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The Pauline Paradox: What Did Paul Teach About the Law of God?
Is God’s Law in the Old Testament still relevant to Christians? What does the New Testament teach us about commandments like the Sabbath, feast days, and which animals we shouldn’t eat? Should we still rest on the seventh day as they did in the Bible? Should we say “no” to bacon and shellfish? Should we be removing leaven from our homes during Passover? Many would say that those commandments from God’s Law are no longer intended for us as Christians, and they often cite the apostle Paul’s letters to support this conclusion. But does Paul really teach that believers in the Messiah no longer need to keep these commandments? In this book, we go through each of Paul’s writings about the Law of God to answer this question.
- GenresChristian
140 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 12, 2020
55 people are currently reading
19 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 31, 2023
This text validates many ideas I'd been realizing in Scripture that are contradicted by every pastor I've sat under. When I first had this revelation, I thought that surely my pastor was right. He was smarter than me. He WAS a pastor after all! I realized that I'd been putting my pastor's opinion above the Father's Word, and I'm not doing that intentionally any more. Thanks, 119 Minitries, for putting this short, easy read together.
May 9, 2025
This is a great book for helping to understand what the Apostle Paul actually taught and believed about the Torah! Great work from 119 ministries.
November 14, 2021
Fascinating
This text challenges the reader to look past your modern view and call into focus the first century view lost to us, lean not on our own understanding! Seek wisdom from G-d!
This text challenges the reader to look past your modern view and call into focus the first century view lost to us, lean not on our own understanding! Seek wisdom from G-d!
May 17, 2023
Should YOU follow Torah?
This is a fantastic read but note that it should be used as a springboard to study Scripture and learn what it means to be a true follower of Jesus.
This is a fantastic read but note that it should be used as a springboard to study Scripture and learn what it means to be a true follower of Jesus.
October 6, 2025
Must Read
Prayer,
Father, teach me to love what you love and hate what you hate. Open my eyes that I may see the marvelous things of your law.
Prayer,
Father, teach me to love what you love and hate what you hate. Open my eyes that I may see the marvelous things of your law.
October 16, 2025
Before I start reviewing The Pauline Paradox by 119 Ministries, I should mention why I read it. Like whomever wrote the book, I am a pronomian Christian who desires to defend my beliefs in an academic fashion. I have a friend who subscribes to New Covenant Theology (NCT) and subsequently opposes pronomianism. A Torah-keeping relative of his gave him a copy of The Pauline Paradox hoping to help him understand why she believes what she believes. I don't blame her for her attempt, but I also don't blame him for getting a flawed impression of pronomianism from this book.
The goal of The Pauline Paradox is to promote the argument that Paul was encouraging his readers to obey God's commands made to Moses, as opposed to declaring their abolition and replacement as NCT adherents claim. It certainly shows much theological knowledge on the author's part, and its chapters concerning Romans, Ephesians, and Colossians are argumentatively laid out excellently. Its writing style provides a good balance between casual and professional as well. If you already agree with its opinions, The Pauline Paradox is a good tool for helping your improve the comprehensiveness of your reasons for believing so. However, 119 Ministries also wants its readers to "lend this book to a friend" (p. 121). Is this actually a good suggestion? The answer to this question is complicated.
If you're a pronomian and the "friend" you know is like the average Christian, then this book will likely give him/her a lot of questions that he/she may have never thought of before. On the other hand, if your friend is like mine, who likes to study Scripture as a hobby, then you might want to reconsider making The Pauline Paradox his/her introduction to pronomianism. It has many strengths, but it has one key weakness that every critic will find easy to cherry-pick, namely logic.
On page 32, John MacArthur is criticized for being a theologian who "invents unbiblical terms like 'moral law' to give a religious justification for removing certain parts of the Law of God that he believes no longer apply." The moral-ceremonial division of the Torah has been presumed by many theologians since at least the Middle Ages. MacArthur "invented" nothing concerning that concept, and it's frustrating that 119 Ministries was so sloppy as to (unwittingly, I hope) make such an obviously false accusation like this against him. The book also repeatedly uses multiple fallacies such as arguments from silence, red herrings, and straw men [1]. These issues may cause the intellectual skeptic to not take pronomian theology as seriously as he/she should. All this demonstrates the importance of writing your arguments slowly and carefully.
In conclusion, The Pauline Paradox is a good book for pronomians who wish to strengthen their position on Paul's view of the Mosaic Law. However, I would not recommend that non-pronomians read it, as it does not present the best arguments for keeping Torah well. The Truth: Reformation 2.0 does this job better in my opinion. I rate this book three stars for the mixed value of its argumentation.
[1] Examples of these fallacies are detailed in the Beginning of Wisdom article, "The Many Fallacies of the Pauline Paradox," by Andrew Schumacher. This is not an endorsement of Schumacher's views, as he makes many illogical arguments himself in his critique; I merely cite the article as it does contain some valid criticisms of The Pauline Paradox. Chew the meat and spit out the bones.
The goal of The Pauline Paradox is to promote the argument that Paul was encouraging his readers to obey God's commands made to Moses, as opposed to declaring their abolition and replacement as NCT adherents claim. It certainly shows much theological knowledge on the author's part, and its chapters concerning Romans, Ephesians, and Colossians are argumentatively laid out excellently. Its writing style provides a good balance between casual and professional as well. If you already agree with its opinions, The Pauline Paradox is a good tool for helping your improve the comprehensiveness of your reasons for believing so. However, 119 Ministries also wants its readers to "lend this book to a friend" (p. 121). Is this actually a good suggestion? The answer to this question is complicated.
If you're a pronomian and the "friend" you know is like the average Christian, then this book will likely give him/her a lot of questions that he/she may have never thought of before. On the other hand, if your friend is like mine, who likes to study Scripture as a hobby, then you might want to reconsider making The Pauline Paradox his/her introduction to pronomianism. It has many strengths, but it has one key weakness that every critic will find easy to cherry-pick, namely logic.
On page 32, John MacArthur is criticized for being a theologian who "invents unbiblical terms like 'moral law' to give a religious justification for removing certain parts of the Law of God that he believes no longer apply." The moral-ceremonial division of the Torah has been presumed by many theologians since at least the Middle Ages. MacArthur "invented" nothing concerning that concept, and it's frustrating that 119 Ministries was so sloppy as to (unwittingly, I hope) make such an obviously false accusation like this against him. The book also repeatedly uses multiple fallacies such as arguments from silence, red herrings, and straw men [1]. These issues may cause the intellectual skeptic to not take pronomian theology as seriously as he/she should. All this demonstrates the importance of writing your arguments slowly and carefully.
In conclusion, The Pauline Paradox is a good book for pronomians who wish to strengthen their position on Paul's view of the Mosaic Law. However, I would not recommend that non-pronomians read it, as it does not present the best arguments for keeping Torah well. The Truth: Reformation 2.0 does this job better in my opinion. I rate this book three stars for the mixed value of its argumentation.
[1] Examples of these fallacies are detailed in the Beginning of Wisdom article, "The Many Fallacies of the Pauline Paradox," by Andrew Schumacher. This is not an endorsement of Schumacher's views, as he makes many illogical arguments himself in his critique; I merely cite the article as it does contain some valid criticisms of The Pauline Paradox. Chew the meat and spit out the bones.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews