Paul\u27s conversion and call to the Christian ministry and the apostleship is one of the most remarkable events in human history, showing that God\u27s ways are not our ways, nor his thoughts our thoughts. ... Paul was the true successor of Judas, appointed by the highest possible authority, and that the election of Matthias, being disapproved by him whose sole prerogative it was to invest men with apostolic office and honor, was rendered by Paul\u27s appointment entirely null and void.https://place.asburyseminary.edu/ecommonsatsdigitalresources/1076/thumbnail.jp

Bleby, Rev Henry

English

Asbury Theological Seminary

PAUL'S conversion and call to the Chris-tian ministry and the apostleship is oneof the most remarkable events in human his-tory, showing that God's ways are not ourways, nor his tho~ghts our thoughts. Therewas not, to all human observation, on themorning of that day, the evening of whichfound him at the feet of Jesus, a man uponearth more unlikely to become a disciple ofChrist than Saul of Tarsus. He was journey-ing on his way to Damascus, to execute acommission of persecution and blood, filledwith bitter, fiery zeal against Christianity andits professors, and breathing out threateningsand slaughter against the disciples of theLord-like the tiger, whose taste of blood hasonly whetted his appetite for gore-and noth-ing could be farther from his thoughts thanto become a believer in the crucified male-factor, and take his place among the despisedfollowers of Christ. But there had been avacancy made in the apostleship, and it re-mained yet to be filled. An agent was wantedof God for a special purpose, and of peculiargifts to fill a wider sphere of us'efiIlness thauthe rest of the apostles: and hnre is the man.In this enemy of the Church-this fierce andunscrupulous persecutor of the saints-is thevery individual that God requires; one inwhom he sees, though as yet undeveloped,the noble faculties and powers which fit himfor the divine purposes, and which are destined~owin for him, through the grace of God, aloftiest place among the great und good andnoble and honored of the human race. "Hadthe wisdom of the Church been consulted,"says Richard Watson, "it would doubtlesshave fixed upon some eminent disciple alreadyknown and approved," which was indeedwhat had been actually done. "But thewIsdom of God determines very differently.Divine grace marches into the camp of theenemy, and seizes the head and captain of thepersecutors and converts him into an apostle.From a flame of unha.llowed fire, the Saviourraises up a soul distinguished by meeknessand humble love. He makes the dark preju-dices of Pharisaism give place to the mostperfect knowledge of the Gospel, and conse-crates the feet whiuh had been' swift to shedblood' to bear the Gospel through the vastextent of the Roman empire."But here an important question arises: DidPaul make the thirteenth apostle, or was theliving Head of the Churuh here exercising hisdivine prerogative in filling up the numberof the twelve, after a vacancy had been cre-ated by the apostasy and i'uicide of one of theoriginal incumbents? We ne\-er read in theScriptures of thirteen apostles. "The twelve"are frequently and emphatically spoken of, butthere is no reference anywhere in the Scriptureto more than that number in the apostolate.In the Book of Revelation, written, it is wellknown, long after Paul and the other apostleshad been filling the world with their doctrine,and while John was an exile in Patmos, thereare very significant allnsions to the twelveapostles. In chapter xii, verse 1, the ChristianChurch is represented under t1.:l figure of " awoman clothed with the sun, and the moonunder her feet, and upon her head a crown oftwelvestars"-twelve, not t/d1'teen stars. Then,again, in that magnificent des~ription of theChurch of the redeemed in chaptet· xxi, she isdescribed as "that great city, the holy J ern-salem, descending out of heaven from God,having the glory of God: and her light waslike nnto a stone most precious, even like ajasper stone, elear as crystal; and had a wallgreat and high, and had twelve gates, and atthe gates twelve angels, and names writtenthereon, which are the names of the twelvetribes of the children ofIsrael: on the ea"t threegates; on the north three gates; on the souththree gates; and on the west three gates. Andthe wall of the city had twelve foundations,and in them the names of the twelve apostles oftheLarnb." Rev. xxi, 10-14. The foundationsare twelve, and the names of the apostles ofthe Lamb are only twelve, not tAil·teen. Donot these two passages indicate that our Lordnever designed to aug~ent his apostles be-yond· this number, and that in truth therenever were more than twelve?That Paul was truly an apostle, and "notbehind the very chiefest of the apostles," can-not be disputed. In one of his epistles tothe Corinthians he asserts and vindicates hisapostleship in language equally clear andauthoritative-clearly in opposition to somewho had presumed to call it in question. "AmI not an apo'>tle? am I not free? have I notseen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye mywork in the IJorcl? If I be not an apostle nntoothers, yet doubtless I am to you: for thetleal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord."1 Cor. ix, 1, 2. To the Galatians he writes:" But when it pleased God, who separated mefrom my mother's womb, and called me by hisgrace, to reveal his son in me, that I mightpreach him aillong the heathen; immediatelyI conferred not with flesh and blood: neitherwent I up to Jerusalem to them which wereapostles bef01'e me j but I went into Arabia,and returned again unto Damascus. Thenafter three years I went up to Jerusalem tosee Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.But other of the apostles saw I none, saveJames the Lord's brother." Gal. i, 15-19. Andfurther he says: "He that wrought effectuallyin Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision,the same was mighty in me to~vard the Gen-tiles." Gal. ii, 8. "In nothing am I behind thevery chiefest apostles, though I be nothing."2 Cor. xii, 11. With the New Testament inour hands, it is impossible to doubt that Paulwas an apostle of the Lord Jesus.The word apostle originally signified a per·l\on delegated or sent, a messengel'; and it isgiven to several sorts of messengers, or dele-gates, in the New Testament. The term isapplied to the twelve chosen and sent by ourLord, in the way of eminence and distinction.There were apostles or messengers of theChnrches, but" the twelve" were the apostlesof the Lord Jesus, standing alone, filling anoffice, and sustaining honor peeuliar to them-selves-the sent-the delegates-the messengersof the Lord Jesus Christ; and there is nopassage in the New Testament to indicatethat ever he designed there should be more illthis select and peculiar band than the numbero"iginal1y chosen by himself.Pnul, as an apostle, must then have beenthe true success01'of J udns the apostate, chosenby Christ himself; not in addition to, but tothe exclusion of~Matthias, who was· not ap-pointed to the apostleship by other than Im-mall authority, and whose election was quietlyignored and set aside by Him whose high andexclusive prerogative it was to delegate hi"own apostles. The Scripture account of tbechoosing of Mattbias bears out this view.The election of Matthias took place in tbeinterval between Christ's ascension and theday of Pentec1)st, before the Holy Ghost wasbestowed in bis plenary influence to guide theapostles into all truth, and preserve them fromall error. Weare not, therefore, requil"ed tobelieve that these men were as yet incapableof falling into mistake or acting without au-thority. There was among them the samePeter, who had but recently been restoredfrom the grievous fall he bad experienced indenying his Lord with oaths and curses; andthe same Thomas, whose obstinate unbelief hadmet with sueh a severe rebuke fl~m bis Lord;aud they were an the very same men who, notlong before, had forsaken him in his extremity,and fled. As yet the baptism of the HolyGhost, which was in aU future time to pre-serve them from gl1.evouswrong, had not beengiven; and it was neither impossible nor un-likely that they should fall into ,error. It wasPeter, always forwal"d and impulsive, whoLook the initiative in this business, and pIO-posed to the other disciples to proceed to theelection of a successor to the traitor Jndas.He did not profess to be acting by Divine di-rection, but simply on -his own views of thepropriety and necessity of the case. It no-where appears in the narrative that our Lordhad left any instructions concerning this mat-teI', or that he had given any power or au-thority to the disciples to elect a snccessor tothe apostleship of Judas. From beginning toend it seems to have been unauthorized.As there is nothing in the New Testamentto show that this act was authorized, so theleis no passage in the New Testament to indi-cate that it was approved and confirmed bythe great Head of the Church. In fact, wehear no more of Matthias in the Scripturesafter this; his name never occurs again. Thenarrative of his election by the disciples is ahare, bald statement of what bad been done,without a word to indicate Divine approval-just as the narrat.ive of the deception practicedby Jacob upon his blind and aged parent isgiven-and it was probably recorded only toafford opportunity ',)f vi.udicating the preroga-tive of Christ to choose and send forth his ownapostles, by showing how he himself annulledit and set it a::;ide.Some months elapse after Matthias had beenelected, and then this unauthorized act of thedisciples is practically disallowed, by the con-version of Paul, and his call to the apostleshipby the voice of our Lord Jesus Christ himself;and this extraordinary man takes his place inthe apostolate as the special, but not the solt,avostle to the Gentiles, inferior to none inauthority, as he was inferior to none in all thehigh and important qualifications for the officehe was delegated to fill.There is something very significant and e:>..pressive in the phraseology in which Paul com-mences his Epistle to the Galatians. " Paul,an apostle, not of men, neither by man;" nuta messenger or delegate of men, not repre-f;enting any human authori.ty; neither receiv-ing his commission from man, but directly andImmediately from" Jesus Christ and God theFather." Is there not a qniet allusion here tothe election of Matthias by Peter and theother disciples? Matthias was a man-madeapostle, and therefore delegated by no com·petent authority. He was an apostle "ofmen," and "by man," chosen by, and repre·senting, only a human authority; while Paulwas made an apostle by the Lord himself. Soin the preface to nearly the whole of his Epis-tles, Paul asserts and vindicates the Divineorigin and authol'it.y of his own apostleship.All this was not without design. Paul wasnot a man to beat the air, or fight withshadows. He had too many real, substantialcavilers and opposers to contend with, toleave him either time or inclination for anything of the kind. Had there been no man·made apostle, there would have existed nocause for the use of such language. Prtul isevidently maintaining the validity of his ownapostleship, in opposition to that of some on~which rested upon no basis ofDivine authority;and such was the case with Matthias. Whileall the other apostles-the true apostles ofChrist, including Paul-are clearly shown tohave heen chosen and appointed by Christhimself, no iluch claim is made on behalf ofMatthias; but his election is shown to havebeen made, without any plea or pretext of aDivine warrant, at the instigation of Peter.Both before Christ was crucified, and afterhe had asceuded to the right hand of theMajesty on high, in tlle symbolical descrip_tions which are given of the Gospel Church:the twelve apostles are always spoken of-nevel' more. The rational conclusion there-fore is that Paul was the true successor oiJudas, appointed by the highest possible au.-thority, and that the election of Matthias, be-ing disapproved by him whose sole prerog"·tive it was to invest men with apostolic officeand honor, was rendered by Paul's appomt·ment entirely nnll and void.

How Paul Became an Apostle

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How Paul Became an Apostle

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