The age old debate about the relationship Jesus and Paul had with the Torah, aka the Law of Moses, can best be explained by the word diplomacy. According to the Oxford dictionary, diplomacy is:
The profession, activity, or skill of managing international relations, typically by a country’s representatives abroad. This almost describes Jesus and Paul to a T in the NT. If you think about it they were both skilled professionals “managing international relations [i.e., between Israelis and Gentiles, Greco-Romans].
We have Jesus, the head of the “country” of God, i.e., the King of the coming Kingdom and Paul, his sent representative, apostolos. So it comes as no surprise to see how similar their missionary work among their fellow Jews was. For example, in Luke 6.6 we see Jesus once again teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Yet, in Mat 12 and Mar 2 Jesus pronounces himself and his followers lords of the Sabbath. That is, as owners of a day of rest that was originally made for man and not man made for the Sabbath, Jesus now teaches Christians are free to rest or not to rest.
[NOTE what Jesus’ response to fellow Jews who accuse him of breaking the Sabbath in John 5.17:
“To this very day My Father is at His work, and I too am working.” BSB]
In Mat 15.1-6 Jesus demands you honor your parents, according to the Law of Moses given in Exodus 20:12; Deut. 5:16. Yet, in Luke 14.26 he warns if you choose your parents over him you cannot be a Christian….at all!
In Mat 17.24-27 he tells his Apostles to pay the Torah-mandated Temple Tax. Yet, in that same story, he gives this reason: “So that we don’t offend them,” that is Torah-observant Jews! At one point in Mat 23 Jesus even says to do everything those sitting in the place of Moses say. Yet, throughout the Gospels we repeatedly find him arguing, correcting and even threatening those same Pharisees!
Later, we see how Paul adopted a similar policy.
In Acts 13 we find Paul teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath.
In Acts 20.16 we find him “in a hurry to reach Jerusalem…in time for the Festival of Pentecost.” Yet, Paul is writing letter after letter to the early churches in Colossae, Galatia, warning them not to let anyone judge them for not celebrating/observing a festival or a new moon or even the Sabbath day. Col 2.16; cp. Gal 4.10
In Acts 16 Paul even circumcised Timothy “because of the Jews.”
Similarly, Jesus in Mat 8 likewise appeased his fellow Jews when he tells the healed leper to present himself to the Temple “priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded.” Yet, Paul labels some Jews “the circumcision party” and describes them as “dogs, evildoers, mutilators of the flesh” in Phil 3.2. And again warns the churches:
“Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.” Gal 5.2
In Acts 21, towards the end of his missionary career, Paul is told by James, the lord’s brother no less, to take a Torah-mandated Nazarite vow, along with a 7-day Temple purification rite. The reason, James tells him, is because we “are under the impression that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to literally “apostatize from Moses.” This is a loaded term used, as Ellicott’s Commentary says, “with all its burden of evil import, adding weight to the charge.” And why? Well, because according to James Paul was telling fellow Jews not to circumcise their children or observe their customs. Yet, just before he’s martyred in Rome, Paul testifies before both Roman and Jewish authorities: “I have not broken the Law of my people. And I have not done anything against either the temple or the Emperor.” Acts 25.8
The only way to harmonize these seeming contradictions is by way of Christian diplomacy on the part of both Jesus and Paul. Or, as Paul himself defines diplomacy in 1Cor 9, “in order to win” people. And I like this paraphrase from the Good News Translation:
19 I am a free man [lord of the Sabbath], nobody’s slave. But I make myself everybody’s slave in order to win as many people as possible. 20 While working with the Jews, I live like a Jew in order to win them [BTW an odd thing for someone to say if they remained Torah-observant!] And even though I myself am not subject to the Law of Moses, I live as though I were when working with those who are, in order to win them. 21 In the same way, when working with Gentiles, I live like a Gentile, outside the Jewish Law, in order to win Gentiles. This does not mean that I don’t obey God’s law; I am really under Christ’s law. [NOTE: Just because Paul is not under the OC Law of Moses does not mean he is lawless because now he is subject to the Law of Christ. Which Paul here BTW calls the law of God and Jesus calls “the commandments of God” in Rev. 12.17; 14.12]
Hence, Paul says in v.22
“Among the weak in faith I become weak like one of them, in order to win them. So I become all things to all people, that I may save some of them by whatever means are possible.“
