We are in the process of looking for a "new" Corvette to replace the one we sold in Texas. Of course, that means my truck will have to go, but I think that's okay. I cannot begin to tell you how many Vettes I have looked at online or in person. There is one in particular that I keep revisiting. It is a 96 Collector's Edition. The reason I keep coming back to that car is fairly simple in my mind - they made a limited number of them, it is the last model year of the C4 series Corvette and you seldom see them on the road. For me, that makes it unique and special and I like unique and special.
When you read chapter 9 in the book of Acts we learn that apparently God needed someone unique and special in order to accomplish His purposes for the church and mankind. Whatever characteristics the original disciples/Apostles had were not good enough. He, for whatever reason, needed a Paul.
We seldom give regard to the dynamics of the relationship of Paul and the Apostles, but I suspect, there may have been some tension. After all, here are 12 men that basically spent three years of their lives with the Christ - living, looking, and learning from his every move. Now, suddenly, there comes a man who has had no personal contact with Jesus, was not a witness to the resurrection, and was obviously bent on doing his own thing (Gal. 1:16-18).
Perhaps Paul's three years in Arabia was a corresponding training period similar to that of the Apostles. His preparation for coming out as the NT "debutante" that would transform the presentation and propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Does it not say in Acts that he was able to "prove" that Jesus was the Christ (9:22) ?Had the others somehow failed in this objective?
Now do not get me wrong, unique and special are important when it comes to presenting the powerful claims of the Christ. And yes, Paul did what supposedly none of the others could do, were willing to do or were not in God's plan to do. He was the "collector's edition" of the mission minded church. But let's not loose sight of the human dynamic involved. For it is the human dynamic that makes the scripture come alive and where we find relevance and application for us. That is truly unique and special!
2 comments:
Of course there was disagreement between Paul and the others! Wild and wooly disagreement. James and his croud would have let the church become a bunch of beggars on the fringe of Judaism if not for Paul. There was a dynamic there we'll never see in our day. Giants opposing one another yet letting the love of their Lord propel them to martyrdom. Modern Protestant Christianity is Rome without all the trappings. Find your place in the pecking order and stay there!
Dick,
Rather a lopsided observation. I am not certain the intent of your comment about "Modern Protestant Christianity." It seems a rather large stone is being cast.
Paul indeed did his part to bring balance to "justification by faith" but it was his own desire at the time, for whatever reason, to basically isolate himself from the mother church in Jerusalem.
Your reference to "pecking order" is distressing. The body of Christ was not established with pecking orders. Each gifting contributed equally to the body of Christ.
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