How Should We Then Live?

Many have asked the question "How should we then live?"  Famously in modern times, Francis A. Schaeffer and Wayne Muller wrote great books with that title. *Ezekiel and *Paul  also asked "How should we then live"  I too, really want to know the answer to that question. Should I live trying to obey YAHWEH's Torah? If so, what does that mean and what does that look like? Should I live obeying only parts of His Torah, which parts? The Big Ten? Or only what some call "The moral laws" ? If so, who defines which ones are the "moral", did Jesus and the Apostles only follow "moral laws"? Or should I just forget about trying to live by YAHWEH's Torah because it has been fulfilled and done away with?
For most of my years I did not question what place or function YAHWEH's Torah had in my life. I have been very content with the assumptions I inherited from my Church, my modern culture and the myopia of "western" Church culture and history. I had the impression that YAHWEH's Torah was like a wonderful but very ancient antique artifact, that was to be viewed and appreciated but not actually used today. But over time some realizations moved me towards cognitive dissonance. The realization that when the New Testament writers referenced "the scriptures" they always meant the Old Testament because there was no New Testament then; that New Testament Christians who made sure everything they were taught did not contradict the Old Testament were called noble; that the Gospels were some of the last books written in the Bible. If there had been a revelation that "God's Law" had been done away with or significantly changed these later written accounts completely ignored it and actually made a point of emphasizing the opposite. 
As I pondered this, I realized that there is one person in the Bible that mostly gives rise to all of these questions. It is the writings of Paul. If I take out the writings of Paul there is much less contradiction and more consistency. But God Himself singled out Paul and declared that Paul is a  "chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My Name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel"
In order for me to understand or reconcile what seem to be contradictions I will have to know more about Paul's letters and put a little more effort into understanding the contexts in these letters. 
The New Testament contains 27 literary works, and more than half are letters. In my English translations these letters seem easy to read and understand, and 14 letters attributed to Paul are given lots of attention and make up a large share of most teaching and preaching today.
It’s important for me to remember that the New Testament letters are just that—letters.  I keep in mind that the letters are not theological essays on Christian topics but letters to specific people that arose from specific cultural and relational context and addressed the issues of their day. The letters all contain background information that is not explicitly mentioned. For instance, 1 and 2 Corinthians are actually the second and fourth letters from Paul to this Church. I only have a partial look at Paul's relationship with the Corinthians, and he often mentions details that have a backstory I simply cannot know. 
Since the Gospels and Acts were written after Paul's death, the Gospel writers had full knowledge and hindsight of Paul's life and teachings, therefore it would make no sense to expect or assume there would be contradictions between doctrinal perspectives in the Gospels versus what Paul taught. Before writing the Gospels the authors had already experienced Jesus crucifixion, resurrection and ascension, Pentecost and the salvation of Gentiles and the establishment of Gentile churches. The Gospels were written for an audience where all of those events were in the past. For instance, if I think that Paul is contradicting something Mathew wrote, the perspective is really that Mathew wrote something that looks to me like a contradiction to what Paul previously wrote. Maybe we should organize our New Testament so that Paul's letters come first and the Gospels come after them. Because that is the way it really happened. In some sense, the Gospel authors had the last word. My question is why would there even be contradictions, furthermore, why do I believe there is a contradiction? Obviously seeming contradictions call for more study. 
Because the New Testament letters are only offering me one side of a 2-sided conversation, they force me to recognize and consider context. The primary context of the letters is for me to understand how they fit into the expansion of the Church in Acts and how it all fits into the broader Biblical story.  Also, reading the entirety of a letter and understanding its literary form helps me to understand the situational context and themes and resist the urge to pull a lone sentence out of a letter to support some doctrine the theme of the letter is not addressing. 
Tim Mackie of the Bible Project says that there are at least four layers of context he finds helpful for understanding New Testament letters: biblical context, cultural context, situational context, and literary context. - Where do these letters fit in the broader storyline of the Bible? What is the original Jewish, Greek, or Roman cultural context? What is the situational context that prompted this letter? What is the unified message of the letter as a whole?
Bible scholar Nijay Gupta says five questions will also help me read the letters wisely.
1. What kind of statement is being made? Is this a question, answer, assertion, denial, command, or  prohibition?
2. What is the tone of these statements?  Does Paul see it as a mild problem or as a major issue? Reading multiple translations can help me get a better sense of tone.
3. What is the frequency of these statements? Does this issue come up just once or multiple times? Mackie says that 1 Timothy is a good example because the issue of Genesis and genealogies keep coming up.
4. How consistent is Paul about this problem? Is there a common thread that unites Paul’s letter? The Corinthian letters cover a wide variety of issues. However, 1 Thessalonians seems to be about one main problem, and the whole letter is oriented around this problem.
5. Does this issue come up elsewhere in the New Testament or in early Church history? Does the issue in question come up in other historical documents or is it an isolated incident?
Also, when reading Paul, he seems to regularly quote his audience (i.e. 1Cor 7) , but because quotation marks don’t exist in Biblical Greek I have to do my best to infer when Paul is quoting or asserting his own thoughts. Paul’s argument changes based on whether he’s quoting his audience or asserting his own thoughts. Reading several different English translations shows me how different scholars place those quotation marks in different places and some not at all. 
Lastly, I want to understand how what is being written fits into context of the Old Testament. All of the New Testament writers (except Luke) are Jews and their brains have Hebrew thoughts, trained since youth by their upbringing in YAHWEH's Torah, Hebrew thoughts that are preserved in Greek words now translated into English words.
All of the above teaches me to not take Paul’s words as if he were writing to a 21st century English speaking culture. It's going to take some work to really understand his letters and parts of them I may never completely understand. 
In my next post, I am going to try and unravel one of those apparent contradictions. 


*"Son of man, say to the Israelites, 'This is what you are saying: "Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. "How then should we live?"  Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they repent from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways!.. But, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice. Eze 33:10,11,32
*...Now that God's wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So how should we live, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?" Rom 5:21-6:2