Trinity Grace Fellowship
3 May 1997
Bible Studies Index | Pauline Bootcamp Index | TGF Home Page
§0. Introduction. Previous sessions have documented the necessity of Paul's distinctive gospel for the salvation today of the Body of Christ, its Mystery content kept secret within the Godhead until revealed through Paul's ministry and epistles to the Body of Christ, and it's, and the Body of Christ's, supra-lapsarian and pre-creation place in God's electing decrees. These sessions constitute an overview of Paul's gospel.
The time has come to consider the ecclesiology of the Body of Christ, various aspects of which are the focus of this and the next two sessions of this bootcamp.
This session is dedicated to establishing the Pauline apostleship as the Divinely appointed human means to reveal, confirm, and write down this unprecedented, and unprecedentedly glorious, gospel to the Body of Christ. The following questions need to be considered:
This session documents that the Body apostleship conprises Paul and certain men chosen to serve with him in the ministry and gospel given to Paul by the Lord Christ, that it is absolutely disjoint from the Petrine apostleship, and that it ended with Paul's death. These claims have consequences reinforcing previous sessions:
An outline of this session is as follows:
§1. Composition of the Body Apostleship
§§1.1. Apostolic Office of Paul
§§1.2. Apostolic Office: Timothy, Silas, Sosthenes, Titus, Epaphroditus, Tychicus, Erastus, Epaphras
§§1.3. Mystery of Body Committed to Pauline Apostles§2. Relationship of Paul to Other Pauline Apostles
§§2.1. Christ Spoke to Paul Face-to-Face
§§2.2. Christ Spoke to Other Pauline Apostles by His Spirit
§§2.3. Pauline Apostles Jointly Share Paul's Apostolic Office
§§2.4. Comparison of Paul and Pauline Apostleship with Moses and Mosaic Prophetship§3. Disjointness from the Petrine Apostleship
§§3.1. Fundamental Distinction of Respective Gospel Contents
§§3.2. Fundamental Distinction of Respective Gospel Calls to Salvation
§§3.3. Fundamental Distinction of Means of Learning the Body Mystery
§§3.4. Fundamental Distinction of Respective Gospel Initiations§4. Obligation of Body to Follow Example of Pauline Apostleship Only
§§4.1. Necessity of Body to Follow Pauline Template
§§4.2. Necessity of Body to Avoid Petrine Template
§1. Composition of the Body Apostleship. In this section we establish who the Pauline apostleship is, and that it is the apostleship of the Body of Christ.
It is necessary to have some vocabulary in mind:
(1) Meaning of the Greek apostolos, transliterated "apostle": another commissioned to go as one's personal legate, i.e. with one's personal, supernatural authority. Christ is spoken of as the Father's Apostle (Heb. 3:1).
(2) Meaning of the Greek apostello, transliterated "apostelize": to commission another to go as one's personal legate, i.e. with one's personal supernatural authority. Christ is spoken of as having been apostelized by the Father (e.g. John 6:57there are many more).
(3) Meaning of the Greek pempo: to send someone on a mission. In the context of being sent by an apostle as part of that apostle's apostolic commission, it is equivalent to apostelizesee examples below. But for now, consider the definitive reference by Christ Himself in John 13:16"the apostle is not greater than the one who pempoed him".
(4) WARNING, WARNING, WARNING: the translations have dealt with apostolos and apostello inconsistently and irresponsibly. The sober and vigilant saint (I Thess. 5:8) MUST have his/her study aids at the ready in these matters. The translators, as will all of us, give an account before God for their handling of the holy words (Deut. 4:2). Apostolos is sometimes mistranslated "messenger", a word more properly associated with "angel" or angelos.
(5) PLEASE NOTE: when we claim below that someone is an apostle or is apostelized, it is because the Holy Spirit Himself so stated in the holy words of the Greek Scriptures, regardless of what man says, in the text cited. The reader can verify with the aids (Ne. 8:8, Ps. 1:2; 119:97104, Acts 17:11).
§§1.1. Apostolic Office of Paul: Paul.
(1) Paul is both an apostle of Christ (Rom. 1:1, I Cor. 1:1, II Cor. 1:1, Gal. 1:1, Eph. 1:1, Col. 1:1, I Tim. 1:1, II Tim. 1:1, Tit. 1:1) and one apostelized by Christ (I Cor. 1:17)
(2) Paul's apostleship is apart from the Twelve (see also §3 below).
(Gal. 1:112; 2:110, I Cor. 15:59)
§§1.2. Apostolic Office of Paul: Timothy, Silvanus, Sosthenes, Titus, Epaphroditus, Tychicus, Erastus, Epaphras, brother, brethren.
(1) Timothy is a Pauline apostle.
(a) Apostelized by Paul: Acts 19:22.
(b) Pempoed by Paul: I Cor. 4:17 (follow Paul), Philip. 2:19, 23, I Thess. 3:2,5.
(c) Apostle with Paul: I Thess. 1:1 compared with I Thess. 2:6.(2) Silas/Silvanus is a Pauline apostle: I Thess. 1:1 compared with I Thess. 2:6.
(3) Sosthenes is is a Pauline apostle: I Cor. 1:1 compared with I Cor. 4:9; 9:5.
(4) Titus is a Pauline apostle.
(a) Apostelized by Paul: II Cor. 12:17,18 (sun-apostello, jointly-apostelized).
(b) Pempoed by Paul: I Cor. 9:3 in context with II Cor. 8:23.
(c) Apostle with Paul: II Cor. 8:23.(5) Epaphroditus is a Pauline apostle.
(a) Pempoed by Paul: Philip. 2:25.
(b) Apostle with Paul: Philip. 2:25.(6) Tychicus is a Pauline apostle.
(a) Apostelized by Paul: II Tim. 4:12.
(b) Pempoed by Paul: Eph. 6:2122; Col. 4:7.(7) Erastus is a Pauline apostle: apostelized by Paul: Acts 19:22.
(8) Epaphras is a Pauline apostle: joint-minister with Paul to Colossian assembly: Col. 1:7. Note the following terms are used of these apostles: joint-minister (Timothy in Philip. 1:1, Tychicus in Eph. 6:2121) and joint-laborer (Timothy in I Thess. 3:2).
§§1.3. Mystery of Body Committed to Pauline Apostles
(1) Mystery committed to Paul and his ministry.
(a) Mystery committed to Paul: Rom. 11:11,25; 16:25, 1Co 2:7; 15:5, Eph 1:9; 3:310; 5:32; 6:19, Col. 1:2327; 2:2; 4:3.
(b) Mystery is Paul's gospel: Rom. 16:25, Eph. 1:9,13; 3:310; 6:19, Col. 1:2326, I Tim. 3:9,16.(2) Mystery committed to the Pauline apostleship.
(a) This follows from citations in §§1.21.3 above.
(b) Many Pauline epistles were jointly written with the Pauline apostleship. See list in §§2.3 below.
(c) The Pauline gospel stated to be the gospel of the Pauline apostleship.(i) The gospel of Paul and Sosthenes: I Cor. 2:7 (Mystery is the Pauline gospel).
(ii) The gospel of Paul and Timothy: II Cor. 4:34; 10:1416, Philip. 2:22.
(iii) The gospel of Paul and Silvanus and Timothy: I Thess. 1:5; 2:4,89; 3:2; II Thess. 2:14.
§2. Relationship of Paul to the Other Pauline Apostles. As a further confirmation that all the Pauline apostles shed one apostolic office, namely Paul's office, it is instructive to examine Paul's relationship to the other apostles of his apostleship. It will emerge that Paul has a position relative to his apostleship similar to that which Moses has relative to the Mosaic prophethood.
§§2.1. Christ Spoke to Paul Face-to-Face and by His Spirit.
(1) Damascus road: Acts 9:19; 22:611.
(2) Face-to-face tutoring within the Third Heaven: II Cor. 12:17.
(3) By His Spirit: see §§2.2 below.
§§2.2. Christ Spoke to Other Pauline Apostles by His Spirit.
(1) Timothy: I Thess. 1:5, I Tim. 1:18; 4:1416; 6:11, II Tim. 1:6,1315.
(2) Silvanus: I Thess. 1:5
(3) Sosthenes: I Cor. 2:616.
(4) Pauline apostleship generally, referred to via hendiadys as the truly prophetic apostles: Eph. 2:20; 3:5.
(5) Pauline gospel needed more than one human witness: II Cor. 13:1.
(6) Same Principle for prophets in local assembly confirming Pauline revelation by the Spirit: I Cor. 14:37.
§§2.3. Pauline Apostles Jointly Share Paul's Apostolic Office. This is proven by the foregoing, that they shared in the writing of the Mystery, and that Paul alone of this apostleship speaks in the first person singular. Note that these are the only jointly-authored books of the NT, and the only jointly-authored and authored-named books of all Scripture.
(1) I Corinthians: Paul and Sosthenes
(2) II Corinthians: Paul and Timothy
(3) Galatians: Paul and the brethren with him
(4) Philippians: Paul and Timothy
(5) Colossians: Paul and Timothy
(6) I Thessalonians: Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy
(7) II Thessalonians: Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy
§§2.4. Comparison of Paul and Pauline Apostleship with Moses and Mosaic Prophethood.
(1) The Logos spoke with Moses face-to-face on the Mount and within Shekhinah: Ex. 33:11, Num. 12:68.
(2) The Spirit spoke with the other prophets: Num. 12:68.
§3. Disjointness from the Petrine Apostleship.
§§3.1. Fundamental Distinction of Respective Gospel Contents. See [DS7] for more documentation.
§§3.2. Fundamental Distinction of Respective Gospel Calls to Salvation.
(1) Peter's gospel call: repent and be water-baptized (Acts 2:38) to publicly confess Jesus of Nazareth as the Messianic deliverer of Israel and the Nations (Matt. 16:16, Luke 1:6879, Acts 2:36; 3:1236) in acordance with the prophets (Acts 3:1926, I Pet. 1:10,25). This is also implied by the foregoing. In Peter's gospel, the Lordship of Christ means Messiahship over Israel and the Nations.
(2) Paul's gospel call: repent, privately and non-ceremonially address Jesus of Nazareth as "Lord Jesus" (Acts 20:21, Rom. 10:613) in the sense of non-earthly, non-ceremonial, non-ethnic Head of the Body in accordance with the Mystery hidden from the prophets (Rom. 10:12;16:25, Eph. 3:16, etc), and believe in the heart that God raised him from the dead (Rom. 10:9). This is also implied by the foregoing. In Paul's gospel, the Lordship of Christ means Headship over the Body of Christ.
§§3.3. Fundamental Distinction of Means of Learning the Body Mystery.
(1) Peter and Twelve learned the Body Mystery through Paul (and Titus): Gal. 2:17, i.e. "en Paulo".
(2) Paul learned the Body Mystery both from Christ and by the Spirit: see §§2.1§§2.2 above
(3) Pauline apostleship learned the Body Mystery by the Spirit: see §§2.1§§2.2 above, esp. Eph. 3:5, en pneumati.
(4) God is not inefficient; ergo, the two apostleships are disjoint.
§§3.4. Fundamental Distinction of Respective Gospel Initiations.
(1) Peter's gospel began with John the Baptist: Mark 1:14.
(a) The content of Peter's gospel is that of John's.
(b) Mark's gospel is essentially Peter's account of matters.
(2) Paul's gospel began with Paul's ministry: Philip. 4:15.
(3) These gospels cannot be the same.
§4. Obligation of Body to Follow Example of Pauline Apostleship Only.
§§4.1. Necessity of Body to Follow the Pauline Template.
(1) Paul's gospel sets the example for us to follow.
(a) Rom. 2:16all living today will be judged by Paul's gospel.
(b) Rom. 16:1720Body is to separate from those teaching contrary to Paul.
(c) I Cor. 11:1follow Paul as he follows Christ.
(d) Gal. 1:612anyone teaching the Body contrary to Paul's gospel is accursed.
(e) Phil. 3:17bluntly put, follow Paul's and Timothy's example.
(f) Phil. 4:9bluntly put, do what Paul says to do.
(g) I Thess. 1:6we are to follow Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy.
(h) I Thess. 2:13receive the word of Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy as the word of God.
(i) I Thess. 4:1walk in accordance with the instruction of Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy.
(j) II Thess. 2:1415hold fast the gospel and traditions of Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy.
(k) II Thess. 3:69follow the example of Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy.
(l) II Thess. 3:14separate from those not obeying the instruction of Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy.(2) Body is NOT to follow the example of Christ's earthly ministry: Rom. 15:8Christ in His earthly ministry was a minister to Elect Israel to confirm her position over the Elect Gentiles.
§§4.2. Necessity of Body to Avoid the Petrine Template
(1) Petrine template set by the prophets and Christ in His earthly ministry: I Pet. 2:21Peter's gospel requires that the very actions of Christ on earth be traced as a template (see Greek text).
(2) From (1) and §4 above, the Petrine template is for the earthly kingdom of Israel only. Also Acts 3:1926 cf. I Pet. 1:91025.
(3) Anyone who would proclaim or require that the Body follow Peter's gospel is accursed (Gal. 1:612).