I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,  Ephesians 4:1

Walk – Paul was a Rabbi.  He thought like a Rabbi.  He taught like a Rabbi.  He wrote like a Rabbi.  He lived his life like a Rabbi.  No one doubts this.  No scholar claims that Paul’s conversion to the Lord suddenly altered his way of thinking so that Paul became a Greek philosopher or theologian.  No, Paul was a Jewish Rabbi through and through.  He was a Rabbi who believed that Yeshua was the Messiah.

This fact is immensely important when it comes to understanding what Paul writes in his letters.  If we ignore his Rabbinic background, we are like to make assumptions about his words that do not fit the context of a teaching Rabbi.  Let me give you just one small example and then you can see for yourself what this might imply.

Abraham Cohen wrote a book called Everyman’s Talmud.  It is a collection of topics from the vast literature of the Talmud, the written rabbinic discussion of the Torah and other Jewish literature.  In his introduction, Cohen makes the following point about the way that rabbis taught (please pardon the rather long quotation, but you need to realize what’s happening here).

“The miscellaneous material which constitutes the subject-matter of the Talmid is divisible into two main categories known as Halachah and Haggadah.  The former denotes ‘walking,’ and indicates the way of life to tread in conformity with the precepts of the Torah.”  This is essentially “practical religion, the doing of right actions for the service of God and man.” 

“But it is impossible to separate the Halachah from the other main constituent, the Haggadah, without creating a distorted picture of Rabbinic teaching.  The Haggadah was the concern of the same teachers who pondered over the technicalities of the Halachah.”

“Haggadah (Narration), therefore, signifies the non-legal sections of Rabbinic literature, and is equally important as the other for a correct understanding of the world of thought which generations of teachers lovingly evolved.”

“Whereas the Halachah remained the law to be observed in practice until it was abrogated by a competent authority, Haggadah was always held to be nothing more than the personal opinion of the teacher.  It possesses no binding force upon the community as a whole or any part of it.”

Did you get that?  Since Paul taught in Rabbinic fashion, and his audience was quite used to Rabbinic teaching, that means that Paul undoubtedly used the same Rabbinic techniques:  Halachah and Haggadah.  Some of his teaching was the explanation of practical religion based on Torah and some of it was simply his personal opinion, not binding on the community.  We know that Paul used these two techniques because in some places he actually says that he does.  But what we have not generally appreciated is that he is doing this all the time, moving back and forth between instructions based on Torah commentary and personal opinion and suggestion.  His audience would not have been shocked at all.  This is exactly what they expected of a Rabbi. 

In this verse you see Paul using Halachah.  “I entreat you to walk,” he says.  That’s a clear indicator that he is explaining practical steps in relation to Torah living.  That’s exactly what follows in the next verse.  Every one of the next five actions comes right from Torah.  But not all of Paul’s writings are Halachah.  Some are Haggadah.  The difference is absolutely crucial, because if we start thinking that everything Paul says is binding, we make the mistake of not understanding him as a Rabbi.

Now, go read those passages about marriage, women, submission and humility again.  Sorry about complicating your life with all this extra study material, but how else will we know what the verses say? 

Topical Index:  Halachah, Haggadah, entreat, Ephesians 4:1, Rabbi, Paul, walk