Here are the clearest places in Paul’s letters where he continues and intensifies the same kind of prophetic criticism we saw in the Old Testament prophets and in Jesus.
Paul does not attack the Jewish people as a whole (he loves them fiercely – Rom 9–11), but he relentlessly attacks every form of religion—including Jewish and early Christian—that trusts in rituals, ancestry, law-keeping, or any human achievement instead of the crucified Messiah.
| Passage | What Paul is Criticizing | Direct Echo of OT Prophetic Criticism / Jesus | Key Sentences (NIV or own translation) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Galatians 2:11–14 | Peter and other Jewish Christians separating from Gentile believers because of pressure from Jerusalem | Hypocrisy and fear of man over the truth of the gospel (exactly the same charge Jesus leveled at the Pharisees in Matt 23) | “When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel… I said to Cephas in front of them all, ‘You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile… Why do you force Gentiles to live like Jews?’” |
| Galatians 3:1–14 | Relying on circumcision and Torah-observance to be justified | The old prophetic accusation that external signs without faith are worthless (cf. Jer 9:25–26 on uncircumcised hearts) | “You foolish Galatians! … Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by believing what you heard? … All who rely on works of the law are under a curse.” |
| Galatians 4:8–11 | Former pagans now turning to “weak and worthless elemental things” by adopting Jewish calendar observance | Ritual for its own sake (exactly what Amos, Isaiah, and Hosea condemned) | “Formerly… you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now… you are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.” |
| Philippians 3:2–11 | “Dogs” and “mutilators of the flesh” who insist on circumcision | Direct attack on trusting in religious résumé and bodily marks (cf. Jeremiah’s “circumcise your hearts”) | “Watch out for those dogs… For it is we who are the circumcision… If anyone thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day… as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ… rubbish.” |
| Romans 2:17–29 | Jews who boast in the Law and circumcision while dishonoring God by breaking the Law | Classic prophetic move: external sign without internal reality is worthless (cf. Isa 1; Amos 5; Hos 6:6) | “You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? … Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised… A person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, by the Spirit.” |
| Romans 3:9–20 | Every mouth stopped; Jews and Gentiles alike guilty before God | Universal prophetic indictment (echoes Isaiah 59:7–8 and Psalm 14 quoted here) | “There is no one righteous, not even one… Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.” |
| Colossians 2:16–23 | Ascetic rules, festivals, new moons, sabbaths, angel-worship, “self-made religion” | Same criticism of calendar and ritual that the OT prophets and Galatians made | “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival… These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality is found in Christ… Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom… but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” |
| 1 Corinthians 1:18–31 | Human wisdom, eloquence, and religious status as a way to boast before God | The cross overturns every human religious system (the ultimate prophetic subversion) | “Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified… For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom… God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.” |
Paul’s Distinctive Prophetic Edge
- He turns the prophetic critique on every religion, Jewish and Gentile alike
The OT prophets mainly criticized Israel; Paul says the same logic now condemns everyone—because the same God has acted decisively in the cross. - The cross itself becomes the ultimate exposure of false religion
For Paul, the crucifixion is God’s final prophetic act that unmasks every human attempt to climb up to God by law, ritual, ancestry, wisdom, or power (1 Cor 1:18–25; Gal 6:14). - He even criticizes immature Christianity when it starts to look like the old hypocrisy
- Corinthian factionalism and spiritual pride (1 Cor 1–4)
- Tolerance of gross immorality while boasting in “freedom” (1 Cor 5–6)
- Lawsuits and arrogance toward the poor at the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 11)
In short, Paul is the most ruthless prophetic critic in the entire New Testament—because he applies the same fire of Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Jesus to every form of religion (including the beginnings of what would later become “Christianity”) that trusts in anything other than the crucified and risen Messiah who justifies the ungodly by grace alone.