Paul The Liar - 1 Corinthians 9:20

 

According to 1 Corinthians 9:20 Paul lies to convert people:

To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.

However, christians still deny that Paul is a deceptive liar. So, let's see what scholars say:

In the Christian tradition there is very early precedent for the use of deceptive means for evangelistic purposes. St. Paul himself makes a remarkable admission of his chameleon-like behaviour in the winning converts. Like the consummate used-car salesman, Paul pretends to share the concerns of his immediate audience in order to manipulate them into submitting to his Gospel: “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. - Loyal D. Rue, By the Grace of Guile: The Role of Deception in Natural History and Human Affairs, Page 243-244

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul describes how he deliberately masqueraded in false colours in order to advance the cause of the faith: ‘To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law.’ If the apostle can become all things to all men, then it would see that Scripture implicitly endorses deception when practiced in pursuit of a just cause. Perhaps most conclusively, though, God himself seems not have been above engaging in a little deception from time to time. To ruin Ahab, King of Israel, for instance, the Lord became a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab’s prophets. Later, speaking through the person of Ezechiel to certain of the elders of Israel, God makes it clear that if the prophet appears to have been deceived in some matter, this deception is of divine origin. In the New Testament, Christ also appears on occasion to have been less than honest. When, after the resurrection, Peter and Cleopas set off for the town of Emmaus, they encountered Christ on the road; as they approached their destination, Luke records that Christ pretended to go further. - Margaret Reeves, Richard Raiswell, Mark Crane, Shell Games: Studies in Scams, Frauds, and Deceitsm, Page 16-17

The passage, declaring that he has become as a Jew to the Jews and as a Gentile to the Gentiles, is certainly not self-explanatory. It could be interpreted as a declaration gravely to the apostle's disadvantage, as an avowal that he was totally unscrupulous in his principles, or rather in his lack of them, and suggesting that he was prepared to trim his sails in accordance with the direction of the wind, and that he was not much concerned about the 'truth' of what he said, but only with 'gaining' his hearers. Whatever their beliefs might be, he was prepared to adjust himself to them. - H. Chadwick, New Testament Studies, All Things to Men, Page 1

Paul’s testimony proves his own hypocrisy here in 1 Corinthians, 9, 19-22…….…….. Again here I would trade the word save for trap in Paul’s case. Then Paul pretended to be the saviour after all this. I also believe that a person who is weak needs someone strong for support either physically or spiritually. Let me tell you too that neither Jesus nor his disciples became homosexuals to save homosexuals and neither prostitutes to save prostitutes. They didn’t become all to save everybody. This is totally abomination and hypocrisy. Paul, from his own writing, his own admission said that he was all to trap people. What wouldn’t the devil do to deceive? Jesus warned us though. See Matthew 24:4. “Jesus answered: Watch out that no one deceives you. - James Prince, The True Face of the Antichrist, Page 92

Whatever, therefore, he has in his mind, he bears on his tongue, to those who are worthy to hear, speaking as well as living from assent and inclination. For he both thinks and speaks the truth; unless at any time, medicinally, as a physician for the safety of the sick, he may deceive or tell an untruth, according to the Sophists.
To illustrate: the noble apostle circumcised Timothy, though loudly declaring and writing that circumcision made with hands profits nothing. But that he might not, by dragging all at once away from the law to the circumcision of the heart through faith those of the Hebrews who were reluctant listeners, compel them to break away from the synagogue, he, accommodating himself to the Jews, became a Jew that he might gain all. He, then, who submits to accommodate himself merely for the benefit of his neighbours, for the salvation of those for whose sake he accommodates himself, not partaking in any dissimulation through the peril impending over the just from those who envy them, such an one by no means acts with compulsion. But for the benefit of his neighbours alone, he will do things which would not have been done by him primarily, if he did not do them on their account. Such an one gives himself for the Church, for the disciples whom he has begotten in faith; for an example to those who are capable of receiving the supreme economy of the philanthropic and God-loving Instructor, for confirmation of the truth of his words, for the exercise of love to the Lord. Such an one is unenslaved by fear, true in word, enduring in labour, never willing to lie by uttered word, and in it always securing sinlessness; since falsehood, being spoken with a certain deceit, is not an inert word, but operates to mischief. - Clement of Alexandria, Book 7, Chapter 9


Instructed by which examples, the blessed James also, and all the chief princes of the primitive Church urged the Apostle Paul in consequence of the weakness of feeble persons to condescend to a fictitious arrangement and insisted on his purifying himself according to the requirements of the law, and shaving his head and paying his vows, as they thought that the present harm which would come from this hypocrisy was of no account, but had regard rather to the gain which would result from his still continued preaching. For the gain to the Apostle Paul from his strictness would not have counterbalanced the loss to all nations from his speedy death. And this would certainly have been then incurred by the whole Church unless this good and salutary hypocrisy had preserved him for the preaching of the Gospel. For then we may rightly and pardonably acquiesce in the wrong of a lie, when, as we said, a greater harm depends on telling the truth, and when the good which results to us from speaking the truth cannot counterbalance the harm which will be caused by it.
And elsewhere the blessed Apostle testifies in other words that he himself always observed this disposition; for when he says:
‘To the Jews I became as Jew that I might gain the Jews; to those who were under the law as being under the law, though not myself under the law, that I might gain those who were under the law; to those who were without law, I became as without law, though I was not without the law of God but under the law of Christ, that I might gain those who were without law; to the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak: I became all things to all men, that I might save all;’
What does he show but that according to the weakness and the capacity of those who were being instructed he always lowered himself and relaxed something of the vigour of perfection, and did not cling to what his own strict life might seem to demand, but rather preferred that which the good of the weak might require? And that we may trace these matters out more carefully and recount one by one the glories of the good deeds of the Apostles, someone may ask how the blessed Apostle can be proved to have suited himself to all men in all things. When did he to the Jews become as a Jew? Certainly in the case where, while he still kept in his inmost heart the opinion which he had maintained to the Galatians saying:
‘behold, I, Paul, say unto you that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing,’ - John Cassian, How even Apostles thought that a lie was often useful and the truth injurious, Chapter 20, Conference 17