Paul Torah Bestiality new testament

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Paul, Torah, Bestiality, Homosexuality &

“Gay Marriage” & the N.T. Are We Under the Grace of Torah

or the Law of Grace?William Bell


Introduction

We are told that we must keep the “Torah”, i.e. the Law of Moses.

Some have even argued that the writings of Paul, the Benjamite, are a test from God to see whether we would walk in the Law or not.

See “The Truth of Paul, the Benjamite, A Response” Video on YouTube.


DebateTalk4U

On the DebateTalk4U broadcast, “Saved by Law or By Grace Part 2 with LaVar Maben Vs Gman, these matters were hashed out.

This show has an informed and educated audience of young brothers who are well acquainted with the Bible and who are excellent debaters.

The aforementioned exchange was very educational, generating lots of interest from the audience

That means the subject is definitely one of wide interest


Purpose

My purpose is to briefly cover a point, which may help to clear up some of the confusion in the debate.

It’s simply my perspective on what the New Testament teaches on a particular point of contention raised in the debate.

Namely, I speak of whether the New Testament teaches or implies from the silence of the Scriptures, that bestiality is allowed since it is not mentioned by name or stated expressly in the N.T.


How The Bible Teaches

There are two ways in which the Bible teaches or imparts instruction.

The first is by a direct or explicit statement. Here, we are told precisely what to do. Eg. #1 “Build an ark of gopher wood” (Gen. 6) Eg. #2 “Be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to

wrath” (Jas. 1)


Necessary Inference Ex. #1

The second manner in which the Bible teaches is by necessary inference.

First, using the same example, “Make an ark of gopher wood”, we must infer that no other wood was allowed, i.e. birch, pine, ash, etc.

This is also called the “law of inclusion” and the “law of exclusion”.

Whatever is expressly stated is included; whatever is not expressly stated is excluded.


Necessary Inference Ex. #2

Eg# 2: Philip preached Jesus to the Ethiopian Eunuch.

In response to his preaching, the Eunuch said, “See here is water, what hinders me from being baptized?”

Therefore, it must be inferred that in the preaching of Jesus in this example, baptism in water was also taught as a requirement.

However, as before, we cannot infer that baptism in “fire” or “boiling oil” was inferred or included.


The Question of Whether Jews Kept the Law in the New Testament

One of the issues which is problematic for many exegetes of Scripture, is whether Jewish Christians, e.g. Paul and Peter kept the Law, (Torah) while at the same time professing faith in Christ.

This is a very valid question and objection to those who claim they did not.

However, answering it in either direction, i.e. “yes” or “no” does not solve the problem.


Proof that Jewish Christians Kept Torah

There can be no doubt that Jewish Christians kept Torah.

They did so on the authority of Christ himself.

Jesus taught them to keep the Torah.

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.

For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 5:17-20)


Preaching to Jews Only

Further, it is evident that from the beginning, the Apostles taught only Jews

Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. Acts 11:19

However, earlier, Philip had taught the Samaritans, whom the Apostles later came and laid hands upon that they might receive the Holy Spirit, (Acts 8:1-18)

The granting of the Holy Spirit to the Samaritans did not seem to pose a problem at all for the Peter and John.

This is probably due to the fact that they were taught the Law by priests who had been imported in the land for that purpose, per 2 Ki. 17:24-41


The Jerusalem Counsel, Acts 15

It was also clear from the Jerusalem counsel, that many Jews were “keeping the law”, were “zealous for the law” and believed and taught the Gentiles to do the same.

They called the conference to settle this matter among the Gentiles.

And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” Acts 15:1


Paul & Barnabas Strongly Object

Paul and Barnabas, two Jews who kept the law, objected to binding the Law upon the Gentiles.

“Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders about this question. (Acts 15:2)

Interestingly Peter and James, who were the pillars of the Jewish church community were the chief principles in making the ruling and determination.

Thus, Paul, did not make the decision regarding the Jews in Antioch, Peter and James, the “pillars” did.


Peter’s Previous Experience

These two brethren brought two witnesses to the table to help convey the truth to the assembly.

First, Peter’s experience at the house of Cornelius.

He was shown a vision of a sheet with all kinds of four footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air.

And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”

But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.’” (Lev. 11:1f; Deut. 14:1-20)

And a voice spoke to him again the second time, ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common.” This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again. (Acts 10:11-16)


Peter’s Response

Now it can be inferred from Peter’s response, that he had never eaten anything unclean.

Why? Because he was keeping Torah, particularly regarding dietary laws.

But the text says “What God has cleansed you must not call common”.

Was God kidding with Peter, or was he serious about what he said, when he taught, “you must not” call common.


N.T. Gradually Revealed

Now, why is it that Peter didn’t know this “new” law already?

It’s because the “laws” yes, the “laws” of the New Testament were being gradually revealed”.

God did not drop the N.T. out of the sky on the day of Pentecost and say to Israel, here is your new book. Get rid of Torah. Follow this.

That would have created chaos and anarchy among the Jews.


The Holy Spirit

“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.

All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:13-15)


Analysis of John 16:13-15

First, he would guide the apostles into “All Truth”. That means he would guide them into truths they did not

already have under Torah.

He would speak on the authority of Christ and the Father. Christ’s said the words of the Holy Spirit were His, and He

said He received them from His Father.

He would show them things to come He would teach them things that had not yet already come,

but would come thereafter.


The Holy Spirit’s Work Is Torah

The Coming of the Holy Spirit and the things he would yet reveal was according to Torah.

That is part of what is missed in these discussions by those who insist on our keeping Torah. They are not hearing all that Torah said. Just as Torah taught the coming of the Yeshua, the

Messiah It also taught the coming of the Holy Spirit, Ezk. 36,

37, Joel 2:28-32; Mic. 7:15, etc.


The Holy Spirit’s Work Takes Israel To Another Level

Therefore, to listen to the words of the Holy Spirit that suggest something other than what was written in Torah, i.e. Acts 10:13-16; is according to Torah.

Otherwise, there would have been no need to send Christ or the Holy Spirit. Compare Deut. 18:15-16 “I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their

brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.

And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speak in My name, I will require it of them.


Peter Quotes Moses & All The Prophets

For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things whatever He says to you.

And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.

Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days (Acts 3:22-23)


Proof the New Testament Was Gradually Being Revealed

Both the example of Peter and Cornelius and the Jerusalem counsel are examples of gradual revelation.


Peter’s Testimony in Acts 15:6-11

Now the Apostles and Elders came together to consider this matter.

And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.”

So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, “and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hears by faith.”

Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they?


What Did Peter Say?

God made no distinction between Jews and Gentiles by also giving Gentiles the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:44-48; 11:15-17)

The Gentiles hearts were purified by [the law of] faith, not the law of works, Rom. 3:27.

To impose the law’s “yoke” upon Gentiles is to “test God”.

The fathers of Israel, nor their children (Peter, James, Paul, etc) were able to bear that yoke.

Their faith was (i.e. we believe) we Jews will be saved in the same manner as they, i.e. without the Law of works, i.e. the Law of Moses.


James Concurs With Peter Citing Support From the Prophets

Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name.

And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written:

‘After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up;

So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the Lord who does all these things.

Know to God from eternity are all His works. (Acts 15:14-18)


James’ Conclusion

Therefore, I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.”


The Letter to the Gentile Churches

They wrote this letter by them:

To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia:

Greetings.

Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “you must be circumcised and keep the law” –to whom we gave no such commandment...For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell. (Acts 15:24-29)


How the Jews Would Be Saved

Peter said, with James’ full approval and documentation from the Prophets, that the Jews would be saved in the same manner as the Gentiles.

Therefore, if God gave no such commandment to the Gentiles to be circumcised and to keep the law, the Jews would be saved in the same manner.

So why are they keeping the Law as we demonstrated?


They Are In Transition & Transformation

It was necessary to keep the Torah-free mission of the Gentiles separate, so that Israel could see precisely how God would save them.

If you want to see what the salvation in Christ looked like, look not at the Jewish law keepers but at the Gentile Christians who “fared well” without the Torah.


Paul Kept Torah

And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to them, ‘You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law;

But they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.

What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come.

Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken a vow.


Jerusalem Counsel & Paul

Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law.

But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.

Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time and offering should be made for each one of them.

Now when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him.

Crying out, ‘Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whim they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.


Recap

Jesus taught the Jews to keep the law.

The Jews kept the law

The Spirit was given to guide Israel into all truth.

The time of the Spirit is a time of transition & transformation of Israel from Moses to Christ (2 Cor. 3:18) The Spirit spoke with the authority of Christ Christ spoke with the authority of the Father Therefore the Spirit spoke with the authority of the Father


Recap Continued

The Revelation of the New Covenant through the Spirit was gradual, not immediate or instantaneous in one gulp. God revealed things Israel “must do” through the

Spirit which had not been revealed in the Law The cleansing of common and unclean animals was

revealed in through the Spirit, not in the Law as was fellowship with Gentiles who did not keep the law.


The Obsolescence of the Old Covenant

The New Covenant made the Old Covenant Obsolete

“In that he says, “A new covenant he has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. (Heb. 8:13)

See “The Truth of Paul, the Benjamite A Response” on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/LqXUNCT1b9c


Does the N.T. Teach Specifically Against Bestiality & Homosexuality?

It is said that because the N.T. does not explicitly mention bestiality, it implies the practice.

It is also said that the only way we can know that bestiality is a sin or is unlawful is to follow the Torah.

Thus, to follow the New Testament is to open the flood gates to a deluge of sinful behaviors.


Paul and the N.T. Forbade Bestiality & Homosexuality in 1 Cor. 7:1-4

Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.

Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband.

The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.


Breaking Down the 1 Cor 7:1-4

It is good for a man (Gk. anthropon) generic term for man) not to touch (aptesthai pres. Infin mid of apto,) a woman/married woman (Gk. Gune).

Apto: to bring in contact, meddle, venture to partake, to have intercourse with, to know carnally, to harm.

Nevertheless to avoid fornication [sexual immorality, Gk. Porneias], each [hekastos] the his own [Gk. ten heautou] wife [Gk. Gunaika, acc. Singular], a married woman, a wife, let each [Gk. hekastos], meaning “everyone separately have “the her own” [ten idion] husband [andra].


English Translation

It is good for a man not to touch a woman/married woman.

Nevertheless because of sexual immorality, let each have the his own wife and each one separately have the her own husband.

Thus, anything outside of this marital union between a “the his own wife” and a “the her own husband” is sexual immorality.

That is the law which includes all that is mentioned within it.

It excludes all that is outside of it.


Is Bestiality Included in 1 Cor. 7:1?

Is bestiality included in each man having the his own wife and each woman have “the” her own husband?

No. The text does not read have the her own husband and a beast, nor does it read the his own wife and a beast or any such thing.

Since bestiality falls outside the boundaries of “the” his own wife and “the each her own separately husband” it is forbidden and therefore sinful.


Homosexuality

What about homosexuality?

This verse forbids by direct statement and the law of exclusion that a man can have the his own husband, and a woman can have “the” her own wife.

The terms are “gender specific”. Gune, gunakos is a woman, implying married Andre is a married male. Just as God told Noah to use gopher wood, thereby excluding

all other, he said each man have the his own wife and each separately wife have the her own male husband.


The N.T. Law of Faith Condemns Both

Therefore, it is not necessary to be under the Torah, to know that bestiality and homosexuality is sexual immorality.

It is taught plainly in the New Testament.

Thus, anywhere the term “sexual immorality” is used in the New Testament related to human sexuality, it forbids both and all forms of porneia.


Abraham Justified Apart from Torah

What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believe God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.

Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. Rom. 4:1-3; 6-10.


Justified by Faith

Just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “in you all the nations shall be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them…Gal. 3:6-10; Jas. 2:10But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith. Yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live in them. Gal. 3:11-12


Not Justified by the Law, Gal. 5:4

You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

Did Paul mean you have fallen from the “grace” of the law or from the “law of grace”?

How can one fall from Torah, by keeping Torah? That is illogical.

But, if one sought to keep Torah under grace, i.e. the gospel of Christ, they fall from grace.


Summary

Paul’s teachings neither imply nor support sexual immorality.

Even though he kept the law, he was clear that Gentiles were not obligated to keep it.

Paul taught that sex was only allowed between a scripturally joined married male and a married female.

Since neither bestiality nor homosexuality falls within this paradigm, they are immoral according to both the Torah and the New Covenant.

One does not have to abandon moral principles nor to keep Torah to walk in sanctification and honor.


Summary cont.

Those who find themselves outside these guidelines and who want to be pleasing to God, whether heterosexual or homosexual must follow these guidelines.

We have honored Paul and the Jews keeping the law according to the commandment of Christ.

We have honored the Gentiles not keeping the law according to both Torah and the Holy Spirit.

The seeming contradiction is resolved by understanding the ‘transition period from the Old to the New Covenant, and gradual revelation of the New Testament.

God was using the Gentile mission to teach Israel what he taught them through Abraham who was not a Jew, nor was he under Torah.


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