Follow Paul the Apostle

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. - 1 Corinthians 1:10

In the previous post, I mentioned the four divisions in the church of God at Corinth. Paul directs them that this should not exist. In the last 20 centuries has the problem gotten better or worse? Dare I say that it has gotten worse? The Corinthians were divided into following Paul, Cephas (another name for Peter – perhaps his popish name), Apollos and Christ. The answer to the problem is for everybody to pick ONE to follow. God's choice:

Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. - 1 Corinthians 4:16

Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. - 1 Corinthians 11:1

The divisions that existed then and exist today do not lead to peace, but do maintain confusion. Today, we have followers of the apostles Peter and John, John Calvin, Martin Luther, Billy Graham, John Hagee, Kenneth Copeland, and on and on. I contend that we should not allow divisions to exist and that we should still follow Paul. But, lets let the evidence in the Bible speak for itself.

Who is Paul?

For thou shalt be his (the God of our fathers from v 14) witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. - Acts 22:15

Paul is God's witness unto all men. All certainly includes Peter, James and John. There is no reason to constrain his witness by time. The phrase “all men” includes you and me. This witness that we have from Paul is found in Acts through Hebrews in the New Testament (NT).

That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. - Romans 15:16

Paul is the minster of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. His job was to minister the gospel of God. Paul's ministry included all the Gentiles. Again, since we have his epistles, there is no need to limit his ministry to when he was here on this earth.

Why Paul?

Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. - Philippians 4:9

Following Paul implies that you do what you learned from him, received from him, heard and seen in him. There is a benefit of doing those things. Paul promises that the God of peace shall be with you. Not following Paul's instruction and example implies that the God of peace shall not be with you. That's a pretty good reason for following Paul. Wouldn't you say? There's more.

Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. - I Thessalonians 4:1

Paul instructed the Thessalonians on how they should walk and please God. Do you want to please God? Hmmmm? Most likely, you would. Where are you going to find out how to do that? From Paul! In his epistles, Paul definitely provides instruction on how to conduct our lives. By doing that, then we, too, can please God. Still there is more.

Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things. - II Timothy 2:7

Paul writes to Timothy and tells him to consider what he says. The result will be that the Lord will give him understanding in all things. So you want understanding in all things? Well, the one way in the Bible given to achieve that is to consider what Paul says. Listen to God's witness to all men.

How many times did I see this verse before I realized what it said? I'd like to know. So I started to consider what Paul said with Romans. I studied Romans like I never studied it before. Then I did the same in order right through Hebrews. Imagine having 20 year old questions answered. I began to understand things from the Bible that I had never understood before. This I started some 10 years ago.

It produced a revolution in my life and in my understanding. Looking back is like stopping at the summit of Doherty Slide on the Winemucca to the Sea road in southeastern Oregon (Oregon 140), and looking where you came from. You can't see all the twists and turns on the way up, but you can see clearly where you were, and you know where you are. Around the time of “discovery” of this verse, there were many changes and many times I would spend weeks trying to disprove my new understanding. The big one was yet to come.

The one constant, though, has been the gospel that saves, which is the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ (see I Corinthians 15:1ff).

(See: Philippians 3:17, II Timothy 1:13 and II Timothy 4:17 for other berses related to following Paul.)