Something is always lost and something is always added in translation. In the case of the Bible, secular undertones have reshaped religious terminology. A modern day reader might think of Jesus’ teachings on the law and lawlessness as references to government regulations. However, there is only one law in the entire Bible and that is the Mosaic Law.
Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me you who practice Lawlessness.’”
In Judaism, the primary definition of sin is the violation of the Mosaic Commandments.
“Whoever commits sin also commits Lawlessness, and sin is Lawlessness.” (1 John 3:4)
“The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom every cause of sin and all who practice Lawlessness.” (Matthew 13:41)
Jewish Christian followers such as James, the brother of Jesus as well as the first bishop of Jerusalem, reinforce this adherence to the Mosaic Law:
“they are all zealous for the Law” (Acts 21:20)
“For whoever keeps the whole Law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10)
“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the Law” (James 2:12)
“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but no deeds? Can such faith save them?” (James 2:14).
“In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:17).
On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, you have Paul who takes an entirely different view of the Mosaic Law and introduces an entirely new concept:
“By what Law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the Law.” (Romans 3:27)
In Greek, there’s no variation in wording between deeds, action, and works; they all come from the same Greek word. The same “works of the Law” (Romans 3:28) that Paul so heavily repudiates throughout his ministries.
When the Jerusalem Church gets wind of Paul’s unorthodox teachings, multiple waves of representatives were sent to return the sheep to Mosaic Law compliance. First, “Certain ones having come down from Judea were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you are not able to be saved.”” (Acts 15:1). Then “certain men came from James” (Galatians 2:12) – the bishop of Jerusalem – only to be accused by Paul of being “false believers [who] had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 2:4). Of these emissaries, Paul states “But from those who seemed to be something – whatever they were, it makes no difference to me.” (Galatians 2:6). Furthermore, “When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned” (Galatians 2:11). “As for those who were held in high esteem – whatever they were makes no difference to me…they added nothing to my message” (Galatians 2:6). Bible translators try to hide the conflict by leaving the apostle Peter’s named untranslated as Cephas, but Jesus said in John 1:42: “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” [which, when translated into English, is Peter]”.
A full exposé on the conflict between Paul and “those most eminent apostles” (2 Corinthians 11:5) can be found in essay format at:
Apostle Paul: The Heresy of Orthodoxy
It takes longer than 30 seconds to argue the point, but the argument is cohesive and a fairly strong rebuttal against Christianity’s claim to orthodoxy by apostolic succession.
It takes longer than 30 seconds to argue the point, but the argument is cohesive and a fairly strong rebuttal against Christianity’s claim to orthodoxy by authority of apostolic succession.
submitted by /u/MakeStraighttheWay
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Source: Reditt
