Richard Jordan - Berean Bible Church – Edgewater, Florida
The Church That Preaches What The Bible Teaches
This message reprinted from The Grace Journal
Sometimes those who do not fully understand "the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation
of the mystery" wonder whether or not we give undue prominence to the Apostle Paul. Isn't Christ
our pattern and shouldn't we walk in His footsteps? By emphasizing Paul and the special message committed
to his trust, are we casting a shadow on the Lord Jesus Christ?
In considering these objections we should be careful to notice Paul's words in 1Tim.1:13-16. Here
he presents himself as a great sinner--"a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious,"
yea, the "chief" of sinners--while presenting Christ as a great Savior:
"AND THE GRACE OF our LORD WAS EXCEEDING ABUNDANT with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
THIS IS A FAITHFUL SAYING AND WORTHY OF ALL ACCEPTATION, THAT CHRIST JESUS CAME INTO THE WORLD TO
SAVE SINNERS; of whom I am chief."
What a marvelous combination: a great sinner and a great Savior! It is with this in mind that the
apostle goes on to say:
"Howbeit FOR THIS CAUSE I OBTAINED MERCY, THAT IN ME FIRST JESUS CHRIST MIGHT SHEW FORTH ALL
LONGSUFFERING, FOR A PATTERN TO THEM WHICH SHOULD HEREAFTER BELIEVE ON HIM TO LIFE EVERLASTING."
Thus it is the Scriptures themselves that establish Paul as our pattern for salvation today. When
we think it through it soon becomes apparent that the Lord Jesus Christ could not be the example and
pattern for our salvation. He did not need to be saved--indeed, His perfect, sinless life only shows
up our imperfections. His life condemns us; it is His death that saves us.
The chief of sinners, saved by grace, however, makes a fitting pattern for us, for as we take our
place with him and trust in the Savior who died for our sins: "...we have redemption through [Christ's]
blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:7).
Paul is the only man in the Bible, apart from our Lord Himself, who says again and again, "Follow
me." And this is not because he was anything in himself, but because Christ had given him the
message of grace and had made him the pattern for this age of grace. This is not a question of personal
excellence, but of divine revelation and God-given authority and position. Note his words carefully:
"For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I AM THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES; I MAGNIFY MINE OFFICE"
(Rom. 11:13).
"PAUL, AN APOSTLE (NOT OF MEN, NEITHER BY MAN, BUT BY JESUS CHRIST, AND GOD THE FATHER, WHO RAISED
HIM FROM THE DEAD)" (Gal. 1:1).
"For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, "If ye have heard
of THE DISPENSATION OF THE GRACE OF GOD WHICH IS GIVEN ME TO YOU-WARD: "How that BY REVELATION HE
MADE KNOWN UNTO ME THE MYSTERY..." (Eph. 3:1-3).
PAUL AND CHRIST
A key passage in properly understanding the relationship between our Lord's earthly ministry and that
later committed to Paul is Romans 15:8-12. It begins with this declaration: "Now I say that JESUS
CHRIST WAS A MINISTER OF THE CIRCUMCISION FOR THE TRUTH OF GOD, TO CONFIRM THE PROMISES MADE UNTO THE
FATHERS" (v. 8).
The next few verses contain the words "and again...and again...and again," referring
to the prophetic promises that one day the Gentiles would "rejoice...with His people"
Israel, as they with Christ as King "reign over the Gentiles." The prophets had often predicted
that the blessing of God would go to the Gentiles through the rise of redeemed Israel to Kingdom glory
(e.g., Isa. 60:1-3, Zech. 8:13,20-23). Hence Paul, here in Rom. 15, quotes no less than four direct references
to this glad day of millennial blessings; for this was the clear focus of our Lord's earthly ministry.
We know, however, that "His own received Him not" at His first appearing (John 1:11),
declaring, "We have no king but Caesar," and demanding His crucifixion.
After His resurrection the Lord commissioned His apostles to again offer repentance to Israel, and
Peter thus proclaimed: "Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made
with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, AND IN THY SEED SHALL ALL THE KINDREDS OF THE EARTH BE BLESSED.
"UNTO YOU FIRST God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every
one of you from his iniquities" (Acts 3:25,26).
But again they rejected Him. Thus Paul continues in his declaration to the Romans: "Nevertheless,
brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of THE
GRACE THAT IS GIVEN TO ME OF GOD,
"THAT I SHOULD BE THE MINISTER OF JESUS CHRIST TO THE GENTILES, ministering the gospel of God,
that the offering up of the Gentiles might be accept-able, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit"
(Rom. 15:15,16).
Here we have God sending salvation to the Gentiles--not in the manner predicted by the prophets, to
be sure, but sending it nonetheless. Indeed, salvation now is going to the Gentiles through the fall
of Israel:
"I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather THROUGH THEIR FALL
SALVATION IS COME UNTO THE GENTILES, for to provoke them to jealousy" (Rom. 11:11 ).
From His ascended position in heaven the Lord Jesus Christ poured out His grace to a rebellious world
by saving the very leader of their rebellion and sending him forth as both the herald and the living
demonstration of His grace. Hence Paul, now "the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles,"
could proclaim:
"...I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
"For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ"
(Gal. 1:11,12).
This was no afterthought on God's part, no makeshift arrangement, for the Apostle adds that God has
"separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me"
(vs. 15,16).
Today Jesus Christ is revealing Himself to the world through the writings of the Apostle Paul. Paul
was in Christ and Christ was in Paul. The Lord first revealed himself to Paul, and then through him to
the world.
Those who continue to pit "the words of Paul' against "the words of Christ," should
carefully consider the Word of God in 1Tim. 6:3,4: "If any man teach otherwise, and consent not
to wholesome words, EVEN THE WORDS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, and to the doctrine which is according to
godliness;
"He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words...."
It is hard to imagine how he could more emphatically set forth the truth that his words were in fact
the words of Christ. He again insists upon this in his stern rebuke to the carnal Corinthians: "If
I come again I will not spare, SINCE YE SEEK A PROOF OF CHRIST SPEAKING IN ME" (11 Cor. 13:2,3).
Thus our ascended, glorified Lord is now sending a message of love and grace to a world of sinners,
through the chief of sinners, Paul, "saved by grace"--a message committed to him by special
revelation (Gal. 11:11,12, Tit. 1:3, 1Cor. 14:37).
PAUL AND THE TWELVE
The evidence is overwhelming that Paul was not one of the Twelve.
First, he never qualified for this position. Acts 1:20-22 clearly states that Judas' successor must
be one who had "companied with [the Twelve] all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among
[them], beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that He was taken up from [them]"
( cf. Matt. 19:28, John 15:27). Thus Paul's name never could have been put "on the ballot."
Neither was Paul given the same commission as the Twelve. A comparison between Christ's instructions
that the Twelve "go baptizing" (Matt. 28:19, Mark 16:16) and Paul's statement, "Christ
sent me not to baptize" (1Cor. 1:17) easily demonstrates the point. Also the Twelve were sent forth
to teach "all things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:20)--which clearly included
the faithful observance of the Law (Matt. 5:19; 23:1-3), while Paul later proclaimed Christ as "the
end of the law," and says, "Ye are become dead to the law by the body of Christ....For ye are
not under the law, but under grace" (Rom. 10:4; 7:4; 6:14). No, Paul is never to be considered as
one of the Twelve Apostles.
As if the obvious contrasts above were not enough, the Holy Spirit Himself has sealed the question
shut by divine revelation. Notice the inspired reference to "the Twelve," at a time when numerically
there were only eleven: "And that He was seen of Cephas, then of THE TWELVE (1Cor.15:5).
This inspired reference to "the Twelve" between the resurrection and ascension of Christ
is irrefutable evidence that the Holy Spirit considered Matthias as one of the twelve Apostles. And this
is further confirmed by the fact that when Matthias was added, they were "all filled with the Holy
Ghost" (Acts 1:26; 2:4).
Further, Paul and the Twelve represented different programs. Not only is the number 12 associated
particularly with Israel, but we are told that the Twelve Apostles were her official representatives,
destined to "sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matt.
19:28, Luke 22:28-30). Paul, on the other hand, was by birth both a Hebrew and a Roman (Acts 16:37; 22:28),
and thus an appropriate representative of the "one Body," composed of reconciled Jews and Gentiles.
Again, Paul and the Twelve proclaimed different messages. The very heart of the message of the Twelve
was the establishment of Messiah's kingdom on earth, while in Paul's message the kingdom pro-gram awaits
a future day, having been interrupted. Today everything centers in God's grace to a Christ-rejecting
world, as He reconciles believing Jews and Gentiles to Himself in one body, giving them a position in
heavenly places with Him.
Aside from this--and much more could be said--it is how those who insist on following Peter and the
Twelve never come to grips with the following: "And when James, Cephas and John, who seemed to be
pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me [Paul], THEY GAVE TO ME AND BARNABAS THE RIGHT HANDS
OF FELLOWSHIP; THAT WE SHOULD GO UNTO THE HEATHEN, AND THEY UNTO THE CIRCUMCISION" (Gal. 2:9).
How could the record here in Galatians 2 be clearer? James, Peter and John, along with the whole Jerusalem
church, recognize the further revelation given through Paul and take part in a public act of recognition
and endorsement of the fact that God had now appointed Paul as the Apostle of the Gentiles 1
If Peter's present day admirers would ask him, he (and the Twelve) would tell them, "Follow
Paul: he is God's spokesman for the present day."
PAUL AND US
Just as our ascended Lord, as it were, says, "Follow Paul, I have revealed myself to you through
him;" just as the Twelve say, "Follow Paul, he is God's appointed spokesman for the
dispensation of grace;" so Paul himself exhorts us by divine inspiration:
"BE YE FOLLOWERS OF ME, EVEN AS I ALSO AM OF CHRIST" (I Cor. 11:1).
While we firmly believe and contend that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is
profitable" (2Tim 3:16), we also recognize that we can only obtain the profit God has placed for
us in His Word when we "rightly divide the Word of truth" (2Tim. 2:15). Frankly put, we need
those divine instructions which are appropriate to the age in which we live. The Ten Commandments and
the Sermon on the Mount simply will not do, for who among us is sufficient to keep them?
The next time you hear the so-called "Lord's Prayer" recited, think for a moment:
Are we to be praying, "Thy kingdom come?" Are we not going to be with Christ, rather
than waiting for Him to come to earth to reign? Again, do we gain forgiveness from God in the measure
that we "forgive our debtors?"
Should we not rather forgive others "as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us"
(Eph. 4:32)? Would God have us to twist and misapply this important passage into a mindless and meaningless
ritual?
Neither does the Pentecostal program provide an adequate basis upon which to operate today. Its legalism,
baptismal salvation, signs and wonders, "all things common," Jerusalem first and apostolic
powers to remit sins are only some of the things which produce confusion when attempted today.
No. It is not until we turn to the epistles of Paul that we find instructions appropriate to the age
in which we live. It is Paul who has so much to say about salvation by grace through faith, about the
spiritual life and walk of the believer and how to achieve a walk that will truly glorify God. It is
Paul who tells us how to function as members of the body of Christ. Indeed, he is our apostle-God's spokes-man
for the dispensation in which we live.
HEAR YE HIM
When Peter, on the Mount of Transfiguration, started talking simply because "he wist not what
to say," God interrupted him, saying, "This is My beloved Son; hear ye Him" (Mark
9:7, Matt. 17:5). But now, from heaven's glory, our Lord Himself says, as it were: "I have saved
the chief of sinners by My grace, and have given him to you, My representative, a living example and
pattern of My grace to you: "Hear ye him" And in hearing him, we are thus giving heed
to our risen, glorified Lord (John 13:20).
The Twelve echo in tune: "God has interrupted the prophesied program and has given a further
revelation through Paul; we commend you to him - hear ye him" And Paul himself adds:
"In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began,
"But hath in due times MANIFESTED HIS WORD THROUGH PREACHING, WHICH IS COMMITTED UNTO ME ACCORDING
TO THE COMMANDMENT OF GOD OUR SAVIOR" (Tit. 1:2,3).
"[Christ] gave Himself a ransom for all, TO BE TESTIFIED IN DUE TIME,
"WHEREUNTO I AM ORDAINED A PREACHER, AND AN APOSTLE...A TEACHER OF THE GENTILES, IN FAITH AND
VERITY" (1Tim. 2:6,7).
What a glorious message Christ has sent down from heaven for us today--a message that makes Him everything!
Rather than giving undue prominence to the Apostle Paul, as we recognize His unique position of God-given
authority and its importance for us today, we are in fact being faithful to our God-given message. God
has put a high premium on faithful obedience to His Word. By His grace may we refuse the wine of the
religious system and its attempts to draw us away from the path of obedience to God's particular word
to us.
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Footnotes:
- cf. Peter's own inspired explanation of the delay in the completion of the prophetic program in 2Pet.
3:3-16.
