Paul
teaching Torah to the Gentiles
Some young man was asking if there was any evidence
in scripture that Paul taught the Torah to Gentiles? He was sure there was NOT and meant it as a
question to “stump” the people who’s channel it was.
I thought about it, and this passage below came to
mind:
First let’s go to Corinth with Paul the
Apostle.
Acts 18:1 After these things Paul departed from Athens,
and came to Corinth;
Acts 18:4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both
Jews and Greeks.
Acts 18:5 When Silas and Timothy had come from
Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews
that Jesus is the Christ. 6
But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to
them, "Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."
Acts 18:7 And he departed from there and
entered the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped God, whose
house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Then Crispus, the ruler of the
synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the
Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.
Acts 18:9 Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the
night by a vision, "Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; 10
"for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have
many people in this city." 11 And he
continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
Then I
remembered this passage from the Jerusalem council.
Acts 15:13 And after they had become silent, James
answered, saying, "Men and brethren, listen to me:
They were discussing
what the Gentile should be told to do to begin to keep God’s Ways; and came up
with four “main” points to focus on with them.
Acts 15:19 "Therefore I judge that we
should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, 20
"but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from
sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.”
All of these
agree with the commandments in the Torah.
Then he went on to say that the Gentiles would get further instruction
as follows:
Acts 15:21 "For Moses has had throughout
many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the
synagogues every Sabbath." (NKJV)
Acts 15:21 For from early generations Moses has
had in every city those who preach him, for he is read every sabbath in the
synagogues." (RSV)
This is not
something to take lightly. What he is
saying is that in the areas where Paul was preaching, people who were searching
for God or coming to Him were going to the synagogues to learn.
Since we
know Paul later left the synagogues to focus just on the Gentiles, he had to
have a way to teach them.
Remember,
Paul was a highly educated and trained Pharisee. He would have known all about the teaching system
of the synagogue and would have used that.
Today, there
is a format for reading the Torah that is used in almost every Jewish synagogue
and Messianic or Hebrew Roots congregations. It is called the Torah Portions. Each Sabbath there are a few chapters from the
Torah to be read and taught about at congregation when you all come together.
In that way, James was saying they will have the teaching of the Torah in the
synagogue system so they will learn the rest of God’s ways through that.
If we had to
do the same thing in America today, I would pick a different FOUR big things to
have the new people focus on to begin with.
Based on our culture today, I would pick:
1. Keep the Sabbath – on Saturday.
2. Do not eat pork, shellfish or
anything found dead already (like road kill).
3. Do not commit adultery / fornication.
4. Do not follow the ways of the pagans
with their holidays and idol worship.
These are just
examples. If I knew there was a system
for reading the Torah that the new people would be learning in, this would
work.
Don’t get
me wrong, we NEED this to happen in
America today. The odds of people doing
it, are very slim.
Compiled by
G.E. Walker May
2019
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