Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead),
Truth to Learn
All who are Christian are thus through the grace of God. He has called us to serve Him and we must humbly obey.
Behind the Words
The word apostle is a transliteration, that is, the word has been carried directly across from the Greek word ‘apostolos’ which means ‘one who is sent with a message.’
Meaning Explained
Paul starts off his letter to the Galatians in his typical style, which was a common way of beginning a letter in his day, by identifying who the letter was from. He also states right at the beginning that he is ‘an apostle.’ He says that his apostleship was not conferred on him from other men nor did he inherit his apostleship from someone else. Instead, he affirms here that he was called to be an apostle by Jesus Christ Himself as conferred on him by God the Father. In this case, as Paul notes in this first verse, he was sent by Jesus Christ. His conversion experience is detailed in Acts chapter 9 and again in Acts chapter 26.
There are two qualifications that are necessary before anyone can be considered an apostle of Jesus Christ. The first is that a person must have actually seen and been in the presence of Jesus and the other is that Jesus must have specifically called that person into the ministry. This is certainly true of the 11 original apostles and it is also true of Paul. The unique thing about Paul’s apostolic calling is that he was specifically sent to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. After Paul’s 3rd missionary journey he returned to
“Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance and saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.’
So I said, ‘Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on You. And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’
Then He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.’ “
Thus was Paul sent by Christ Himself to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, a task which Paul took very seriously and a task which he pursued until the day of his death.
Application
According to Romans chapter 8, every Christian is called. We each have work that God wants us to do for Him. We must not resist what God has called us to do but we must willingly submit to His will and give Him all the glory.
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2007 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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