A Vessel Unto Honour

Jesus said “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

Jesus also said that He only speaks what He hears the Father say. Everything that Jesus said is basically quoted from the Old Testament, or expounds upon something in the Old Testament.

In Matthew 5 Jesus said “Think not that I came to destroy the Law or the prophets…”

So when I read Paul’s letters, I keep what Peter said about Paul’s letters (that Paul’s letters are hard to be understood) and I keep in the forefront of my mind what Jesus commanded “Think not that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets” and then I know what Paul can’t be saying, because Paul was not anti-Christ.

Paul says a lot of things that could make it sound like he is saying the Law of Moses is done away with…. but that would be going against what Jesus commanded us to think… and if we keep in mind that Peter warned that Paul’s letters are hard to be understood- maybe that’s what Peter was referring to.

If we consider context, we must remember that Paul had the whole Torah memorized, and he was writing to specific people in response to specific issues at specific churches (we are reading one side of a conversation) and most of the believers at that time were Jewish along with Gentiles- so Paul would have assumed that his audience would have known what Paul was really saying.

Most of what Paul said is quoted from the Old Testament, like how Jesus spoke, and when I research the scriptures that Paul quotes, it changes my understanding of what Paul is saying in his letters.

So I think that’s what Peter meant when he said Paul’s letters are hard to be understood by the unlearned. The unlearned in Torah will misunderstand what Paul is really saying. That has proven to be true for me.

So that’s why I am sharing this helpful hint, because this really helped me to get understanding revealed to me bit by bit as I “Came out of her, My people”