Paul, The False Apostle Of Christ

We have already discussed the overwhelming amount of evidence that Paul's concept of God’s foreknowledge and his doctrine of predestination do not exist in Jesus' words or in the Hebrew Scriptures. What we find instead is much evidence to the contrary between the two. This, of course, became an important part of refuting Paul's apostolic claims.

Although not all of the available evidence contradicts the truth, but there are more than enough proofs to suggest that Paul was not the true apostle of Jesus, who is also supposedly the greatest apostle ever existed as he always uplifting. 

There are  numbers of historical facts, including things that were said by Jesus and Paul himself which are recorded in the Bible that make us believe that Paul's apostleship was not recognized by the kingdom of heaven at all!

Some interesting facts to be noticed about this matter are:

NO ONE ELSE ACKNOWLEDGES HIS APOSTLESHIP EXCEPT THE "SUSPICIOUS" TWO

Out of the 22 explicit statements plus 3 implicit statements in the Bible in which Paul is referred to as "the apostle", only two are from someone other than himself! The two statements come from the same person. Not from Jesus nor from any of Jesus' disciples, but from Paul's closest traveling companion and personal assistant; Luke. Both accounts are found in Luke's  Acts 14: 4 and 14:14. Here Paul is referred to as an apostle with Barnabas. By the time this was written, Luke was already very close with Paul on their travels and often referred to his idol as an apostle. The basis, of course, is because Luke agrees with Paul's own assumptions and assessments of himself who he thought was an apostle. From this we see very clearly that Paul was the biggest fans of his own apostleship, and Luke, as his only close friend, was the second one. The rest, we will find no one in the Bible  ever acknowledged Paul's apostleship!

"I LOVE TALKING ABOUT ME!"

No epistle writer in the Bible wrote like Paul. Some parts of his writings may be correct, but there is one interesting aspect when we look at how Paul considered himself. He has a way of getting the reader's attention to focus on him with the use of his personal pronouns. When it comes to how often he uses words like, "I", "me", "myself", "my-mine", and other such expressions, the overall rating in his letters is almost three times higher than any of his closest rivals. 

There are a number of reasons why today many scholars believe Paul was not the author of the book of Hebrews. One obvious reason is that, in other letters which are believed to be the fruit of his work, Paul never hesitated to identify himself with his own engineered attributes. But the writer of Hebrews, oddly enough, kept silent in this particular. Many scholars believe that Barnabas wrote the book of Hebrews, but others think Apollos is an equally candidate. However, this is a different subject. The point is, no one knows for sure who actually wrote the book of Hebrews. 

While the church fathers indicated that Paul was the author of Hebrews, Paul himself clearly could not be in this position when we also consider the statistical level of personal pronoun usage in it. The author of Hebrews refers to himself only 9 times, which is approximately 1.3 personal pronouns per thousand words. To help put this in perspective, let’s compare the book of Hebrews to the book of Romans. They are both relatively large books of similar length, divided into 13 and 16 chapters respectively. Yet in only the first half of the first chapter of Romans, which is 16 verses worth, Paul uses twice as many personal pronouns as the author of Hebrews uses in his entire book! In the book of Romans, Paul refers to himself 103 times, which is rate of about 18.2 times per thousand! That is 13x greater than Hebrews. In 1 Corinthians, Paul refers to himself 175 times, in 2Corinthians 103 times again, and in the relatively short book of Galatians, he refers to himself 69 times which is a rate of 25 personal pronouns per 1000 words!

It should be evident that Paul is at least as concerned with making a statement about himself as he is in communicating what he believes to be the truth about God.

HIS APOSTOLIC CLAIM STANDS ALONE 

Apart from the twelve disciples who spent three and a half years with Jesus, no one other than Paul identifies as the one who extra ordinary often claims to be an "apostle". Only Peter has ever referred to himself as an apostle in 2 letters, namely 1 Peter 1: 1 and 2 Peter 1: 1, while Barnabas is referred to as an apostle with Paul by Luke in Acts 14:14. For the rest, there are no records of Barnabas or any of Jesus' other disciples claiming the title for themselves. 

As for Peter's "acknowledgement" about the apostleship, many scholars have reasons to believe that he would never claim such a statement unless it was written by Paul using Peter's name! Facts behind the 1&2 Patrine Epistle and  Commentary on Petrine Epistle might explain this issue accordingly. 

 

OUR VIEW OF THE EARLY CHURCH WAS POLARIZED

Anyone who tries to evaluate the New Testament will immediately realize that Paul was the greatest contributor to this part of the tome which in Indonesia is known as Alkitab, a name intentionally taken from Al-Quran  for Christian domestic missionary purposes. When reading Acts, for example, one cannot help but get the impression that most of God's deeds for the early church took place through Paul.  But this is misleading because the book of Acts was written from only one man’s perspective. Luke’s!

Luke was traveling with Paul on his missionary journeys and much content of the book of Acts which is said wrote by Luke was based entirely on the story of this journey. Thus, what we later know from Acts of the Apostles is really just a fabricated story that comes from how Luke interpreted what he saw, heard, and experienced on the journey, much like a personal journal that should be regarded as a personal notes only. Therefore unsurprisingly Paul’s story would have appeared to be front and center stage which is why it appears that way in his record.

There seems to be a special reason why Luke chose to follow Paul and record his story from the start. As we know, even though this is very contrary to the teachings of Jesus as we can prove through Matthew 15:24, Matthew 10: 5, but Paul managed to convince many people that he was an apostle of Christ for Gentiles. and Luke, being a Gentile, would have seen Paul as where things were happening for him. When we consider that Paul taught there is no difference in God’s eyes between Jew and Gentile, but that all believers in Jesus now constitute “the true Israel of God”, it becomes perfectly understandable why a Gentile who desired to get close to the God of Israel would be enthralled with Paul. Take a look at Paul's writing in Romans 10:12; "For there is no difference between Jews and Greeks. For, this one God is the Lord of all, rich to all who cry to Him." In those days, which Gentiles  who wanted to get closer to the God of Israel would not really love Paul? 

In spite of the fact that our view of Acts is polarized and biased,  yet, Luke’s record is still extremely important in helping us understand what was happening at that time. Without the book of Acts, we wouldn’t have much insight at all. What was done and said as recorded by Luke is priceless, and we have no good reason to question what he saw and heard. Luke’s own personal thoughts and opinions which he interjected occasionally may be questioned, but they are few. Hence we see no reason to accuse Luke of malicious intent. The fact is, Luke’s faithful record also exposes Paul to scrutiny. Luke is the one who records that Paul’s own contemporaries accused him of teaching against the Law. More on this later. The important thing to remember is that the book of Acts was written from a very singular point of view that generally favored Paul. 

There is no doubt that God spirit did many other things during Paul and Luke's journey. We don't have a detailed record of that, but we certainly have a lot of clues. God must have worked through Jesus' true disciples, and some of these are recorded at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles. John worked hard for his Lord, but we hear little about him until the time comes when we read John's letters and the book of Revelation at the end of the New Testament. 

PAUL CLAIM OF APOSTLESHIP

Paul was not at all ashamed to call himself an apostle. In fact, in nine of his thirteen letters, he identified himself as an apostle of Christ, and in each case, emphasized that his apostleship was based on "decrees from heaven." Notice how Paul legitimized himself as an apostle of Christ as follows:

EXPLISIT DESCRIPTIONS 

1. From Paul, the servant of God and the apostle of Jesus Christ to maintain the faith of God's chosen people and knowledge of the truth as it appears in our worship, (Titus 1: 1)
2. From Paul, the apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandments of God, our Savior, and Christ Jesus, the foundation of our hope, (1 Timothy 1: 1)
3. It is for this testimony that I have been confirmed as a preacher and apostle - which I say is true, I do not lie - and as a teacher of the Gentiles, in faith and in truth. (1Timothy 2: 7)
4. From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to proclaim the promise of life in Christ Jesus, (2 Timothy 1: 1)
5. It is for this gospel that I have been appointed as a preacher, as an apostle and as a teacher. (Timothy 1:11)
6. nor have we sought praise from men, neither from you nor from others, even though we could do this as apostles of Christ. (1 Thessalonians 2: 6)
7. From Paul, the apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, (Colossians 1: 1)
8. From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints at Ephesus, believers in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 1: 1)
9. From Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, who was called to be an apostle and sanctified to preach the gospel of God. (Romans 1: 1)
10. Through Him we receive the grace and office of an apostle to guide all nations so that they may believe and obey His name. (Romans 1: 5)
11. I say to you, Gentiles. Precisely because I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I consider it the glory of my ministry (Romans 11:13)
12. Greetings to Andronicus and Jonah, my fellow countrymen, who have been imprisoned with me, who are respected among the apostles and who have become Christians before me. (Romans 16: 7)
13. From Paul, who was called by God's will to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from Sosthenes, our brother, (1 Corinthians 1: 1) 
14. For, in my opinion, God gave us apostles the lowest place, just as those who were condemned to death, for we have become a show to the world, to angels and to men. (1Corinthians 4: 9)
15. Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus, our Lord? Aren't you the fruit of my work in God? (1Corinthians 9: 1)
16. Although to others I am not an apostle, but to you I am an apostle. For your life in the Lord is the seal of my apostleship. (1Corinthians 9: 2)
17. From Paul, who by God's will became an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from Timothy our brother, to the church of God in Corinth with all the saints in all Achaia. (2 Corinthians 1: 1)
18. Everything that proves that I am an apostle has been done among you with all patience by signs, wonders and powers. (2Corinthians 12:12)
19. From Paul, an apostle, not by man, nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God, the Father, who raised him from the dead, (Galatians 1: 1)
20. also I did not go to Jerusalem to find those who were apostles before me, but I went to Arabia and from there back to Damascus. (Galatians 1:17)

IMPLICIT DESCRIPTIONS

1. I have become a fool in boasting; you have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended by you; for in nothing was I behind the most eminent apostles, though I am nothing. 2Corinthians 12:11
2.  For I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles. 2Corinthians 11: 5
3. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.  1Corinthians 15: 9

INFORMATION FROM LUKE

1. But when the two apostles heard this, Barnabas and Paul, they tore their clothes, ran into the crowd and shouted, Acts 14:14
2. But the townspeople were at odds with one another; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. Acts 14: 4

From those statements, a very serious question arises: Should we just believe in the testimony of a person who makes extraordinary claims about himself, while what we have to prove them is nothing but one-sided admission from his alone, plus one or two similar statements from his only great admirer who happened to be his personal assistant?

If so, then we must also admit the truth of the claims of  Jim Jones  and  David Koresh  which are so clearly unacceptable to any reasonable person!

That is, all of Paul's claims and Luke's statements above are just as untrue as the claims of two strange people who suddenly became famous because of their claims of "similar but not the same" as Paul's claims!

Unless there is solid evidence that supports such claims as great as Paul's "self-proclaim" above, then whatever comes afterwards is is nothing more than just throwing salt into the sea!

Unlike Paul, a true prophet or apostle need not bother to convince anyone that they are who they really are. Even in John 5:31 Jesus said that if he testified about himself, then his testimony was definitely not true. But in this context, if we ask who is out of so many people who do not need anyone to testify about who he is? Then the answer is Jesus!

Our scriptures prove that Jesus was a follower of the teachings of Moses, respected the previous and later prophets, perfectly understood the contents of the Psalms and the Torah, taught clear monotheistic concepts of divinity, guided his followers to the way of heaven, was willing to be baptized by his beloved cousin; John the Baptist, amazed many people with various miracles from God, and there are still a long list of other extraordinary things that Paul did not have, even though in his pride, Paul positioned himself equal to Jesus as God's special messenger to the Gentiles (non-Jewish), and claimed for himself a prophecy that was preached exclusively to the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 49: 6 which Luke later quoted in Acts 13:47 as: 

"For thus the Lord has commanded us: 'I have appointed you to be a light to the Gentiles, that you may be salvation to the ends of the earth.'

It should be noted that this verse is just a one-sided claim from Paul that not many people know actually came from the results of copying many great writings in the Jewish scriptures to boast his apostolic claims so that those who read his letters would believed them as a truth based on "heavenly decree."

PAUL, THE GREATEST APOSTLE!

Paul's assumptions about himself did not stop with claiming to be an apostle of Christ. He also did all he could in order to communicate to his followers that his position was higher than anyone else. Paul even dared to belittle the disciples of Jesus who were lifted up and trained for three and a half years by their respectfully teacher to be witnesses of him! Of the many quotes that flatter Paul himself, including the following:

"But in my opinion I am no less than the peerless apostles. ... For the sake of the truth of Christ in me, I affirm, that my pride will not be hindered by anyone in the regions of the Achaia." 2 Corinthians 11: 5,10

At certain times, it seemed as if he also realized that he should be ashamed to challenge the status of the twelve disciples of Jesus, so that he would start off with a statement of unworthiness. Undoubtedly his hope, of course, was that people would embrace him as the greatest apostle because he was so humble.

"For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."   1Corinthians 15: 9,10 

Despite his lie that the teachings of Jesus have been divided into two, namely for Jews and Gentiles, the fact is that he seems to have very exclusive rights over non-Jews, while he thinks that the twelve disciples of Jesus must remain with the Jews only. Paul even had a bitter tongue to singularly humiliate Peter, James, and John when he belittled them before the Galatians.

"But rom those who seemed to be something—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favoritism to no man—for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me. But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter.  and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised."  Galatians 2: 6,7,9 

This is nothing but an arrogant lie. A few verses later, Paul takes another cheap shot at Peter. When Peter didn't have a chance to defend himself, Paul boasted to the Galatians how he accused Peter of being a hypocrite, and how he placed him before the entire Antioch congregation.

"Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing 6those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? "  Galatians 2: 11-14

Earlier, in Galatians 1: 8,9, Paul commanded all of his followers to "curse" anyone who preached a gospel different from his. There is a tendency that Paul wanted the Galatians to think the same way about Peter, if not James, or John. It is clear to anyone reading Galatians that Paul demanded that the Galatians follow no one but only him, not even the true disciples of Jesus in Jerusalem.

Despite Paul's immense arrogance, we can easily see that Paul himself was actually a hypocrite who condemned Peter as a hypocrite for accommodating Gentiles when he was around Gentiles and acting like a Jew among Jews. This is what he claims to do, and commands the Corinthians to practice so. 

"For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more;  and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some."  1Corinthians 9: 19-22 

"Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God, just was I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved." 1Corinthians 10: 31-33

Compare this with his accusation against Peter in Galatians 2: 11-14 above. That means, when Paul says, "Follow me, just as I follow Christ" we must do what he did, while he himself is not following Jesus at all! Can anyone imagine Jesus acting like a chameleon saying something like; "I have become everything to everyone" or "I please everyone in everything"? 

So Paul, the man who claims to be greater than the twelve disciples of Jesus, who belittles Peter, James, and John by saying that they only "appear" as pillars of the church, and that they "have no added value" to him, are really nothing more than just a cheap braggers.

Paul who bragged about how he had spoken to Peter, called him a hypocrite, and subtly cursed Jesus' disciples by provoking the Galatians to condemn anyone who differed from him, was actually the most hypocritical of all hypocrites!

The conviction of his followers that Paul's words were so perfect that one could see no fault in them was blind conviction, just as crazy as Paul's own imagination! Anyone who behaves in accordance with Paul's teachings, follows his arrogant style, of course, is easily recognized as being very arrogant but at the same time also extremely stupid!

 What Solomo said seems quite relevant.

"Let others praise you and not your mouth, a person you do not know, and not your own lips."  Proverbs 27: 2

In the meantime, compare Paul's entire "apostolic self-proclaim" with the following warning from Jesus:

"For false Messiahs and false prophets will appear and they will perform mighty signs and wonders. maybe, they are misleading the elect too. " Matthew 24:24

"For many will come in my name and say, I am the Christ, and they will deceive many."  Matthew 24: 5

Is there still not enough evidence from the Bible itself that Paul was actually a false apostle?

If not, please also look at other evidence here  or here.

[Source: Scott Nelson |Jesus and Judaism vs Paul and Christianity ]