How do we know that we can trust Paul to give us the gospel? You might think this is a ridiculous question, but many in the Progressive Christian community doubt whether or not Paul’s gospel message can be trusted. They question if Paul was telling the truth. Some are of the opinion that Paul was a false teacher. And some seem to think that Paul distorted the teachings of Jesus.
Why do people doubt Paul’s message? Many in Progressive Christianity doubt whether the writings of Paul can be trusted or not because he was not one of the original apostles who knew, lived, and witnessed Jesus during Jesus’ earthly ministry. So, because Paul was not an eye-witness to what Jesus did and what Jesus said, they doubt if Paul can be trusted to give us the right message of the gospel.
Why is this a major issue? Why is this worth talking about? It’s a major issue because there are 27 books in the New Testament and Paul is author of 13 of them, making him the largest contributor to the New Testament; the other 14 books of the New Testament (except for Luke and Acts) were written by eye-witnesses who knew Jesus personally. Thus, if Paul cannot be trusted to give us the good news of salvation, if Paul cannot be trusted to give us the gospel, if Paul cannot be trusted to give us the good news of Jesus Christ, then the majority of the New Testament cannot be trusted.
This is the same issue the Galatians were having with Paul. Not only were they questioning the message of the gospel but they were also questioning whether or not they could trust the messenger – Paul. In Galatians 1:10-2:10, Paul responds to their criticism by explaining how he got the gospel he now preaches. The gospel we read about in his 13 letters. And my hope this in this blog is that you will be more confident that the gospel Paul preached, in all 13 of his letters recorded in the New Testament, is a message that can be trusted. There are four reasons Paul gives for which we can trust the gospel he preached and wrote about in his 13 letters.
Point 1: We can trust Paul and the gospel he preached because of his motive. He writes (Gal. 1:10), “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” What is Paul saying? He wants them to know that he is obviously not trying to please them. He is not trying to satisfy them, be agreeable towards them, be content, or cheer them on with their decision to turn away from Jesus. Paul also wants them to know he is not trying to win their approval. He is not giving them his blessing, he is not giving them his endorsement, he is not giving them his confirmation, or giving them his consent to turn away from the gospel of Jesus to a different gospel. If he were trying to win their approval and please them, he would not be writing this letter rebuking them, expressing his disapproval of them, condemning them, and opposing them for turning away from Jesus; and if he were pleased with them, and trying to win their approval, he would not be a servant of Christ, but of man. But, because Paul is a servant of Christ, he unapologetically spoke to the churches in Galatia in a straightforward, harsh, and blunt way, because the Galatians were in serious danger of being totally led away from Jesus.
There are times a Pastor must address his people in a strong, harsh, blunt, and straightforward way to keep the congregation from wandering astray for false teaching, and should not ever apologize for that. If a man stands behind a pulpit and cares most about winning the approval of men rather than of God, or if a man stands behind a pulpit or in a Sunday School class or in a small group and concerns himself with pleasing men rather than God, such a man will not concern himself with ensuring the people whom God has entrusted to his care are getting sound doctrine, he will distort the gospel to scratch the itching ears of his congregation and he will be no longer be a servant of Jesus but a servant of man.
That is not what Paul was doing here. Paul was not trying to please them. Paul was not trying to win their approval. Paul was not trying to gain an audience. Paul was not trying to amass a following. Paul is writing a letter rebuking them for turning away from Jesus, which in turn, would probably cost Paul followers and bring about ridicule.
Point 2: We can trust Paul and the gospel he preached because his message was received directly from Jesus. Paul wrote (Gal. 1:11), “For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel.” Paul, what do you mean the gospel you preached is not “man’s gospel”? What Paul means is this: the message of the gospel Paul preached was not and is not based on mere human reasoning. The gospel Paul preached is not based on human interpretation. The gospel Paul preached is not based on human rationale. The gospel Paul preached is not based on human thinking or based on human proposition or some kind of human hypothesis.
So, Paul, if the gospel you preached is not “man’s gospel”, if the gospel you preached is not based on human thinking, where did you get this gospel that you preached? Here’s how Paul would answer that question: (Gal. 1:12) For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” In other words, Paul denies ever receiving the message of the gospel from a human being. He also denies being taught the gospel from a human source. Instead, Paul claims he received the gospel “through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” Thus, the gospel Paul preached was made known to him, disclosed unto him, and revealed to him by none other than the risen Son of God, Jesus Christ himself.
How do we know Paul is telling the truth about this revelation? Here’s how Paul would answer that question: (Gal. 1:15-24), “But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called my by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only were hearing it said, ‘He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.’ And they glorified God because of me.”
This is Paul’s conversion and commission story. We can break it down in four ways. 1) Paul is saying, God called him by grace to preach. Paul was not called by God to preach to the Gentiles because Paul was a Jew or because of anything he had done or accomplished, but because it was the will of God. Paul’s calling to preach the gospel was God’s initiative not Paul’s. Paul’s calling to preach the gospel was God choosing and not Paul’s. 2) Paul is saying, God was pleased to reveal Jesus to him, which is recorded in Acts 9, in order to bring the good news of Jesus to non-Jews. In other words, Paul’s conversion was for one purpose – preach to those who were non-Jewish. 3) Paul is saying, after God called him to preach the gospel to Gentiles, rather than consulting with anyone about the message of the gospel, he spent three years in the desert of Saudi Arabia learning from Jesus what the message of the gospel was. 4) Paul is saying, it was not until after having spent 3 years in the desert of Saudi Arabia receiving the message of the gospel that he had contact with Christians, namely, Peter and James, but had no contact with any other disciple for those 15 days. Then, Paul preached to the Gentiles the message God had given him in Syria and Cilicia for a period of 14 years.
Thus, we can trust the gospel Paul preached because it did not come from human insight, human reasoning, human thinking, human interpretation, or human rationale, but came directly from God. Paul says all of this (Gal. 1:15-24) to support what he had said in verse 12 – the gospel he preached was given him by revelation of Jesus Christ.
Point 3: We can trust Paul and the gospel he preached because of his past history as a Jew. Paul wrote (Gal. 1:13-14), “For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.” As one who was in Judaism, Paul would believe there is a single God, who created and controls the universe, he would believe God is only spiritual and not physical, and believe the only way to have a relationship with God is through a covenant; he would have attempted to gain his righteousness by works of the Law (The Ten Commandments). And Paul was advancing very well in this religion.
How does Judaism differ from Christianity? The difference is great. Christianity teaches God is triune (existing as Father, Son, and Spirit), this triune God created and controls the universe, that God is spiritual and physical because the second person of the Godhead – Jesus Christ – became a physical person, and the only means to have a relationship with God is not by works of the law but by faith in Christ alone. Judaism & Christianity are as different as black is from white.
Why should Paul’s history as Jew give us any assurance at all that his message regarding Jesus can be trusted? Answer: Paul, in his former life in Judaism, would have rejected the teaching of Christianity. Of course, we know he rejected the teachings of Christiaity, because in his own words, Paul “persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.” But now Paul rejects what he was once zealous for – Judaism – and now accepts Christianity. In other words, because Paul now preached the faith that he once tried to destroy, we can trust that Paul is giving us truth. We can trust the gospel Paul preached because of his conversion from Judaism to Christianity. Being that he was zealous for Judaism, Paul would not have turned away from it, unless, by some miraculous intervention, he became convinced that the Christianity he persecuted was actually right and Judaism wrong. And that is exactly what happened.
Point 4: We can trust Paul and the gospel he preached because it was recognized and accepted by the Apostles. Paul writes (Gal. 2:1-10), “Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running, or had not run in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in – who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery – to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality) – those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolistic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.”
Paul is not just telling a story of the past, Paul is writing this so Gentiles, like the churches of Galatia, might know the gospel he preached was welcomed and received, without any changes, by those Apostles, like Peter and James and John, who physically were with Jesus and eye-witnesses of Jesus’ earthly ministry. These Apostles agreed, the gospel that Paul received was in fact the correct and unquestionable message of salvation. So, the believers in Galatia, could trust the messenger – Paul – and the message Paul preached – that Jesus Christ gave himself up for our sins, according to the will of God, and that faith in Jesus is enough to be saved, because it was accepted by those who did know Jesus personally, who lived with Jesus, and were eye-witnesses of all that Jesus said and did.
So, considering everything that has been presented, we’ll close by asking: Can Paul be trusted to give us the gospel? My answer is yes. We can trust the gospel Paul wrote about in all 13 of his letters, and therefore, can trust the New Testament as a whole, because Paul’s preaching was not to please men or win their approval; we can trust Paul because Paul received the gospel directly from Jesus; we can trust Paul because of his conversion from Judaism to Christianity; and we can trust Paul because the gospel he preached was accepted by those men who did know Jesus personally and were eye-witnesses of Jesus’ earthly ministry. What does this mean for us? Like I said, it means we can trust what Paul has written in each of his letters. We can believe Paul when he writes, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). We can believe Paul when he writes, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”(1 Tim. 1:15). We can believe Paul when he tells us that God’s plan was to send Jesus from heaven to earth in order for Jesus to give himself up for our sins (Gal. 1:4), and we can believe Paul when he explains that Christ was crucified, Christ was buried, and that Christ was resurrected so that we can be forgiven(1 Cor. 15:3-4). In other words, rest assured, you can put your trust in Jesus Christ for salvation and you can be confident that Jesus is enough to save you.