His given name was Sha’ul Paulos. It was customary of Jews who were Roman citizens to be given two names at birth—one to identify their Jewish heritage, and one to identify them as Roman citizens. Thus, as a Pharisee, he was known as Sha’ul (Saul). And, what a Pharisee he was!
He was vigorously educated at the school of Gamaliel, and was not only thoroughly trained in the Tanakh (OT scriptures), having to commit every word of it TO MEMORY, he was also classically educated in Greek literature, philosophy, and ethics. This was a man who was intellectually profound in his working knowledge of both the Hebrew scriptures and traditions, and in the scholarly works of the Gentile world.
After openly engaging in persecution of followers of Messiah Yahoshua, he was blinded when he was walking to Damascus one day, and Messiah spoke to him in Hebrew (Acts 26:14), blinding him, and telling him to go to Damscus, where Ananias, who was instructed about Paul by the Holy Spirit, would minister to him there. He was led by hand into Damascus, and there, he fasted and prayed for three days, at the end of which, Ananias came to him and prayed over him that he would be given the Holy Spirit, and he was.
For three years then, he was instructed directly by the Holy Spirit, who was preparing him for his earthly purpose, which was to be the apostle to the Gentiles—a singular scholar who was intimately proficient in both the Jewish and Gentile worlds. He was to be a major bridge between the physical foreshadow of the old covenant (Ten Commandments), and the spiritual real substance of the new covenant (seal of the Holy Spirit).
He would teach the real substance of what the physical Jews had foreshadowed, and how both physical Gentiles and physical Jews who believed in Messiah Yahoshua would become the spiritual Jews (Romans 2:29), grafted into Y’isra-el (Romans 11:11-24). And, seeing the importance of his role to the Gentiles, he chose to be identified by the Roman name he had been given, Paulos (Paul).
Now, there is much information that can be learned about Paul and what he did to further the kingdom of Yah, but here, we will focus on the major problem that christianity has with him. Of course, christianity embraces much of what Paul taught, but Paul never called himself a christian, nor did he preach a number of widely believed christian tenets, and that is because christianity would not be invented until many years after Paul had died.
You see, when speaking with most christians, and the topic of the Father’s traditions comes up, they will typically close themselves off to the truth, and respond with hostility and venom toward things they call “Old Testament” or “the law,” demonstrating that they really have no understanding of scripture, or what Paul practiced himself, and taught.
And, that is by design, for the early christians who invented christianity so hated the Jews that they stripped the faith of the very way the New Testament believers practiced it, through identification with the Father’s traditions—those things He gives His children as a family sign, just as Messiah Yahoshua had done when He was here.
So, most christians completely ignore the fact that Paul himself observed the ordained Sabbaths (Acts 18:20-21, Acts 20:6, Acts 20:16, Acts 27:9, 1 Corinthians 16:8), and he taught them to the Gentile converts (1 Corinthians 5:7-8, 1 Corinthians 11:2, 2 Thessalonians 2:15).
And, as if that is not deceitful enough, they twist things he wrote in scripture to say things he never said, like in Romans 14:5, where he discussed different days that various groups set aside for fasting—days that had nothing whatsoever to do with the ordained Sabbaths.
Or, like in Colossians 2:16-17, where he explained that, while the law had mandated HOW the physical Jews were to eat, drink, and honor the Sabbaths (there were many, many ordinances regulating how those things were to be done), those voluminous rules were abolished in Messiah, and believers were now free to do those things according to HOW they choose to do them—and believers are not to judge others in HOW they choose to do those things.
Take note, though, that teaching the freedom given by the Holy Spirit in HOW one chooses to eat, drink, and honor Yah’s Sabbaths is not the same as stating that eating, drinking, and Yah’s Sabbaths have been abolished, which shows the spiritual absurdity of christianity’s teachings on the Father’s traditions.
If Paul taught what most christians think he taught, then he would have been a huge hypocrite, supposedly teaching that the Sabbaths had ended, but then also observing them himself, and teaching them to the Gentile converts. That NEVER happened. Paul NEVER taught that the Sabbaths were ended. In fact, in Colossians 2:17, he said that the Sabbaths ARE (not “were”) a shadow of things that ARE TO COME (not of things past). The Father’s prophetic calendar is revealed in His traditions!
Moreover, the true path to the bride’s salvation that Paul taught is shown in the traditions—the Passover journey from Egypt, through the wilderness, to Mt. Sinai to receive the covenant; and the way of the tabernacle, the priestly progression from the Outer Courtyard, through the Holy Place, and into the Holy of Holies, where the covenant was housed in the Ark, a symbol of Messiah’s bride Y’isra-el. That is why Paul said that he preached Messiah crucified, which is the Passover.
It is delusion to believe that someone knows the Father, but at the same time, fights against His traditions, as so many christians do. To many, their understanding of God shows Him to be schizophrenic—double minded. They make foolish claims like, “That was Old Testament, but we’re New Testament” or “We’re not under the law,” because they don’t understand how scripture is a single volume that presents physical foreshadows (OT) that are later revealed as their spiritual real substances (NT).
They don’t understand that the law and the Sabbaths are two different things (Ezekiel 20-22), or that the Ten Commandments were a physical foreshadow of the Holy Spirit’s seal on Messiah’s bride, and HE never changes.
The Holy Spirit wrote the commandments on the tablets Himself, and in those commandments, He detailed how the Father desires His children to live in relationship with Him (first four commandments), and with others (last six commandments), and that Messiah’s teaching about true worship being in “spirit and in truth” is directly tied to that, for what was symbolized on those tablets actually now indwells those who receive the covenant (Holy Spirit).
There is simply no way that one knows the Father apart from knowing His traditions, and there is no way that one knows the Son apart from the Father. And, there is no way that the Holy Spirit would EVER teach someone such spiritual ignorance of the Father’s traditions.
No, that willful ignorance is a direct result of the heinous heresies that constituted the genesis of christianity, the counterfeit of the true faith!
For more information: What Are the Old and New Covenants?