To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Messiah's law), so as to win those not having the law. (1 Corinthians 9:21)
This reference is very helpful in gaining a New Covenant perspective on Torah. The context in which Paul is writing has do to with his going out of his way to relate to different groups in different ways. In other words Paul learned to be culturally sensitive. Here he is referring to how he relates to non-Jews. We know from his other writings he knew God did not want Jewish Believers to impose the dictates of the Sinai Covenant on Gentiles. Paul's understanding of his relationship to God in Yeshua enabled him to relate to non-Jews without needed to uphold the strict barriers erected by the Sinai Covenant. This is similar to what Peter experienced in Acts 10, which I discussed in my previous post.
Note Paul's different uses of "law" (Torah). "To those not having the Torah I became like one not having the Torah." Here is referring to Torah as the Sinai Covenant also called the Law of Moses. Gentiles were not given the Torah by God and as a code of law were never obliged to keep it. Paul was free to relate to them outside of a strict Torah-observant framework. Yet he also says, "though I am not free from God's law but am under Messiah's law." While being free from the Torah as stipulated within the Sinai Covenant, this was not a license to live any way he pleased. He was still subject to the eternal Torah of God in the Messiah.
The distinction between Torah as expressed through the Sinai Covenant and Torah as the eternal ways of God is crucial. The former was designed to set the Jewish people apart until the time of Messiah, while the latter is God's eternal principles to which we all must subject ourselves.
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