How Apostle Paul appointed himself to be the “light to the Gentiles”

Next to the Holy Trinity, Apostle Paul is the most important figure in the Christian religion. The subject of Paul being false or not is very important topic, because if Paul was really a false Apostle, the Apostle who wrote majority of the New Testament and on who’s teachings the New Testament is based on, then this means Christianity is false and religion of Paul. Christianity is based on Paul’s understanding of Jesus’ death and resurrection than it is on Jesus’ own teachings. And I understand that people prefer to shut their ears straight away rather than hearing the truth because this means their whole life and devotion to God was based on lies. But the truth shall set you free…

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32

I am the person who prefers to know the truth even if that means I need to unlearn everything, reject everything, rather than holding myself tightly to the lie in fear of loosing everything. And many people are so attached to the lie, their whole lives are based on Christianity, that includes culture, tradition, reputation, community, family, egos, money…. It’s a big ask to drop everything and go back to basics. But people forget that this is how God works. God is asking us to humble ourselves and to accept the fact that maybe we are currently living in the lie and maybe we are not worshiping and honoring Him as He would like us to do.

When we take things back to the basics, we have to take into consideration few facts. The first one is that God has an enemy – Satan, who wants to take away the worship of the Most High God and take it back to himself. Satan is aware that people would not worship him openly as Satan, so he is masquerading himself as “an angel of light”. His deception was never straightforward, but in a form of confusion of truth. He didn’t come to Eve and said obvious lies, but in a psychological manner he made Eve to question the words of God and question herself. That is why this was a deception – not an obvious lie. The consequences of Eve’s decision we can see and experience today… The world is filled with lies and deception.

The second point I would like to mention is that people are waiting for deception, thinking there is more to come. But have you considered that deception was created as soon as Jesus was resurrected? As soon as he left the earth, Satan made sure the whole truth would not be available to people and thus forming a foundation based on lies. Without Jesus there was no one to correct us, to point out lies, we could only rely on the Bible and how we interpret it, that is why it is so important to have the right understanding. Don’t wait for deception, it’s here and has been here for a very, very long time. It’s a reason why Jesus said this will be a narrow gate and few will find it.

Everlasting covenant

Let’s go back to the basics and see how God established His first covenant with Abraham. It’s important to mention this was an everlasting covenant. And what the word “everlasting” means ? – lasting forever.

“And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.” Genesis 17: 7-9

God was saying that the covenant He establishes with Abraham is the covenant lasting forever. He gave Abraham first commandments from the Law of Moses, which was a pre shadow of the coming Law. The Law is an everlasting covenant, just as God’s love and mercy is everlasting:

“But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting” Psalm 103:17

Why we take the words of God that His mercy is everlasting and we use it for our advantage, but when God said His covenant is everlasting, we drop it at our convenience…?

We also see that the Law established with Israel as an everlasting covenant is also for any “foreigner” who would like to follow God:

“The community is to have the same rules for you and for the foreigner residing among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the foreigner shall be the same before the Lord: The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the foreigner residing among you.’” Numbers 15: 15-16

“The same law applies both to the native-born and to the foreigner residing among you.” Exodus 12:49

“The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.” Deuteronomy 28:9-13

This was God’s promise to the Israel, if they obeyed the Lord and followed His commandments, they would be blessed and “the Lord would grant plenty of goods”. A beautiful promise that required obedience to the Law.

 “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you”. Deuteronomy 28: 15

And curses would come on people for their disobedience. God was very serious about the Law and about those promises. This is of course to Israel, whom God made covenant with. Up until then, any other nation was a pagan nation and did not worship God but pagan gods. But God was very open to anyone and any foreigner who would want to follow Him but this person would also need to obey the Law:

“The same law applies both to the native-born and to the foreigner residing among you.” Exodus 12:49

 “You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the Lord your God.’” Leviticus 24:22

We also know that any words of God are lasting forever:

“The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.” Isiah 40:8

“For I am the Lord, I do not change;” Malachi 3:6

Why God would establish His Law and asked His people to follow it, to then change His mind and replace His covenant, without explaining it properly in the Old Testament? It would mean we wouldn’t be able to trust God’s words properly and God can change His mind. But He never changed His mind on the Law.

In the book of Malachi we see a prophet warning us about “The Great Day of the Lord”, a warning of God’s wrath, a day “burning like an oven” describing the end times. We see God is warning His people:

“Remember the Law of Moses, My servant,
Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel,
With the statutes and judgments.
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” Malachi 4: 4-5

Yes, God is saying that He commanded the Law to all Israel, however, as I demonstrated above, if you decided to follow and worship God, that meant you were part of Israel as a “grafted in branch” and as a “foreigner” you had to adhere to the Law in the same way.

We also see the promise of God that in the new earth, we will still be following the Law:

“For as the new heavens and the new earth
Which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord,
“So shall your descendants and your name remain.
And it shall come to pass
That from one New Moon to another,
And from one Sabbath to another,
All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the Lord.” Isiah 66: 22-23

It doesn’t say the Law but Sabbath, which is included in the Law as the 4th commandment. Similarly, Feast of Tabernacles is found in Torah, which we will also follow in the new reign of Jesus Christ:

“And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.” Zechariah 14:16

We also see that God promised to restore Israel, which hasn’t happened yet and this is an unfulfilled prophecy that people are waiting for:

“For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.” Ezekiel 36: 24-28

This promise (unfulfilled prophecy) is also highlighted in the book of Jeremiah, which many people mix that it has been fulfilled by Jesus. The reason it’s unfulfilled because the new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah hasn’t happened yet. Therefore God could not establish a new covenant with the Gentiles, forgetting about the promise he made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah:

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Jeremiah 31: 31-34

Therefore the old covenant is still standing strong. The new covenant is a future promise, but Jesus has not fulfilled that yet, this will be fulfilled at the second coming of Jesus. This is a beautiful promise that we are all waiting for, therefore we can’t say and assume the new covenant is here.

Unchangeable God

God is unchangeable and His words are everlasting. God was speaking in the Old Testament and throughout Old Testament, however we do not see God’s words in the New Testament. So where do we take that the covenant of the Law has been changed? And can we take it as God’s decision on abandoning His Law? If we take Jesus being the same as the Father, which Trinity is asking us to do (which I demonstrated in my other post to be false), then perhaps Jesus had the power to abandon the Law. However, we see Jesus saying:

 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5: 17-19

As far as I am aware, the heaven and earth has not passed away just yet, therefore even Jesus said the Law is still valid. Jesus also highlighted:

“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15

Some argue that Jesus gave us new commandments, that is why he said “my commandments”. Let’s examine. When Jesus was on earth he was teaching out of Torah, however he summarized the Law into two commandments: love God with all your heart and all your soul and love your neighbor as yourself – where in the 10 commandments we can find it? Well this is actually from the Torah:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:4-5

When we look at the 10 commandments, we can see that the first 4 commandments focuses on God, therefore this can be a summary of the love towards God. The second commandment Jesus gave was to love your neighbor as yourself, which can also be found in Torah:

 “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 19:18

This also summarizes 10 commandments from the 5th to the 10th commandment. That is why Jesus, instead of listing all, mentioned those two as the main commandments, which are not actually listed in the 10 commandments but are found in Torah, highlighting that we should not forget about the Law.

Now, let’s look where in the New Testament people think Jesus is the new covenant. At the famous last supper with His disciples, Jesus said:

 “Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” Luke 22:20

“Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” Matthew 26: 27-29

“Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” Mark 14: 23-25

Those verses of the last supper show that Jesus is promising his new covenant that will be established in the kingdom of God. That kingdom hasn’t come yet, and also nowhere Jesus is saying this is the replacement of the Law, forget the old covenant or from this day new covenant is established for all. Those words of Jesus has been linked to the book of Jeremiah and the book of Ezekiel that talks about the future covenant and people think this has happened just because Jesus said “new covenant”, but it’s also important to see what Jesus said after those words, which is “when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

And what is covenant? what does the word “covenant” means? Covenant is an agreement, promise or a law. Covenant can be written or verbal and will be a biding document between two or more parties. I do not see a new Law emerging from Jesus that has rewritten existing Law that God established with his people.

And finally, in the book of Revelations, the book of end times, we see the story of a pregnant woman with 12 stars. The woman is being persecuted by the dragon:

“And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12: 17

Why would dragon go only after people who keep the commandments of God? What about those who do not keep the commandments? You have to ask yourself why this has been pointed out, the only explanation is that it is important.

Now we have established that there is a lot of proof in the Old Testament and in the words of God, that there is nowhere there present, where God annuls the Law but promises new covenant in the new earth and new kingdom, which is not fulfilled yet. Let’s look at Paul, who was the author of confusion between Christian’s debates whether to abandon the Law. And we know, God is not the author of confusion, so this should be a first red flag and quite clear for us who to trust – the words of God over the words of a man. Even God warns us in Torah about deception of this kind:

“If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk.” Deuteronomy 13: 1-5

Have you ever considered that God allowed for Paul to spread his lies just so that He could see who really love Him and obey His commandments? We believed Paul who just had a “vision”, a prophet with a dream over the words of God. Let’s have a look how it started with Paul.

The emerging story of Paul is interesting and it should raise eyebrows. Here we have Paul (previously Saul), who was persecuting followers of Jesus before and full of hate towards early Christians. He probably saw how the movement of Jesus was spreading quickly and how Jesus’ fame was growing. When Jesus was crucified in around 28 AD, Jesus resurrected 3 days after and appeared to around 500 people who were witnesses of his resurrection. They saw Jesus being alive again, which made the news to spread quickly. That awakened in people hope in God and promise of the future kingdom. Now in around 46 AD, which is 18 years later, Saul had a vision of Jesus in the spirit, but he never saw him alive, he never spent any time with him or not even much time with his disciples who knew Jesus personally. Also, 18 years it’s a good amount of time for the news about Jesus to spread even in those times where there was no internet. This is how we are introduced to Saul in the book of Acts:

“As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” Acts 9: 3-6

The first concern I have is the vision of Jesus. How do we know that it was really Jesus if Paul didn’t even see Jesus, only heard His words. Also, where do we know similar story outside Christianity? The prophet Muhammad also had a vision of an angel Gabriel who asked him to write Quran. Some might argue that Paul did not write a new gospel, well let’s have a look at Paul’s words:

“But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Galatians 1: 11-12

How come we trust someone who had only spiritual revelations and the gospel was preached to him by Jesus Christ in the spirit. He never walked with Jesus, he never experienced Jesus in the flesh, he never learnt from other disciples about Jesus, how could he have full understanding of Jesus and the gospel? And Jesus only came to Paul, not to one of his beloved disciples. We now believe someone who had a vision and asks us to abandon the Law over confirmed words of God in the Old Testament, God who urged us to NEVER abandon the Law as it’s an everlasting covenant. When we also examine New Testament, this is just a commentary of the Old Testament teachings, life of Jesus and interpretation of the apostles. So instead of going directly to the source, directly to the words of God in the Old Testament, we go to a source who received that from a spiritual revelation and his interpretation.

Another point is, Jesus never split his disciples who would go to the Jews and who would go to the Gentiles, but asked them to preach the gospel to all flesh. And here we have Paul deciding why he was chosen to preach to the Gentiles:

 “But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter.” Galatians 2:7

Peter was a disciple of Jesus and an eye witness to Jesus, who spent time with Jesus, whereas Paul never saw or met Jesus. It is interesting that Paul had a conflict with Peter over Paul’s teachings to the Gentiles and also teaching Peter how he should treat gospel by pointing out his faults. This should really make you question Paul’s authority:

“But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles), and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do. Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” Galatians 2: 7-16

Now, we could argue who was right and what Paul meant when he said: “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?”. But the main argument here is the fact that Paul was teaching to relax, to forget the Law, that we can do what we want because we are justified by faith. And that was evident throughout most of Paul’s teachings.

How Paul appointed himself to the Gentiles:

“On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God.  But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us:

‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles,
That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” Acts 13: 44-47

Paul was quoting from the Old Testament and the book of Isaiah. This chapter is where we are being introduced to a Servant of God. It’s important in this instance, to not just separate the verse but present what was before and after that verse for better understanding:

“Listen, O coastlands, to Me,
And take heed, you peoples from afar!
The Lord has called Me from the womb;
From the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name.
And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword;
In the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me,
And made Me a polished shaft;
In His quiver He has hidden Me.”

 “And He said to me,
‘You are My servant, O Israel,
In whom I will be glorified.’
Then I said, ‘I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain;
Yet surely my just reward is with the Lord,
And my work with my God.’ ”

“And now the Lord says,
Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him,
So that Israel is gathered to Him
(For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord,
And My God shall be My strength),
 Indeed He says,
‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles,
That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” Isaiah 49: 3-6

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
And my Lord has forgotten me.”

“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
Yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.
Your sons shall make haste;
Your destroyers and those who laid you waste
Shall go away from you.
Lift up your eyes, look around and see;
All these gather together and come to you.
As I live,” says the Lord,
“You shall surely clothe yourselves with them all as an ornament,
And bind them on you as a bride does.” Isiah 49: 14-18

This scripture is talking about another servant of God, the Daughter of Zion. It’s not Paul who was supposed to be the light to the Gentiles. There are two Anointed Servants of God who stand by two sides of God, one on the right side and one of the left. The one on the right is Jesus Christ, the one on the left is Daughter of Zion. This scripture was not talking about Paul. That is why the danger of isolating verses is that you can assign it anywhere, but it’s always important to read the whole chapter for better understanding. Paul gave small verse that he was the one chosen to the Gentiles and Gentiles believed, because Gentiles did not know the Old Testament.

Another important factor is that Paul declared he was preaching “my gospel”:

 “For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.” Romans 2: 12-16

The confusing statement of Paul that if you have the law you will be judged and if you don’t have the law but do according to the law naturally, will also be judged and those who don’t have the law will perish… Philosophical, confusing approach to just confuse people of what they should do! And understand if now we are questioning and decoding what Paul was trying to say, imagine back then when people were uneducated! How they could understand his philosophical approach?! And I highlight again, God is not the author of confusion!

 “But be that as it may, I did not burden you. Nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you by cunning! Did I take advantage of you by any of those whom I sent to you?  I urged Titus, and sent our brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not walk in the same spirit? Did we not walk in the same steps?” 2 Corinthians 12: 16-18

I find it interesting that Paul admitted to being “crafty” and also he had a lot of opposition from people who were accusing him of rejecting the Law. He was coming up with all those philosophical answers and twisting the scripture that people did not know what to believe anymore. Only someone who is a good liar could admit to be crafty.

Who do you believe the most – the words of God or the words of a man?

Ultimately it all comes down to this – who do you believe the most, the words of God or the words of a man, who never walked with Christ. I demonstrated above how Old Testament urges us to continue following the Law, in the Gospel we see that Jesus was urging us to follow the Law out of love towards God and that He did not come to abolish the Law. And here comes Paul, previous prosecutor of early Christians, 18 years later after Jesus’ death and resurrection and he says that he had a vision of Jesus Christ and everyone believes him. He opposes teachings of the Old Testament, he opposes teachings of Jesus, he opposes original disciples of Jesus and even going into a conflict with Paul, yet people drop everything and believe him instead of the words of God! And the whole modern Christianity is build on the words and gospel of Paul! And if anyone opposes that, they will bring scripture with Paul’s words to justify Paul…

If you don’t find it suspicious, you are a hypocrite saying that Islam is falsely believing in the Quran and prophet Muhammad. The circumstances of both “revelations” are very, very similar. Even if you don’t go too deep into the evidence and teachings of Paul, you should be able to see red flags by critical thinking only. That is why I reject modern Christianity, I can’t follow a church who rejects the words of God over the words of a man, previous prosecutor of early Christians, with evidence suggesting he was false from the start.

By Dagmara Z.