𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭 “𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐡” — 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐖𝐡𝐲

Paul’s understanding of the Gentile mission arose from a convergence of Israel’s prophetic Scriptures, Second Temple apocalyptic writings, his Pharisaic training, and the lived synagogue God-fearer movement he encountered in the Mediterranean world. The Hebrew prophets foretold an end-time turning of the nations to Israel’s God without their conversion to Israel’s ethnic or covenant status (Isa 2:2–3; Zech 8:20–23; Isa 49:6). Paul explicitly interpreted his Gentile converts through these texts, quoting Amos 9:11–12 at the Jerusalem council as proof that the inclusion of the nations had begun (Acts 15:16–17). Jewish apocalyptic literature circulating in Paul’s era likewise envisioned Gentiles abandoning idolatry and embracing righteous worship while remaining nations under God’s rule, a theme found in 1 Enoch 48; Jubilees 1:25; the Qumran Community Rule (1QS 9.18–20). Scholarly research confirms that Paul operated squarely within this apocalyptic framework, applying these expectations to real Gentile communities turning from idols (1 Thess 1:9). His own testimony of Pharisaic education and intense immersion in Jewish interpretive tradition explains his ability to theologize these developments within Torah and prophecy (Gal 1:14).

Modern historian Paula Fredriksen affirms this reading. In Paul: The Pagans’ Apostle (2017) and When Christians Were Jews (2018), she identifies Paul’s converts as “ex-pagan pagans” who renounced idolatry and transferred their allegiance to Israel’s God while remaining ethnically Gentile. Fredriksen notes that Paul saw this movement as the eschatological fulfillment of Israel’s prophetic hopes, not a precursor to proselyte conversion, and therefore resisted imposing circumcision or full Sinai covenant obligation upon them. Instead, Paul insisted that salvation is identical for Jews and Gentiles — justification by trust in Messiah alone (Rom 10:12; Gal 3:28) — while identity and calling remain distinct within the body (1 Cor 7:17–20). At the Jerusalem council he defended this stance, warning against burdening Gentiles with a yoke even Israel could not bear (Acts 15:10) and affirming that God Himself was gathering the nations according to prophecy (Acts 15:19). Gentile obedience, Paul taught, flowed not from national Torah conversion but from Spirit-shaped transformation that fulfills the law’s righteous intent (Rom 8:4), preserving unity in Messiah without collapsing the biblically defined distinction between Israel and the nations.

Now you know why Jews and Gentiles had to be distinct even under One Torah.

B"H!

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭.