02.5. The Testimony of Peter

Part Five – The Testimony of Peter Peter, the apostle, addresses the writings of Paul:

2 Peter 3:15-16 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

I have some questions; here are a few:

1.    What was the culture of first century Jerusalem like?

2.    Were idioms used in the first century culture?

3.    What was/were the predominant language(s)? Was Greek really the predominant language?

4.    What was the role of the temple in everyday life?

5.    What were the methods of teaching used in the synagogue?

6.    Was there a difference in how the Hebrews thought vs. the Greeks?

7.    What was a Hellenized Jew?

8.    What was the relationship between the Pharisees and the Sadducees?

9.    What was the role of the scribes?

10.    Why didn’t the scribes teach with authority? How did the scribes teach?

11.    How did the rabbis, Pharisees and Sadducees come about, because they are never mentioned in the Old Testament?

12.    How did the Sanhedrin come into place?

13.    What were the differences in what the Pharisees’ and Sadducees’ practiced and believed?

Most, if not all, of the first century Church would have known the answers to these basic questions. Even small children would have known the answers to these questions. The learned would have been able to expound and go into great detail in answering each question.

Paul was a scholar trained at the feet of Gamaliel; he excelled in his study of the oral laws of Judaism. Even Peter, who was a companion of the Messiah and heard the very words of Jesus himself, says parts of ALL of Paul’s writings were hard to understand. Most Christians aren’t even aware that the oral laws of Judaism exist, let alone study them. We must conclude that virtually all 21^st century students of Scripture cannot claim to be learned in regard to Paul’s writings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Can we consider ourselves learned based on the above questions? Does your pastor or Sunday school teacher know more than a couple of the answers to these questions? We are willingly and wholly naive historically concerning Paul’s audience. If we don’t even know some basic information about the context of Paul’s writings, isn’t it arrogant to believe that we KNOW what Paul is talking about and that he was teaching a “no-law” doctrine?