Ancient Truth: Paul's Letters: Ancient Truth, #3

By Ed Hurst

The Bible is Ancient Truth, but must be read in its own ancient context to be fully understood. Even the people among whom Jesus lived no longer understood their own Hebrew heritage because the leadership had embraced Western intellectual assumptions which were then foreign to Scripture. Where we stand today is even more foreign. The burden of responsibility is upon us to travel back into that world, to the context in which God chose to reveal Himself. This volume examines the letters Paul wrote to the churches in light of those Hebrew mental assumptions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ed Hurst
• Release date: Dec 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301105076

Ed Hurst

Born 18 September 1956 in Seminole, OK. Traveled a great deal in Europe with the US Army, worked a series of odd jobs, and finally in public education. Ordained to the ministry as a Baptist, then with a non-denominational endorsement. Currently semi-retired.

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Ancient Truth: Letters of Paul

By Ed Hurst

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 by Ed Hurst

Copyright notice: People of honor need no copyright laws; they are only too happy to give credit where credit is due. Others will ignore copyright laws whenever they please. If you are of the latter, please note what Moses said about dishonorable behavior – be sure your sin will find you out (Numbers 32:23)

Permission is granted to copy, reproduce and distribute for non-commercial reasons, provided the book remains in its original form.

Cover art: Reconstruction of the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus. The model stands in Istanbul, Turkey. Used by permission; attributed to Zee Prime of Wikipedia -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Miniaturk_009.jpg released under GNU Free Documentation License 1.2. Image modified from original, available from this book's author upon request.

Other books in this series include Ancient Truth: The Gospels and Ancient Truth: Acts by the same author. Get your free copies at Smashwords.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Ancient Truth series

Introduction to the Paul’s Letters

Romans

Introduction to Romans

Romans 1

Romans 2

Romans 3

Romans 4

Romans 5

Romans 6

Romans 7

Romans 8

Romans 9

Romans 10

Romans 11

Romans 12

Romans 13

Romans 14

Romans 15

Romans 16

Corinthian Letters

Introduction to the Corinthian Letters

1 Corinthians 1

1 Corinthians 2

1 Corinthians 3

1 Corinthians 4

1 Corinthians 5

1 Corinthians 6

1 Corinthians 7

1 Corinthians 8

1 Corinthians 9

1 Corinthians 10

1 Corinthians 11

1 Corinthians 12

1 Corinthians 13

1 Corinthians 14

1 Corinthians 15

1 Corinthians 16

2 Corinthians 1

2 Corinthians 2

2 Corinthians 3

2 Corinthians 4

2 Corinthians 5

2 Corinthians 6

2 Corinthians 7

2 Corinthians 8

2 Corinthians 9

2 Corinthians 10

2 Corinthians 11

2 Corinthians 12

2 Corinthians 13

Galatians

Introduction to Galatians

Galatians 1

Galatians 2

Galatians 3

Galatians 4

Galatians 5

Galatians 6

Ephesians

Introduction to Ephesians

Ephesians 1

Ephesians 2

Ephesians 3

Ephesians 4

Ephesians 5

Ephesians 6

Philippians

Introduction to Philippians

Philippians 1

Philippians 2

Philippians 3

Philippians 4

Colossians

Introduction to Colossians

Colossians 1

Colossians 2

Colossians 3

Colossians 4

Thessalonians

Introduction to Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 1

1 Thessalonians 2

1 Thessalonians 3

1 Thessalonians 4

1 Thessalonians 5

2 Thessalonians 1

2 Thessalonians 2

2 Thessalonians 3

Introduction to the Ancient Truth Series

Mankind is fallen, in need of redemption. The one single source is the God who created us. He has revealed Himself and His will for us, the path to redemption. The pinnacle of His efforts to reveal Himself came in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Most of us understand easily enough that Divine Son was born into a particular historical and cultural setting, one that is frankly foreign to us, and we to it. The distance is more than mere years of time, or language and culture, but a wealth of things that fall between Him and us. At a minimum, we could point out the Post-Modern culture, Victorian feminism, Enlightenment secularism, European feudalism, Germanic tribal mythology – so much we can point out without much difficulty. What no one in our Western world today seems to realize is the single greatest barrier to understanding Christ is the thing which lies under all of those obscuring layers of influence: Western Civilization itself.

That is, the ancient Classical Greco-Roman world is built essentially on Aristotle and Plato. Those two are not simply alien to the people of the Bible, but their basic view of reality is frankly hostile to that of the Bible. Aristotle rejected Hebrew Scripture because he rejected the underlying worldview of the people God used to write that Scripture.

This book is not a long academic dissertation on the differences; that has been very well covered by far better qualified writers. But this should serve as notice to the reader how our Western intellectual heritage, including our basic assumptions of how a human can know, understand, and deal with reality, is not what’s in the Bible. If you bring that Western intellectual heritage to Scripture, you will not come away with a proper understanding of God’s revelation. If the rules, the essential assumptions, by which you discern and organize truth about your world remain rooted in the West, you will not fully understand the precious treasure of truth God left for us in the Bible.

We do not need yet one more commentary on the Bible from a foreign Western intellectual background; we need something that speaks to us from the background of the Hebrew people. God spoke first to them. He did not simply find the Hebrew people useful for His revelation; He made the Hebrew people precisely so He would have a fit vehicle for His revelation. Bridging the divide between them and us is no small task, but to get readers started down that path, I offer this series of commentaries that attempt to present a Hebrew understanding for the Western mind. Not as some authoritative expert, but I write as another explorer who reports what he has found so far. I encourage you to consider what I share and heed the call to make your own exploration of these things.

Introduction to Paul’s Letters

We are introduced to Paul and his teaching in the Book of Acts. We learn as much by the false accusations of his opposition as we do from the record of Paul’s words and actions as recorded there by Luke. We learn early enough that Paul sees his work merely as a continuation of what Jesus did and said. By no means should we imagine Paul regarded his letters Scripture. Yet, the early churches must have deemed them too important a repository of truth to lose all of them in dust of history. We know for certain we do not have them all, only these which have been preserved for whatever reason.

The greatest threat we face today is from those who insist on ignoring the context of these letters. The burden is upon us to understand the recipients, and occasion, but most of all the broader context of what Paul taught as a whole. Paul was a Hebrew man, a lawful citizen of Judah, along with being a Roman citizen. He had a foot in both worlds. He was not simply a highly trained Jewish scholar, though he was that, but he spent years reviewing his entire rabbinical training in light of the teaching of Jesus. He did this all before he ever became acquainted with the Apostles. With Jesus, Paul rejected the Hellenized Judaism in favor of the ancient Hebrew Mysticism of the Old Testament.

Paul is so reluctant to boast, he barely tells us how he learned the gospel message. He proctored the stoning of Stephen just a matter of weeks after Christ’s Ascension. A few weeks later, he’s on the way to Damascus to extend this persecution, is converted and stays there in town. From there, he hints at spending time alone with the risen Christ in Arabia, up to three years. From there, he returns to Damascus, but has to flee. It was only then he met with the other Apostles, and they agree what he learned is what they remembered of their time with Jesus. After that, he goes home to Tarsus for as much as a decade. Only later did he begin his missionary journeys.

He was so thoroughly literate in Greek that he could make up words from Greek roots that would be understood. He used Greek expressions and modes of thought, but he consistently uses these things to express a generally Hebraic mystical faith. Thus, we see him pulling in very ancient Hebrew customs as native to first century Christian worship. It is he who reminded Timothy it was necessary to parse the Old Testament through the Holy Spirit to discern what was mere symbolism so as to abstract what was binding on the conscience of a Christian. The answer to that would surely be greater than zero.

These letters are not at all in chronological order, but in order of importance as the early churches viewed it. The actual chronology is very hard to ascertain, and may not matter in some cases. For example, we know Galatians came early, but we have only guesswork when. It would seem the Thessalonian letters came earliest, shortly after he got to Corinth estimated around 52 AD. He wrote the Roman letter while dealing with problems at Corinth a few years later, writing more than the two letters we find. We collect several of his letters as Prison Letters from Rome (Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians and Philippians) often considered 60-62 AD. The letters to Timothy appear to come rather later in his life. Most people agree Paul was released from his first Roman confinement, but was arrested again a few years later and executed roughly 66 AD.

Introduction to Romans

There is no mystery who wrote this letter. Paul was in his final sojourn among the Corinthians, about to sail to Jerusalem with the relief funds that had been collected from the Gentile churches. We believe that was in the year 57 AD. Typically, such letters would have been sent via some private courier. This was common in ancient times, and particularly in the Roman Empire. We also know Paul seldom actually put pen to paper, but used a professionally trained scribe.

Of all Paul’s letters preserved by the early churches, this one comes first in the collection because of what it covers, and how it covers it. Paul writes to a rather large congregation, perhaps more than one. While mostly Gentile, it would naturally include some Jewish Christians. Paul addresses some of the standard residual differences, but there seems no significant conflict between these two groups.

Instead, most of Paul’s effort is bringing the ancient mysteries of Old Testament faith, as understood by Jesus, the Son of God, to a very foreign Western world. Paul is uniquely positioned to understand both. This explanatory letter serves as a foundation for Christian doctrine, a fairly well organized explanation. However, Paul’s intent is not so much offering some approach to systematic doctrine, but responds to questions and complaints. He seeks to correct false understandings and we sense not everything here is a direct response to something coming from Rome. Some is aimed at questions that seem to pop up everywhere he goes.

The biggest problem for the Roman believers was failing to understand how completely Eastern Christian faith is, how different it is from Western assumptions about reality. Paul characterized the issue as flesh versus Spirit and knowing versus faith. While the two are not opposed by nature, they do make conflicting demands on human activity. The intellect recoils from things it cannot control directly via analysis. It becomes necessary to show how faith is above reason, but that intellect can be made to serve faith.

Romans 1

It’s not as if the Christians in Rome haven’t heard of Paul. Any discussion of faith begins with the one who holds it. Faith is not some objective reality holding a separate existence; it does not exist aside from people who are bound by its power. So it is, Paul begins by teaching about himself as the one whose faith holds him. The image is one who is committed to serving a Lord, a very Eastern concept of allegiance. His service is carrying the gospel.

That gospel is the story of a long promised final revelation of God, commonly known as the God of Israel. Paul wastes no time in asserting the concept of Two Realms, that of the Flesh and of the Spirit. All the proof anyone needs in the flesh for Jesus’ claim to be Son of God was in the Resurrection. His ultimate authority in the higher Realm of the Spirit most certainly trumps the power of death itself in this Realm of the Flesh. He also had the authority to bring that powerful revelation to life in others, which is how Paul came to be an apostle. He does not present it as a title, but as a mission to share the gospel with everyone, the Romans among them.

Paul thus addresses those in Rome who share that eternal spiritual heritage, regardless of their human background. Paul had been praying for them extensively, hoping to see them face-to-face. He wanted to be a part of what their faith had been doing, and make them a part of his. This is how the Realm of Heaven works. Paul mentions wanting to preach there and we know from other places he would never horn in on someone else’s ministry, so it’s safe to assume Rome had yet to see any apostolic visits.

While Rome had already seen some tensions between the government and this minor sect whose founder was executed for treason, Paul would be first to stand and deny there was anything scandalous about following Christ. It is the hope of all mankind, arising among Jews, but certainly intended for all humanity from the very first. The message of Jesus is a living thing, growing stronger in all that receive it. From ancient times, it was understood true Life was a matter of commitment.

God’s wrath is justly poured out on suppression of this message. Sufficient was the revelation to all humanity; had they wanted to know the truth, it was always there. The starting point was simply acknowledging God as Creator. Instead, they began to seek other ways, whatever it was their minds could find. Humanity had long built upon what man could accomplish by his own power and intellect. But it led them to all sorts of filthy religious practices, things that really made no sense at all. They didn’t want God’s truth, so He allowed them free rein, as they strayed farther and farther from the truth. All the vilest human passions became religious necessity.

All the various sins of humanity are similarly the result of rejecting God’s revelation and His provision for life in this world. Because they chose as their truth only what they could manage in their fallen blindness, God locked them under that choice. It didn’t matter what flavor it was. Anything other than what God provides is sin, and sin’s price is death. But mankind rejected the lesson of death, and provoked each other to greater depravity.

How bluntly could Paul have said it? By it’s very nature, fallen human understanding is incapable of approaching the truth. To this very day, the greatest heresy is assuming the rational mind of man can recognize any measure of ultimate truth. The second half of this chapter is Paul’s effort to point out that lie. Man avoided the truth because he could not reach it, could not even want it. That truth starts with the realization of God’s holiness and our own horrific sinfulness. The mind of man must flee such truth, because it is utterly lacking in the means to process it. Yet God graciously provided a facsimile of that higher truth through His various Law Covenants, so there could be no excuse.

Romans 2

Paul eviscerates human moral reasoning. Since man has rejected God’s revelation, God’s declaration of what is sin versus what is righteousness, man is uniquely disqualified for judging anything at all. So long as man does not humble himself before the Lord, he cannot do right. Yet, because God does not stoop to simple stimulus and response in His wrath, man mistakes God’s patience for proof there is no God. There is no consciousness of how abundant is the grace of God, holding open the door to repentance. The fundamental nature of human life is that it ends, and after that is God’s justice. There is no mystery about what it takes to please Him.

This regime has been the same for all humanity from the beginning. Merely being a Jew is no advantage, either. For those born outside Israel, they perish by the conscience; those who had Moses perish by his much clearer standards. The Covenant of Moses was not about special privilege by birth, but by the privilege of properly informed obedience. Do you suppose God hated Gentiles because He didn’t give them the Law of Moses? Anyone determined to please God inevitably does so by his desire, whether Gentile or Jew. The real standard is not blood kinship with some ancient forefather, but of spiritual kinship to Jesus the Messiah. He will be the standard of justice in the Final Judgment.

Surely, the gift of Jewish ancestry is precious, indeed! The clarity of God’s Law Covenant for God’s own nation, the sure knowledge what God demands of all mankind, called as a nation to enlighten the world – this is the heritage of the Jews. Have you never thought to compare your own life to that Law? Do you preach about stealing, but find some other way to grab what isn’t rightfully yours? You quote, Do not commit adultery. Do you then excuse the lustful adultery of your heart? You find idolatry repulsive, but do you not make yourself repulsive to your own God? You boast in the Law while ignoring its intent. People see sniping legalism as a cover for lawless hatred. You give Jehovah a bad name.

By circumcising your foreskins, you bear in your flesh the mark of the Law. That’s fine, so long as it represents your commitment to the Law. But if your life undermines the meaning of the Law, that circumcision means nothing. Someone you call unclean because he lacks the ceremonial mark, if he manages to observe the real intent of the