Quote:
Originally Posted by DeadManWalkin
Paul dedicated a whole epistle to proving the inferiority of the Mosaic law. He wrote it to Jewish believers who had turned back to the law. He gave them very stern warning that they were in mortal danger of crucifying the Son of God afresh, and putting him again to an open shame; a falling away from which it is impossible to repent (Hebrews 6:6), (c/f Hebrews 10: 26-29)
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I doubt the author of the epistle To the Hebrews was Paul. He said that the gospel was made known to him by those who saw the Lord (Heb 2:3). Paul got his revelation from God, he made that plain and would not have contradicted himself this way.
The epistle To the Hebrews does speak of the inferiority of the law, but it doesn't say that Hebrews couldn't be Hebrews, just that they shouldn't be shrinking back (or "falling away" in your term) from faith in Jesus Christ back to Jewish customs. Do you see the difference? Just like Paul saying to the Galatians that if they try to keep the law that their faith is of none effect, it is because they are gentile Christians, not because they are Christians.
If a Chinese person believes in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and confesses him as Lord and Saviour, are they able to observe the Chinese New Year? Or, do we say, "There is no more Chinese, no Japanese, no Turkish" and forbid them from observing any of their native customs? If not, then why were the Jews the only race that were forbidden from observing their native customs?
No, the issue was either forcing the gentiles to observe Jewish customs & laws (Epistle to the Galatians) or the native Hebrews abandoning their Christian faith and returning to Jewish customs alone (To the Hebrews). The Hebrews of that epistle had started out as Jewish Christians, and after persecution decided it was preferable to simply be Jews. But the author remonstrated with them, that "falling away" from Christ rendered their journey void.
Paul never stopped being a Pharisee, but he never left in the revelation that appeared to him on the road to Damascus: Jesus is the resurrected Lord, and salvation comes to all who confess his name, both to the Jew and to the Greek. Paul held forth that revelation until the day he died.