Was Paul fully Torah observant according to Acts?
Date
2016
Authors
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Publisher
AOSIS Publishing
Abstract
This article primarily examines the question if the Acts of the Apostles portrays Paul as being fullyTorah observant. This question secondarily coheres with the question if it can be derived fromActs whether it was expected of all Christ-believers from the loudaioi to fully adhere to the Torah,or that such a belief was universal in the early church. The conclusions on all of these questions arenegative. These conclusions are reached by way of analysing these claims against the text of Acts(mainly 15:1–35; 16:3; 18:18; 21:17–26; 21:39; 22:3, 23:6 and 26:5) in comparison with the principlePaul laid out in 1 Corinthians 9:19–23 to be everything to everyone. The latter principle is foundto be compatible with the narrative in Acts, although the difference in the approaches of Luke andPaul is acknowledged, especially in terms of their portrayal of the Mosaic Law.
Description
CITATION: Du Toit, P. La G. 2016. Was Paul fully Torah observant according to Acts?. HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 72(3):1-9, doi:10.4102/hts.v72i3.3396.
The original publication is available at http://www.hts.org.za
Publication of this article was funded by the Stellenbosch University Open Access Fund.
The original publication is available at http://www.hts.org.za
Publication of this article was funded by the Stellenbosch University Open Access Fund.
Keywords
Paul, the Apostle, Saint
Citation
Du Toit, P. La G. 2016. Was Paul fully Torah observant according to Acts?. HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 72(3):1-9, doi:10.4102/hts.v72i3.3396