It is a major mistake to distrust the Apostle Paul
Nearly 2000 years after the apostle Paul wrote his many epistles, there are those today who have been calling doubt on whether he was someone who we should listen to so much.
Their reasoning may be a variation of the argument that Jesus was the sinless Master, Paul a mere fallible student. Paul was not even one of the original 12 who knew Jesus prior to the Cross.
Critics suggest Paul, being fallible, passed along tainted views. To be pure, they say, it is best just to focus on the words of Jesus. Certainly, they say, we may learn a few things from Paul, but Jesus told us all we really need to know.
There are even those today who are solo preachers on YouTube telling followers they hear constantly Jesus’ speaking to them and correcting the record of the true gospel.
Such ideas that Paul is perhaps untrustworthy, or even that the Catholics edited his words and corrupted the manuscripts are false. They are in error. They are practicing revisionist history after Paul had been completely vouched for and vetted by the original apostles and Jesus Himself. Attacks on Paul are the flawed work of fallible people who suppose they are following God more purely.
Jesus said more light would be given
Prior to the Lord’s going to the Cross, Jesus told His original disciples that they were not ready to understand all that the Holy Spirit would later tell them. He said He would reveal more after His resurrection.
John 16 – 12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
In Acts 2 the Holy Spirit was indeed poured out on the waiting disciples at Pentecost and the infant assembly caught fire with a dynamism and boldness and power. Acts 9 records how Paul – a formerly zealous Jew known also as Saul of Tarsus – was converted from being the treacherous and hard-hearted persecuting Pharisee to the most outspoken spokesman for the faith.
In fact, Jesus Christ personally recruited Paul in a dramatic fashion. No other disciple was recorded in the New Testament as getting such singled-out treatment. Jesus rebuked Paul, then made him go blind three days as Paul repented and cried out to God in prayer. In Damascus where Paul was staying, Jesus told a brother named Ananias to go lay hands on Paul for Paul’s conversion.
Acts 9 -15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
Jesus called Paul a chosen vessel of His. Paul’s calling was to especially open the gospel to the Gentiles as Jesus and the Old Testament scriptures also foretold. He gave fresh and priceless revelation on the Lord’s eternal purpose (Eph. 3:11), the end-goal of the gospel (Eph 4:13, 1 Cor. 15:20-28), revelation on the Lord’s second coming, how a Christian is co-crucifed with Christ (Rom. 6), dead to sin, and how to be holy and spiritual and actually keep the commands of Christ.
In the Epistle to the Galatians, Paul recounts how the gospel he taught was not given by man, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Galatians 1 – 11 But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Galatians 1 – 15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, 16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. 18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. 20 (Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.)
Galatians 2 – Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. 2 And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain.
Galatians 2 – 9 and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.
Paul said he privately conferred with leading apostles and known-reliable Christians. He checked with them whether what he believed in his spirit was the revealed knowledge of God. It all bore witness to the apostles Peter, James, John, and others. They commissioned him to go and preach it far and wide.
The apostle Paul was counted faithful his entire Christian life
The New Testament records no one rebuking Paul for error. It records Jesus in Acts 23:11 commending Paul, encouraging him, and telling him he must go to Rome, and that is where he was executed.
Acts 23:11 – But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome.”
Paul himself bore witness that he followed the voice of the Lord and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Book of Acts, written by Luke who also wrote the Gospel of Luke recounts instances where Paul received specific instructions from the Holy Spirit, angels, and Jesus Christ.
When Paul was about to be executed, Paul wrote his protégé Timothy –
2 Tim 4:6-8 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
Paul says he is sure God is pleased with him. He says he will get a crown of righteousness for his obedience and faithfulness. This self-witness is just the same as when Jesus Christ bore witness of Himself in John 6. Jesus was also listening to the Holy Spirit, as was His servant Paul.
Implications of doubting Paul
The early church well before the rise of Roman Catholicism accepted Paul’s writings as known-reliable. They copied and distributed them as God-inspired and vital to the total understanding of the faith. Paul’s words comprise about half the New Testament. According to Christian understanding of the New Testament, only God-inspired words were to be accepted. If they made a mistake then this casts doubt on everything – the reliability of the Christians in the days of and after the apostles, and God Himself. That is, if the New Testament is controlled by God ultimately, then He made a big mistake allowing a man who would go counter to His will dominate half the Christian Bible. It would be is a complete fallacy to suggest this.
Paul was vetted and tried in his day. If he was spreading false teachings or mixing his own opinions as the word of the Lord or doing anything wrong, the New Testament would have recorded that.
God has overseen the compilation of the New Testament and when His servants have ever disobeyed, their sins were exposed.
Peter personally mentioned Paul in his second epistle-
2 Peter 3:14-16 – 14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; 15 and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
Peter notes that during Paul’s time untaught and unstable people were able to twist Paul’s words as they do the rest of the scriptures.
Today the same thing is still happening despite the powerful witness of the New Testament that such ones ignore.
Certainly the words of Paul have been twisted, and large swaths of what have been called the Christian church have practiced perverted teachings emboldened by their interpretation of Paul.
But to blame or cast aspersions on Paul is as foolish as shooting the messenger.
Critics of Paul today who even have written he was a “false apostle” are in the dark, saying they shed light. The term “apostle” means sent one. Paul was a chosen apostle by Jesus, and critics fail to acknowledge that Jesus grants authority and ignore that Jesus backs His messengers, as the Lord said.
John 13:20 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”
Mt 10:40 “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.
To receive one sent by Jesus is to receive Jesus, and the messenger as speaking for Jesus. To reject one sent by Jesus is to reject Jesus, and disregard Jesus’ vested authority.
The New Testament witness for Paul is that he was indeed empowered to do the task Jesus had chosen him for.
God also gave Paul special grace to do unusual miracles and withstand brutal treatment while selflessly serving Jesus and sharing unique teachings the New Testament says only he was shown.
Paul had a perfect record. He was personally endorsed by the living apostles he met with, and they sent him with their blessings.
Paul’s writings which comprise about half of the New Testament were understood as the words of God. The Book of the Acts of the apostles from chapter 9 to the end in chapter 28 focus heavily on Paul, and the second half from chapter 15 on becomes almost exclusively a biography of Paul.
If someone today wishes to say that Paul was not one to listen to, maybe they ought to re-edit their Bible and redact large portions of it.
If Paul was mixing error with truth, then how can we trust any of what Paul wrote except what is clearly indisputable and said also by others?
But if Paul was Jesus’ chosen vessel, then distrusting or ignoring Paul’s often-misunderstood writings would bring darkness by those who suppose to bring light.
Paul gave Jesus’ revelation of so many things no one else did.
But the implications of downgrading Paul get worse. If Paul were mixing error with truth, then Luke was blind or a faulty witness and failed to call Paul out for any foibles.
And if Paul was mixing error with truth, then the apostles who approved of him also were negligent or faulty and failed to warn about him.
And if Paul was mixing error with truth, ultimately Jesus Christ made a big mistake. Paul was hand-chosen by Him. And ultimately, Jesus foreknew Paul’s words were to become a big part of the New Testament.
But any statements calling doubt on the reliability of the original apostles and the Lord are absurd. They are as absurd as those people today who question whether the Roman Catholics edited Paul’s teachings to justify their rise to power. Early manuscripts predating the centuries of the actual rise of the Roman faith indicate the Bible has been preserved. Jesus Himself said heaven and earth would pass away, but His words would not.
People today who wish to question Paul are arrogant and blind and foolish. They presume to place their view above that of the apostles, contemporary witnesses of the apostles, and ultimately Jesus Christ Himself who said His sent ones should be received as He would be personally received.
This is a great mistake, and a test of the spirits as well. If any bears witness Paul was at all untrustworthy, such a word is not the word of the Spirit of the Lord.
Lord bless you.
