It is time to take a closer look at Sha’ul (Paul) “...apostle of the Gentiles...” (Rom. 11:13).
         It is my conviction, from studying the scriptures, that Sha’ul (Paul) was a lifelong Torah observant Jew of the sect of the Pharisees. Before plunging headlong into this subject let us define some terms.
         Strictly speaking, the Torah consists of the first five books of the Scriptures, that is: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In a generic sense it can also imply the entire Old Testament (that was the only Bible that Yeshua and the Apostles used). For our purposes we will use Torah in the strict sense, to mean the first five books.

         The Hebrew word Torah appears many hundreds of times in the OT and is almost always translated into our English word ‘law’. This is a poor translation mainly because of our Western concepts of law. When we think of the word ‘law’ we probably visualize policeman, tickets, judges, courts, fines and jail sentences. The word Torah implies none of these things. Torah is derived from the root word yarah which literally means ‘to flow as water’. Figuratively it means ‘to point out’, to teach, inform, instruct, show. Torah could best be defined in English as ‘instruction’, that is God’s instruction to man. Once one gets a grasp of this concept (that the first five books of the Bible are not meant to threaten us but rather to instruct us in righteous living) we can begin to relax a little bit. Now instead of seeing God as a policeman waiting for us to break one of His laws so that He can punish us, we have the picture of a loving Father instructing His children in how to live a life that will be both a blessing to us as children and an honor to our Father in heaven.
         With this as background let us briefly examine the book of Acts for some of the activities of Sha’ul (Paul) as well as some of his own statements.
         Sha’ul belonged to one of the strictest sects of the Jews. “...I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee...” (Acts 23:6). Was Paul a liar? We know he was not. Therefore, we must accept this statement of Sha’ul’s at face value. He did not say; “I was a Pharisee, he said; “I am a Pharisee...

         Sha’ul studied under the head of the Sanhedrin (the highest court in Judea). “...brought up in this city (Jerusalem) at the feet of Gamaliel...” (Acts 22:3). Sha’ul was himself most likely a member of the Sanhedrin, as evidenced by the following scripture, which fits perfectly the Jewish practice of stoning: “And cast him (Stephen) out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet whose name was Saul (Sha’ul).” (Acts 7:58). Since it was the responsibility of the members of the Sanhedrin to witness public stonings, we believe that Sha’ul was present (in an official capacity) at the stoning, while those who were witnesses against Stephen were required to cast the stones.

         Sha’ul attended synagogue. “...came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,” (Acts 17:1-2). It was the habit of Paul (as it was of Yeshua) to attended synagogue every Sabbath.

         He upheld Jewish circumcision. “...behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek: ... Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek.” (Acts 16:1,3). Paul observed the custom of the Jews, which was that all Jewish males had to be physically circumcised. This despite the fact that he was the primary one who taught that Gentiles need not be circumcised in order to fellowship with Believing Jews in the Body of Messiah.
         There is no contradiction here at all. Paul was a Torah observant Jew. If he had not circumcised Timothy he would have stood in direct conflict both with the Torah and with Jewish tradition because Timothy, being a Jew, needed to observe the customs of the Jews.
         If Paul was a Torah observant Jew he would definitely be keeping the Festivals, as the following two scriptures indicate: “...for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.” (Acts 20:16)

         “...For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:”
(I Cor. 5:7)

         Now we get into some really heavy-duty stuff “And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria ... having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.”
(Acts 18:18)

         Why on earth would Paul, after being an apostle to the Gentiles for all these years, have decided to take a ‘Jewish’ vow?
         The vow Paul (Sha’ul) took was that of a Nazarite.

         “...When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD: He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk. All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. All the days that he separateth himself unto the LORD he shall come at no dead body.
         “And this is the law of the Nazarite, when the days of his separation are fulfilled: he shall be brought unto the door of the tabernacle (the Temple in Sha’ul’s day) of the congregation: And he shall offer his offering unto the LORD, one he lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for peace offerings, And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil, and their meal offering, and their drink offerings.
         “And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.”
(Num. 6:2-6,13-18)

         This passage is quoted at length so that you can see the expense that one had to go through to be relieved of a Nazarite vow. Just add up the cost of the offerings at today’s meat prices.
         The scene changes to Jerusalem. Sha’ul (Paul) is now before James and all the elders of the Church. He tells them about his work among the Gentiles. “And when they heard it, they all glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law: (Acts 2 1:20). The Greek word translated thousands is murias (Strong’s #3461) and signifies a “myriad” or tens of thousands. In other words, there were tens of thousands of Jews in Jerusalem, at the Temple, who believed that Yeshua was the promised Messiah and they were ‘all zealous of the Torah’. They were Jewish instruction keepers and they were the core of the Church in Jerusalem.
         However, there was a problem. False rumors had been spread about Sha’ul. The non-believing Jews were saying that Sha’ul was teaching Jews not to circumcise their children. This was a false charge. In truth, he was teaching Gentile Believers that they did not have to circumcise their children. The Jews were required by both the Torah and their traditions to continue circumcision. But people love to believe a lie, and so Sha’ul became trapped by the lie. But let us continue the story as it is recorded in Acts.

         “And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs. (Remember this word ‘customs’; it becomes important in the next section.) “What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together; for they will hear that thou art come. Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them; Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law (Torah).
(Acts 2 1:23-24)

         Notice that Sha’ul is not only going to pay for his own sacrifices in order to be released from his Nazarite vow, he is also going to pay for the sacrifices for four other Believers. Here we see five ‘Christians’ going to the Temple to offer animal sacrifices, with the leading apostle to the Gentiles among them and also footing the entire bill. This passage, all by itself, requires that all Believers take a whole new look at what was ‘nailed to the cross.
         One might expect that Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, would recoil from doing this thing that Ya’akov (James) and the elders asked of him. But he does not.

         “Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered in the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them. And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, (note it does not say they are Believers) when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people. and laid hands on him,”
(Acts 21:26-27)

         You can read the rest of the story; how Sha’ul is taken into custody and is finally sent to Rome where he is eventually put to death. The point to be made here is that Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, not only took an active part in a very ‘Jewish’ vow, lie also helped other Believers who had taken on the same vow.

         Again, was Paul a liar? Read the following and then come to your own conclusions. Either he was a liar or he meant what he said.

         “And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.”
(Acts 23:1)

         “And when he was come, the Jews which came down from Jerusalem stood round about, and laid many and grievous complaints against Paul, which they could not prove. While he answered for himself, Neither against the law (Torah) of the Jews, neither against the temple, not yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing at all.”
(Acts 25:7-8)

         In other words, Paul claimed that he had never once broken the commandments of the Torah. Now there are said to be 613 commandments in the Torah which include both positive commandments (those which require one to do something) and negative commandments (those which require one to avoid something). Paul is saying that he never intentionally broke any of those 613 commandments. He further states that he never defiled the Temple in any way by entering in an unclean state or bringing an inappropriate sacrifice.

         Again, I ask you, was Paul a liar?

         “...he (Paul) said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.”
(Acts 28:17)

         The key word in this passage is ‘customs’. It is the Greek word ethos (Strong’s #1485). It is defined as; “a usage (prescribed by habit or law):-custom, manner, be wont.” Since Paul specifically mentions the “customs of our fathers” he is including not just the written Torah but the oral Torah as well. These include the well known ‘traditions’ of the Jews, some of which Yeshua Himself said were inappropriate.

         From all of this we can see that Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, was a Torah and tradition observing Jew all the days of his life. With this information in mind, it is incumbent upon us to restudy the Epistles of Paul so that we can better understand the thrust of his teaching to the Gentile Churches.

                  DEW

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