How Well Do You Know Paul?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by RoyW on July 15, 2010 at 7:10am

John,

I am going to have to disagree with your statement:

"So it was evident the apostles & elders understood the gospel which they received first-hand from Christ. Indeed it was Paul who was unsure of his teaching and wanted to check with those who were in Christ before him & had learned at the feet of Christ."

From my perspective, what Jesus was talking about when He said they were not ready to receive was that information concerning the law. They weren't ready. Even after Christ's ascension they continued to struggle with the law. Jesus clearly showed Peter in the vision of the unclean animals that He was changing things. But still, they struggled to get it. It took this bulldog of a man, Paul, to begin to force the issue. You mentioned the big meeting in Jerusalem. His statement concerning the visit was:

Gal 2:1-3
2:1 Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. 2 I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain. NIV

Paul was not worried that He had the Gospel wrong since He had received that directly from Jesus Christ Himself. Paul understood there was only one church. His fear was that the Jews were missing it and that the church would be split. There was not a chance that he was waffling whether or not Gentiles needed to come under any part of the law. He was very confident in the Gospel he was preaching and that was that there was a new and living way to be a part of God's chosen. He was now finished with the old and the new was now completely in effect. You quote Gal 2:7-9 but look at v. 6.

Gal 2:6 As for those who seemed to be important — whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance — those men added nothing to my message. NIV

I believe Paul had respect for these guys as they had been with Christ during His earthly ministry. However, he does not respect their confusion with the Gospel and the intentions of Christ. He clearly tells us that those men had nothing to add to his message.

Later, the so-called leaders (and I think Paul rightly describes them) wrote a letter about which part of the law the new Gentile believers should follow. The letter shows they still didn't get it. It was the Apostle Peter that had a lead in the letter that the Jewish leaders sent out. Even after all Christ had shown Peter, he still didn't get it and the letter clearly shows that. In Paul's description of the conclusion, you will notice that he refuses to even acknowledge that letter that Peter dictated.

In my spirit, or maybe just in my mind, I see Paul standing alone like a solid rock. Not only was he confronting a wicked world with a wicked worldview but also a Jewish leadership that were still struggling with the new replacing the old. This is why I have such an appreciation of Paul. Paul, through the power of the Spirit, changed the entire direction of the church. The disciples were struggling to get rid of the old. Paul completely understood that it was God's will to replace the law with His grace.

Roy

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rita Cullimore on July 15, 2010 at 4:47am

I hope I'm not intruding, and don't want to bring up something already completely discussed but I think the commandments that Jesus spoke about were the 10 given to Moses for the Israelites, that God Himself wrote out on the tablets of stone.

Those commandments and obedience to them is the core of our entire being in relationship to God. Along with Jesus' command to love thy neigbor as thyself.

A person who teaches another that these commandments aren't important, that they shouldn't be learned and practiced in our lives, is teaching destruction. Our government, in their removal of these commandments is causing destruction among the people.

Our own law says it isn't right to kill (murder), steal, commit adultry, covet.....by removal of these same laws from our public endorses the very things that our own law says is wrong.

How crazy is that!!!

These 10 commandments (11) seem to be the main commandments with the other laws being a clarification of these eleven.

Paul, in his ministry, seems to be going further in clarifying them, along with his teaching of faith and what can be accomplished by it. Paul's teaching show us how to live everyday in a world that basically is in Satan's control.

When I first started reading Paul, I felt like he was in competition with God, but...now i understand what he is trying to get across to us. He is teaching the very essence of what we need to prepare ourselves for God's World...faith in the Creator and obedience to him. Paul is a very worthy Apostle.

Blessings,
Rita

• ▶ Reply

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page