A Compelling Reason
Pastor Ricky Kurth
“I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing” (II Cor. 12:11).
The Apostle Paul did not like to “glory” or boast
about his apostleship. He would much rather spend his time teaching
the great truths of the Mystery, and the Word of God, rightly
divided. However, the immaturity of the Corinthians “compelled”
him to such boasting. They were so impressed with the boasting of the
“false apostles” (11:13) that Paul was forced to speak to them in
the only language they seemed to understand—that of boasting.
Grace believers are often accused of boasting too much about the
apostleship of Paul, and to this we plead guilty. We too would much
rather spend our time teaching the great truths of the Word of God,
rightly divided. However, the sorry state of modern Christianity is
such that we too are “compelled” to boast about Paul’s
apostleship. The immaturity of contemporary Christianity has caused
them to overlook Paul as “the apostle of the Gentiles”
(Rom. 11:13), and presents us with a compelling reason to
emphasize his apostleship.
Paul found the Corinthian situation especially disappointing,
since as he told them, “I ought to have been commended of you.”
As the one who had begotten them in the gospel (I Cor. 4:15), they
should have been singing the praises of his apostleship, instead of
forcing him to defend it. And so it is today. All who are saved in
the dispensation of Grace are saved by grace through faith apart from
works (Eph. 2:8,9), a gospel that is exclusive to the
Apostle Paul. And so in a very real sense, all who are saved today
are begotten of the Apostle Paul, and should be singing the praises
of his apostleship, instead of forcing us to defend it.
The false apostles in Corinth were probably protesting, “Why,
Paul isn’t even one of the twelve apostles! We have as much
authority as he has!” This forced Paul to declare that he was “not
a whit behind” the very chiefest apostles, i.e., James, Peter
and John. But if Paul only claimed he wasn’t “behind” the
twelve apostles, why do we insist on emphasizing his epistles ahead
of the epistles of James, Peter and John?
Ah, Paul’s apostleship was equal to theirs, but he was
the apostle of a different group of people. As he told the
Galatians, “He that wrought effectually in Peter to the
apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me
toward the Gentiles” (2:8). All state governors are equal
in authority; no governor is a whit behind any other. However, if I
am wise, I must recognize the authority of the governor of my
state. And if we are wise as Christians, we must likewise recognize
the authority of “the apostle of the Gentiles.”
The simplicity of the Gospel
Les Feldick
(A 10 Minute Video)
E-mail
this BIBLE STUDY to all your friends
No comments:
Post a Comment