06/16/2026
I've had people quote Paul to me for years as if he spent his life trying to free believers from the Torah. Yet when you actually read his letters slowly, you find yourself asking a different question.
Why does a man supposedly fighting against the Torah call it "holy, righteous and good" (Rom 7:12)? Why does he say, "the Torah is spiritual" (Rom 7:14)? Why does he confess, "I delight in the Torah of God in my inner being" (Rom 7:22)?
And then there is Colossians 2... Paul didn't tell believers to stop keeping Sabbaths and feasts. He told them not to let anyone judge them regarding food, drink, a festival, a New Moon, or Sabbaths (Col 2:16). That's a very different thing. You don't tell people not to be judged for doing something they aren't doing.
The more you study, the more you will notice that Paul never defended himself by saying, "The Torah doesn't matter anymore." Instead, he said, "I have committed no offense against the Torah" (Acts 25:8). In Acts 24:14 he declared that he believed everything written in the Torah and the Prophets. In Acts 21, he even participated in a Nazirite vow.
That doesn't sound like a man who thought Moses had become obsolete.
What Paul fought against was something else. He fought against the idea that obedience earns salvation. He fought against trusting circumcision, works, or identity markers to justify us before God.
Salvation has always been by grace through faith. But grace doesn't make sin good. Paul himself asks, "Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!" (Rom 6:15). After all, sin is defined as the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4).
Another thing that helped me was realizing Paul uses the word "law" in different ways. Sometimes he speaks about the Torah, sometimes the law of sin, the law of faith, the law of the Spirit of life, or the law of sin and death. English translations often flatten all of these into one word, and confusion follows.
I don't believe Paul contradicted Moses. And I don't believe he contradicted Yeshua, who said not even the smallest letter would pass from the Torah until heaven and earth pass away (Mat 5:17-19). Paul wasn't against God's instructions. He was against trying to be saved by them.
P.S. One more thing... I've noticed that some people, after discovering that mainstream Christianity often misunderstands Paul, swing hard in the other direction and decide Paul himself must have been a false apostle. Some even build elaborate conspiracy theories around him. Personally, I can't go there.
Peter called Paul "our beloved brother Paul" and spoke of the wisdom given to him (2 Peter 3:15). He also warned that some things in Paul's letters are hard to understand and that unstable people twist them to their own destruction.
I think Peter's words are just as relevant today as they were then. Some twist Paul to teach that God's commandments no longer matter. Others twist the difficulties in his writings into reasons to reject him entirely. Neither extreme sits well with me.
Paul's letters deserve careful study. They deserve context. And they deserve to be read alongside Moses, the Prophets, Yeshua, and the rest of Scripture, not against them.
Peter warned us that Paul can be difficult to understand. That warning still stands, no matter which direction we lean.
𝗔 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀:
Many people aren't actually engaging with the questions I raised. Instead, they keep returning to the same slogans.
Some say Colossians 2 means, "Don't let anyone judge you for not keeping Sabbaths." But those words are not in the text. Paul simply says, "Let no one judge you regarding..." Adding "or not keeping them" is interpretation, not quotation.
Others say, "Jesus is our Sabbath." Yet that phrase is nowhere found in Scripture. Yeshua gives us rest. Amen. Hebrews 4 connects that rest with faith, then concludes, "So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God." The spiritual reality and the weekly Sabbath are not enemies.
Others repeat, "We're under grace, not under law," as though grace and obedience are opposites. I have never argued that the law saves. Salvation is by grace through faith. The question is whether grace abolishes God's standards. Paul's answer is, "May it never be!"
Some appeal to Sunday worship, citing Acts 20 or 1 Corinthians 16. But gathering on the first day and replacing the Sabbath are two very different claims. One is described. The other is assumed. Acts 20 describes a meeting. 1 Corinthians 16 speaks about setting aside money. Neither passage says Sunday became the new Sabbath.
Many simply say, "The law doesn't save," as though that somehow addresses anything I've written. Since when have salvation and obedience become enemies? Nobody is arguing that keeping the Sabbath earns forgiveness. The issue is whether God's commandments still matter to those who have already been saved.
And Romans 14 is constantly brought up, even though Romans 14 never mentions the Sabbath. It discusses disputes over eating and optional days. Turning one of the Ten Commandments into a matter of personal preference is something the chapter itself never does.
What I find most interesting is that very few people actually address the passages and tensions I've raised.
Matthew 5:17-19.
Romans 3:31.
Romans 7:12, 14, and 22.
Hebrews 4:9.
Acts 21:26.
Acts 24:14.
Acts 25:8.
Isaiah 66:22-23.
If you're unwilling to wrestle with the tensions and contradictions your view creates, then perhaps don't comment.
Repeating conclusions is not exegesis, and labels are not arguments.
Instead, sit back, reflect, and seek the Lord's guidance. Ask whether your interpretation truly harmonizes with the whole counsel of Scripture. Truth does not fear scrutiny, but pride often does.
