Why do so many people think Paul was a false apostle?

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

Embankment

Senior Member
Feb 28, 2017
703
196
43
LOL! I do not have any problem with Paul! That is what you said, not at all what I said!

I have a problem if someone puts the words and writings of Paul as more authoritative than those of Peter, John, James, or Jesus.
(I do not know if you are guilty of this or not -- but I asked the question and you did not answer my question . . . )

You are right that Paul explains grace in greater details than the other writers - that does not make him more authoritative than their words.
It’s not that one overrules the other. They are all in harmony.
Some people do not want them to be so they can hang on to legal ism at all costs!
 

Noblemen

Senior Member
Jan 14, 2018
498
149
43
Many references are made to Jesus being our Master, this is not a slave-master relationship, it is referring to Him as our Master (Teacher.)

Also, He is referred to as Raboni, oe my Great kRabbi, again teacher.

The Gospel is the Gospel of Jesus Christ,passed on to us by the Twelve and others not of the Twelve but nevertheless sent out as Apostle may be defined.
There is no other authority on the Gospel but Jesus Christ, all we have since He are people who are learned of Him.

There are several references to His being our Teacher, some simply when we read we should hear Him.........even if this advice is being given to a brother in Christ in the Word, it is to all of us.

I have not said you shoul not learn by means of PAUL, but always keep in the forefront of your understanding that Paul is taught the same Gospel as were Abraham first, the Hebrews at the Mount, the Jews at Christ's first advent in the flesh, and closely followed by His other flock, gentiles......
Sure I understand but why would Paul say follow me? He didn't say follow me and follow Jesus.
On another note; where does the HolySpirit come in to play in all this?
 

JaumeJ

Senior Member
Jul 2, 2011
21,424
6,703
113
Sure I understand but why would Paul say follow me? He didn't say follow me and follow Jesus.
On another note; where does the HolySpirit come in to play in all this?
I am only permitted to speak from experience. The Holy Spirit led me to Jesus christ after having been drawn to the Father by Him.

I read Paul, and I note above all that Pul warns all that he did not die for our sins or to bring us the Gospel, only Jesuis Christ did this, and Paul states there is only one Gospel, that of Jesuis Christ.

As for thGosple, having been led to Jesus Christ by the Hoy Spirit, I learn all from Jesus Christ , just as Paul claims he does.
 

Ahwatukee

Senior Member
Mar 12, 2015
11,159
2,375
113
If you google Paul false apostle you'll get hundreds of thousands of results. Of course, not all results contain opinions against Paul, but I estimate that at least half of them state that he departed from the true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There are also those who don't go to the extreme of calling Paul a false apostle, but regard him as "not completely reliable".

Is there any reason for us to think that Paul's authority is questionable?
Greetings Marcelo,

The answer to why there are those who proclaim that Paul is a false apostle and that his writings are not God-breathed, is just another deception from Satan. Regarding this, consider the following:

"Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction." 2 Pet.3:15

First of all, Peter refers to Paul's writings as wisdom from God and as being scripture. Notice that it states that there were people of that time who were distorting the scriptures that Paul had written, who are referred to as ignorant and unstable and that by doing so it is to their own destruction.

By discrediting Paul and all that he wrote, they are speaking against the Lord and His word, because it is from the Lord that Paul received his information from. Since it is said that by distorting Paul's writings they do so to their own destruction, then Satan knows that if he can get people to hold the same teaching about Paul and his writings, then they will do so their own destruction as well.

We know that Paul was caught up to the third heaven and that he received visions and revelations directly from the Lord. These people who are against Paul and his writings have been deceived by Satan and his false teachers and if they continue in that, it will be to their own destruction.
 

Locutus

Senior Member
Feb 10, 2017
5,928
685
113
Let's look at the gospel John the Baptist and Paul preached:

Matt 3:8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance;

Acts 26:20 but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.

Do we see Jesus claiming John the B was a false preacher?

Paul was preaching the same message as John and Jesus after John.

Case closed.

Without Paul's letters our understanding of the fulfillment of the OT prophecies would be impoverished.
 

Locutus

Senior Member
Feb 10, 2017
5,928
685
113
Paul's gospel was based on the old testament prophets as he himself stated - he was "illuminated" by the spirit of Christ to understand how those prophecies related to Christ and the teachings of Christ which was all old testament based:

Acts 26:22 “So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place

Acts 26:23 that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”

Paul did not invent a doctrine contrary to Jesus or the old testament prophets.

The "another" gospel of dispensationalism claims that the "church" is not found in the prophets but the scripture attests otherwise.

Contrary to the claims of dispensationalism the "church" created on Pentecost was the fulfillment of prophecy:

Acts 2:16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

Acts 2:17 “ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

Acts 3:24 “And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days.