πŸ‘‘ The Genuine Article

Have you ever used Romans 15:16 to point out to someone that theΒ Apostle Paul was β€œthe minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles,” only toΒ have them argue that no, he was just a minister of the Gentiles, one ofΒ many who ministered to the nations? If you bump into someone whoΒ really knows his stuff, he may even point out that there are more versesΒ that use the indefinite article to describe Paul as β€œa minister” (Acts 26:16;Β Eph. 3:7; Col. 1:23,25) than the lone Scripture that you can cite where heΒ is called β€œthe minister.”

If anyone has ever called you on this, as you’ve sought to press theΒ apostleship of Paul, you don’t have far to go to turn the tables and giveΒ them pause and food for thought. You see, just a few verses earlier inΒ Romans 15, Paul referred to the Lord Jesus Christ as just β€œa minister ofΒ the circumcision” (Rom. 15:8).

How can this be? How can the Son of God be anything other than theΒ minister of the people He came to save (Matt. 1:21; 20:28)? I believe it isΒ because, while the Lord Jesus was God in the flesh, He did not come intoΒ this world to sit in an ivory tower and dispatch other men to ministerΒ to the circumcision. He Himself was on the front line of the battle forΒ the souls of men, standing shoulder to shoulder with other ministersΒ of the circumcision, men like John the Baptist, the twelve, the seventy,Β and any and all others who ministered to β€œthe lost sheep of the houseΒ of Israel” (Matt. 10:6) in the face of opposition that came from men andΒ devils alike.

In the same way, there is no question that the Apostle Paul was theΒ minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, the preeminent minister of theΒ uncircumcision, as even an examination of the passages where he is calledΒ β€œa minister” will show (Acts 26:16-18; Eph. 3:1-7; Col. 1:24-29). But likeΒ his Lord, Paul was in the trenches, duking it out with the enemies of hisΒ gospel, standing shoulder to shoulder in the battle for truth with men likeΒ Timothy and Titus and Aristarchus and Epaphras and others.

So stick to your guns when it comes to standing for the distinctivenessΒ of the apostleship and message of Paul. In the face of opposition fromΒ men and devils alike, continue to insist that whether he’s called by theΒ definite or indefinite article, the Apostle Paul was the genuine article! source

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