Reading Galatians With John StottSampl

Paul, an Apostle

Paul claims for himself the very title that the false teachers were evidently denying him. He was an apostle of Jesus Christ. This is the title Jesus used for his special representatives or delegates. From the wider company of disciples he chose twelve, named them “apostles,” and sent them out to preach. Thus they were personally chosen, called, and commissioned by Jesus Christ and authorized to teach in his name. The word apostle was not a general word that could be applied to every Christian like the words believer, saint, brother, or sister. It was a special term reserved for the Twelve and for one or two others the risen Christ had personally appointed.

Paul claimed to belong to this select company of apostles. Notice how he clearly distinguishes himself from other Christians who were with him at the time of writing. He calls them “all the brothers and sisters with me.” He is happy to associate them with him in the salutation, but he unashamedly puts himself first and gives himself a title that he does not give to them. He alone among them is an apostle.

Paul leaves us in no doubt about the nature of his apostleship. He makes a forceful statement that his apostolic commission was neither directly nor indirectly human; it was wholly divine. It was “by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.” God the Father chose Paul to be an apostle and appointed him to this office through Jesus Christ, whom he raised from the dead. It was the risen Lord who commissioned Paul on the Damascus road, and in his letters Paul several times refers to this sight of the risen Christ as an essential condition of his apostleship.

Why did Paul assert and defend his apostleship? It was because the gospel that he preached was at stake. If Paul were not an apostle of Jesus Christ, then people could, and no doubt would, reject his gospel. This he could not bear. For what Paul spoke was Christ’s message on Christ’s authority. So he defended his apostolic authority in order to defend his message.

From Reading Galatians with John Stott by John Stott with Dale and Sandy Larsen.