Saul of Tarsus, who upon his conversion became the apostle Paul, wrote at least 12 letters which have been included in the New Testament. Why should we accept this man's writing as being God's Word?

Paul claimed that he was "an apostle, not from men, neither through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father" (Galatians 1:1). He was an apostle, one who had seen the risen Christ. "Am I not an apostle?" he asks rhetorically. "Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?" (1 Corinthians 9:1). He was, therefore, in a position of authority in the early church.

The apostle also received a unique revelation from God. "The gospel which was preached by me ... is not after man. For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through revelation of Jesus Christ," he says (Galatians 1:11, 12). This calling was given to the apostle at his birth: "It was the good pleasure of God, who separated me, even from my mother's womb ... to reveal His Son in me" (Galatians 1:15, 16).

This divine message which Paul received was transmitted correctly to both the churches and the individuals to whom he wrote. He tells Titus, "God, who cannot lie,... in His own seasons manifested His word in the message, wherewith I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior" (Titus 1:2, 3).

He went on to say, "For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit; but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men but God, who examines our hearts" (1 Thessalonians 2:3, 4 NASB).

The revelation given to Paul was a yardstick by which to gauge other so-called revelations: "If any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8). His message bore the stamp of divine authority: "If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord's commandment" 1 Corinthians 14:37).

In Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, he made his authority crystal clear: "And for this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God's message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe" 1 Thessalonians 2:13). "Thus, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but God" (1 Thessalonians 4:8 NASB).

The disciple Simon Peter confirmed the fact that Paul's writings were of divine authority: "And regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction" (2 Peter 3:15, 16).

Therefore, we have proof that Paul, who was called by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself on the Damascus road, writes with the authority of God. He was God's chosen instrument to reveal the mysteries of Christ Jesus, for without his writings, the explanation of the death and resurrection of Christ would be incomplete.

ADDITIONAL REFERENCE SOURCES

F.F. Bruce, Paul the Apostle of the Heart Set Free, Eerdmans, 1977
J. Gresham Machen, The Origin of Paul’s Religion Eerdmans 1925