There has been much debate over whether or not Paul was Godβs choice for Judasβ place as one of the twelve. Many hold that the eleven acted in the flesh and were out of the will of God in appointing Matthias as one of their number to replace Judas. Paul, they say, was obviously Godβs choice for this position. But many unanswerable arguments have been advanced from Scripture to prove that this is not so and that, indeed PaulΒ could notΒ have qualified as one of the twelve.
Some of these argument are: The twelfth apostle had to be chosen before the kingdom could be offered at Pentecost; the eleven acted only after many days of united prayer; the candidate had to be one who hadΒ followedΒ with ChristΒ allΒ through His earthly ministry (Matt.Β 19:28); Paul did not even see Christ until after His ascension; he was not even saved at the time; he persecuted the Pentecostal Church and laid it waste considerably after the choice of Judasβ successor had become necessary. Finally, ActsΒ 1:26Β says that Matthias βwas numbered with the eleven,β and Acts 2:4 adds:Β βThey were all filled with the Holy Ghost.β
Any one of the above arguments would suffice to vindicate the action of the eleven and silence their critics. But this is particularly so of the last one. What further discussion need there be when Godβs Word says that MatthiasΒ βwas numbered with the elevenβ¦and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost?β source
