Why an Apostle Paul? (part 2)

Previously, we focused on Christ's commission to his twelve apostles to carry his teachings to the whole world, and how they clearly failed to do so. Indeed, prior to decisive Divine intervention, the book of Acts makes clear that the Church remained wholly Jewish in both its composition and character. In the previous essay on this topic, we saw how God used Paul to finally get Christ's message to the Gentiles. In this essay, we will examine how Paul's work transformed what had been an insular and provincial movement into something more broadly appealing and universal in nature. In short, we will see that Paul was used by God to effect a fundamental change within the nature of the Church.

In a sense, Paul's life experiences prior to his conversion made him the perfect vehicle for God to use in transforming his Church. In the previous segment, we referenced the fact that Saul/Paul was present at the stoning of Stephen (Acts 8:1). Indeed, in the persecution of the Church which followed that event, we read that "Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison." (Verse 3)

Later, when Paul was arrested at the Temple, he made clear that he was a Jew and addressed the mob in the Hebrew language (Acts 21:39-40 and 22:1-2). According to the account, he told them: "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished." (Acts 22:3-5)

In the same account, when he was on trial before Agrippa, Paul said that he had been a strict Pharisee prior to his conversion (Acts 26:5). He continued: "“I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities." (Verses 9-11)

In fact, Paul's former zealousness within the Jewish faith and persecution of Christ's disciples is well-documented throughout the New Testament. In his letter to the saints at Philippi, Paul wrote: "If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless." (Philippians 3:4-6) Likewise, in his epistle to the saints of Galatia, he wrote: "For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers." (Galatians 1:13-14)

As biblical scholar, Bart Ehrman observed: "Paul was a highly educated and zealous Jew. He prided himself, he tells us, in following the traditions passed along by Pharisees. This would mean, among other things, that he was an expert in the Torah and fervently believed in keeping the Torah to the best of his abilities." In other words, understanding Paul's pre-conversion background is essential to understanding why God chose him to transform his Church and its message. To be more precise, Paul's thoroughly Jewish background, comprehensive understanding of Torah, and participation in Jewish efforts to eradicate the Jesus movement uniquely qualified him to transform a provincial Jewish sect into the world religion which Christianity became. Moreover, there is a fairly widespread consensus these days among biblical scholars that that is precisely what the Apostle Paul did!

Heretofore, we have focused on the fact that Paul transformed the Church by carrying the message about Christ to the Gentiles and bringing them into the Church in ever greater numbers as a consequence of those efforts. Obviously, in so doing, he changed the composition of the Church. Henceforth, the circle of Christ's disciples was NOT exclusively composed of Jewish believers.

However, it wasn't just the composition of the Church that Paul transformed - he also fundamentally altered the way that Christians regarded Torah and their own relationship to it. Now, while I do not subscribe to the notion that Paul's theology was radically different from that of Christ and his original apostles, I do think that the instincts of scholars like James Tabor that there are some fundamental differences when we compare Paul's perspective on Torah and messaging with those of the original apostles.

Moreover, scholars have long understood that Paul's epistle to the Romans constitutes the most comprehensive statement of his theological perspective. This epistle has had a profound impact on the most important Christian theologians since the days of Augustine. Martin Luther thought that it was the most important writing of the New Testament and the most perfect expression of the Gospel. Calvin thought that Romans was the key to a comprehensive understanding of Scripture. In his The Bible, Bart Ehrman wrote: "The letter to the Romans has been, historically, the most influential of Paul's writings. In no small measure that is because Paul uses this letter to wrestle with many of the key theological issues of his day. The book expresses some of the most fundamental aspects of Paul's understanding of the Gospel. It is because of its occasion and purpose that this letter, better than any other, reveals Paul's understanding of his message and mission."

In this regard, much is revealed in Paul's opening to the letter. He wrote: "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ," (Romans 1:1-6) Interestingly, this was one of the few Gentile congregations which Paul had NOT personally founded or visited, so we immediately understand his impulse to establish his credentials within the faith in introducing himself to this congregation. Hence, he makes it very clear that he is Christ's servant, and that God has called him to proclaim his message to the world. In other words, "I am the apostle to the Gentiles."

Then, after expressing his desire to visit Rome and meet with the saints there, Paul quickly pivots to delineating the theme of this communication. Indeed, he told them that he was "eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome." (1:15) He continued: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'" (Verses 16-17) So, Paul makes clear that God's message isn't just for his own people, the Jews - that it is also for Gentiles like them. He also made it very plain that the salvation which was available through Jesus Christ was based on faith, NOT traditional notions about righteousness! He then proceeded to make clear that EVERYONE was responsible to God for their behavior (Romans 1:18-32).

In the following chapter, Paul went on to explain that no human was in a position to judge the behavior of another human - that God will provide the ultimate judgment, and that no one will escape that justice (Romans 2:1-5). He continued: "He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality." (Romans 2:6-11) Once again, the message is clear: The salvation offered through Jesus Christ is also available to Gentiles.

Paul then proceeded to explain how both - those who were bound by the terms of God's covenant with Israel (the Jews), and those who were not bound to observe the tenets of Torah (the Gentiles) - will be subject to God's justice (Romans 2:12-24). The thought concluded with Paul's assertion that anyone who tries to live within God's will is a part of God's people - that being a Jew does NOT automatically secure God's favor (verses 25-29).

Next, Paul went on to explain that Gentiles had the same access to God that Jewish people enjoyed. Yes, Scripture had been given into the hands of the Jews (Romans 3:1-2), but that did not entitle them to special treatment before God. He wrote: "What then? Are we Jews any better off <than the Gentiles>? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: 'None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless no one does good, not even one.'" (Verses 9-12)

Then, finally, Paul tied everything that he had had to say on the subject to the theme that he had referenced in the opening to the epistle. He wrote: "Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law." (Verses 19-28) For Paul, only those who had faith in Jesus would stand justified before God. For Paul, God was just as much the God of the Gentiles as he was the God of the Jews (verses 29-20). Having established the theme of his epistle, Paul then returned to the role that faith had played in the life of the Jewish patriarch, Abraham, and in the promises made to him (Romans 4)

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After finishing with Abraham's example, Paul returned to the one whom he pointed to as the fulfillment of those promises, Jesus Christ. Paul reminded the Romans that Christ must be the object of our faith - that HE alone is the one who has actually reconciled all of us sinners to God (Romans 5:1-11)! Next, Paul contrasted the death that Adam had introduced into the world with the life that Jesus had made possible for all of us (verses 12-21). Even so, Paul went on to warn believers away from using the freedom they have in Christ to indulge in wicked/sinful behavior. He reminds them that this is the very thing from which Christ has rescued them - that we can be slaves to righteousness or sin (Romans 6). Moreover, Paul went on to make clear that he believed that it was a flaw in humans which rendered the Law an unworkable solution for us, not any defect inherent in the Law itself (Romans 7).

Once again, the apostle returned to his favorite theme - the crux of his gospel - that they would be saved by their faith in what Christ had done for them, not by trying to obey Torah. He wrote: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." (Romans 8:1-4) Paul then proceeded to eloquently express his faith that NOTHING would be able to separate a person who had accepted Jesus from his love and protection (verses 31-39).

Later, Paul explained why the Gentiles' faith in Christ had achieved success for them while Israel's pursuit of Torah had resulted in failure. He wrote: "What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, 'Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.'" (Romans 9:30-33)

The chapter divisions having been added much later, Paul's thought continued into the next chapter. He continued: "Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, 'Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?' (that is, to bring Christ down) or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? 'The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart' (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, 'Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.' For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'" (Romans 10:1-13)

In the following chapter, Paul explained that the Jews' failure to accept Jesus as the Messiah had made the Gentiles' acceptance of him possible. He went on to assure them that the Israelites would also someday accept him and be saved (Romans 11). In the remainder of the letter, Paul dispenses practical guidance for Christian living and concludes with some personal remarks to people affiliated with him and the congregation (Romans 12-16). He does, however, assert one more time that he believed that God had commissioned him to carry this message to the Gentiles (Romans 15:14-21).

So, we see that the essence of Paul's message was that God was using him to introduce Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, and that they would be justified by their faith in Jesus Christ - NOT by trying to obey Torah. Just as Paul had written to the saints of Galatia: "We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified." (Galatians 2:15-16) A little later, in the same letter, he wrote: "For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.' Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for 'The righteous shall live by faith.' But the law is not of faith, rather 'The one who does them shall live by them.' Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree'— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith." (3:10-14)

Moreover, we have already demonstrated that this was a consistent theme throughout Paul's career as an apostle of Jesus Christ. Indeed, what we have just read in the epistles to the Romans and Galatians underscores the importance of what happened at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15). This was the moment of decision: Would Christianity remain a provincial Jewish sect? OR Would it become a faith that would embrace a larger audience and appeal to the Gentile world? Some of the Jewish Christians insisted that the new Gentile converts be circumcised and required to obey the tenets of Torah (verse 5). And, according to the author of Acts, this was the moment that Peter finally got it.

We read in that account that, "after there had been much debate," Peter stood up and said: "Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will." (Verses 7-11)

Then, after Paul and Barnabas had talked about their work among the Gentiles, we read that James arose and affirmed Peter's judgment in the matter. Keeping in mind the fact that Peter and James were the pillars of the Jewish Church at Jerusalem, the triumph of Paul's vision and mission is made even more remarkable. James said: "Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues." (Verses 19-21) The verdict? God had accepted the Gentiles into his Church, and who are we to impose the terms of our covenant with him on them?

Hence, we have seen how God used the Apostle Paul to transform the Church from a narrow sect of the Jewish religion into a group which fully embraced Jesus Christ and his commission to his disciples. In short, God used Paul to bring Christ - at long last - to the Gentiles. This is why there was this man named Paul!