Paul says it was God’s eternal purpose “to reveal His Son in me.” (Gal. 1:16)

As my pastor, Richard Jordan, explains, “Paul was in Christ, but also Christ was in Paul, and Christ reveals Himself to the world today through the ministry of Paul.

“That’s why Paul could write to the Corinthians and say ‘since you see a proof of Christ speaking in me.’ When he spoke it was with the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ; that’s the reason he could say ‘the words of Christ dwell in you.’ He could exhort the Ephesians and commend them to the word of His grace because it was Christ speaking in grace through Paul.”

*****

One of the quickest ways you know Paul was not one of the 12 apostles from Christ’s earthly ministry is he would often compare himself with them (In I Cor.15, he even informs that he engaged in more abundant labor than the 12), demonstrating his ministry and message was separate and distinct from the 12’s.

“The Apostle Paul never even qualified to be one of the 12,” says Jordan. “Jesus said to (His disciples) in John 15:27, ‘And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.’ He says, ‘You that have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, will sit on 12 thrones judging 12 tribes of Israel.’

“The issue is those who have followed Christ beginning with John's baptism and going to the ascension. That's the qualification for being one of the 12. In case you never noticed, Paul wasn't there to qualify. He was never in the running and you don't get elected, folks, until you run, so you’ve got to get into the race to be able to be elected.”

Not only didn’t Paul qualify, he didn't follow the same commission the 12 were given. Matt. 28: 18, for one example, has Christ exhorting His disciples, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

Jordan reasons, “There's one thing for sure, that in the post-resurrection commission of the Lord Jesus Christ, He commissioned His disciples to go forth and baptize the converts. Now, you ever compared that with I Corinthians 1:17?

“Paul says, ‘For Christ sent me not to baptize.’ He’s not executing his ministry on the basis of Matthew 28—the so-called ‘Great Commission.’ There isn’t any way, folks, unless you put on blinders and don’t pay ANY attention to what God’s Word says, and I know you, in your heart, aren’t trying to do that. . .”

“Do I need to remind you how that in Matthew 23: 1-3, the Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples to obey those that sit in Moses’ seat? He said to the people on the Sermon on the Mount, in Matt. 5:19, that, ‘Whosoever teacheth the law is going to be great in the kingdom,’ In Matt. 28:20, He said, ‘Teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you,’ and if you go out and teach what He commanded, you're going to go out and teach the law.

“Do I need to compare with you then where Paul, in Romans 6: 14-15, says twice that we’re not under the law but under grace? Or Romans 7: 4-6, where he talks about us being delivered from the law and not being under the law? Or how in Chapter 10:4, where he says that, ‘Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth’?

“The Holy Spirit has clearly separated the Apostle Paul from the 12. If you think you can get around all these passages, here’s one that there’s NO way to get around because God the Holy Spirit just wrote it real simple and clear. In I Cor. 15:5, talking about the post-resurrection appearance of Christ, it says, ‘And that (Jesus) was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve.’

“Now you see how neatly the Holy Spirit fixed that thing with a reference to the 12 between the resurrection and the ascension when there weren’t really but 11?

“Matthias was chosen, and Paul, writing by inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, looks back and says ‘the 12.’ You see, the Holy Spirit, as He wrote in I Cor.15:8, considered Matthias as the 12^th man, not Paul! Paul weren't there, folks, between the resurrection and the ascension!

“Paul and the 12 represent different programs. In Luke 22, the Lord Jesus Christ says that, ‘As my Father has sent me, so I have appointed unto you a kingdom and you’re going to sit on these 12 thrones, judging these 12 tribes of Israel.

“That’s the reason there are 12 of them and they represent the nation. The Apostle Paul is one man to represent the one Body of Christ, and what a fitting representative he is for the church the Body of Christ is Jew and Gentile joined together in one body. And Paul, my dear friend, is Jew and Gentile joined together in one person.

“Do you ever notice in Philippians 3 where Paul talks about his pedigree, saying, ‘I was circumcised the 8^th day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew and a Pharisee’? He’s telling you, ‘I was a right-wing Bible-thumping fundamentalist, Brother.’

“And yet in Acts 16: 37, he says, ‘I’m a Roman.’ And in Acts 22:28, he doesn’t say just that he’s a Roman, he says, ‘I’m a free-born Gentile.’ That man’s born a Gentile and he’s born a Jew.

“There’s a Jew and a Gentile in one person and God saves him. Paul represents the church the Body of Christ, and he preached a different message from the 12. The 12’s message centered on the establishment of Messiah’s kingdom on earth, while in Paul’s message, the kingdom’s held in abeyance. The kingdom program was interrupted, and, as Paul tells us, ‘Blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.’

“God isn't through with Israel. That's where our millennial brethren stump their toe because they think God's through with them, and all this stuff's been misunderstood when it hasn't been misunderstood. What they fail to see is that God has simply interrupted the fulfillment of those literal promises to Israel's seed; Abraham's seed.

“Do you remember Peter's message in Acts 3; how he stood there and proclaimed that if they would repent and be converted God would send back the Lord Jesus Christ to dwell there with them? He was proclaiming Christ still as Emmanuel; God coming down here to dwell with us.

“Such a message would be totally out of place today. We're not out today proclaiming, ‘Repent and God will send Christ down here to dwell with you.’ We're saying, ‘Believe and God will take you up there and place you with Him.’

“Paul’s message for us today is centered in the riches of God’s grace and mercy to a Christ-rejecting world. It’s the reconciling of Jew and Gentile together in one body and were given a place in the heavenlies with Him.

“From Galatians 2: 7-9, you see that the difference between Paul and the 12 is clearly recognized by the 12 themselves. In verse 6, Paul says that ‘they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me.’

“He’s saying, ‘They couldn't tell me anything I didn't already know. I knew all about the kingdom program, but contrariwise, I could tell them something they didn't have. I had some revelation they hadn't gotten yet. When they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter, and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace given to me, and Barnabus gave us the right hands of fellowship that we should go to the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. . .’

“The 12 apostles recognized the further revelation and the advance in the program that was given to Paul, and they take part in a public recognition that God has now appointed Paul as the apostle to the Gentiles.

“And if you had the 12 standing up here tonight, that’s the message they’d have for you. If you were to ask peter, ‘Who am I to follow?’ (II Peter 3 is to be studied in this regard),

Peter would say, ‘Follow Paul because he’s God’s spokesman for the present dispensation of grace.’

“In Romans 11:13, Paul says, ‘For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office.’ You and I are Gentiles, so who's our apostle? Paul. That may be simplistic but it's quite realistic. You say, ‘What about a Jewish brother?’ In the very next verse, he writes, ‘If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.’

“In Romans 9, 10 and 11, which is the Jewish dispensational section of the book of Romans, Paul’s magnifying his Gentile apostleship so these Jewish people might come along and begin to emulate the Gentiles and get saved. A Jew has to be like a Gentile today in order to get saved. Verse 32 says ‘God concluded them all in unbelief that He may have mercy upon all.’

“The religious system tries to make the Gentile like Israel, putting them under Israel’s program, but God doesn't want you under Israel's program; He wants Israel under the Gentile’s program. If you're a Jewish person today, you’re to identify yourself with (Paul) ‘the chief of sinners.’

“Paul, speaking again on his authority, says in I Cor. 14:37, ‘If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.’

“He’s saying, ‘If any man think himself to be a prophet—a spokesman for God—or a spiritual, thinking you know something about the Book and spiritual life, here's what you're going to do: acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of God.’

“In order to get the profit out of that Book that I need, I have to have instructions that are adequate for my situation today. The 10 Commandments won’t do. They’re not adequate for the execution of a pleasing walk before God today. The Sermon on the Mount won’t do either. Neither will the Golden Rule (Matt. 7:12), as they call it, or the Lord’s Prayer.

“Jesus commands in Matt. 7:12, ‘Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets,’ and you’ve never been able to keep the law a second in your life. It's not adequate for you or me.

“Do we pray, ‘Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.’ You're in the same mess I'm in if that's it. You’re a carnal wretch like me, and we've got the verse over there where Paul says, ‘Forgiving one another as Christ forgave you.’ That’s OUR motivating factor; that’s how it operates today! The Sermon on the Mount is not adequate for your operation today.

“It’s Paul who has so much to say about grace. It’s Paul who has so much to say about the spiritual life and walk of the Believers today, and how we’re to live and walk to God’s glory and function as members of the Body of Christ.

“Christ is saying, ‘I saved the chief of sinners by my grace and I gave him to you as a living demonstration, and an example and a pattern, of that grace to you. Hear ye him.’

“As for the 12, they say, ‘God in His infinite grace and wisdom has interrupted the prophetic kingdom program and has given us further revelation through the Apostle Paul and we commend you to him—hear ye him.’

“The Apostle himself stands and says, ‘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.’ (Eph. 3:8) Be ye therefore followers of me as I am of Christ, for I magnify my God-given office.’

“God places a high premium on faithful obedience to His Word to us and the religious system of the world attempts to draw us away from our obedience to God’s Word and to being faithful stewards of the mysteries of Christ.”