Was Paul a False Apostle?

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Darren

I know this one gets people up in arms, and it quickly devolves into shouting and name-calling. But I would like to try to have an actual discussion about this topic. I will present a number of arguments that suggest Paul was a false prophet, and I’d love to hear responses to those accusations.

For the record, a proper response would be explaining why my suggestion would be wrong. An improper response would be, “If you question Paul, you’re of Satan, the end.”

  • Proof 1: Revelation 2 and 3

    A. In every letter Paul wrote, he referred to himself as an apostle and even suggested he was a greater apostle as the "super" apostles (with heavy sarcasm).
    • Jesus commended Ephesus for rejecting someone who called himself an apostle but was not.
    • Paul complains to Timothy that all the churches in Asia abandoned him.

    B. Paul taught the church it was okay to eat meat sacrificed to idols, despite the leaders in Jerusalem instructing him to tell new converts to avoid eating meat sacrificed to idols.
    • Jesus rebuked two churches of "Paul's churches" for eating meat sacrificed to idols.

    C. Paul often states he is not a liar in his letters, as if he's responding to someone accusing him of being a liar.
    • Jesus also commended Ephesus for proving someone to be a liar in addition to being a false apostle.

    D. Paul claims to have a new and unique gospel only given to him by Jesus Himself.
    • Jesus never rebuked a single church in Asia for rejecting Paul and Paul's gospel.

  • Proof 2: 2 Peter 3:16

    I know this is an odd passage to use as proof Paul *is* a false apostle since it's often the only one anyone can use to suggest he *isn't*. However, most people don't really know a couple of important things about this verse.

    A. Peter didn't write it.
    B. Peter referred to Paul's letters as "writings", not "scripture", in the original language. This is the same word Jews use to describe books like Esther or Song of Solomon, which are not considered scripture in the Jewish religion.
    C. The *only* argument anyone can make that validates Paul is a verse that says Paul's writings are confusing and can be twisted to say the wrong thing. That is hardly an endorsement.

  • Proof 3: Demon Possessed?

    Is having a "Messenger of Satan" living inside you the same thing as being demon-possessed? A messenger of Satan would clearly be a demon, correct? So why does Paul say he has a messenger of Satan in 1 Corinthians 12:7?

  • Proof 4: The Greatest Commandment

    A. Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. He then says to love your neighbor as yourself, and that those *two* commandments encompass all of the law.
    B. Paul says *twice* that loving your neighbor is the whole of the law, ignoring the greatest commandment.
    C. Deuteronomy tells us that you will know a false prophet when they attempt to pull you away from the law.

  • Proof 5: Paul Lies

    A. Paul tells three different versions of his miraculous conversion; conflicting details and conflicting timelines.

    B. Paul tells two versions of his daring escape in a basket from Jerusalem.

    C. The leaders in Jerusalem told Paul to tell the new Christians to "abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality", twice.
    • Paul tells the church in Galatia, "They desired only that we should remember the poor", something never even mentioned by the leaders in Jerusalem.
    • Paul tells the church in Corinth it is okay to eat meat sacrificed to idols.

    D. The Jews seized Paul in the temple because they said he was preaching against the law and defiling the temple by bringing in unclean Greeks. Paul lies to the council on purpose in order to divide them by saying he was “on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead”.

    E. The book of Acts says Paul and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem because of a "great dissension and debate".
    • Paul told the church in Galatia that he went to Jerusalem because of a revelation.

  • Proof 6: Quoting Jesus

    Paul only quotes Jesus two times, and both times what he claims Jesus said to him were words that were pulled from Greek literature.