Bein' a Berean
…outside the box but inside God's Word...
Thirteen New Testament letters were written in his name. Paul is the only apostle who clearly presents the gospel step by step with the boldness to say, “But even if we (or an angel from heaven) should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be condemned to hell!” Galatians 1:8 (NET).
Who was Paul? What was he like?
Please understand me: I highly esteem Paul, his ministry and his writings, but in keeping with the integrity of the Bible, the weaknesses of significant people are not avoided.
Paul was a Jew and a Roman citizen. He was highly educated under Gamaliel, a renowned teacher of Jewish law in the first century. Jesus chose him to be an apostle to the Gentiles.
“For the same God who worked through Peter as the apostle to the Jews also worked through me as the apostle to the Gentiles.” Galatians 2:8
“And I have been chosen as a preacher and apostle to teach the Gentiles this message about faith and truth.” I Timothy 2:7
How did he compare his zeal for the Lord to the other apostles:
Are they servants of Christ? (I am talking like I am out of my mind!) I am even more so: with much greater labors, with far more imprisonments, with more severe beatings, facing death many times. Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with a rod. Once I received a stoning. Three times I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I spent adrift in the open sea. I have been on journeys many times, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from my own countrymen, in dangers from Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers at sea, in dangers from false brothers, in hard work and toil, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, many times without food, in cold and without enough clothing. 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 (NET)
What about the other side of Paul, the more human side, that side of him which exhibits some of the faults that plague humanity?
Even though Paul knew that Jesus had sent him to the Gentiles, he regularly violated that mandate—always to his detriment.
As you read through the Acts of the Apostles, give attention to Paul’s first approach to presenting the Gospel. The following are a few examples:”
But going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue… Acts 13:14
In Iconium they entered the synagogue… Acts 14:1
Now when they had traveled… they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue… he went to them, and… reasoned with them from the Scriptures Acts 17:1-2
The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue… Acts 17:10
They came to Ephesus, and he left them there. Now he himself entered the synagogue… Acts 18:19
Paul's first missionary contact, wherever he landed, was with the Jews. This was not his mandate.
What was the outcome of his action?
But the Jews incited the devout women of prominence and the leading men of [Pisidian Antioch], and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of [Pisidian Antioch]. But they shook off the dust of their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. Acts 13:50-52
But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. Acts 14:19
But the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the market place, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. Acts 17:5
Could we say that Paul’s multiple hardships, as listed above from 2 Corinthians 11, were, too often, self-inflicted because he ignored his mandate to the Gentiles?
Even his trip to Jerusalem was wrongly motivated:
And see, now I go bound in the *spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. Acts 20:22 (NKJV) [*i.e. his own spirit]
He continued even though he was warned of the outcome.
that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. Acts 20:23-24 (NKJV)
a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” Acts 21:10-11…
God did not want Paul to go to Jerusalem and used the Roman soldiers to bind Paul and forcibly take him back to evangelize to the Gentiles.
Do we celebrate his ‘fearless determination” to preach the gospel to the Jews or learn from his disobedience?
We can learn from the one time Paul determined to obey his calling:
When they opposed him and reviled him, he protested by shaking out his clothes and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am guiltless! From now on I will go to the Gentiles!” Then Paul left the synagogue and went to the house of a person named Titius Justus, a Gentile who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the president of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians who heard about it believed and were baptized. The Lord said to Paul by a vision in the night, “Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent, because I am with you, and no one will assault you to harm you, because I have many people in this city.” So he stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. Acts 18:6-11 (NET)
God affirmed Paul’s decision to focus on the Gentiles and encouraged and protected him. As a result, he went without persecution for a year and six months.
He received no affirmation, only persecution, stoning, and hardship when he stubbornly gave his first attention to the Jews.
From Paul’s actions and consequences, we can learn that God honours obedience, not self-motivated disobedience, even if it seems righteous.
Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Matthew 7:22-23 (NKJV)
The writings we enjoy and from which we derive benefit are those Paul wrote for the Gentile believers.
