Was Paul Always Right?
As of the time of this writing I have
been born again for over forty-six years, and have attended both
Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, Evangelical as well as
Charismatic/Pentecostal churches, and have read and watched a vast
variety of online Christian resources. Based on my personal
experience it appears to me that the apostle Paul's writings are read,
preached and studied much more than the Gospel accounts.
Paul seems to be perceived as the primary example of what a
follower/disciple of Jesus should be, especially when one takes into
account his statements in 1Cor
11:1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. and
Php 3:17 Brethren, be followers
together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an
example.
But what about 1Ti_1:15 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.
These verses have caused me to consider and compare the words of
our Lord Jesus and the writings of Paul. I do this in light of
the seemingly endless divisions between followers of Jesus, and the
fact that it was neither the Protestant church I attended as a youth or
the Roman Catholic I joined at age nineteen which supplied the
message to me that 'my whole life was one big sin' and that I needed to
be born again to live for God rather than for me. It was a
handful of
Christian college students who led me into my born-again life in Jesus.
My FIRST inquiry into whether
Paul was always right concerns Paul's
giving his testimony of conversion to Jesus to the Jews in Jerusalem,
which is recorded in the Book of Acts of the Apostles, chapter
22. I am using the timeline of Paul's life and ministry provided
by the BlueLetterBible.ORg
Paul begins his testimony by reciting the events of his conversion on
the road to Damascus which is recorded in Acts, chapter 9.
He eventually returns to Jerusalem, apparently for the first time after
his conversion, which is recorded in Acts, chapter 9:26-29 and
Galatians 1:17. At that time The Lord appeared to Paul at night,
and told Paul to get out of Jerusalem because "they would not receive
his testimony". Paul, being a young Christian, argued with Jesus,
but of course Jesus had the last word: "Depart: for I will send
thee far hence unto the Gentiles."
So, Paul departed, ministered to both Jews and Gentiles outside of
Israel, goes back to Jerusalem with Barnabas in Acts 15, returns to the
gentiles, returns to Jerusalem in Acts 18, and finally returns to
Jerusalem in Acts 21.
Paul wrote that he returned to Jerusalem because of 'a revelation'
(Galatians 2:2), the leaders of the church in Jerusalem were agitated
because they knew that Paul being in Jerusalem would stir up the
Jews. So the church leaders and Paul devise a plan whereby Paul
would go to the temple in Jerusalem with four men who 'had a vow', he
would join them in observing the Jewish rituals, and the Jews would see
that Paul 'walked orderly and kept The Law'.
So Paul does as the church leaders suggest, but the Jews see him in the
temple, are outraged, and force him out of the temple. The 'chief
captain of the band' [apparently the captain of the Roman guards in
Jerusalem] intervenes and allows Paul to address the crowd of irate
Jews. He gives his testimony of conversion to Jesus on the road
to Damascus, and his instructions from Jesus to go to the Gentiles.
The result is that the riot becomes a super riot. Were the
expectations of the church leaders and Paul realized? Were their
expectations provided by the Holy Spirit, or by them leaning on their
own understanding? What was the 'revelation' which prompted Paul
to go to Jerusalem?
SPECULATION ALERT! The following is what came to my mind when I
was reading these passages and praying for understanding. There
is a passage in 1 Kings 13 which tells about a young prophet which is
sent with a message to deliver to King Jeroboam. Jeroboam was not
pleased by the message and tried to arrest the young prophet, but
Jeroboam's hand 'dried up'. The young prophet then tells that his
instructions are to deliver the message and then leave. The young
prophet did so, but an old prophet intercepted the young prophet and
gave his different instructions 'from an angel'. The young
prophet followed the changed instructions, and was eaten by a
lion! I wonder if that was the kind of 'revelation' that Paul
received which caused him to disregard the Lord's appearance to Paul in
Jerusalem, telling Paul that the Jews would not receive Paul's
testimony. END OF SPECULATION.
One thing is clear. Neither Paul's expectations nor the church
leaders' expectations panned out.
My SECOND thought about Paul's
imperfection centers on his statement in
Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our
old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Rom 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Rom 6:8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall
also live with him:
Rom 6:9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no
more; death hath no more dominion over him.
Rom 6:10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that
he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Rom 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed
unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
I recently had a conversation with a man who should be a seasoned
believer in Jesus, but whom I and two other brothers in Christ find to
be irritating and full of bitterness at his pastor-father's dead
religion. We have all engaged in weekly fellowship for over four
years, so we are pretty well acquainted with each other. The man
made the statement today that he is crucified with Christ, but then he
always wonders how to deal with his carnality of thought and
action. We have repeatedly suggested that the Lord's
statement Luk_9:23 And He
said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. [Personal pronoun
capitals supplied by me]. We have also suggested that Paul wrote 1Cor 15:31 I protest by your
rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily,
which seems to be in line with the Lord's statement in Luke 9:23.
So I see a contradiction between Paul's writings in Romans 6 and
1Corinthians 15 which has led our fellowship companion to disregard the
Lord's statement in Luke 9. When in doubt I chose to follow Jesus
rather than Paul or anyone else.
My THIRD topic of
consideration has to do with Paul's statement found in 1Co 11:1 Be ye followers of me, even
as I also am of Christ. This statement is probably the cause of
more people following Paul and disregarding Jesus than any other
statement I am aware of. The statement itself clearly calls the
reader to first determine whether Paul was following Christ, and then
how to follow Paul. It all depends on one's own understanding of Jesus
and Paul, and on how to actually do what one believes is the right
thing to do. This conflicts with Proverbs 3:5, which I consider
to be one of the foundation stones of the Kingdom of God: Pro 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all
thine heart; and lean not
unto thine own understanding.
Actually, this error of leaning on one's own understanding may have
been what caused Paul to go to Jerusalem and give his testimony in
spite of the fact that Jesus had personally appeared to him at night
and commanded him to leave Jerusalem because the Jews would not receive
his testimony of Him. It is better to following the direct
commands of Jesus than to follow anyone else regardless how 'holy' they
may appear. Mature believers in Jesus are those who are led by
the Holy Spirit - which implies that they are not leaning on their own
understanding. Rom_8:14
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
***
I offer these thoughts in the hope that believers in Jesus will begin
to follow the words of Jesus more than any contradictory messages, even
if penned by the apostle Paul.
Finally, as a brand-new Christian forty-six years ago I used to walk
the same path home from the university library where I studied to our
home, and interesting thoughts would come to my mind during those
walks. One of
those interesting thoughts was this: "No one is always right
except Me, and no one is always wrong, including Caiaphas." I
understood that to be an instruction from God, especially after I
looked up who Caiaphas was, and found him to be the evil Jewish high
priest at the time of the crucifixion of Jesus, and yet Caiaphas had a
valid prophesy recorded in John 11:50. Accordingly, even
the apostle Paul would be one of those people who is 'not always
right', but the leading of the Holy Spirit is always right.
And those who deny themselves daily and take up their crosses to
accompany Jesus are best able to hear the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Rob