in defense of paul

7/30/2019 In Defense of Paul

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In Defense of Paul

Paul has been attacked more than any other Apostle in the New

Testament. The reason for this is because those attacking him knowif they can get people to dismiss Paul, they can remove a good

portion of the New Testament. As well they then have grounds to

dismiss Luke as he was converted to Christ through Paul.

If they can dismiss Paul they can then discount Romans, 1st and

2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st

and 2nd Thessalonians, 1st and 2nd Timothy, Titus, Philemon and

arguably Hebrews. Then by extension they can remove the book ofLuke and the Acts of the Apostles since those have widely been

attributed to Luke.

So herein I will endeavor to present a clear defense of Paul

using the Scriptures. It should be understood, that to say the other

apostles could have been deceived into thinking that Paul was an

apostle if he in actuality was not, is to say that the Holy Spirit can

either be deceived or would allow the Apostles to be deceived whichwould have attacked the very foundation of the ministry of Jesus, as

the Holy Spirit existed with God prior to the creation of Heaven and

earth and is perfect in every way, He would not do this, Elohym is

not the author of deception. So in the clearest sense they not only are

attacking Paul but are in fact attacking the Holy Spirit, the Spirit

of Elohym.

The Holy Spirit through Peter, raised the dead, discerned truth,healed the sick and preached the Word of God, the Blessing of

Christ. So what does Peter say about Paul?

2 Peter 3:15 And account that the long suffering of our Lord is


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salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the

wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

So not only did Peter know Paul but addresses him as our

beloved brother but also calls into account the wisdom given unto

him. So what was this wisdom given unto Paul. It was the

wisdom of Jesus of Nazareth the Christ, the Messiah that was given

unto Paul when Jesus said unto him Saul, Saul, why persecutest

thou me?. If Paul had attempted to deceive the Apostles the Holy

Spirit most certainly would have opened their eyes to this deception,

the Holy Spirit however confirmed this truth within them.

Acts 9:4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto

him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

It was this event that the Messiah used to revealed to Paul who

in fact He was, Jesus of Nazareth.

Also since Luke was converted by Paul, had Paul not been

genuine it would have hurt he and Luke's ministry all the more by

injecting doubt from the other disciples at the time and his efficacy

to minister to others. Luke does not hide the disciples early concern

though but reveals it, and also notes that Paul was taken before the

Apostles in which he undoubtedly would have gave them his

testimony, and they being guided by the Holy Spirit would have

been made aware of any deception immediately. So lets look to Acts

(written by Luke) as this would as he would undoubtedly had

known, have damaged their (he and Paul's) mission work. Just as

the pharaohs of Egypt, Luke and Paul if they had not had a genuine

conversion but were trying to deceive would have just erased any

doubt from the historical record. They did not have photo I.D back


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then, it would have been much easier to just say you are someone

else if your intent was to infiltrate or deceive.

Luke does not do this though, in fact he does the opposite and in

fact reveals the truth that Paul revealed who he was and that the

early disciples of Messiah by the Apostles in the beginning had some

fear and concern whether or not his (Paul's) conversion was true or

not. Not because of the content of his testimony, but rather it was

based on his previous reputation, as being a fierce persecutor of the

early disciples.

His testimony sounded to them genuine, but his reputation had

shown otherwise to the point they had not the faith to discern, so

Barnabas an early disciple took Paul before the Apostles themselves

to make the judgment as they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and

were even baptizing others in the Holy Spirit.

They simply understood that while man can be deceived the

Spirit of Elohym cannot be deceived and since the Holy Spirit was

working in the Apostles they properly sent Paul to them to make the

discernment. Luke's writing is important in that it confirms Paul's

past when he was called Saul, even to the point of being present at

the death of one of the Apostles (Stephen).

The Holy Spirit convicted the Apostles of the truth in Paul's

conversion, that he had genuinely been appointed by Jesus to go

about his work, as an Apostle no less. Peter to the point of even

describing Paul as our beloved brother. Human nature would

think they would have stoned him as he had taken part in the

stoning of Stephen (their close friend and brother), yet being filled

with the Holy Spirit they understood his conversion to be real and

his repentance genuine, just as Peters repentance was genuine when

he denied Jesus and remembered when he heard the third crow of

the rooster and he wept bitterly.


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Acts 9:26-31

26 And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join

himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and

believed not that he was a disciple.

27But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and

declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that

he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at

Damascus in the name of Jesus.

28 And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.

29 And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and

disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him.

30 Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down toCaesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.

31 Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee

and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the

Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.

So we see these early disciples still being young in their faith had

let their fear of Paul and his past reputation affect their judgement,

so Paul was taken before the Apostles, the men who had actually

walked with Jesus prior to his crucifixion, men in which the

disciples knew were filled with the Holy Spirit. In short to say that

the Apostles could have been deceived by Paul is to say that the Holy

Spirit working in them could in turn also be deceived. In other

words people cannot attack Paul without attacking Jesus , the Holy

Spirit and in turn the Apostles whom Jesus appointed which

includes Paul. You cannot discount Paul without discounting theApostles and in turn discount the Holy Ghost. It just cannot be

done. Were Paul to have been a deceiver it would have been logically

unsound to reveal to the early Christians who he really was, not to

mention the Spirit of God cannot be deceived.

in defense of paul

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