Ruminations on Paul the Apostle

After Jesus Christ the apostle Paul is no doubt the most prolific figure in all of the Biblical writings. Most scholars believe that he is responsible for writing over two-thirds of the New Testament. That's an awesome feat within itself considering Paul was not one of the original twelve apostles. Paul considered himself an apostle, but often felt the need to defend his apostolic authority, in particular in his letters to the Corinthians.

In the fifteenth chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians he felt somewhat disconnected from the original twelve disciples and expressed his feelings in his juxtaposition to the disciples relative to having the divine authority to spread the message of Jesus Christ. He said, "Last of all, I saw him, too, long after the others, as though I had been born at the wrong time. For I am the least of all the apostles, and I am not worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted the church of God." (1 Corinthians 15:8-9, NLT)

Paul's extraordinary conversion on the road to Damascus is well documented throughout the New Testament book of Acts. See Acts 9, Acts 22, and Acts 26.

His revelation is unprecedented. He speaks of the origin, depth and inspiration of his words in his letter to the church at Galatia. He was given the director's cut, if you will, of the gospels. The gospels of Jesus, (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) are very geographical and narrative in nature. They tell the story of Jesus. They place Jesus in time and space. They provide the necessary details of his life that make Jesus real to the reader. The gospels play their part as the movie we watch, but when you reach the epistles of Paul, Paul goes behind the scenes of the events of the gospels and gives us the why's and the how's of the who, what, where, and when.

In his letter to the Roman church Paul in the first three chapters expostulates the doctrine of condemnation informing a Hellenized world that man is inherently evil and has sinned against God. He goes on to tackle the self-righteousness of the Jews who had been dispersed to Rome and maintained that they had received the promise of salvation through the rite of circumcision and their lineage to Abraham. However, Paul is adamant in his divinely inspired assertion that all men have sinned and are in danger of the wrath of God.

In chapter six Paul utters a climatic paradox to this doctrinal teaching. In one verse he illuminates the wrath of God upon all men, and in another breath he swings open the grand invitation that puts the wrath of God at ease. He says in verse 23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."

Stay tuned for further ruminations.