So, Paul believes in and follows the Law of God and “of Moses”. He believes that he and other Jews are bound by covenant to do so; however, he and Barnabus take a debate that started with Pharisaic believers in the Way to the Jerusalem council, for official ruling over whether gentiles need to be circumcised. Male circumcision is a law, created by God from the original covenant with Abraham, which was followed by Y’shua, for any man who would join Israel in covenant with Yehowah.

The Jerusalem council deliberates the matter and “judges” that gentiles need only follow four laws.

“[…] we should not cause trouble for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead, we should write and tell them to

• abstain from food polluted by idols,
• from sexual immorality,
• from the meat of strangled animals, and
• from blood.

[…] Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to tell you in person the same things we are writing you. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond these essential requirements:
You must

• abstain from food sacrificed to idols
• from blood
• from the meat of strangled animals, and
• from sexual immorality.

You will do well to avoid these things.”

Some have likened these four laws to the set of “Noahide Laws” that was later developed by Rabbis. These laws are considered universal, for all of mankind, whether they follow the God of Israel or not. The seven Noahide laws are:

• Do Not Deny God
• Do Not Blaspheme God
• Do Not Murder
• Do Not Engage in Incestuous, Adulterous or Homosexual Relationships
• Do Not Steal
• Do Not Eat of a Live Animal
• Establish Courts/Legal System to Ensure Law Obedience

Note that neither set of gentile requirements/gentile laws were created by nor sanctioned by God? God never even mentioned nor alluded to them, and neither did Y’shua.

Paul further deduces that for the gentiles to try to keep these or any other laws would be tantamount to them trying to become righteous before God by following rituals. Hellenistic Gentiles were used to appeasing multiple gods by following each god’s prescribed ritual, so Paul tries to convince them that this is not the way it works with the God of Israel. It is not the rituals that make a person righteous, rather, it is faithfulness to God like Y’shua taught and demonstrated. It is by having faith in the Way of Y’shua, which requires having faith in Y’shua as the supreme messenger of Yehowah. If they then seek to be circumcised, then they nullify the sacrifice that Y’shua made to provide the Way to righteousness.

Were Paul and Barnabus right? Was the Jerusalem council right?

Who decides what is right?

The authority to declare what should and should not be done by followers of the God of Israel ultimately belongs to Yehowah alone. Yehowah gave some authority to Moses and, to an extent, to priests, kings, judges, and prophets within the confines of the responsibilities that God gave to them.

All of their judgments were superseded by God, with the most authority given to Moses among the children of Israel. Moses acted as the Supreme court, and he answered only to Yehowah. Moses’ judgement was never to supersede God’s, and Moses sometimes consulted God before passing judgement. Lower judges’ judgments were never to supersede Moses’, and so on.

After Moses and the destruction of the Temple

Once Israel’s disobedience became intolerable to God, God had them overrun by the nation of Babylon and exiled there, where the vast majority of the nation would spend the next 70 years away from their temple, and without the priests, kings, and judges to govern them. During this period, learned Jews known as scribes (initially former judges, priests, etc.) organized to continue to study “the Law” and to write down their judgments and interpretations, which was known as the oral law. The written oral law became known as the Mishnah.

“[The Mishnah] is written in terse, fragmented Hebrew that can be ambiguous in its meaning. That reality can make reading the text (even in English translation) a challenge. Second, it devotes substantial time to many subjects that seem quite distant from 21st-century concerns, such as temple sacrifices and ritual purity laws. Third, many rabbis and educators present it primarily as a book of esoteric laws – and for most people, the idea of sitting down to read a bunch of legal jargon from the year 200 feels downright ridiculous.”

Other such authoritative information sources for guidelines are the Gemara, which are expositions on and additions to the laws developed during and after the Babylonian exile.

“The Gemara contains both halakhah (legal material) and aggadah (narrative material). Aggadah includes historical material, biblical commentaries, philosophy, theology, and wisdom literature. Stories reveal information about life in ancient times, among Jews and between Jews and their neighbors, and folk customs. All of these genres are blended together with the halakhic material, in what is sometimes described as a stream-of-consciousness fashion filled with meaningful tangents and digressions.”

The Mishnah and Gemara combined is called the Talmud. Its primary purpose is to provide additional guidance on the Law as was developed by the scholars of their time. The Noahide Law comes from the Talmud.

But is the Talmud correct about what is required by God for Gentiles who want to join themselves in covenant with God?

One Law —

When the children of Israel left Egypt, they did not leave alone. In addition to the genetic descendants of Israel, there were others, “a mixed multitude”, who lived in Egypt too. Moses spoke of them as they were leaving Egypt:

Exodus 12:48 “If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.”

This “ruling” is repeated numerous times, that there will be one set of laws/rules for the Israelites and non-Israelites (Gentiles) alike.

Numbers 15:16 […] The same instructions and regulations will apply both to you and to the foreigners living among … One law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger.

Numbers 19:10 The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must …
… clothes. He will be unclean until evening. This will be a permanent law for
the Israelites and for the foreigners who live with them. …

Deuteronomy 31:12 “Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, so that they may hear and learn and fear the LORD your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law.

Each time, the scripture mentions that they are those who live with Israel. So, what about those who don’t live with the Israelites? How do people who believe in and follow the God of Israel — who join in covenant with the God of Israel — do so if they aren’t in Israel or physically with the people of Israel?

A hint at the answer to this question can be found in the writings of the prophet Isaiah.

And sons of the stranger, who are joined to Yehowah, To serve Him, and to love the name of Yehowah, To be to Him for servants, Every keeper of the Sabbath from polluting it, And those keeping hold on My covenant.

According to this, every gentile/stranger who joins (in covenant) with God keeps the Sabbath — something that isn’t included in either set of gentile laws (from the Talmud or the Jerusalem Council); nor do either source of Gentile laws say that gentiles should “hold on to God’s covenant”, which includes the admonition to keep the Law of God. It gives no provision for lesser adherence to the laws of God.