Professor Mark Nanos and the Apostle Paul

Prof Mark Nanos, author of ‘The Mystery of Romans’ and ‘The Irony of Galatians’ has a fairly unique perspective and approach to the Epistles of the Apostle Paul.

As a Jewish scholar, he has approached these epistles from a non-Christian perspective, but has been very open to considering the merits of the Apostle Paul’s arguments. Nanos believes the Apostle Paul saw that the dawning of the Messianic Age, with the arrival of the end-times Messiah, meant that some new realities were now in play. Realities that meant Gentiles no longer needed to become Jews if they wished to embrace the God of Israel.

Below are just a few of his quotes that begin to expose this understanding.

“Paul did not use the label "Christian" in his letters, and it is widely recognized that in Paul's time "Christianity" did not exist in a formal, institutional sense. Instead, Christ-followers were still identifying themselves in Israelite/Jewish terms based on covenant affiliation with the One God who created a people from Abraham's descendants. Those who shared Paul's commitment to Christ were addressed and discussed, in terms of ethnicity, as Jews or non- Jews/Greeks, Israelites or members from the other "nations" (ethnē, usually translated "Gentiles"), circumcised or foreskinned, and so on.

Institutionally, they were identifiable as members of specific Jewish subgroups within the larger Jewish communities, not as members of a new religion or of something other than Judaism.”

– from ‘Romans: To the Churches of the Synagogues of Rome’ by Prof Mark Nanos – see http://www.marknanos.com/Romans-Synagogues-8-31-10.pdf

 “Paul did not teach a so-called "Torah-free Gospel," or the end of Torah. But he upheld that Christ-believing non-Jews were not to become Jews, and thus that they will never be under Torah in the same way that Jews, such as Paul himself, were, and remained. Paul observed Torah as a matter of faith, as incumbent upon himself as a faithful Jewish believer in Christ.

He also affirmed Torah unambiguously, proclaiming that the good news in Christ "established" it (Rom 3:31); he went so far as to declare the Torah "spiritual" (7:14).

At issue in his rhetoric, written to non-Jews, was how they were to become members of Judaism, of the communal life of the people of God, without becoming members of Israel, without becoming Jews. They thus remained without the "advantages" Torah offered (3:1-2; 9:4-5), but also without the responsibility to "fully" observe Torah in the same ways that he, and other Christ-believing Jews, retained (1 Cor 7:17-24; Gal 5:3).”

- from ‘The Myth of the 'Law-Free' Paul Standing Between Christians and Jews’ by Prof Mark Nanos

“As I read Paul's letters, as largely confirmed by the Acts of the Apostles, as well as the Epistle of James—which I believe agrees with rather than corrects Paul, although perhaps challenging a misrepresentation of his teaching—he argued that Christ establishes Torah, that he is the righteousness to which Torah points.

Anyone who believes in Christ is beholden to righteous living, just as is anyone who believes in Torah. In neither case is the pursuit of righteousness to initiate God's favor. But faithfulness is concomitant with the faith decision in order to retain right standing in a covenant relationship that is initiated with obligations for both parties.

Anything other than the pursuit of what is right would represent continuing bondage to sin, when bondage to God, the righteous one—the one who does right and judges accordingly, by definition—is the desired alternative (cf. Rom 6—8).”

“Instead, I submit, Paul insisted that non-Jews must remain non-Jews, and thus not come under Torah on the same terms as Jews, because it would compromise the propositional truth of the Gospel that the end of the ages has dawned.

That proposition maintains that the awaited age, when all of the other nations will recognize Israel's God as the One God, the Creator God of all humankind, has begun with the resurrection of Christ and arrival of the Spirit among those confessing this truth. Gentiles are obliged to represent the righteousness expressed in Torah, that is, the love of God and neighbor, but as representatives of the other nations, and not as members of Israel, not as representatives of the Mosaic covenant.

They represent the time when the covenant with Abraham, bringing blessing to all of the nations in his seed, has arrived. But if they were to become Jews by proselyte conversion, symbolized by circumcision for males—which in Paul's letters serves as a metonym for completion of the rite of proselyte conversion, just as does "works of Torah"—this would undermine the claim of the message of the arrival of the awaited good for Israel and the nations now in Christ Jesus.
…
Habbakuk 2:4, "the just shall live by faithfulness" (3:11, 16-21; cf. Rom 1:17). Thus Gentiles were equal in standing before God with Jews, regardless of the advantage being a Jew otherwise conferred (cf. Gal 2:15; Rom 3:1-2; 9:3-5), and thus should be treated as equal in standing before each other (cf. Gal 2:16; 3:28-29; Rom 3:27-4:25; 15:5-12).”

- excerpts from ‘The Myth of the 'Law-Free' Paul Standing Between Christians and Jews’ by Prof Mark Nanos – see http://www.marknanos.com/Myth-Lawfree-12-3-08.pdf

“In Christ-believing-based Judaism, non-Jews do not become proselytes after becoming believers in Jesus Christ, for doing so would undermine the propositional truth upon which their faith is based, namely, that with the resurrection of Jesus Christ the end of the ages has dawned. Incorporating non-Jews into the people of God in the present age as proselytes according to the traditions of the fathers is no longer halakhically warranted.

That is not because Paul or the non-Jewish addressees are no longer a part of Judaism, but because they are members of a particular Judaism, or alternatively, of a Jewish coalition which understands itself in the role of the remnant representing the interests and eventual destiny of the whole cloth, of every Jewish group and way of living Jewishly.

In other words, regardless of how triumphalistic it may be, these Christ-believing Jews—and non-Jews!—live on behalf of Judaism and every Jewish person, not against them (Rom 9—11; esp. 11:11-36).

In this service, these Christ-believing Jews do not reject Torah, but develop halakhot that articulate the appropriate way to observe Torah now, in view of the revelation of Christ that the representatives of the nations are not to become Israelites, but to join with Israelites in a new community adumbrating the restoration of all humankind.

Otherwise Paul’s question in Romans 3:29, “Or is God of the Jews only, and not also of members of the other nations?” could not be answered to affirm the inclusion of anyone but Jews.

However, Paul’s answer was: “Yes, God is the one God of the members of the other nations also.” According to Paul’s logic, the alternative would have been to argue instead that God is only the God of Israel, and anyone from the other nations wanting to become part of the God’s people must become Jewish proselytes, as was the case for the present age before the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ changed what was appropriate, within Judaism, to age-to-come terms.”

– from  ‘Rethinking the “Paul and Judaism” Paradigm: Why Not "Paul's Judaism?"

If you found this quotes intriguing and worthy of further consideration I strongly recommend both of Prof Mark Nanos’ book.

My article ‘The Mystery of Romans: A Torah and Shema Centric View’ gives an introduction to his book on Romans as well – see http://goo.gl/R2t3da
If you also would like to consider if the Rav Sha'ul (the Apostle Paul) was and remained a Torah observant Jew his entire life (while not wishing Gentiles to convert to become Jews, though wishing them to also be Torah observant), see my book on Amazon - 'Defending the Apostle Paul: Weighing the Evidence'