Day 22 - #obediencechallenge - Perspective

If you want to know what this is all about, see my intro post at 30 Days to Better Faith.

Have you ever seen those pictures where perspective makes all the difference? Up close, on a superficial level, something looks like one thing, but when you step away and look at the larger picture, it turns out to be something entirely different. Something deeper, with more meaning.

Let's look at some pictures. This one - it's just a picture of some screws.

If I showed you this first picture and said, "This is a picture of a man's face," you would tell me, "No... it's quite OBVIOUSLY a picture of screws." Because you're looking at it from your current experience, your current understanding of it, and also on a zoomed-in, narrowed, perspective.

But, let's say that I then show you this second picture.

NOW it's pretty obvious that this IS a picture of a man's face. You had only seen a portion of it, up close and narrowed in focus, but it was still a man's face the entire time you stared at it. No matter how long you stared at that first picture - without me showing you the second picture, you would never have understood what it ACTUALLY was, right?

I know you're trying to figure out where I am going with this... so here we go...

Let's take the Apostle Paul, and his letters in the New Testament of the Bible.

Hands down, if anyone asked you if the law of God was for us today, 99% of the time the answer would be, "No. It was done away with at the cross." If someone asked you for proof of that, I can almost guarantee the scriptures you would cite to support your stance would come from Paul's writings.

Do you know why I believe this? Because on the surface, and from our experience within the church today, we SEE it that way.

But what if I told you that all you're seeing is that first picture above?

Paul must be read in the context of the WHOLE of scripture (all of the Bible) because Paul was highly educated in the scriptures. And the scriptures at that time were ONLY the Old Testament. The book of James is believed to be the oldest book in the NT, and it was written around 50 AD... almost two decades after Jesus' death. So Paul (and his contemporaries that also wrote the other books of the NT) only had the OT as their scriptures. Paul was a student of Gamaliel, and part of his scholarly requirement was that he memorize the entire Torah (Genesis through Deuteronomy, which was the law of God give to the Israelites). He knew it like the back of his hand. What if I told you that the trial held against Paul was because he was FALSELY accused of teaching against the law of God?

See Acts 21:20-24 (caps for emphasis):

"Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. THEY HAVE BEEN INFORMED THAT YOU TEACH THE JEWS WHO LIVE AMONG THE GENTILES TO TURN AWAY FROM THE LAW OF MOSES, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. THEN EVERYONE WILL KNOW THERE IS NO TRUTH IN THESE REPORTS ABOUT YOU, BUT THAT YOU YOURSELF ARE LIVING IN OBEDIENCE TO THE LAW."

Paul not only lived according to the law (AFTER THE CROSS), he also TAUGHT people to follow the law (AFTER THE CROSS). He was held on false accusations that he had told people to turn from the law.

Now, I know at this point, you're saying, "But what about this verse, and this verse, and this verse?" - I know, because I did the same thing. Post them below and I will happily explain them for you, so that you can research for yourself.

Because Paul was so well-read and educated, his writings were hard to understand. We know this, because Peter himself told us. See 2 Peter 3:16-17, speaking of Paul's letters, caps for emphasis:

"He [Paul] writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters.HIS LETTERS CONTAIN SOME THINGS THAT ARE HARD TO UNDERSTAND, WHICH IGNORANT AND UNSTABLE PEOPLE DISTORT, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, BE ON YOUR GUARD SO THAT YOU MAY NOT BE CARRIED AWAY BY THE ERROR OF THE LAWLESS and fall from your secure position."

We learn a few things from the passage above:

1. Paul writes some things that are hard to understand.

2. That if you are ignorant (this doesn't mean in a bad way, just that you aren't aware of it) and unstable (do not have a firm footing in scripture, as Paul did), things WILL be distorted.

3. Peter tells us that we must be careful (on guard) so that we don't fall into the ERROR of the LAWLESS <--this means that being without the law (lawLESS) was an ERROR.

4. Based on the above, we can understand that misinterpreting Paul's letters can lead us into thinking that Paul promotes lawlessness, but we see this is an error.

There is so much richness and goodness to get out of Paul, and once you see it from the larger, wide-angle, perspective, and in the context of the whole of scripture, it's actually quite easy to see that Paul fully SUPPORTS obedience to the law, before and after the cross.

I hope this (lengthy) explanation helps you to understand a little more about how important perspective is, and that it challenges you to ask questions about Paul. I am happy to discuss them with you, either below or in PM. <3