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Historians and theologians, not to mention everyday readers, have wrestled with Paul’s writings since his letters first began to circulate in the earliest Christian centuries (2 Peter 3:16). However, it seems that scholarship has now turned a decisive corner by coming to understand this prolific apostle in the context of his own social and religious milieu.[1] Much has changed to demystify Paul and help us understand him in a consistent, historical, and contextualized way. With this approach, many of the contradictions and misunderstandings surrounding Paul are resolved, and certain long-held myths evaporate. Let’s look at how this works by addressing five myths associated with Paul.
Myth 1: Paul abandoned Judaism for Christianity.
This is one myth that most people have probably heard. Paul, the failed Jew, became Paul the triumphant founder or founding member of a new religion. The problem with this view is that Paul never wrote about founding a new religion. Historically, we know that there was no such thing as “Christianity” in the time of Paul, and the word “Christian” was likely not in use either. Paul was proud of his status as a faithful, Torah-observant Jew, and even said so (e.g., Romans 11:1; Galatians 1:14). In these passages, Paul was not describing what he was before his encounter with Christ but how he continued to be even afterward. Paul’s objective, as he made plain, was to bring pagan idolaters to a righteous standing before the God of Israel. In this, he believed he was participating in the fulfillment of end-time prophecies that spoke about the nations joining Israel in worship (e.g., Isaiah 56:6-7; Jeremiah 3:16-17).
Myth 2: Paul wrote to Jews and Gentiles, both for his time and for all time.
Several times Paul wrote plainly that he had been divinely chosen as an “apostle to the Gentiles,” not an apostle to Jews. His gospel message was for the idolatrous nations (Romans 1:5; Galatians 1:16). His letters, though written to Christ-believing assemblies that sometimes included Jews, were always addressed to the Gentile members (e.g., 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Galatians 4:8). Paul brought his gospel to those who had no covenant relationship with the God of Israel. He brought them a means for attaining righteousness: through baptism in the death (and resurrection) of Christ for the redemption of their sins (Romans 6:4). Paul, like all other Jews, had a variety of ways to atone for sin, as members of a righteous covenant with God. Paul brought to the nations news of a “new covenant” understood in terms of the prophecies of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34) and Ezekiel (Ezekiel 36:24-28). Paul’s missionary horizon was short—he believed that Christ would return while he was still alive (1 Thessalonians 4:15). Thus, he did not write for future generations.
Myth 3: Paul taught a “law-free” gospel.
Even skimming through Paul’s letters, it is clear that he never taught a “law-free” gospel that required only trust and not works. Paul was clear about Gentile obedience (e.g., Romans 15:18). He frequently taught many of God’s laws that pertained equally to Gentiles as to Jews (e.g., 1 Corinthians 5:11; 1 Corinthians 7:19). But Paul believed that the dispensation of the law through Moses to the Jews was specifically for Jews; it was their birthright as God’s original adopted children (Romans 9:4). And as he said, the Torah and God’s covenant with the Jews remained in effect (Galatians 3:15-17). Gentiles, however, required adoption (Galatians 4:4-5), and part of their requirements as adopted children was obedience to God’s law as dispensed directly by God through the Spirit to each Gentile heart.
Myth 4: Paul taught that Christ died for the sins of the world.
Paul never said this. Paul clearly wrote that Christ died for the ungodly and for sinners (Romans 5:6, Romans 8). He meant “sinners” just as the Gospels meant “sinners”: those in danger of losing their membership in the covenant or those who were out of it altogether (Matthew 9:10-11; Luke 6:32). Paul wrote that he and Peter were not this kind of sinner (Galatians 2:15). The ungodly were idolatrous pagans. Jews already belonged to God. Yes, Jews sinned. But they had ample means of atonement already specified in the Torah and Jewish teaching. Gentiles had nothing like this. According to Paul, Christ had to die for them to be redeemed. Christ had to become cursed (fall outside the covenant) just like Gentiles (Galatians 3:13). But God redeemed and exalted him. By being baptized into Christ’s death and deliverance (Romans 6:3-4), cursed Gentiles could share in his redemption and look forward to eternal life.
Myth 5: The meaning behind Paul’s letters is self-evident.
Much misunderstanding about Paul comes from overlooking his rhetorical strategies. Paul used a variety of literary tools to ingratiate, implore, persuade, and ultimately convince his audience. For example, Paul frequently used the social plural (“we”) when he wrote, identifying with his audience, even though he was not actually one of them. A classic example is when Paul writes as if he was one of the “ungodly” (Romans 5:6). Of course, he was not. Paul also wrote in character, that is, he wrote in someone else’s voice for dramatic effect. A famous example is Romans 7 in which Paul wrote as if he were a Gentile sinner wrestling with Mosaic law.
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There are other myths about Paul that result from our inability or reluctance to hear Paul for what he was: a first-century, Hellenistic Jew trained in Greek rhetoric and proficient in Pharisaic modes of scriptural exegesis. He used every tool at his disposal as an apostle to bring the Gentiles to obedience and spare them the wrath otherwise due them on the imminent Day of the Lord.
Historians and theologians, not to mention everyday readers, have wrestled with Paul’s writings since his letters first began to circulate in the earliest Christian centuries (2 Peter 3:16). However, it seems that scholarship has now turned a decisive corner by coming to understand this prolific apostle in the context of his own social and religious milieu.1 Much has changed to demystify Paul and help us understand him in a consistent, historical, and contextualized way. With this approach, many of the contradictions and misunderstandings surrounding Paul are resolved, and certain long-held myths evaporate. Let’s look at how this works by addressing […]
