Paul the apostle, a reflection of Jesus or an imposter?
The calling of Paul as an apostle is for me personally a great story for these reasons; first it says to the church that anyone can be an apostle. Being an apostle is not through blood line heredity, passed on through other apostles, not even through laying on of hands, secondly; when Paul became an apostle through God directly it took away all the Papal authority of Peter. Paul’s apostleship is one of actually being/doing the apostolic work not a figurehead position. There may have been 12 Apostles, but there are many apostles! The calling of Paul in Acts opens the door in the Christian church to all of us to serve the Lord by the power of His Holy Spirit.
Gal. 1:1, “Paul an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ…”
John 5:30, Jesus says, “…the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me.”
Gal. 1:10, “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men I would not be a servant of Christ.”
Jn. 5:41, Jesus says, “I do not accept praise from men.”
Gal. 1:11, “…the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.”
Gal. 1:15, “But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me so that I might preach him among the gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I…”
Jn. 7:15-18, “The Jews were amazed and asked, ‘How did this man get such learning without having studied?’ Jesus answered, ‘My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me”
Gal. 4:19, “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, …”
Matthew 23:37, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,…”
Why authority is a critical issue
In the history of the Christian church people have been killed by those in authority, abused, and persecuted; kept in the bondage of fear and ignorance; and more. There are many examples of the abuse of authority, which sometimes overshadows the great service rendered by those who have sought to represent Jesus and lead the way in following Jesus. We often define church authority as the right to tell others what to do, be, or believe, when in reality it is the obligation to be an example of what to do, to be and believe. And so if we define church leadership/ authority as “leading the way in following Jesus” we may find a more positive model of leadership, Jesus said, “You know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”(Matt 20:25-28)
PAUL’S TITLES:
Galatians 1:1, “Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and…”
1 Tim. 1:1, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior…”
Titus 1:1, “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect…”
1 Thessalonians 1:1, “Paul, Silas and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians…”
Philippians 1:1, “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,”
Paul the servant apostle of Jesus considers himself a representative or ambassador of Jesus to everyone he meets and he is appointed especially to the Gentiles. The title he claims literally means “sent one.” In his service he seeks to emulate the character of the one who sent him. As the gospel message of Paul is so centered on the crucifixion of Jesus revealing the reconciling love of God to all of us, we will see that this is the Jesus that Paul seeks to show to us by word and example. We all can apply Paul’s example to our life by being an apostle in what ever are God has put us; an apostle to our family, our work place, our friends. Phil. 2:3, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. … Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God, (his exalted position), something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,…”
1 Corinthians 1:27, “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. …so that no one may boast before him.”
2:1-5, “…I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom…For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.” In the situation of the Corinthian church Paul’s authority was challenged by people who appealed to a worldly impressive type of leadership, people who might be very successful in Hollywood, (or maybe even our church). Paul wanted to convince them that Jesus was not successful in this way and we are not called to follow that type of model. He wanted to remind them that if they are truly following Jesus it would mean a cross of shame rather than a crown of pride, so that we might be glorified with Him. H e pointed out the many examples in his life where he was identifying with the humiliation of Jesus rather than the arrogance of man: 1 Corinth. 4:1-3, “So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. … I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed I do not even judge myself.” 4:9-13, “For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are so strong! You are honored but we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed we bless; when we are persecuted we endure it; when we are slandered we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.” 2 Corinth. 4:5, “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.”
6:3-6, “We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather as servants of God we commend ourselves,(by our lives),in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonment and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and sincere love;…” In this example we have Paul talking about his own life and ministry; but it is his own opinion. Was it an accurate estimation? We all tend to not think objectively of ourselves. But since Paul’s life was so public we have another account in Acts that describes many of these events referred to here. If this is a true job description of an apostle there are not many who would apply for the job. Many of us like to stand in front of people and give nice messages or be treated with special attention. His point is that following Jesus and loving the world are not compatible; especially in church leadership.
There is another aspect to Paul’s self description here that I appreciate, that is: the personal traits of “purity, understanding, patience and kindness.” Because everything we have written by Paul deals with some problem in the church we get the idea that he was extremely confron-tational and just about impossible for anyone to get along with. We must remember that he was a church member first at Antioch for many years before he was a leader; even though called from the beginning; where he was apparently in submission to the group guidance by the Holy Spirit, “While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’” And remember that he continued on in many warm relationships over the years.
Were Paul’s words equal to the Lords commands? Having Paul’s words recorded as scripture elevates them above just natural words. However in a case like this where he equates his words with the Lord’s command I doubt he is thinking of his own human words but his references to the Lord’s words. Example; if I say “Thou shall not kill”, I can also say, “If you ignore this your not ignoring me, but the Lord.” 1 Corinth. 14:37-38, “If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lords command. If he ignores this, he himself will be ignored.” However Paul may be speaking with more authority than that here, he may actually be saying that “everything that I have been writing you is God speaking, so you better not ignore it.”
So what were the actual goals of Paul’s ministry? Did he go around telling people what to do? Was he a prophet? A preacher? Probably he did a little of all the above. In Acts he first preaches in an area, always with some success. Then he encourages the believers because of the ensuing difficulties. Then he spends a lot of “mop up” time trying to protect against division and heresy.
2 Corinth. 13:10, “…that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority-the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.” So what does this have to do with authority and what do we mean by “apostolic authority”? Paul does very little commanding, but a great deal of encouraging and admonishing. His goal was for people to turn to God; or that God would reveal himself to people, and then keep on in that healthy relationship. It just seemed that there was always someone coming in behind him trying to distort the good relationship and turn it sour. We would probably rather put authority roles in a well defined box and say that they can “never give a command” or else “commanding is all they do and must be obeyed at all cost.” But as Jesus and Paul both demonstrate; they are speaking powerful things from God but they use that power to serve. Philemon :8, “Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I appeal to you on the basis of love.”
Acts 20:27-28, “For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.”
1 Corinth. 9: 1- , “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.” Paul did not throw his authority around in areas where he did not belong. His apostolic authority was for a specific purpose to specific people; the people he was called to serve, mostly in churches he had started, where he had a responsibility. When in Jerusalem he submitted to the Jerusalem elders. He didn’t go there and tell them how to run their church. It is important for us in a church to not complain about the way the pastor does his job. We are in the realm of his authority. We have a choice to leave. This principle of realm of authority is important to recognize in families and the work place.
(1 Corinth. 9:3) “This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. Don’t we have the right to food and drink?…Or is it only I and Barnabas who must work for a living?” “If others have this right of support from you shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not use this right.” There are Old Testament laws about the priests being provided for through the offerings and the tithes. At one point Paul claims the right to this. If anyone fit the description of a Levite who, “Had no possession or inheritance but the Lord is their inheritance” it would be Paul. We often resent this principle now days because it seems so many claim this right to provisions and yet have a lot of “earthly inheritance”. In the New Testament they did not re-institute a new sort of priesthood or legal system, which is too anarchistic for some of us. They believed very strongly in a spirit led church and the Holy Spirit’s power to go beyond all Old Testament laws, witnessed at Pentecost with an out-pouring of generosity and laying gifts at the apostles feet. There is a lot at risk in letting the Holy Spirit re-define the church as he wills; we tend to revert to a legal system. But the question we must be pressed by is, “What is God’s heart as revealed by the Holy Spirit for us today.”
The best description of servant authority is what I call the “gentle giant”. That is someone who has lots of power but doesn’t need to prove it. We have all known people who are so big in stature like a huge basketball player that they are not threatened by anyone and so gentle in nature that they are not a threat either. It is we small people who go around trying to be pushy; like if we can get others in submission we will be bigger. Facing the cross, Jesus demonstrated this “gentle giant” principal when he said, “Don’t you realize that I have power to call legions of angels?” The God of the universe is the biggest giant of all yet he humbled himself for us.
One other principle crucial in Biblical authority was stated by Jesus, “He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.”(Jn. 7:18). Jesus was referring to himself here, but the principle applies to all who would be led of His Holy Spirit. I’ve heard it said that cults and false teachers point to themselves and Biblical teaching points to Jesus as the answer. This is true in all our relationships; we should point each other to God instead of trying to be savior and lord for each other. Does this characterize Paul’s life? Only God knows the secrets of the heart, but it seems to be Paul’s attitude most of the time. Sometimes Paul talks about following his example but included in his example is his following Jesus. He doesn’t really point to himself as the example; but as an example of one who trusts in Christ. Paul says of his own motives, “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10).
I find Paul’s goal is to be Christ like and a true representative of Jesus.
