The Special Representative - Part 1

“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal His son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen…” (Gal 1:15-16). About the Apostle Paul’s special assignment.

There are, I think, four things that can be said of Paul. First, no one ever experienced such a radical conversion and calling as he did. Second, no one else can so radically testify to turning away from his old life and devotion to a new life in Christ. Third, no one proclaims the radical gravity of sin and the perfection of grace more deeply than Paul. Fourth, no one in the New Testament is so radically called the greatest preacher of the New Testament. This is confirmed by the sheer number of letters he wrote and the amount of space his actions occupy in the book of Acts. While the Jewish apostles worked mostly among the Jews, it was the Gentile apostle Paul (and not the Jewish apostles) who reached the nations known at that time with Jesus’ message of salvation. He went out into “all nations” (Matt 28:19). That fact alone should grab our attention (Col 1:23).

In this context, it’s noteworthy that in the Gospel of John (in my opinion, the Gospel of transition to the world of nations), Jesus didn’t tell Peter to “Go into all nations” but to “Feed my sheep” (John 21:16-17). Yet who are Jesus’ sheep? The believing members of the people of Israel (Heb 13:20). And Peter did, indeed, remain among the Jews (Gal 2:9). His letters are addressed to the Jews in exile, and he speaks of the Shepherd (1 Pet 2:25; 5:4). But Paul became the Apostle to the Nations.

The Old Testament contains an interesting reference to this. In it, the Messiah—speaking as the servant of God—says: “Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name … And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth” (Isa 49:1, 6). Two terms stand out from this passage: “isles” and “the end of the earth.”

1. “Listen O, isles (ijjim), unto me … ye people, from far.” According to Dr. Roger Liebi, this is a reference to Europe; specifically, the Europe that was reached by the Apostle Paul. God had prepared it in advance for this salvation; hence, the request of the Macedonian man: “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us” (Acts 16:9).

2. “I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles (goyim), that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth” (Acts 13:47). This term indicates all other peoples outside Europe, even to the end of the earth. That’s why the Apostle Paul quotes this verse when the Jews resisted the message (verses 45-48).

The order is therefore as follows: First, Israel (Jewish apostles); second, Europe (the Apostle Paul); and third, the rest of the world (European missionaries). Because of these specific features and revelations, which were part of Paul’s calling, no one was more radically persecuted and hated than he was.

You too are special to God, even if you don’t have a calling akin to Paul’s. When God created you, He made you different from anyone else because He wanted you to be unique. As His Son paid the price for salvation, He was also thinking of you. His revelation to you is unique. Your conversion is unique. God has also revealed His Son in you. So, the sphere in which He placed you is a very special and unique one; not always easy, but one chosen for you by Him. He has called you to reach the world that surrounds you. Therefore, do not forget the goal He wants to achieve with you … the love He wants to impart through you … the fruit He wants to produce through you … and the path He’s leading you on!

A New Development in the Church

The point isn’t to elevate Paul’s letters above those of the other Apostles. Every letter has its God-given place. It also isn’t true that Paul’s letters are the only ones valid for the Church; all Scripture is inspired by God (2 Tim 3:16). Paul himself testifies: “Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours” (1 Cor 3:21-22). Elsewhere he exhorts: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom…” (Col 3:16). The Word of Christ was shared by all Apostles alike. His Holy Spirit inspired them all (John 16:12-15).

In the opposite sense, the Apostle Peter said of Paul: “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Pet 3:15-16).

With this, Peter is confirming Paul’s special commission, the wisdom given to him, and the special revelations he received. The Jews found it very difficult to understand Paul’s supplemental teaching, because his new revelations hadn’t yet been revealed in the Old Testament. And because they did not (or did not want to) understand, they twisted many things and rejected Paul.

The Corinthians, for example, tried to dissociate Paul and Peter according to their own perceptions (1 Cor 1:11-13). The previously quoted verses make it clear that the Holy Spirit would not allow this. But from sober, objective observation, we discover that a new development was occurring in the Church through Paul, one that hadn’t existed before. Paul received divine revelations that no one else received. The Pauline revelation includes all of the other statements in Scripture and embraces them, but also adds a large portion and leads to deeper, hitherto-unknown truths and dimensions. His letters are therefore of great value to the Church.

Anyone who isn’t studying and internalizing the Apostle Paul’s theology, will not understand the perfect counsel of God for the Church, and thus for himself personally. He’ll more or less stop or get stuck in the Gospels. But that isn’t what God wants. We shouldn’t overindulge from the appetizers, when there’s still a wonderful main course to come. The Lord called Paul so that we might grow in the revelation of the knowledge of Himself and see the depth of the hope of our calling (Eph 1:17-19).

Through the Apostle Paul’s letters, God reveals much more to us than through the Gospels, which Jesus Himself had indicated to His Apostles (John 16:12-13). In this regard, the Apostle Paul holds a special office.

The Letter to the Hebrews emphasizes: “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment” (Heb 6:1-2).

This isn’t to suggest that we disregard the Gospels … only that we shouldn’t get stuck in them instead of continuing beyond to full growth. And that can only be done through the teachings of the Apostolic letter, particularly Paul’s. In this regard, I’d like to spiritually apply God’s Word to us as it was addressed to Amaziah: “And the man of God answered, The LORD is able to give thee much more than this” (2 Chron 25:9).

Let’s be sure to practice reaching out for whatever spiritual treasures the Lord Almighty has to give us. A New Testament parallel can be found in Ephesians 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” The Lord makes this spiritual kingdom known to us through His revelations to the Apostle Paul.

It’s a great miracle that God uses a person who was once so opposed to Christ, so much for Christ’s purposes. With God all things are possible. It was said of Paul, “He which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed” (Gal 1:23). Consider some of the peculiarities of his calling:

• Paul is the only Apostle known as the Apostle to the Nations.

• He is the only one to speak of the “body of Christ.”

• Only Paul speaks of grace apart from works with regard to salvation. Paul even considered himself the steward of God’s grace (Eph 3:2; Rom 3:28; Gal 2:16; Tit 3:5). Someone once referred to Paul as a “factory of grace” (cf. Acts 20:24). Although Peter and the other Apostles also speak of grace (e.g., 1 Pet 3:18; 5:12), the theology of perfect grace without works is presented by Paul.

• Paul received the deepest secrets of the New Testament. That is why he saw himself and his companions as “stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor 4:1).

His revelations go all the way back—to before the foundations of the world were laid, when there was no creation and no time—and look all the way ahead, to the time when Jesus gives the kingdom back to the Father and God will be all in all (1 Cor 15:24-28; cf. Eph 1:4-10: from “before the foundation of the world” to “the fulness of times”). The other Apostles also lead to deeper truths, but none as far-reaching as Paul. His gospel, received specifically from the Lord, begins with his calling in Acts 9 and after the conversion of the first Gentiles in Acts 10–11.

Paul even called his message the fulfillment of biblical canon (Col 1:25). The book of Revelation forms the end of the Bible, but Paul actually gets to the heart of the canon of redemptive history itself with regard to the Church. John received the revelation for future events on this earth—judgment and blessing. To accomplish this, he was transported to heaven in the Spirit (Rev 4:1), among other things. In contrast, Paul received revelations regarding heavenly blessings (Eph 1:3ff.). He was caught up into the third heaven for this (2 Cor 12:1ff.). So only Paul can say of his revelations: “Unto me [not us], 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; And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ” (Eph 3:8-9). Just as he had been “[made to] see what is the fellowship of the mystery.”

Paul is speaking of a gospel that had been entrusted to him (1 Tim 1:1; Tit 1:3). He speaks of “my gospel” (Rom 2:16; 16:25; 2 Tim 2:8); of “the gospel which was preached of me” (Gal 1:11); “that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles” (Gal 2:2); and “the gospel which I preached unto you” (1 Cor 15:1). He speaks of the fact that the gospel he preached is not of human origin (Gal 1:11). He did not adopt this gospel from others (Apostles), but it was revealed to him by God or by Christ Himself, obviously for a special assignment (Gal 1:12, 16-17).

Paul had not been taught by Peter, nor by other Jews who believed in the Messiah. He had been independent of any human authority from the beginning. Jesus Christ Himself commissioned him directly and was his teacher. Therefore, His gospel is more than the prophetic message of the Old Testament or that of John the Baptist. And it is also more than what Jesus preached in the Gospels. May we ponder these truths and, like Mary, keep these things in our hearts (Luke 2:19).