How Paul Explained It
Paul knew something that no one else knew; not because of anything he had done, but simply because God was pleased to reveal it to him. Paul did not learn it by studying under Peter, James and John. He couldn't learn it from them because they had a different Gospel message than the one God wanted Paul to preach. Paul learned the Grace Gospel directly from God: by special revelation. Paul spent the rest of his life defending his unique knowledge of God's Mystery. Many people, from inside and outside the Body of Christ, opposed Paul's dispensational ministry.
Here are a few examples of how Paul defended his position as Apostle to the Gentiles and the Dispensation of the Mystery: "The Gospel of the Grace of God."
"I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preach is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately in Arabia and later returned to Damascus. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days...Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. 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. Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you. 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. On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews. For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, 'You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified." (Galatians 1:11-2:16)
Notice that Paul stood up to Peter, the Chief Apostle of the Dispensation of the Kingdom of God, and accused him of the worst kind of hypocrisy! Paul and Peter were longtime friends. Why would he do that to Peter? Paul was the Chief Apostle of the Gospel of the Grace of God. Peter was being disobedient to what he knew to be God's plan for Gentiles and Jews in the new dispensation. Paul had to step in and make a strong and bold point so that all would know this was wrong. That's why he did it.
Here are some other examples:
"I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them." (Romans 11:13-14)
"Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 9:1-2)
I've heard some people complain that Paul was a boaster when he pointed to his special calling. They miss the point. Cornelius Stam explains it well in his book, "Paul: His Apostleship and Message."
"In defending his apostleship, Paul glorifies, not himself, but the grace of God. While he did--and rightly--magnify his office, this was not to glorify himself, but the grace of God, for God had revealed the riches of His grace, not merely through a message, but through the individual appointed to proclaim that message: the chief of sinners, saved by grace. If the apostleship of Paul (the divinely-chosen vessel to demonstrate that grace) were disproved, so, of course, would be the message he proclaimed. Thus, while defending his apostleship he freely confesses that he himself is nothing."
In I Cor. 15:9 Paul freely acknowledges: "For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet [worthy] to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God." But he adds: "But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (Ver. 10).
Paul goes even further in Eph. 3:8: "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." Thus he writes to the Corinthians in II Cor. 12:11: "...in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing." In I Tim. 1:12-16 he spells this out, as it were: "And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which 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. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting.
How this all harmonizes with his basic claims as to his apostleship: Rom 1:5: "By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for His name."
Eph. 3:6,7: "That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel. Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God, given unto me by the effectual working of His power."
("Paul: His Apostleship and Message," Cornelius R. Stam, Berean Bible Society, 7609 W. Belmont Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60635, 1985)
We make much of The Gospel of the Grace of God and Paul's unique position as Apostle of that message because it is God's will that we do. We take no special pride in proclaiming this message. It is our duty to teach what God has delivered to us. However, we do take pride in Jesus Christ. He is the One Who bled and died for our sins. He is the One Who opened an effectual door for Gentiles and Jews to become members of His Glorious Body. "Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called 'uncircumcised' by those who call themselves 'the circumcision' (that done in the body by the hands of men)--remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." (Ephesians 2:11-22)
Paul knew something that no one else knew; not because of anything he had done, but simply because God was pleased to reveal it to him. Paul did not learn it by studying under Peter, James and John. He couldn't learn it from them because they had a different Gospel message than the one God wanted Paul to preach. Paul learned the Grace Gospel directly from God: by special revelation. Paul spent the rest of his life defending his unique knowledge of God's Mystery. Many people, from inside and outside the Body of Christ, opposed Paul's dispensational ministry.
Here are a few examples of how Paul defended his position as Apostle to the Gentiles and the Dispensation of the Mystery: "The Gospel of the Grace of God."
"I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preach is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately in Arabia and later returned to Damascus. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days...Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. 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. Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you. 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. On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews. For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, 'You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified." (Galatians 1:11-2:16)
Notice that Paul stood up to Peter, the Chief Apostle of the Dispensation of the Kingdom of God, and accused him of the worst kind of hypocrisy! Paul and Peter were longtime friends. Why would he do that to Peter? Paul was the Chief Apostle of the Gospel of the Grace of God. Peter was being disobedient to what he knew to be God's plan for Gentiles and Jews in the new dispensation. Paul had to step in and make a strong and bold point so that all would know this was wrong. That's why he did it.
Here are some other examples:
"I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them." (Romans 11:13-14)
"Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 9:1-2)
I've heard some people complain that Paul was a boaster when he pointed to his special calling. They miss the point. Cornelius Stam explains it well in his book, "Paul: His Apostleship and Message."
"In defending his apostleship, Paul glorifies, not himself, but the grace of God. While he did--and rightly--magnify his office, this was not to glorify himself, but the grace of God, for God had revealed the riches of His grace, not merely through a message, but through the individual appointed to proclaim that message: the chief of sinners, saved by grace. If the apostleship of Paul (the divinely-chosen vessel to demonstrate that grace) were disproved, so, of course, would be the message he proclaimed. Thus, while defending his apostleship he freely confesses that he himself is nothing."
In I Cor. 15:9 Paul freely acknowledges: "For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet [worthy] to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God." But he adds: "But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (Ver. 10).
Paul goes even further in Eph. 3:8: "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." Thus he writes to the Corinthians in II Cor. 12:11: "...in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing." In I Tim. 1:12-16 he spells this out, as it were: "And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which 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. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting.
How this all harmonizes with his basic claims as to his apostleship: Rom 1:5: "By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for His name."
Eph. 3:6,7: "That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel. Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God, given unto me by the effectual working of His power."
("Paul: His Apostleship and Message," Cornelius R. Stam, Berean Bible Society, 7609 W. Belmont Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60635, 1985)
We make much of The Gospel of the Grace of God and Paul's unique position as Apostle of that message because it is God's will that we do. We take no special pride in proclaiming this message. It is our duty to teach what God has delivered to us. However, we do take pride in Jesus Christ. He is the One Who bled and died for our sins. He is the One Who opened an effectual door for Gentiles and Jews to become members of His Glorious Body. "Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called 'uncircumcised' by those who call themselves 'the circumcision' (that done in the body by the hands of men)--remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." (Ephesians 2:11-22)
