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We have just seen that for Paul obedience to the commandments of God is a “stumbling stone.” We totally destroyed such a foolish statement in the last article. Now we tackle another of Paul's problems in the New Testament.
Let us examine Deut. 30:12-14 before we go further.
Deut. 30:12-14
According to Deut 30:12-14 the Israelites were told that the commandments [Paul’s stumbling stone…remember?] are not hidden or too hard to understand and to obey. Paul teaches otherwise and believes them to be a stumbling stone. Again Moses, speaking the revelation of Sinai, disagrees with Paul.
Answer for yourself: Can you name for me one commandment that is impossible for man to do?
The laws of God are clearly stated and the people need not search the heavens or beyond the seas for guidance in following them. Yet Paul quoted, or should I say misquotes, this clear-cut message in Romans 10:8 not as a call for ethical behavior and obedience to God’s Law, but as a call, not to deeds, but to faith in Yeshua as a deity raised from the dead (ROM 10:9).
Rom 10:6-8 6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) 7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) 8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; (KJV)
A quick glance between the above passage from the Old Testament with Paul's quote again reveals how Paul has manipulated and changed what the Prophet originally intended. Let us examine Paul's misuse of Deut 30:12-14 in his epistle to the Romans.
Answer for yourself: Has Paul emphasized "faith" in promoting his "under grace not under the Law doctrine" and failed to mention the "do it" of Deut. 30:14? He sure has! Is faith without obedience (do it) a false faith? We need to ask James who is the head of the Jerusalem church.
James 2:20 20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? (KJV)
First of all "the word" which is "nigh thee and in thy mouth" according to Deut. 30 are the commandments of God.
This is beyond doubt regardless of what Paul says in the New Testament which can easily be proven by examination of just a few verses. Deut. 30: 2 is an appeal to return to the LORD thy God by "obeying his voice according to all that I have commanded thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul." The context refers to the obedience of the commandments and law of God.
Verse 8 continues the same thought: "And thou shalt return (repent) and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all His commandments which I have commanded thee this day." Again we see the same in verse 10: "If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep His commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul."
Now pay close attention to verse 11: "For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off."
The repeated references in Deut. 30 is to the commandments of God to which He repeatedly through Moses implores the people to do them, walk in them, and obey them. No where in the context of the verses can be found Paul's idea of justification apart from the Law or a doctrine of justification because one believes a set of doctrines about Yeshua and his identity as Messiah or not.
Paul again completely distorts the original meaning of Moses, as well as Jehovah, by telling his Gentile readers that the verses refer to a justification and righteousness which is of faith "alone" in Romans 10:6. This is a complete contradiction of the Bible Yeshua used and what Moses taught as given by God at Sinai.
Paul tells us in verse 8 of Romans chapter 10 that the "word" which is night thee and in one's mouth is the word of faith…implied faith in the message of Paul and his unique understanding of Jesus and not the message of Moses, the Prophets, or Yeshua. Paul does say one thing correct in verse 8; the word of "faith alone" is definitely what he preaches as opposed to the message of the Jerusalem church and Yeshua. As if that is not enough such an idea is nowhere found in the text from which he quotes!
Paul goes on to tell us what exactly the "word" of faith he preaches really entails in verses 9-10 of Romans 10.
Answer for yourself: Did you know that Romans 9-11 was not in the original Romans written by Paul..that is only shows up in around 200 A.D.? That is right. I would like to quote Jerome on this from his Bible Commentary, pp. 318:
"Rom 9-11….is a foreign body in the letter, added later by some editor."
That means Romans 9-11 is missing from the earliest manuscripts of the New Testament. Not only do we have Jerome's testimony, but the Marcion New Testament, which was the first collected, is likewise missing it as well in its collections of Paul's writings. This strongly suggests another than Paul is the possible author of such information. The question of its value to the believer is debatable at least.
Next, by quoting Deut. 30 Paul would have us believe that his new theology is tied somehow to the "word" which is night thee and in thy mouth of Deut. 30. Paul invests his theology with Mosaic and Sinai authority by referencing his message to Moses and Sinai. But there is one major problem…Moses never said what is recorded in Romans 10:9-10. The "word" which brought Israel salvation and which was in their minds and hearts, as well as mouths, was the word of return unto the LORD by the keeping of His laws, commandments, and statutes. Now, if we are not aware of the context of Deut. 30, which many are not who read Romans 10: 9-10, then we would be led to believe that the word spoken of by Moses referred to the acceptance of Yeshua by the believer for salvation. This is what Paul says. But if we are to be true to the Word of God, we must object to such a distortion of truth. Believing in Yeshua and his identity as a Messiah or not believing such "theology" has no bearing on one's salvation according to Moses, the Prophets, Yeshua himself, as well as the Jerusalem church. Again we are deceived and misled by Paul who is preaching a "faith in his theology about Yeshua" as a means of salvation. Such is a gross perversion of Biblical truth. In reality Paul is preaching a new gospel which no one who knew the Bible accepted. The Gentiles, who were not familiar with Deut. or what the "word" of Moses truly was were easily duped by Paul, especially when he made reference to Moses to support his "faith without works" doctrine. The Gentiles would jump at the chance for an easy salvation which required nothing of them other than to accent to a mental belief that a man had been brought back to life. What is so new about that? Their dying pagan gods had been doing that for centuries. Confessing with one's mouth that Yeshua was "master" and "Lord" and subscribing to a belief that God had raised him back to life was sure easier than obeying God's "do's and don'ts". What an easy message to receive by the unsuspecting Gentiles. These non-Jews were assured by Paul, with Mosaic authority no less, that they could "be righteous before God apart from obedience to the commandments of God". Salvation was made so easy by Paul. All they had to do was believe Paul over the Jerusalem church, reject the message of Moses, reject the writings of the Prophets and David, reject the witness of Judaism as a world religion of the time, reject the witness of the church of Jerusalem, and reject the message of Yeshua. They only had to believe Paul's misquotations and misapplications of the Jewish Scriptures to be saved. So easy.
Answer for yourself: Who would not want to be saved so easily, unless maybe you, a Jew, knew for certain that the message of Paul to be a lie because of the “tested” Cornerstone (Yahweh) Whom had shared His Presence with you since Sinai?
Answer for yourself: If Paul had studied under Gamileal didn’t he learn anything?
Answer for yourself: Can you see that Paul has completely changed the meaning of the verses from which he quotes and the unsuspecting reader who is not knowledgeable with the Old Testament will easily be misled to accepting “another Gospel” without even knowing it?
For emphasis, he even added a nonexistent verse:
Rom 10:11 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. (KJV)
Answer for yourself: What Scripture is that?
My Hebrew Bible relates the verse of Isa. 28:16 from which Paul quoted from:
Isa 28:16 as taken from the Jewish Scriptures:
16 Therefore, thus said my Lord HaShem/Elohim: Behold, I am laying a stone for a foundation in Zion: a sturdy stone, a precious cornerstone, a secure foundation. Let the believer not expect it soon (meaning it will take time for the idolatry to be removed from His people).
If you notice the pronoun "him," as taken from "believeth on him," is totally lacking from the Hebrew verse. The context of the passage, as seen in the last article, was believe upon God and His Commandments. Paul uses a rather loose quotation, or misquotation, in the context of believing upon Jesus as it follows Rom. 10:1-10 where one is led to confess Jesus as Lord and believe God has raised him from the dead. There as well we are let to believe that confession and belief "in Jesus" as Paul presents him leads to righteousness and confession of said belief brings "salvation."
There is only one large problem with this: the text Paul used had a completely different meaning; in fact the Hebrew text completely contradicts Paul's "faith only" and "no Law" Gospel which he presents in Jesus' name!
Again let me stress that Paul, in misquoting the verse but yet referring to Isaiah for authority says, that "he who believes in him will not be put to death.” This concept on believing on or in a Messiah for salvation is non-existent in Isaiah and Deuteronomy. In ignoring the content and original meaning of the verses he loosely quoted which alluded to prosperity in the land to which they would return upon repentance, Paul extrapolated from them that “(if) you believe in your heart that God raised Yeshua from the dead, you will be saved." This is not the message taken from the passages Paul quotes. Again Paul destroys the message of the original writer for his own purposes.
Answer for yourself: Can you see for yourself that we as Christians have failed to recognize when reading Romans 10:9-10 that not only were these passages not in the original Romans until 200 A.D. indicating that Paul had not included them in his original letter to the Roman church or were added later by others, but the belief God desires we have is not in the man-made theologies about Yeshua, but faith in God to both believe and obey the commandment respective of our Covenant?
The answer to that question will amaze you considering what you have “heard” taught most of your life. There is an element of irony and cynicism in Paul's choice of a citation from this chapter of Deuteronomy as the basis for his promise of salvation “through faith in Yeshua alone.”For that same chapter that Paul quotes from contains the following injunction which Paul fails to mention and which few Christians are aware since they lack knowledge of the Old Testament since Paul’s writings have replaced for most the Bible Yeshua used:
Deut 30:16-18
Paul transfers the original meaning from Deut. 30:16 “that thou mayest live” [in and on the land of Israel as a reward for obedience to the moral commands of God] to “thou shalt be saved” [now connected to belief in the Pauline vision of Jesus and his understanding of a person he never met. How gullible are we to believe such a message that belief in one' man's understanding of the identity of a person for a life after death in heaven somewhere; a message which contradicts the whole of the Torah, Moses, the Prophets, the Writings, and even what Yeshua himself taught.
Answer for yourself: Now I ask you, from the passages Paul quotes from, is Paul’s new message the message God intends we receive when compared with the Jewish Scriptures which was the Bible Yeshua used?
Since Paul renders “that thou mayest live” (on and in the land) as “thou shalt be saved” (in heaven) in Romans 10:9, I feel it is of the most importance we look at the words surrounding the quotes he changes. So the following is an exegesis of Deut. 30:16-18:
Deut 30:16-18
We are commanded by God to love the LORD they God, to “WALK” in his ways….
“Walk” in Hebrew is as follows:
3212 yalak- to go, to walk, to come
Answer for yourself: Is the topic of the verse and the "word that is in our hearts and mouths" referring to how we as God's people are to live our life in this world whereby the focus is to live a life obeying God’s commandments in our course of life? It sure is!
Answer for yourself: Is the emphasis upon action, conduct, and behavior, or abstract mental belief concerning a set of doctrines about a man, his identity, and what he did or did not accomplish according to what Paul taught?
We are to walk throughout life “in His ways.” The Hebrew for “WAYS” is as follows:
1870 derek (deh'-rek); from 1869; a road (as trodden); figuratively, a course of life or mode of action, often adverb:
a way, a road, a distance, a journey, a manner
Answer for yourself: Is the emphasis upon actions that influence our moral character as we live and chart a course through life, or abstract belief and agreement to a set of beliefs and "theology" that Paul ascribes about a man he believes to be the Messiah but whom he never met?
Answer for yourself: Is the emphasis upon actions concerning one’s moral character throughout the course of one’s life or abstract belief in a person or what happened to him in his life that one man interpreted as a replacement for the Torah and the Jewish Bible for salvation?
In the same chapter we are commanded by God to “keep” His commandments, statutes, and judgments in order that we may live.
The Hebrew word for “keep” is as follows: 8104 shamar-
to keep, to guard, to observe, to give heed
Answer for yourself: If you desire to inherit the kind of life only God can give then do you see for yourself that He commands that we “observe, keep, know about and treasure up in our memories” His commandments, statutes, and judgments? Is that rather hard since according to Paul these "Laws" we are no longer under?
Answer for yourself: If you desire to inherit the kind of life only God can give then do you see for yourself that He commands that we observe, celebrate, and keep the Sabbath which is part of the Covenant?
Answer for yourself: To inherit the kind of life only God can give then do you see for yourself that He commands that we are to keep and protect from destruction His Laws and commandments?
Answer for yourself: To inherit the kind of life only God can give then do you see for yourself that He commands that we to both keep the “positive” commandments and “refrain” from breaking the “negative” commandments...respective to our Covenant?
This passage is very clear: obey the laws and do not accept another deity. The passage from which Paul quotes does not mention faith, rather the emphasis is upon obedience to the commandments of God as the fruit of one's faith! Of course…there is an implicit assumption that those who obey the commandments believe in the One God who gave them and has such faith...a living faith that obeys.
There was no limit to Paul's misuse of the Hebrew Bible to attack Jews who did not accept his new doctrines nor his authority. In ROM 10:15-21 Paul was his most relentless. He literally let loose a barrage of passages pulled from the Hebrew Bible and strung together haphazardly Jewish passages to foster his personal agenda. Dear child of God understand that the Jewish rejection of Paul's good-news gospel (which for them was anything but good news) elicits a chain of six quotations in rapid succession ranging from Isaiah to Psalms to Deuteronomy and back to Isaiah. All of them were taken out of context and were supposed to demonstrate Israel's faithlessness and unbelief (we must remember the unbelief is not in God or His Word but in Paul’s new doctrines).
The Hebrew Bible is replete with self-criticism for Israel’s backsliding. There are many sections censuring idolatry and immorality. Paul used incorrectly those passages dealing with immorality and idolatry as if they were denouncing Jews for not believing in Paul’s unique message concerning Yeshua. He took those very verses which condemn Israel for its impiety to the demands of Torah and turned them into criticism of the nation for its acts of loyalty to that very body of law and ethics that God commanded they obey.
Ironically for the Christian Church to understand the truth concerning Paul, considering what they have heard preached incorrectly for most of their lives, then they have to come to the understanding that from the Jews' standpoint the Jews demonstrated their faithfulness to the laws that God had given them through Moses by rejecting Paul's heathen beliefs.
Their “works” as a result of their “faith” was, ironically seen by God, in their rejection of a “new gospel” as taught by Paul which completely destroyed the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings.
This will be hard for most Christians to handle considering the lack of their Biblical knowledge as well as knowledge of the faith of Yeshua who was not a Christian, but Paul's identification of the historical Yeshua as the incarnate Son of God is essentially un-Jewish and runs counter to the fundamental tenant in the Bible delineating the absolute difference between God and man. Much of our ignorance is because we have accepted uncritically the whole of the New Testament never questioning if these passages we grew to accept and love were in the first New Testament or if they found their way into in over the centuries as the anti-Semitic Gentile Church added to them as they hammered out their replacement religion. Many of the doctrines we are taught to cherish like the virgin-birth were “back-written” much later to accommodate the continually changing doctrinal decisions of the Gentile Catholic Church Councils. I don’t expect you to believe this, but if you had examined the evidence as I had the conclusion is inescapable!