Our Lord stated the principle that we are to follow:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. (John 13:20)
Just as Israel followed Moses, the Church, the body of Christ, is to follow the apostle Paul’s example, leadership, and doctrine. No one sound in their theology would accuse a Jew of heresy for following Moses’ lead. Why then can’t Christendom recognize the unique apostleship of Paul, the leadership to which Christ entrusted to him, and just where it is within the Bible that we are supposed to get our doctrine and instructions from?
The apostle Paul is to be our, a Christian’s, pattern to follow:
- “for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe” (1 Tim 1:16)
- “be ye followers of me” (1 Cor 4:16)
- “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor 11:1)
- “be followers together of me” (Phil 3:17)
- “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do:” (Phil 4:9)
- “Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am;” (Gal 4:12)
- “as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God” (1 Thes 4:1-2)
- “For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us:” (2 Thes 3:7)
- “And ye became followers of us” (1 Thes 1:6)
- “an ensample unto you to follow us” (2 Thes 3:9)
Paul is not to be worshipped – we are to worship Christ – but he was sent by the Lord for a specific purpose (1 Cor 9:17; 1 Cor 14:37; 1 Tim 1:16; Jn 13:20). Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 3:10 that he “laid the foundation”. Paul is not the foundation, however. The foundation is Jesus Christ! Paul laid the foundation of Christ for the Church, the body of Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery (Rom 16:25). Paul is the first to preach that saving message (1 Tim 1:16; 1 Cor 15:1-4) and his unique apostleship was put in place by the Lord from heaven for you to follow.
“But I follow the twelve apostles” Following Peter, James, and John, apostles to Israel, will place you under the Law. Paul states very clearly that we are no longer under the Law (Rom 3:28; 6:14; Gal 2:16; 5:18; Philippians 3:9) but under grace. The twelve apostles are apostles to Israel and were chosen for a very specific purpose:
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Mt 19:28
The twelve apostles will rule and reign with Jesus Christ on the earth during His Millennial Kingdom. That is not your program (Prophecy – Acts 3:21). The apostle Paul tells us that the body of Christ has a different program (Mystery – Rom 16:25), has a heavenly citizenship (Phil 3:20), will judge angels and not the twelve tribes (1 Cor 6:3), and is to follow Paul and the doctrine that he set forth within his 13 epistles, Romans through Philemon.
The instructions from the apostle Paul to fellow Christians, such as his protege’ Timothy, are very specific – “commit unto faithful men who will teach others, the things that you have heard from me”. The “me” in that commandment does not include the twelve apostles to Israel, or anyone else (2 Tim 2:2; 2 Tim 2:7; 2 Tim 4:17).
“But I follow Jesus Christ” My compliments to you for your good intentions, but the fact of the matter is that you could not follow Jesus Christ if you wanted to. Why is that?
- Jesus was a Jew, born under the Law (Gal 4:4)
- Jesus was circumcised the 8th day (Lk 2:27).
- Jesus was water baptized (Mt 3:15).
- Jesus taught conditional forgiveness (Mt 6:14).
- Jesus taught Levitical sacrifice for healing (Mt 8:4).
- Jesus instructed His Jewish audience to “follow the commandments” (the Law; Mk 10:17-19).
- Jesus instructed His Jewish followers to “obey the Pharisees” (Mt 23:2-3).
- Jesus observed the Jewish feast days (Mt 26:17).
- Jesus’ earthly ministry was specifically to the circumcision, the nation Israel (Rom 15:8).
- Jesus was not sent to the Gentile world (Mt 15:24; 10:5).
Jesus was and is a Jew, under the Law, under a covenant. You are not. None of the above bullets are for you. Attempting to “follow Jesus” or “live as Jesus lived” would be an attempt to place oneself back under the Law. To do so would wreak havoc upon one’s theology and take them miles away from the actual instructions provided to them within Scripture.
How do we learn the “content” of our faith? Christ states the principle in John 13:20 that applies to every dispensation. Christ sent the twelve, but they were sent to Israel as they were preaching the prophesied Kingdom (and therefore impending great tribulation) “at hand” (Mt 10:5-6). The twelve were not sent to Gentiles; they were not sent to believers of today. Ask yourself, “why did God need a 13th apostle?” God had twelve perfectly good apostles at His disposal. If the twelve became members of the body of Christ, as it is taught in Christendom and will be the topic of our next post, then why did God need Paul? The apostle Paul was specifically sent to us, the Church, the body of Christ, and he is our pattern to follow. Not doing so, while taking its instruction from all “New Testament” books outside of Paul’s 13 epistles, has only led to a confused and impotent Church that preaches a Gospel message that is also confused. History proves that fact out and so does the sheer number of denominations found within this world.
Jesus sent Paul!
Wonderful! Yes, Paul is our apostle for this ‘dispensation of the grace of God.”
I have just written a letter to a pastor defending Paul’s office of the ‘apostle to the Gentiles,’ and to say that Peter did not make a mistake in choosing Matthias to be the twelth disciple (an act bathed in prayer), as he had suggested in church a couple of weeks ago.
I find it incredible that I even had to write such a letter – this is so basic!! Matthias fitted the requirements mentioned in Acts 1 perfectly – but people seem to want to squeeze Paul into the twelve!!
May God bless you.