Paul, Lost & Found

The thirteen epistles of Paul (Romans to Philemon) form a distinct body of truth; and this realm of truth is about us, the Church, the Body and Bride of Christ, as no other Scriptures are. And Paul is the Father’s special messenger to us. As has been truly said, “All of the Bible is for us, but it is not all about us.”

The teaching that the choice of Matthias in Acts 1 was a blunder on Peter’s part has arisen from failure to recognize the character of Paul’s calling and work. And to fail to realize this is to miss the vital core of Paul’s whole teaching. Terrible loss! For when the Church lost this (as she early did) she had left no defense against Judaism and its law on the one hand and worldliness on the other. When we consider Paul’s teaching we soon see its special character; but it is plain, even before a study of his doctrine, that his apostleship was wholly distinct from and independent of that of the Twelve.

Israel was, and in God’s gracious purpose is yet to be, His earthly people. That is, their calling is to represent God on the earth, as the chief nation of the earth, dwelling in a special country, in an earthly order of things, with earthly hopes, rewards, etc. But the Church, the Body of Christ, into which, in the Father’s wondrous grace, we have been called, is heavenly. The Church has nothing to do with earth, except to witness in the name of the Lord, and then pass on into glory, into heaven, her eternal home.

We will never be able to understand Scripture till we see sharply and clearly the distinction between Israel, the chosen earthly nation, and the Church, the Body of Christ. Paul is the apostle of the latter. And, as such, he is the apostle of a totally new thing. For Israel is constantly before us in the Old Testament and the Gospels, but the Church is very rarely even referred to before we come to Acts.

At first thought these distinctions will not seem important; but when we remember that the right understanding of our exact relation as the Church, is absolutely necessary, if we are to apprehend and enter into our full rights, privileges and responsibilities as Christians, their most careful study will be seen to be imperative. It was because Paul had entered fully into his exact place and calling that he had the power he did.

It is in Acts 9:20 that the Lord Jesus is first proclaimed, by Paul, as the Son of God — and this is a distinct advance of truth concerning Him. Paul already stood in clearer light regarding the risen and glorified Lord than did the other apostles, for they had known Him primarily, in humiliation, and they were His messengers to Israel, of whom is Christ “as concerning the flesh” (Rom. 9:5). But Paul’s first vision of the Lord Jesus was as the Glorified One, the Son of God, in resurrection glory. Paul, we may say, never saw aught, after his conversion, but “the glory of that light” that burst into his life from the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

We do not mean that the other apostles did not recognize the Lord Jesus as the Son of God. They had, long since. But their first testimony at Jerusalem and to Israel had been more of the Messiahship and Lordship of Jesus, as the crucified but now risen King. But Paul received all his teaching from heaven, from the Lord Jesus Christ in glory, rather than Jesus on earth in His Jewish connections. Paul’s Gospel has nothing Jewish about it. He had been so completely taken out of Judaism and all connection with “old things,” that the Jews would never recognize him again. And the Jewish Christians constantly misunderstood him — to say nothing of most Christians today! — Wm. R. Newell

MJStanford

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(Materials by Miles J. Stanford are republished here under exclusive permission from the author.)