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Understanding Paul, His writings and the Law of Torah

~ scriptures are from the Hebraic Roots Bible.

Peter's warning about understanding Paul's writings
2Peter 3:15-17 And consider the long-suffering of YAHWEH to be our redemption, as also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them concerning these things, in which some things are hard to understand, which those that are ignorant and unstable pervert their meaning, as also they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore beloved, since you know these things beforehand, guard yourself, lest being led away by the error of the lawless you fall from your own steadfastness.

Paul, a servant of Elohim and an apostle of Yahshua Messiah according to the faith of the elect of Elohim
and full knowledge of the truth according to holiness, Titus 1:1

About Saul/Paul
From the Scriptures
~ The first of these accounts contains the words of Yahshua to Ananias in Damascus;
~ The second, Ananias’ words to Saul in Damascus;
~ The third, Yahshua’s words to Saul on the Damascus Road.

Acts 9:15-16 And Master YAHWEH said to him, Go, for this one (Saul) is a chosen vessel to Me, to bear My name before nations and kings and the sons of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of My name.

Acts 22:13-16 he said to me: My brother Shaul ! Open your eyes. And instantly my eyes were opened; and I looked upon him. And he said, The Elohim of our fathers appointed you to know His will, and to see the Just One, and to hear a voice out of His mouth; for you shall be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now what do you intend? Rising up, be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of YAHWEH.

Acts 26:15-18 And I said, Who are you, Sir? And He said, I am Yahshua whom you persecute; but rise up and stand on your feet, for it is for this reason I appeared to you, to appoint you a servant and a witness both of what you saw, and in what I shall appear to you, having delivered you from the people and the nations, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the authority of Satan to YAHWEH, in order that they may receive remission of sins, and an inheritance among those being sanctified by faith in Me. What did Paul say of himself before His Conversion?

Gal 1:13-14 For you heard my way of life when I was in Judaism, how I followed and persecuted the Congregation of YAHWEH and greatly devastated it. And how greatly advanced I was in Judaism, superior to most of my countrymen, who were also my kin. And, in particular, how zealous I was with respect to the teaching of my fathers.

Gal 1:15-18 But when Elohim was pleased, He having separated me from my mother's belly, and having called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the nations; immediately I did not tell it to any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to the apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and remained with him fifteen days.

Concerning these three years
Warren Wiersbe
“Paul gave himself to study, prayer, and meditation, and met with the Lord alone.” Many believe that this was Paul’s three years with the Lord, even as the other apostles had spent three with Christ while He was here on earth.

Charles Stanley
After Paul’s conversion, he disappeared into the desert for three years, during which time the Holy Spirit instructed him in the ways of God. What happened during Paul’s desert years was only the beginning of a life-long process - God renewed his mind and transformed him into the image of Christ. For the apostle, that change began with connecting his rich biblical knowledge to the revelation that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Paul knew Scripture thoroughly, but the truth that Jesus was the promised Messiah made him reconsider the foundation he’d been trusting. Everything he knew about God had to be reevaluated in light of this new information. Paul had a history of wanting to please God, so the Holy Spirit no doubt found him a willing pupil. The apostle’s spirit had to be shaped according to the Father’s will. And the Lord kept working on him long after Paul left the desert and began his ministry. Every person who reads his letters is a witness to the work of God in a submissive man.

Sha'ul (Paul) and the Law of Torah
~ by Yochanan Mattityahu
Quite frequently I see people argue about Sha'ul having abolished the Torah and saying we do not have to comply with the Tanakh (Old Testament) and the Laws of Moshe (Moses), that you can eat what you want as long as you pray over it, and many other nonsensical arguments. Most of these arguments are based in people trying to give validity to their life choices and sinful actions.

When you read Galatians and other Books of Sha'ul together with the Book of Acts you are frequently confronted with the term law or laws, sometimes with terms such as Tradition of the Elders, which is the origin of this confusion, and here is the reason for this:

When Sha'ul (Paul) wrote his Books, he did it in Greek because that was the language forced on the world by the Romans and regarded as the everyday language. The problem with this is that the ancient Greek had only one word used for all kinds of law, whether it being laws related to religion, crimes or civil law there was only that one word called "nomos". This caused and is still causing much confusion because when you read the Hebrew translations you find a different story.

You have to understand, before Sha'ul became a follower of "The Way", the name back then we now know as Christianity, he was a devout P'rushim (Pharisee) who were the guys in charge of the Synagogue system. (not to be confused with the Tzidukim - Saducees who ran the Temple).
He was not only a P'rushim, he was highly esteemed because he was trained by the highest order when it came to training as a P'rushim, he was trained in the school of Gamaliel. To top this Sha'ul was also a Rabbi.

Now, when he spoke about the Traditions of the Elders, he was indeed speaking about the Oral Torah, but mostly when he speaks about not following the "law" (nomos) he was speaking about the Halakhah, a way of life implemented by the Synagogue system and the P'rushim consisting of a mixture from Torah (Laws of Moshe (Moses)), Oral Torah (The Traditions of the Elders, known today as Mishnah and Talmud with a few others), customs and traditions.

It was also against the Halakhah that YAHSHUA (Jesus) so fervently spoke on numerous occasions. When He said in Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:20 "For I tell you that unless your righteousness is far greater than that of Torah-teachers and P'rushim, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven", He was referring to them forcing man-made laws on ELOHIM's (God's) people, which is known as the Halakhah.

Sha'ul was against the Halakhah but a devout Torah observer, not only told to us from his mouth but also from Luke and eye witness to the life of Sha'ul and the author of also the Book of Acts.

~ note: Brief ‘about’ the Talmud, Mishnah and Halakhah etc.

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