Near the end of his 2nd epistle, Peter warns that those who are “unlearned and unstable wrest” the teachings of Paul “unto their own destruction” (2Pe 3:16), highlighting how easy and eternally dangerous it is to misinterpret Paul without a proper grounding in the Tanakh (the Hebrew scriptures or Old Testament). Since Christianity has, ever since the mid-2nd century, consistently been reinterpreting both Christ and the Tanakh in light of Paul, this is deeply concerning.
The Tanakh teaches all God’s laws are good for all people. (Ps 1:1-3), and that we are to reject any teaching as darkness which does not align with any part of Torah. (Is 8:20) We are commanded to hide the very words of Torah in our hearts and meditate on them continually (De 6:6-7), desiring them more than silver and gold (Ps 19:7-11), continually asking God to open our eyes that we might behold wondrous things out of His law. (Ps 119:8)
The Tanakh also claims all of God’s judgements are unchanging and timeless (Ps 119:160); we are not to add to them or diminish any of them in any way, ever. (De 4:2) There is no indication anywhere in the Tanakh that any part of Torah is only for Jews or temporary in nature. (De 4:6-8) Shame is the expectation for anyone who breaks the least of God’s commands (Ps 119:6); God will eventually trample underfoot all who error from His statutes. (Ps 119:118)
Since Paul clearly grounds all of his teaching in the Tanakh (2Ti 3:16-17), particularly the gospel (Ro 16:25-26), it is a serious mistake to think Christ came to provide a new way for us to be saved or that He changed anything about how we are to relate to God; rather He came to explain what has always been God’s way. So, if our understanding of the Gospel is not firmly grounded in the Tanakh, we are in a very dangerous place.
What Christianity has been claiming since the post-apostolic era is that Christ abolished almost all of Torah, such that only “moral law” remains, effectively re-defining sin as well as repentance, which is no longer a change of mind about breaking Torah, but rather submission to the Christian Church and her dictates.
Yet this step corrupts the gospel itself since it fundamentally changes what salvation is all about: Christ came “to save His people from their sins” (Mt 1:21): from violating Torah. (1Jn 3:4) Inviting the lost to come to Christ for any other reason is offering them false hope in a false Christ (2Co 11:4); using all the same terminology while proclaiming something fundamentally different is a lie of the very worst kind. (2Pe 2:19)
A firm grounding in the Tanakh immediately exposes this as darkness. (Pr 6:23, Pr 4:19) But those unfamiliar with the Tanakh, unstable and inconsistent in how they are interpreting scripture (2Co 2:17), can easily be deceived. Many will be misled in this way, thinking they’re eternally safe only to be turned away by Christ at the end. (Mt 7:22-23)
Are all who are deceived about Torah eternally lost? Certainly not; there are evidently a few souls sincerely seeking God who have not yet understood their obligation to obey Torah. Those of us who would run to Christ even if He were preached authentically and truly, offering to write Torah into our hearts and enable us to obey His Torah in spirit and truth, have received Him even though we have not yet seen Him as He is. (1Jn 3:2) He is longsuffering and merciful in our ignorance (1Ti 1:13); He will lead us into all truth as we continue to seek Him. (1Jn 2:27)
