The Grounds of Christianity Examined by Comparing The New Testament with the Old

by George Bethune English

CHAPTER XII.

ON THE CHARACTER OF PAUL AND HIS MANNER OF REASONING.

As Christians lay great stress upon their argument for the truth of their Religion, derived from the supposed miraculous conversion of Paul; and since almost the whole of Systematic Christianity is built upon the foundation of the Epistles ascribed to him, we shall pay a little more attention to his character and writings.

Paul was evidently a man of no small capacity, a fiery temper, great subtilty, and considerably well versed in Jewish Traditionary, and Cabbalistic Learning, and not unacquainted with the principles of the Philosophy called the Oriental. He is said by Luke to have been converted to Christianity by a splendid apparition of Jesus, who struck him to the ground by the glory of his appearance. But by the Jews and the Nazarene Christians, he is represented as having been converted to Christianity from a different cause. They say that being a man of tried abilities and of some note, he demanded the High Priests daughter in marriage, and being refused, his rash and rageful temper, and a desire of revenge, drove him to join the sect of the Nazarenes, at that time beginning to become troublesome to the Sanhedrim. However this may be, whether he became a Christian from conviction, or from ambition; it is certain from the Acts that he always was considered by the Jewish Christians, as a suspected character; and it is evident that he taught a different doctrine from that promulgated by the twelve apostles. And this was the true cause of the great difficulty he was evidently under of keeping steady to him, his Gentile converts. For it is evident from the Epistles to the Galatians, and the Corinthians, that the Jewish Christians represented Paul to them as not sound in the Faith, but as teaching a different doctrine from that of the Twelve, and so influential were these representations, that Paul had the greatest difficulty in keeping them to his System.

That there were two Parties, or Schools in the first Christian church, viz. the adherents of the Apostles, and the Disciples of Paul, is evident from the New Testament, and has been fully, and unanswerably proved by the learned Semler, the greatest scholar certainly in Christian Antiquities, that ever lived. The knowledge of this secret, accounts for the different conduct of Paul when among his Gentile converts, from that which he pursued when with the apostles at Jerusalem. He had a difficult part to act, and he managed admirably. He was indeed, as he says, himself, all things to all men, a Jew with the Jews, and as one uncircumcised among the uncircumcised. To the Jews, he asserted, that he taught nothing contrary to the Law, and the Prophets, and when brought before the Sanhedrim for teaching otherwise than he said, he dexterously got himself out of tribulation, by throwing a bone of contention among the Council, and setting his Judges together by the ears. And when Paul perceived that the one part (of the Council) were Sadducees, and the other, Pharisees, he cried out in the Council: Brethren, I am a Pharisee, and the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead, I am now judged. And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the multitude was divided. For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess both. And there was a great cry, and the Scribes that were on the part of the Pharisees, arose and strove, saying, We find no evil in this man &c. This, indeed, was a masterly manoeuvre, and produced the desired effect; and Paul by this shows his knowledge of the human heart, in trusting to make his Judges forget what he was accused of, by making an appeal to their sectarian passions. For, in truth, he was not accused concerning his opinion about the hope, and the resurrection of the dead, but for the following cause, as his accusers vociferated (in the xxi. ch.) when they seized him in the Temple, Men of Israel, Help! This is the man, who teacheth all men every where against, the people, and the Law, and this place.

These strokes of character enable us to understand the man; and I shall now go into the consideration of some of the arguments he has deduced from passages in the Old Testament in support of his opinions; after premising, that the truth of the story of the manner of his conversion depends entirely upon his own assertion; and whether his credibility be absolutely unimpeachable, can be easily determined by an impartial consideration of the history of his conduct already mentioned. I will only add upon this subject, that in telling the story of his conversion, he ought to have had a better memory; for in telling it once in xxvi. ch. of Acts, he says, in describing his miraculous vision, that those that were with me, saw indeed the light, and were afraid, but heard not the words of him that spake to me; and thus he directly contradicts the story of it recorded in Acts ix., where it is said, that the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one.

In the 9th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, v. 24, he thus proves; that the Old Testament prophecied of the conversion of the Gentiles, to the Gospel—Even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles, as he saith also in Hosea I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, you are not my people, there shall they be called the sons of the living God.—Is not this to the purpose? yet, in applying this passage to the Gentiles, Paul has wilfully, (yes wilfully, for Paul was a learned man, and knew better) perverted the original from its proper reference, and has passed upon his simple converts., who did not know so much of the Jewish Scriptures, as he did, a prophecy relating entirely to the Jews, as referring to the Gentiles!! By turning to Hosea, Reader, you will find this to be verily the case; here is the passage, Then said God, call his name (Hoseas son) Loammi, for ye (the Israelites) are not my people, and I will not be your God, yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured, nor numbered. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people, there shall it be said unto them, ye are the sons of the living God. Hosea chapter i

Again v. 33. As it is written, Behold I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, and every one who believeth in him shall not be ashamed. Here Paul has pieced two passages together, which in the originals are disconnected. For in the 8th chapter of Isaiah it is written, Sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence, to both the houses of Israel; for a gin, and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And in the 28th chapter it is written, therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation, he that believeth shall not be ashamed, (or disappointed) Here you see, reader, that he jams two distant passages together no ways related; and alters some words, and applies them to Jesus, with whom, it appears from the context of Isaiah, they have no concern.

Ch. x. v. 6. The scripture saith, say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into Heaven? (that is, that he may bring down Jesus from above.) Again, who shall descend into the abyss? (that is, that he may bring up Jesus from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart. (that is the word of Faith which we speak.) For if thou confess Jesus with thy mouth, and believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Here you will see another instance of misapplication of Scripture by Paul, in order to dazzle the eyes of his simple and credulous converts, for let any one took at the place in the Scripture whence the quotation is taken, arid he will immediately see the inapplicability of the words, and the adulteration of those of the original, in order to make them apply. For the Scripture quoted speaks of, and refers to penitence, and. not at all about believing on, or bringing down Jesus from Heaven, or up from the dead; for here are the words, Deut. 30.—If thou be converted to the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind.—Immediately is subjoined—For this Law which I command you this day is not far from thee; neither is it afar off. It is not in Heaven, that thou shouldst say, who shall ascend for us into Heaven, that he may bring it unto us, and declare it to us that we might do it, &c. The sense of the whole is, that God wills us to repent of sin; and that you may know when you have sinned, you have only to look at his Law, which is not in Heaven, nor afar off, but is put in your own hands, and is perfectly familiar with your heart, and lips.

1 Cor, ch. v. 1. Paul accuses one of the Christians of the church of Corinth of the crime of incest, because he had married his step-mother, and orders them to excommunicate him. But Paul, in all his Epistles and teachings to the Gentiles, pronounced them free from the Law of Moses. Wherefore then for the violation of one of those Laws interdicting such a marriage, does he so vehemently, blame them? Such a marriage is not forbidden in the Gospel: it was forbidden to them no where in the Scriptures but in the Mosaic Code. Therefore, Paul must have founded his judgment against the criminal upon the dictum of that law in such cases. Paul puts the man under a curse; and it is the Mosaic Law which says, Deut. 27, Cursed is he who lieth with his fathers wife. It seems, therefore, that Jesus did not deliver his followers from the curse of the law, as Paul taught them it did in Gal. iii. 13.

1 Cor. ch. x.:—And let us not pollute ourselves with fornication, as some of them were polluted, and fell in one day to the number of twenty-three thousand. Here is a blunder, for it is written twenty-four thousand.—Num. 25.

Gal. iii., 13, Paul says, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. What he says of the Christ, or the Messiah redeeming from the curses written in the law, that by no means agrees with truth; for no Jew can be freed from the curses of the law, but by repenting of his sins, and becoming obedient to it. And in alledging the words cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree, from Deut. xxi., he, as usual, applies them irrelevantly.

Paul says, Gal. iii, 10:—For as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse; for it is written, Deut. xxvii. 26, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them. And he interprets this to mean that all mankind, Jews and Gentile, are liable to damnation, (except those who are saved by faith) because no man ever did continue in all things written in the law. Now, in the first place I would observe, that Paul has inserted the word all in the passage he quotes from Deuteronomy, (in the original of which it is not) in order to make it support his system; for the whole of his argument is built upon this one surreptitiously inserted word. 2. The words according to the original are simply these:—Cursed is he that continueth not the words of this law to do them; i. e.,—He who disobeys, or neglects to fulfil the commands of the law, shall be under the curse denounced upon the disobedient. But who would conclude from this that repentance would not remove the curse? Does not God expressly declare in the xxx. ch. of Deut., that if they repent, the curses written shall be removed from them? And have we not innumerable instances recorded in the Old Testament, of sinners, and transgressors of this very law, received to pardon and favour, upon repentance and amendment? So that this argument founded upon an unwarrantable undeniable interpolation, and supported by bad logic, is every way bad, and insulting to God and his (by Paul acknowledged) word.

Gal ch. iii. 16:—To Abraham, and his seed were the promises made, He saith not and to seeds, (as of roomy) but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. Here is an argument which one would think too far-fetched, even for Paul; and it is built on a perversion of a passage from Genesis, which Paul, bold as he was in these matters, certainly would not have ventured, if he had not the most assured confidence in the blinking credulity of his Galatian converts. His argument in this place is drawn from the use of the word seed in the singular number, in the passage of Genesis, from whence he quotes. And because the word seed is in the singular number, fag tells the foolish Galatians, as he justly calls them, that this seed must mean one individual (and not many,) which, says he, is Christ. Now, let us look at the xv. ch. of Gen., from whence he quotes, and we shall see the force of this singular argument, derived from the use of the singular number. And He (God) brought him (Abraham) forth abroad, and said. Look now towards heaven, and tell the stars if thou be able to number them, and He said unto him, so shall thy seed be.—And He said, know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and they shall afflict them, &c., afterwards they shall come out with great substance.—In that same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, unto thy seed have I given this land, &c. Again, ch. xxii., God said to Abraham by his Angel, I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his (or its) enemies, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice! Reader, what do you think now of Pauls argument from the use of the singular number? Which is most to be admired? His offering such an argument to the Galatians; (for being a learned man, he certainly knew that the argument was nought,) or their credulity in receiving such reasoning as Divine? Really, I fear there is some reason for admitting as true what Celsus maliciously says of the simplicity of the Primitive Christians, if Paul could with impunity feed his spiritual babes with such pap as this!

I intended to have concluded this subject, by bringing under examination some of the arguments and quotations in the Epistle to the Hebrews; but upon looking over that Epistle, and contemplating my task, I confess I shrink from it. That Epistle is so replete with daring, ridiculous, and impious applications of the words of the Old Testament, that I am glad to omit it; and I think after the specimens which have been already brought forward, that my reader is quite as much satiated as myself. I will, therefore, bring forward only one quotation, which is alledged in that Epistle to prove the abolition of the law of Moses; and as for the rest, I content myself with referring those who want to know more of it, to the pieces written by the celebrated Dr. Priestley upon Pauls arguments in general, and those in that Epistle in particular, preserved in his Theological Repository, where he will see absurdity in reasoning, and, something worse, in quotation, exposed in a masterly manner. Indeed, some learned Christians are so sensible of the insuperable difficulties attending every attempt to reconcile that Epistle to the Doctrine of inspiration, or even to common sense, that they avoid the trouble, by denying that Paul could have been the author of such a work, and attribute it to the same, or a similar, hand, with that which forged the marvellous Epistle ascribed to Barnabas.

The quotation brought forward in the Epistle to the Hebrews, to prove the abrogation of the Mosaic Law, and the substitution of a new one, is taken from Jer. xxxi. 31, &c.—Behold the days come saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant which I made with they fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, (which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord.) But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people; and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, saying know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and will remember their sins no more. Upon this passage the author of the Epistle observes in that he saith a new covenant, he hath made the first old; and he sagely concludes now that which decayeth, and waxeth old, is ready to vanish away!! and takes the quotation to be a prophecy of the abolition of the old law, and the introduction of the Gospel Dispensation.

Now, I would observe on his reasoning, in the first place, that, allowing for a moment his interpretation of the prophecy to be correct, (i. e., that it signifies the abolishment of the old, and an introduction of a new law) the prophecy, at any rate, cannot refer to Jesus, or the Gospel; for so far from having been fulfilled in the time of Jesus, or his Apostles, it has not been fulfilled to this day; for certainly God has not yet made a new covenant with the Jews, to whom the prophecy refers, nor has he yet put his law in their hearts; nor caused them to walk in it; neither has he yet forgiven their sins, or forgotten their iniquities, since they are even now suffering, the consequences of them.

I will now retract what I granted, and assert that the prophet did not mean an abolition of the Mosaic, and the introduction of a new, law; for though the prophet speaks of a new covenant, he says nothing of a new law; but on the contrary, asserts that this new covenant would be effectual to make them obey the law. God promised to put his law within their hearts (not out of remembrance, as the catechisms say;) and in this alone this covenant differs from the one entered into at Mount Sinai. For, then, though the law was given them, it was not put within their hearts, but they were apt, to their own controul, to obey it, or not, being assured, however, that happiness should be the reward of obedience, and death and excision the punishment for revolt and disobedience. And you will moreover observe, that, notwithstanding what is here called a new covenant, nothing is here said of the abrogation of any former covenant, or constitution, or of any new terms, that would be required by God on the part of the Israelites. The prophet, by expanding his idea, sufficiently explains his whole meaning, which is evidently this, viz.: That God would make a new, and solemn promise to the Israelites, that they should be no more out of favor with him; that their hearts would be hereafter so right with God, that in consequence of it, they would continue in the quiet possession of their country to the end of time; and all this is intimated by Moses, in the quotation from Deuteronomy, quoted in the last chapter.

Thus is the passage perfectly consistent with those in the Old Testament, which affirm, (whether right or wrong is not my concern) the perfection and perpetuity of the Mosaic Law. Remember, are the last words of the last of the prophets, Malachi,—Remember the Law of Moses, my servant which I commanded unto him in Horeb, with the Statutes, and Judgments. Also in the Psalms:—The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The Testimony of the Lord is faithful, bringing wisdom to the simple. The Precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart, and enlightening the eyes. The works of his hands are Truth, and Judgment. All his Precepts are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever: being done in Truth and Uprightness.