The title of this page will most likely seem like a no-brainer to most Christians. It may seem offensive to many Christians to even consider such a question!  Paul certainly did write lots of letters to gentile congregations in which he claimed to be an Apostle of our Savior, YAHUSHA. Let’s briefly review some examples of these written claims…

 

 Romans 1:1   

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God, (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) Concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: By whom we have received grace & apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ: To all   that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

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Quite the lengthy sentence, right? Perhaps it’s not such a great idea to go through every example in which Paul the pharisee claims to be an Apostle! Suffice it to say, that he generally started off his letters to various gentile congregations by identifying himself as an Apostle.

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Is there a problem with Paul the pharisee telling various gentile congregations that he was one of YAHUSHA’s Apostles? Let’s do a quick review of who the 12 Apostles were, & what made them qualified to be called “Apostles”. First, we need to see if Paul the pharisee was listed as one of our Saviour’s Twelve Apostles in the Gospels. 

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Matthew 10:2-4   

Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; the first, Simon, who is called Peter, & Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Canaanite, & Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. 

 

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Paul the pharisee was not acknowledged as being one of our Saviour’s Apostles in any of the Gospels. In fact, Paul the pharisee is not mentioned even once in any of the four Gospels at all! Could it be possible that there were more than just the Twelve Apostles? Was Paul the pharisee the most truly exceptional & outstanding 13th Apostle or something?

 

 

 Revelations 21:14   

& the wall of the city had twelve foundations & in them the names of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb. 

 

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Similarly we have Adonai YAHUSHA’s own words indicating how many Apostles He has...

 

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Matthew 19:28   

And YAHUSHA said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his Majesty, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

 

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Although Adonai YAHUSHA had countless faithful followers & devotees, our Saviour indicated that He only had Twelve Apostles who will sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel in His Kingdom. Paul the pharisee will never sit on one of those twelve Apostolic thrones. This is completely certain because YAHUSHA never selected Paul to be a witness of YAHUSHA’s ministry. As a result, Paul never was one of YAHUSHA’s twelve Apostles. Given that Paul was not one of YAHUSHA’s Twelve Apostles, it follows that Paul's letters have absolutely no Apostolic authority.

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What was the requirement for being an Apostle? Acts 1:15-26 documents how the remaining 11 Apostles met together to pray for, & select a replacement for Judas. The sole requirement for being included as one of the 12 Apostles is mentioned in this passage.

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Acts 1:22 & 26   

Beginning from the baptism of John unto that same day that He was taken up from us must one be ordained to be a witness with us of His resurrection... And they gave forth their lots; & the lot fell upon Matthias; & he was numbered with the eleven apostles. 

 

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According to Acts 1:15-26, to qualify to be one of our Savior’s Apostles, the candidate had to be a witness of our Savior’s ministry, from His baptism through to His Resurrection & Ascension. Clearly, Paul the pharisee did not meet that basic selection criterion!

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Paul’s devotees may argue that, “The Apostles picked Matthias but Jesus picked Paul to be the 12th Apostle.”  Is there any record of “Jesus” picking Paul the pharisee to be an Apostle? “Sure...”,  devotees of Paul the pharisee may say, “just look at Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus!”  Although this was addressed previously in a previous section, let’s start with Luke’s description of Paul the pharisee’s experience in the following passage.

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Acts 9:1-20   

Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?… I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks… Arise & go into the city & it shall be told thee what thou must do.

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Nothing about Paul being selected as an Apostle or the twelfth Apostle there…. Now let’s look at pharisee Paul’s two first person accounts of the event.

 

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Acts 22:6-11   

…Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?… I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutest…. Arise & go into Damascus; & there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do…

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Nothing about Paul being selected as the replacement Apostle for Judas there either. Finally, we have pharisee Paul’s own new & improved, “embellished version” of the road to Damascus event, which he gave before king Agrippa…

 

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Acts 26:13-19   

…Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks… I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise & stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister & a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; delivering thee from the people & from the gentiles unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, & to turn them from darkness to light & from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins & inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

 

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Overlook for now the obvious differences in the basic word count of what the voice from heaven allegedly told pharisee Paul in his self contradictory first person accounts of the same event. What is specifically missing in all three of these accounts, is any mention of pharisee Paul having been selected as the twelfth Apostle to take Judas’ place! Paul’s embellished version before Agrippa does state that the voice from heaven selected him to be a “minister & a witness”, but not an Apostle! 

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Consulting a Strong’s concordance for the original Greek words, we see that the voice told him that he was to be hyperetes & martys,  Strong’s G5257 & G3144 respectively. G5257, hyperetes, means a servant: a subordinate rower, any one who serves with hands, or any one who aids another in any work. G3144, martys, means a witness in a legal, historical, or ethical sense. 

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On the other hand, apostolos, Strong’s G652, indicates a delegate or messenger, one sent forth with orders. According to Strong’s concordance, this could be specifically applied to the twelve Apostles of our Savior or in a broader general sense to prominent Christian teachers or leaders. 

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Devotees of Paul the pharisee will claim that Luke in Acts 14, & in other places refers to many apostles other than the 12 Apostles. However, Luke was an associate of Paul’s, & under his influence. Paul may have been inclined to give Luke the impression that there were many apostles, not just the original 12, as this would bolster Paul’s own case for apostleship. However, it was not Paul or Luke who had the authority to determine the number & identity of the Apostles, it is Adonai YAHUSHA who determines who His Apostles are! 

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The word apostle occurs 19 times in the New Testament Scriptures. 16 of the 19 uses of the word are in pharisee Paul’s letters to various gentile congregations. Paul uses the word to identify himself as an Apostle, according to Paul!  Is there  even one passage in the New Testament Scriptures that indicates Adonai YAHUSHA selected pharisee Paul to be the twelfth Apostle or an Apostle? The correct answer to that question is simply, NO.

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Is there a problem with Paul always referring to himself as being an Apostle? There are a couple of problems with Paul’s claims. Acts 1:15-26 indicates that Paul the pharisee was simply not qualified to be one of the 12 Apostles. There is not one verse where YAHUSHA indicates that Paul is to be one of His Apostles. In addition, there is not even a single verse where any of the 12 real Apostles acknowledge Paul’s self proclaimed “Apostleship.” 

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Furthermore, Paul’s repeated claims of his Apostleship reek of self-aggrandizement. YAHUSHA did not really have anything positive to say about this sort of shameless self promotion...

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Matthew 23:12   

And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

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Some Paulinists make the claim that it was not YAHUSHA, but the Apostles who decided that Matthias should be the replacement for Yahuda or Judas. They insist that YAHUSHA selected Paul to be the replacement for Judas. Yet, that claim clearly can not be correct!! Our Saviour identified His Twelve Apostles as those who had followed Him from the beginning...

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John 15:27   

And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

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Matthew 19:28   

And YAHUSHA said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

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YAHUSHA promised His actual disciples that wherever two or three of them were gathered in His Name, He would be there in the midst of them. He also promised again that if they ask for anything in agreement, that it would be done for them.

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Matthew 18:19-20   

Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

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He also promised His real Disciples/Apostles several times that whatever they prayed for would be granted them!! 

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John 14:13-14   

And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in My Name, I will do it.

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John 15:16   

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My Name, He may give it you.

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John 16:23-24   

And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My Name, He will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

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When they met together towards the end of the first chapter of Acts, they prayed together. They didn’t pray for wealth & riches, or to be famous. They didn’t pray for multiple harems of beautiful wives, lovers, & concubines. They simply prayed that our Heavenly Father would select a replacement for Judas!!! They prayed, cast lots, & Matthias was selected. He was well qualified since he had been a witness of Adonai YAHUSHA’s entire Ministry, from baptism through to Resurrection & Ascension. 

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To insist that the prayer of the Apostles in Acts 1:24-26 was disregarded is to insist that Adonai YAHUSHA’s repeated promises to them were not kept. That is clearly an erroneous & dangerous assertion to make, because He promised them at least three times before His ordeal that their prayers & requests would be heard & granted! YAHUSHA is Faithful & True(Revelations 19:11), & we can be absolutely certain that He kept the promises He repeatedly made to His actual Apostles!

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Each of His Twelve Apostles was selected by Him to be a witness of His ministry, from His baptism to His Resurrection & Ascension. Paul the pharisee never heard our Saviour’s promise of Matthew 19:28 since Paul was not chosen by Him to be one of His 12 Apostles. YAHUSHA’s promise to His actual 12 Apostles of Matthew 19:28 could never apply to Paul under any circumstances since Paul never followed YAHUSHA. Hence, it clearly follows that Paul’s “apostleship” was only self proclaimed & self-imagined!

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Devotees of pharisee Paul may also defend Paul by saying that pharisee Paul was just using the term apostle in a general sense. Perhaps pharisee Paul was just trying to identify himself as a prominent Christian leader, but he didn’t mean to imply that he had the same authority as our Saviour’s 12 Apostles? 

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A few verses need to be examined to determine whether that defense of Paul’s use of the title is valid…

 

Romans 11:13   

For I speak to you Gentiles inasmuch as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office… 

 

1 Tim 2:7   

Whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an Apostle (I speak the truth in Christ & lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity…

 

1 Corinthians 15:9-10    

For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am: & His grace which (was bestowed) upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all:

 

2 Corinthians 12:11-12   

…for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest Apostles… Truly the signs of an Apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds…

 

In 1 Tim 2:7, Paul states that he was ordained an Apostle. That implies some sort of public proceeding or ceremony. Given the selection of Matthias as the Twelfth Apostle in Acts 1:26, & given the lack of a single verse in the entire New Testament in which either YAHUSHA or any of His actual Twelve Apostles identify or acknowledge Paul as an Apostle, who was qualified to "ordain" Paul as an Apostle? Why is there no record of this ceremony in the NT? Is 1 Tim 2:7 another example of the lie(s) & dishonesty Paul referred to in Romans 3:7 & 2nd Corinthians 12:16?

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In his first letter to the Corinthians, pharisee Paul appears to humbly claim to be the least of the apostles, nevertheless claiming to be an apostle. Yet even in this apparent attempt at “humility”, he proudly boasts that he labored more abundantly than the actual Twelve Apostles of our Messiah!!

 

In his second letter to the Corinthians, pharisee Paul states in 2 Corinthians 12:11-12, that in nothing was he behind the very chiefest Apostles. Not only is he saying that he is an Apostle, he’s saying that he’s not the slightest bit less less qualified than the very chiefest or greatest of the 12 Apostles! The defense that Paul was just using the term generically to identify himself as a prominent Christian leader simply isn’t correct. By always identifying himself as an Apostle, pharisee Paul was obtaining for himself & his opinions an authority that really didn’t belong to him.

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Paul the pharisee states in 2 Corinthians 12:11-12 that in nothing is he behind the very chiefest Apostles! How could Paul’s claim even possibly be true? We know from Acts 1:15-26 that Paul specifically lacked the single characteristic that qualified anyone to be an Apostle. Paul the pharisee was not selected to be a witness of our Savior’s entire ministry from His baptism by John through to His Resurrection & Ascension. When pharisee Paul states in 2 Corinthians 12:11 that in nothing was he behind the very chiefest apostles, isn’t that a demonstrably false claim since he specifically lacked the sole qualification required to even be one of YAHUSHA’s Apostles? Isn’t Pharisee Paul’s claim of 2 Co 12:11-12 proven completely false by Acts 1:15-26? 

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Given the numbering & identification of the 12 Apostles in Matthew 10:2-4, our Savior’s own words from John 15:16 & 27 &  Matthew 19:28, as well as the description of the Apostolic prayer for the selection of the twelfth Apostle in Acts 1:15-26; aren’t all of pharisee Paul’s claims of being an Apostle shown to be blatantly false? In addition, there isn’t even a single New Testament verse in which YAHUSHA or His Twelve Apostles acknowledge Paul’s “apostleship.” Therefore, aren’t all of Paul’s frequent claims of being an Apostle perfect examples of the dishonesty he openly admitted to in 2 Corinthians 12:16 & Romans 3:7?

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