I am confused. The gospels say to follow the law, while Paul’s letters tell us the law doesn’t apply. Can you help me understand this contradiction?
Yes! In the form of two questions: First, “When did the New Testament begin?” And, second, “To whom was each (Paul, Matthew, John, Peter, etc.) speaking when he wrote?” The answers to these questions will lead us to a clear understanding of the apparent contradiction. Did the New Testament begin in Matthew? Perhaps, since many scholars believe Mark was written first, it was Mark. Paul’s gospel always begins at “the cross of Christ;” maybe there? To whom was Jesus speaking?
Though, biblically, the New Testament begins with the Gospel of Matthew, it is not the New Testament dispensationally or historically. The debate over which – the Gospel of Mathew or of Mark – is older notwithstanding, none of the gospel accounts are technically the New Testament dispensationally. And though the Intertestimonial Period separates Malachi from Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John, none of the gospel accounts is technically the New Testament historically.
Presuppositions aside, Jesus walked the earth in the gospel accounts fulfilling the requirements of the Jewish Messiah. Certainly there were times when He healed Gentiles, but as a rule He came for the Jews. He said as much in Matthew 15:26 and Mark 7:27. He was a Jewish man who lived according to Jewish law and He was the Jewish Messiah who necessarily had to follow (and completely keep) the Jewish Law or fail the qualifications thereof. Also as a rule, Jesus spoke to the Jews and the Gentiles were simply an incidental. The Law was the identifier for Jews, but was not such for Gentiles. Though the gospel accounts are biblically “Christian” books; dispensationally and historically, they are still very much Old Testament, and very much Jewish.
Likewise, it was established at the so-called “Jerusalem Council” (Acts 15) and subsequently in the letter to the Galatians that Peter was the “apostle to the circumcised [Jews]” (Gal. 2:8), and James was equally concerned about Jews over and above Gentiles (Gal. 2:12-14). In fact, James, Peter, and John were known as “The Pillars of the Jerusalem [Jewish] Church” (Gal. 2:9).
Quite simply, the letter of James is written to Jewish-Christians.
The letters of Peter and Jude, for the most part, bear no resemblance to the gospel accounts, but deal with practical issues of the recipients, whether Jew or Gentile.
It can be argued that the three epistles of John are directed to Gentiles (for instance, the “Gaius” in III John is arguably the same “Gaius” the Macedonian (Acts 19:29), who hosted Paul in Corinth (Rom. 16:23), who was a recipient of one of the rare baptisms that Paul performed (1Cor. 1:14), and who accompanied Paul to Ephesus (Acts 19:29)). But different than the gospel bearing his name the letters speak of the Law of Jesus (“Love”) and Revelation speaks apocalyptically altogether, and all were written at least three decades after the Apostle Paul’s letters.
For the Apostle Paul, the Gospel of Grace does not begin before the “Cross of Christ.” The reason is that he was the “apostle to the Gentiles,” and as such, the Gentiles would have known nothing about any Mosaic Law, save for it was a Jewish custom. Furthermore, Paul, at the most, only alludes to the “life of Christ,” because as the apostle to the Gentiles it is the death of Christ that would include the pagan nations. His theology demands conformity to the death of Christ, not the life of Christ. And again, for Paul, the fact that Jesus fulfilled the Law of Moses only pertained to the Gentiles because of His sinless life and, therefore, His ability to be the Gentile Savior [Notice: Jewish Messiah and Gentile Savior]. Logically, if the first century Jews would have accepted Christ as their Messiah there would be no such thing as a Gentile “Christian.” But that was not God’s plan. He willed to include those who were far off and without God (the Gentiles). Paul, as the apostle to the Gentiles, is addressing Gentiles as a rule in all of his letters. However, as important as the “Cross of Christ” is to Pauline Theology, the crucifixion is not the beginning of the New Testament.
It is the Acts 2 account of the Day of Pentecost, biblically speaking, where the dispensational and historical New Testament began. It is not until the Holy Spirit is the indwelling power-plant that the church and “church age” are born. Thus, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit necessitates the crucifixion, burial and resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ; and, therefore, it results in the dawning of the New Testament era (dispensation).
So, with all that being established, though the gospel accounts were written after the Day of Pentecost, they deal specifically with events before it. The letters were written after the Day of Pentecost and, as a rule, deal with the practical results of both Jews and Gentiles as Christians; what the death of Christ has done for humanity and what humanity is supposed to do with it, and what God in Christ is now doing with humanity as a whole. We see in the gospels the Law as the norm because they are still of the Old Testament (dispensation, paradigm). And we see in the letters generally, and Paul’s specifically, that Jesus Christ is the norm (even the letter of James is Christ-centered, though with the Mosaic Law around the fringes) because the Day of Pentecost has occurred, shifting Testaments (dispensations, paradigms) to the “New.”
And finally, if you are a Gentile, according to Paul, “the Apostle to the Gentiles,” the Mosaic Law has nothing to do with your relationship with God or man. In the Old Testament Gentiles had to “proselytize” (become Jewish) in order to participate in God, but in the New Testament Gentiles simply believe on Christ in and with faith. If you are a Messianic Jew (Jewish-believer) you may honor the Mosaic Law for national religious reasons, but salvation comes through Christ, and Christ alone (John 14:6).
For a Jew, it makes all the sense in the world to talk about Law; for a Gentile, it makes none at all.
