allow to be carriedout.
Further we might ask, how doesany of this study apply to Jews
today who observe the law?
It doesn't, because they cannotobserve the law.
They haven't observed the lawfor almost two thousand years
(41:04):
and never will again There was ameans to an end for the first
century Jews and Christians.
Christ was coming soon Romanssixteen twenty The God of peace
will soon crush Satan under yourfeet the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you.
This is written at the end ofour Romans letter and ties into
the eschatological event ofSatan being destroyed and the
(41:26):
new covenant age beingestablished.
In AD seventy, Jerusalem andits holy temple were destroyed
as prophesied in our scriptureand recorded by Josephus and
other historians.
All Levite lineage wasdestroyed and the old covenant
age along with its physicaltemple worship had once and for
all time come to an end thirteencheck out my last several
(41:46):
messages starting with numberfifty seven for more details on
that.
Case in point, Judaism is overand there are no law observant
Jews in existence today, just asGod intended The body of Christ
is the new spiritual Jerusalemand we are all part of his
spiritual temple.
In Christ all have become asone.
We no longer need a physicaltemple and Yahweh wiped it out
(42:09):
when he consummated his newcovenant age in Christ so that
this might be fully understood.
Yahweh dwells among usspiritually now through the body
of Christ, the new spiritualJerusalem.
And let's look at one finalquestion.
How does Torah affectChristians today?
Grace is still grace for us.
This study changes nothingabout the message of full grace.
(42:32):
We're not on an apostolicmission to reach Jews in the
temple and synagogues.
You can if you want to but thatwas the mission for the first
century apostles and Christians,not you.
I don't think you'll find thesynagogues today to be anything
like those of the genuine Jewsof the first century who
possessed the Torah and thetemple worship before the end of
that age.
The apostles recognized thatChrist Yeshua had dealt with sin
(42:55):
once and for all by his onesacrifice, and Yahweh would no
longer be keeping a log of theirsin twelve and ten seventeen
The apostles understood that allthings were now clean, Romans
fourteen fourteen otherwise theGentiles would have been in
defiance of Torah and consideredunclean.
We see at the end of the OldCovenant age a beautiful picture
(43:16):
of Jew and Gentile comingtogether and worshiping the true
living God Yahweh with onevoice Romans fifteen six.
The Jews who were reconciled toYahweh continued in Jewish
worship freely, knowing that sinwas no longer getting him
between them and their Lord.
The Messiah of the Jews was theMessiah of all people now.
Sin would no longer be abarrier for the Gentiles all who
(43:39):
call on the name of the Lordwill be saved Romans ten
thirteen.
It was the end of the age fornational Israel and the
beginning of the age of Christand his church would soon be
fully established.
And if you're willing tobelieve it, Yahweh's new
covenant has been consummated asof AD seventy.
All of salvation is apart fromTorah now.
The law is fulfilled in thosewho have faith in Christ Yeshua
(44:03):
and those with faith put onimmortality and can now live a
life of purpose guided by theHoly Spirit in a perfect union
with the Lord.
That's what I have for todayguys.
I'll talk to you next time andhave a great day out there.
God bless thank you for listening to the Waking Up to
Grace podcast brought to you bythe finished work of our Lord
(44:24):
Jesus Christ.
If you enjoyed today's episodewe would love to hear from you
you can send encouragement ourway right from our episodes and
transcripts page or reach Lennyprivately from the contact form
at wakinguptograce.com
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