Was Paul an Apostle?

Paul definitely claimed to be an apostle (Ro 11:13; 1Co 9:1; 2Co 12:12; Gal 2:8; 1Tm 2:7; Tt 1:1) and even claimed his appointment as an apostle was given by God (Ro 1:1; 1Co 1:1; 2Co 1:1; Ga 1:1; Ep 1:1; Cl 1:1; 1Tm 1:1). So was there any proof of this being true? There were two things that usually defined an apostle: (1) being an eye witness to Jesus Christ and (2) being able to do signs, wonders and miracles (2Co 12:12).

Paul was born under the name Saul in the city of Tarsus, Cilicia (which is now part of Turkey) around 3 to 5 AD. Therefore, by the time Jesus was crucified, Paul would have been around 30 years of age. Since Paul was taught by Gamaliel (Ac 22:3), who was a key figure in the Sanhedrin in the middle of the first century and the grandson of the great Jewish teach Hillel the Elder, it is likely Paul would have met Jesus during his lifetime since he would have been in Jerusalem during the time of Jesus’ ministry. Yet, he would likely have been opposed to the teachings of Jesus like many of the other Pharisees would have been. Therefore, he would not have had an intimate relationship with Jesus and his teachings—at least not until Jesus met him on the road to Damascus (Ac 9:1-9). It really shows how Paul had the zeal to serve God, but his zeal was just misguided. After he understood that Jesus was indeed Lord, he had the same zeal to serve Jesus Christ as he did previously to stamp out those proclaiming to be Christians. This wasn’t the only experience with Jesus Christ, though. We find that he had a vision where he was translated into the third heaven and heard inexpressible things (2Co 12:4). This was an experience not held by any other apostle. This likely occurred not too long after his conversion—maybe when he spent his time in Arabia (Ga 1:17). This is also likely when God revealed to him the mystery of the church and how the Gentiles will be heirs with Israel (Ep 3:4-11; Cl 1:25-17), and how the rapture will occur before Christ’s second coming (1Co 15:51-52; 1Th 4:13-18). Do these events not qualify him for the first criterion of being an apostle?

Miracles were usually characteristics of an apostle. One could point out that Stephen, who was a deacon, also performed miracles (Ac 6:8). Yet, as the church grew, the people capable of miracles remained mainly around those characterized as apostles (2Co 12:12). There were many miracles that were accomplished by Paul: he told Elymas that he would become blind for a season, and he did (Ac 13:9-11); he performed signs and wonders in Iconium (Ac 14:3); he healed a crippled man in Lystra (Ac 14:8); he healed a demon possessed girl in Philippi (Ac 16:18); he performed extraordinary miracles in Ephesus where people were healed with handkerchiefs that had touched him (Ac 19:11-12); he brought Eutychus back to life in Troas (Ac 20:9-10), and even though bitten by a poisonous viper, he had no ill effect from it (Ac 28:3-6).

Based upon these criteria, it would seem Paul would meet the criteria for being called an apostle. So what about Matthias who was chosen by Peter and the disciples shortly after Christ’s ascension (Ac 1:12-26)? And what about Judas? Do we have 12, 13 or 14 apostles? We will discuss this next time.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens