Roland

According to Robert M. Price, in his book "Jesus is Dead," Matthew 7:21-23 is a thinly veiled attack on Paul and his salvation-by-faith-only gospel. There are plenty of verses in Matthew indicating that the author was a firm believer that Jesus' death did not nullify the need for Christians to continue following the Mosaic law. But what about Price's assertion that he was directly aiming at Paul with those three verses? Does that seem likely or is it a stretch?

21"(R)Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.

22"(S)Many will say to Me on (T)that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'

23"And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; (U)DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'

Timetospend

Personally this seems like a stretch to me (but then again I see the NT as one totality not in contradiction with itself). The following two verses might be helpful:
2 Cor 6:14
Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness ?
NRSV
1 John 3:4
4 Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness ; sin is lawlessness .
NRSV

All I think that lawlessness means is not being righteous as the quote from Paul from 2 Cor. 6:14 suggests. In the 1 John 3:4 verse, it is given as an apparent definition.

Thanks,

Roland

Thanks for the response, but if "lawlessness" just means committing sins and even faifthful Christians commit sins, then where does that leave Paul's salvation-by-faith-only gospel? It seems to me that, either way, "Matthew" doesn't endorse Paul's view. Either it's salvation by grace or it's salvation by lawfulness. The two seem to cancel one another out in my view.

Timetospend

I do not think that the two are necessarily at odds. The problem with salvation by lawfulness or by self-righteousness is that one is not allowed to sin. In the same sermon as Matt. 7, Jesus says:
Matt 5:20
20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees , you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
NRSV
By the common Jews to whom Jesus spoke primarily in this sermon, the Pharisees would have been seen as the heights of righteousness. If their righteousness was not good enough, then the common Jew would appear to have little or no chance in doing so.

All Matthew is doing is pointing out the difficulty of salvation by self-righteousness but still keeping the need for rigtheousness in place.

Thanks,

Doug Shaver

Absent evidence of its likelihood (and I'm not aware of any), I'd have to call it a stretch.

gregor

I think there are several passages from Matt that appear to be swipes at a branch of early Xianity similar to preaching esposed by Paul. I think the passage you cite is one.

However, given date of the writing of Matt, it would be too late to mean to apply to Paul, personally.

Roland

That's probably what Price was implying when he wrote it, just using Paul as the most well-known proponent of that belief.

Julian

At the risk of making Matthew more clever than he really was, it could be possible to understand it as follows.

'Lord, Lord,' is just lip service. Grace, words, whatever, as opposed to works, possibly. Anyways, the next part, to prophecy, to cast out demons, and to perform miracles are all self-aggrandizing. They all elevate oneself, win status by doing extraordinary things. None of them talk about doing any works, following the law, or actually doing anything for the Lord as opposed to doing for oneself. One could easily read this as a swipe against those who talk as opposed to those who follow the rules of christianity (as Matthew sees them). Jesus calls them lawless, which could be sinners, but is more likely to refer to not following/doing the works, just as James talked about, especially the Torah. The swipe need not be at Paul in person. Although it could be, it would be as unlikely as it would be pointless. The swipe, if such it is, would be at his legacy, the Pauline churches, still around and possibly prominent/growing at the time of Matthew.

Just my $0.02...

Julian