We may summarize Paul's teachings through these epistles:

Titus 1.10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:
1.11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.
1.14 ..Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
1.16 ..They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
3.5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
3.6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
3.7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
3.9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and vain.

Timothy 1.9..The law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers.

Galatians 5.2 Behold, I Paul say unto you that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
5.3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
5.4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

1 Corinthians 4.16 Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.

II Thessalonians 2.14 And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.

Romans 2.16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

St. Peter would not be expected to appreciate such accusations, and though very little of his writings survived, he defended the Circumcised Church in Jerusalem, responding with this:

I Peter 1.15 Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
1.16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables..
2.11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul:
2.12 having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

The New Testament book of Acts records the outcome of the Pauline argument against the early Christian church in Jerusalem: Paul is called to Jerusalem to appear before the Apostolic Council led by James and Peter:

Acts 21.18 And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.
21.19 And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.
21.20 And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:
2,21 And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.

This is what Paul believed was his mission, leading the "Uncircumcised Church," versus that expressed by St. Peter and the "Circumcised Church."

Galatians 2.7 But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the Gospel of the Circumcisions was unto Peter
2.8 (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)
2.9 And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceive the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.

Paul was chastised by the Apostolic Council and told to purify himself, but when he went into the temple taking Gentiles into a forbidden place with him, the anger of the Jews was aroused:

Acts 2.28 Crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man, that teacheth all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this Holy Place.

Paul was then brought before King Agrippa to face the charges against him and then sent to Rome where he was imprisoned and condemned to death. But the argument espoused by Paul, "that the Law is dead and void, replaced by his gospel of grace in Christ," became more biting, reflected in Paul's companion Barnabas, who wrote an epistle (passed down through a 3rd to 4th century copy), "Epistle of Barnabas," that brings the Gentile (uncircumcised) Church to this precept:

Epistle of Barnabas 3.16 Consider this also: Although you have seen so great signs and wonders done among the people of the Jews, yet this notwithstanding the Lord hath forsaken them.

These precepts of the abandonment of the Law in favor of grace continued through the writings of the Church and St. Jerome (~340-420 A.D.) continues the argument, as he complains against the excesses of the Church, decorating its own with gold and jewels and ignoring the charges of charity, of providing for the poor and visiting the sick:

Jerome, Letter 52, "to Nepotianus": 10.0 Many build the walls of churches nowadays, but undermine the pillars of the Church. Their marbles gleam, their ceilings glitter with gold, their altars are studded with jewels; yet, to the choice of Christ's ministers no heed is paid....and if we allow with Paul that the Law is spiritual and call to mind David's words: open thou mine eyes and I shall behold wondrous things out of thy law; and if on these grounds we interpret it as our Lord also interprets it (He has explained the Sabbath in this way [Matt.12.1-8]), then, rejecting the superstitions of the Jews, we must also reject the gold; or else, approving the gold we must approve the Jews as well. For we must either accept them with the gold or condemn them with it.

These foundations surfaced in a document by Martin Luther that asked:

Martin Luther, tract of 1543: What shall we Christians do with this damned, rejected race of Jews?...Let me give you my honest advice:

1. To set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them..this is to be done in honour of our Lord.
2.7 I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed..that safe conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews..all cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them..I recommend putting a flail, an ax, an hoe, a spade, a distaff, or a spindle into the hand of young, strong Jews and Jewesses and letting them earn their bread in the sweat of their brow...

Hitler and his Nazis applied Luther's advise, which ultimately comes from the harangues against the Jews in the epistles of Paul. Unfortunately, Iran seems hell-bent on continuing the persecution, in spite of the fact that the Koran endorses the Jewish scriptures (See "Philistia Triumph thou.." or "Why the Crusad and Jihad?" or the Koran: The Creator 35:24; Kneeling 45:16; AL-AHQAF 46:12; Women 4:47; The Cow 2:116 and, for the Koran's endorsement of Jesus as the Messiah (Christ):

al-IMRANS 3:45: The angels said to Mary: "Allah bids you to rejoice in a Word from him. His name is the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary..."

The roots of our discord are deep, some coming from the shortcomings and misunderstandings in the "wisdom" of the ancients. That the teachings of Jesus Christ have been worshipped by so many, yet understood and applied by so few, makes the professions of peace more daunting. Things get ever the more worse as the teachings of the Golden Rule – honored in all scriptures – are replaced with teachings from chaos: It's every man for himself, no rules, living in hell, "There is no mercy anymore.."

Mel Copeland

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