To sin is to miss the mark, or goal.
Torah / Law is the mark or gold to aim for.
Does this mean were saved by the Torah?
Paul's New Perspective on Gentiles
Paul's rereading of the Torah after his Damascus Road experience brought new light to the issue of the proselyte. If Abraham were the first proselyte, he stood forever as the model for the rest. What caught Paul's attention was the fact that Abraham had been blessed as a covenant member before he was circumcised. [Romans 4:9-12]
Since in Paul's day "circumcision" was a short-hand way of saying "Jewish," Paul now realized that Abraham had become a covenant member as a non-Jewhe had attained the status of covenant member by faith, not by the ritual of the proselyte. If this were true for Abraham, it was also true for all Gentiles who exercised faith in the Messiah Yeshua. Even Yeshua Himself spoke of Abraham as having seen Him:
John 8: 56"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."
Since this saying of Yeshua's caused such consternation among His enemies, it may well be that Paul knew of it. Once he began to reread the Torah after his Damascus Road experience, Paul understood Abraham's faith to have been directed toward Yeshua. In this way Abraham was a model for the "uncircumcised" as well as the "circumcised."[Romans 4:11-12] Abraham's story proved that God's election, confirmed by the individual's faith, was the path to covenant status for the Gentile. This fact would be foundational for Paul as he labored to preach the gospel among the Gentiles.
Paul had come to realize that attributing a status of "righteous" on the basis of a proselyte ceremony constituted an attempt to gain righteousness by one's own efforts. But such a teaching overlooked an essential element that the Torah emphasized in the scope of Abraham's covenant status, namely, that his covenant status preceded his circumcision. His "righteous" status was on the basis of faith, not on becoming a proselyte. For if Abraham, God's chosen, had "believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness," then the initial message of the Gospel to the elect must be one of faith, not ritual.
But this message of the Gospel which centered upon the exercise of faith in Messiah in no way diminished nor negated the Torah. To Paul's antagonists, the position that a Gentile could become a covenant member without being circumcised sounded as though the Torah had been ignored. In reality Paul was restoring the Torah's message of salvation by faith. He understood that a Gentile who thought he could actually gain right standing with God through becoming a proselyte was trusting in something that could never actually save him. He may feel content in his new social status as a "Jew," but before the bar of God's justice he was still counted as unrighteous.
Paul realized, then, that he would need to take a very hard-line approach toward Gentiles who were being persuaded that becoming a proselyte gained them salvation. In their ill-founded confidence, such Gentiles were doomed. Thus, denying a Gentile the ritual of a proselyte (circumcision) must be read in this context, and not as a negation of Torah. Paul needed to teach the Gentiles that the first step in their conversion was one of genuine faith in Messiah. Only after they understood that their righteousness was reckoned to them and not earned were they in a position to appreciate both the value and necessity of
Torah-obedience.
Once again, Abraham becomes the example, for his faith was evidenced by his obedience. God's sovereign choosing had brought Abraham to the covenant, and his faith in God had sealed his membership in it. But as a chosen covenant member, Abraham obeyed God and circumcised both himself and all the males of his household. [Genesis 17:23-27] For Paul the order of events was crucial: faith comes first (gaining the status of covenant member), then obedience to God's commandments (living as a covenant member).
This order was no doubt emphasized in Paul's mind by the arrangement of the covenants as well. [Galatians 3:17] The Abrahamic covenant precedes the Mosaic covenant. But what is the significance of this order? For Paul it was that justification, i.e., right standing before God (emphasized in the Abrahamic covenant and the faith it requires) comes before sanctification, i.e., being set apart unto God in one's actions (the emphasis of the Mosaic covenant with its required obedience). Redemption (the exodus from Egypt) comes first and then Torah (standing at Sinai).
To suggest that the ritual of circumcision is the gateway to right standing with God is to teach that Sinai (submission to Torah) precedes the exodus, or that the Mosaic covenant comes before God's promise to Abraham. It reverses the biblical order and is contrary to Torah. This was crucial for Paul.
The gospel he preached was the same gospel given to Abraham, [Galatians 3:8] a gospel which first centers upon the blessings in Messiah (appropriated through faith) and then effects radical changes in one's life (accomplished through obedience).
Often when Paul speaks of "circumcision" he is not referring to the physical act of cutting per se, but of the entire ritual by which a non-Jew became a Jew according to Rabbinic standards. As such, what he prohibits in a text like
I Corinthians 7:18-19 is the idea that one needs to change his social status to enter the covenant.
Was any man called already circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God.
Paul did not want Gentiles to think they needed to become Jews nor that they even could become Jews. Neither did he want Jews to think that they needed to cease being Jews nor that they could. Paul expects both Jew and Gentile to keep the commandments. It seems very possible, then, that Paul would have had no problem with a Gentile remaining a Gentile. What he would never allow was a Gentile undergoing the Rabbinic ritual of a proselyte with the notion that such a ceremony would gain him the status of "righteous." This was surely "another gospel" and to Paul anathema.
Summary
Paul, based upon his understanding of the Tanach, [Old Testament] taught the sinfulness of mankind regardless of ethnic status. Since there was none who did good and all had sinned, all were unrighteous and therefore all in need of redemption. Such redemption could only be given for one could never affect one's own redemption and ethnic status did not guarantee it.
It was rather through God's own selection that people were brought near to Him and redeemed through His divine means. Seeing an election on both a corporate as well as an individual level, Paul realized that eternal salvation was granted to the individual, not the group.
While national election secured blessings for this world, only individual election that secured individual faith in the Messiah through the working of God's grace could gain a place in the world-to-come.
The gospel, then, for Paul was that God was continuing in faithfulness to the promise He had made to the Fathers, a promise that included the ingathering of the Gentilesa promise which was in all ways centered upon Yeshua. Through the proclamation of Yeshua as Messiah, the elect would be gathered, Israel would be provoked to jealousy, and God's eternal plan to save His. people would be realized.
