|
In the Gospel
accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John we read about how that when the
Lord Jesus Christ was here upon this earth He separated unto Himself 12 men
whom He named and commissioned to be apostles. As Luke 6:13-16 records...
"And when it was
day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve,
whom he also named apostles; Simon, (whom he also named Peter), and Andrew
his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas,
James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, and Judas the
brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the
traitor."
As we go through the Gospel accounts we
read how that these 12 apostles served with the Lord during His earthly
ministry. We also read how that Judas Iscariot betrayed the Lord, and how
that following the Lord's death, resurrection and ascension back to the
Father, a man by the name of Matthias was chosen and ordained to replace
Judas. (Acts 1:15 26) With Matthias now "numbered with the eleven
apostles", the opening chapters of the book of Acts record the
ministry and activities of these apostles as they carried out the ministry
the Lord had given to them.
But when we come to the 9th chapter in the
book of Acts, we learn about an event that took place which was unexpected.
Without warning or previous indication of doing so, the Lord Jesus Christ
came back from heaven and appeared unto a man by the name of Saul of Tarsus.
As Acts 9:1 6 relate...
"And Saul, yet
breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the
Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to
the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or
women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he
came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from
heaven: and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the
Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick
against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt
thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the
city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do."
The Lord's unanticipated re appearance
from heaven to this man Saul, (also known as Paul), is of profound
importance, because as the Lord says in Acts 9:15, this man Paul "is
a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and Kings, and
the children of Israel:". The Lord did not come back from heaven
just to save Paul, and stop him from persecuting Him, but He came back to
raise him up as a new apostle! In appearing to Paul, the Lord was raising up
a brand new apostle, even though He had 12 others who were already
functioning as apostles.
THE PUZZLE OF PAUL
The Lord's unexpected re appearance to
Paul to raise him up as a new apostle is an intriguing issue. Why did the
Lord do this? What was the purpose behind raising up a new apostle, and why
was there a need for it? Various reasons have been proposed, with the most
common ones appealing to either laxity or error on the part of the 12
apostles as the reason for why the Lord raised up Paul. The 12 were lax, it
is said, in carrying out their commission to "go into all the world",
and they remained in Jerusalem when the persecution arose about the stoning
of Stephen. (Acts 8:1) Therefore, God raised up another apostle to hasten
the spread of the gospel. Or, as it is most often said, Peter and the others
acted hastily in replacing Judas, and were in error in ordaining Matthais.
The Lord's choice was Paul all along, it is said, and He corrected their
impetuous act when He raised up Paul.
But were the 12 apostles either lax in
their commission, or in error when they ordained Matthias to replace Judas?
Are either of these reasons the reason God gives for why He raised up Paul
as a new apostle? An examination of the testimony of God's word will show,
first of all, that the 12 apostles were neither lax or in error. And then it
will show that, as God has Paul himself explain, the reason God raised him
up as a new apostle is because God has ushered in a brand new dispensation
the dispensation of the grace of God for us Gentiles.
THE 12 AND THEIR
COMMISSION
The 12 apostles were called and
commissioned by the Lord in connection with God's program and special
dealings with the nation of Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ had come into this
world as Israel's Messiah. He was their "horn of salvation"
raised up in the house of God's servant David to whom the throne of David
would be given and the kingdom restored to Israel. He would "reign
over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there would be no end".
He would save Israel from her enemies, and "perform the mercy
promised unto the fathers" and "remember His holy covenant"
and oath unto Abraham. (Luke 1:30 33; 67 75) With this being the program of
God at this time, the gospel that God had proclaimed to Israel was "the
gospel of the kingdom"; the good news to Israel that "the
kingdom of heaven is at hand". (Matthew 3:1 3; Mark 1:14 15)
The 12 apostles were called and
commissioned in connection with this program. As Matthew 10:1ff testifies,
they were given power to manifest the signs of the kingdom, and they
were told to only go to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel",
and not to go to any Gentiles or even to any of the Samaritans.
"And when he had
called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against
unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and
all manner of disease....These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded
them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any
city of the Samaritans enter ye not. But go rather to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven
is at hand." (verses 1, 5 7)
The reason for this restricted ministry is
because it was Israel's kingdom that was in view, and the program of God
called for Israel in her fullness and glory to be the blessing to the world.
(cf. Isaiah 2:1 4; 11:1 10; 60:1 3)
The 12 apostles were not only commissioned
to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom to Israel, but they were also chosen
by the Lord to be rulers in the kingdom. As the Lord told them in Matthew
19:28...
"Verily I say
unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son
of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
This is why there were 12 apostles. One
for each tribe. They were Israel's apostles proclaiming to them the gospel
of the kingdom, and they will be Israel's rulers in that kingdom.
A FURTHER COMMISSIONING
OF THE 12
Following Christ's suffering and
resurrection from the dead, the Lord further commissioned His apostles. He
taught them that it was necessary for "Christ to suffer these things
and to enter into His glory" (Luke 24:25 27). He also taught them
that, having suffered, "all power" was now given unto Him
with which to have His day, and so establish the kingdom. With this being
the case, the Lord now further commissioned the apostles to preach the
gospel of the kingdom in all the world. But they were to do this still in
accordance with Israel's priority position. The Lord, therefore, said to
them...
"that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations,
BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM" (Luke 24:47).
In the opening chapters of the book of
Acts we see how that the 12 apostles, (now with Matthias replacing Judas),
functioned in accordance with this further commissioning. They rightly
limited their ministry to the "men of Israel" as they
preached to them the arrival of Israel's "last days", just
as the prophets foretold, (Acts 2:14 40). They rightly recognized and taught
them that...
"Ye are the
children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our
fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of
the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus,
sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his
iniquities." (Acts 3:25 26)
The 12 apostles functioned just as they
were commissioned, and they knew full well what God was doing, just as they
declared to Israel's rulers in Acts 5:30 31.
"The
God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him
hath God exalted with his right hand to be a PRINCE and a Saviour,
FOR TO GIVE REPENTANCE TO ISRAEL, and forgiveness of sins."
Since this was what God was doing, they
dealt with the "men of Israel" and they continued to be
"witnesses of these things" to them, just as the opening
chapters of the book of Acts describe.
WERE THEY LAX IN THEIR
MINISTRY?
By no means were the 12 lax or sluggish in
their ministry. The repeated testimony is that they were "filled
with the Holy Ghost", and that they "spake the word of God
with boldness". As the record says, "And with great power
gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great
grace was upon them all." (Acts 4:31,33)
They knew their commission, and they knew
what God was doing. They knew that Israel was being dealt with according to
the program and her covenant status, and according to the Lord's
commissioning of them. Therefore, they ministered in Jerusalem, and remained
there even when persecuted.
WERE THEY WRONG IN
ORDAINING MATTHIAS?
A look at the record in Acts 1:15 26 will
show that by no means were Peter and the others wrong or impetuous in
ordaining Matthias. Peter referred knowledgeably to what "the Holy
Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas". He knew
what David said in the Psalms about him, especially about "and his
bishopric let another take. But moreover, Peter knew what David said
about Judas in the context of those Psalms and in the context of the
progression of God's dealings with Israel. He knew Judas' place must be
filled at that time, in accordance with the Psalms. Therefore, he declares
that "of these men...MUST ONE BE ORDAINED to be a witness with us of
his resurrection."
But not only that, the qualifications
which the Lord laid down for one to "take part in this ministry and
apostleship", forbid anyone like Paul from doing so. As Peter
states in verses 21 22...
"Wherefore of
these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus
went in and out among us, BEGINNING from the baptism of John, unto that
same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a
witness with us of his resurrection."
It is obvious that Paul did not meet these
qualifications, not to even mention that he was an enemy of the Lord at this
time.
No, Peter and the others were not in error
in ordaining Matthias. They did not act impetuously and 'run ahead' of God.
But rather, they acted in accordance with the Lord's will, and in accordance
with the Psalms.
WHY THEN THE NEW APOSTLE
PAUL?
God Himself answers that question through
the testimony of the apostle Paul. This new apostle Paul is "the
apostle of the Gentiles" in accordance with the ushering in of the
new "dispensation of the grace of God" to us Gentiles. As
Paul testifies in Ephesians 3...
"For this cause I
Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of
the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you ward: how
that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in
few words, whereby, when ye read ye may understand my knowledge in the
mystery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of
men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the
Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body and
partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:" (verses 1 6)
With the raising up of Paul, God ushered
in this present dispensation of Gentile grace in which we live. He revealed
to Paul that He was temporarily setting Israel and His program with her
aside, (Rom. 11:1 25), and that He was turning to the Gentiles to accomplish
with them a purpose He has in His Son, which was a "mystery"
a purpose He kept secret and hid in Himself in ages and generations past.
(cf. Rom. 16:25 27; Col. 1:25 27)
In this "dispensation of the grace
of God" to us Gentiles, the former situation of Israel being
"nigh" unto God and us Gentiles being "far off"
no longer exists. God has set His program with Israel temporarily aside. He
has "broken down the middle wall of partition" between Jew
and Gentile and has put Jew and Gentile on the same level. And He is from
this new situation forming "one new man"; the "new
creation", the church the body of Christ. (Eph. 2:11 22) The
apostle Paul is the one to whom God revealed the ushering in of this new
program, or dispensation. To him "the mystery of Christ"
was revealed, and through him as the Lord's "chosen vessel",
it is made known. Because of this, Paul says in Romans 11:13...
"For I speak to
you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine
office".
When our Lord was here on this earth,
God's program and dealings were with the nation of Israel. The 12 apostles
were chosen, commissioned, and functioned in connection with that program.
But God interrupted that program and He has ushered in a new program the
dispensation of His grace to us Gentiles and He did this through a new
apostle Paul. As Christians we need to know this and realize that it is
through the epistles of the apostle Paul that God has set forth His word
which is expressly TO us and ABOUT us today.
This study is available
in the doctrinal tract titled
“The Apostle Paul and His Special Apostleship from God”
on the Literature page.
|
