Who Is This Apostle, and What Was He Sent to Do?
We have just closed our series, Union in Christ. The one now before us, Letters to the Nations, is a chapter-by-chapter walk through all thirteen of Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon. Before a single verse of Romans 1 is opened, though, there is a question worth settling first: who is this Apostle Paul, and what exactly was he sent to do?
A Servant, Sent
Romans 1:1 opens plainly:
“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God... by whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name.”
Paul is an apostle, a servant of Jesus Christ, separated unto the gospel of God. He had received an apostleship from the risen Lord, and grace particularly in regard to that apostleship — authority to proclaim the revelation God had in the dispensation of grace, to the nations generally and to the believers specifically. He is calling out a people from all nations unto the obedience of the faith.
His commission comes into fuller view in Acts 9. Paul had another name, Saul — the name of one of Israel’s first kings, a man taller than all the other Israelites. When Saul takes the name Paul, it is a name of humility and little stature, reflective of what Jesus Christ has done to him. At that point he is an adversary to the church of God, breathing out threatenings, slaughtering and imprisoning believers — a blasphemer, though he did not think himself one, because he was rejecting God’s anointed by attacking those of the Way.
“And he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest... And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.”
Saul was not persecuting Jesus directly — Jesus was already resurrected and ascended. He was persecuting those who believed, and the Lord took that personally; he is bound to his own. The Lord then sends a disciple named Ananias to Saul, and what he tells Ananias is the clearest statement we have of Paul’s apostleship:
“Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
We often draw a hard line between Jew and Gentile, but the Lord’s own words to Ananias cut against drawing it too hard here: Paul is sent to the nations. That is all nations — Gentiles and Jews alike. Whatever we find in these letters to the nations is going to include everyone.
This apostleship bears fruit in the letters themselves. Through his apostolic journeys Paul forms the very churches he later writes to, and a chosen vessel bearing Christ’s name to the nations is exactly what we watch him be, letter after letter.
A Hebrew Pedigree, Counted as Loss
Philippians 3 fills out Paul’s pedigree. He was a Hebrew, a Jew, an Israelite, and he had every reason for confidence in the flesh — yet he counts it loss.
“Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.”
Circumcised the eighth day — received as an infant, not an adult. The tribe of Benjamin was privileged among the twelve. There is no more Hebrew pedigree than Saul’s, and among the Pharisees he belonged to the strictest sect, zealous enough that it led him not only to the crucifixion of Jesus but to persecuting those who followed him. His response once he meets Christ is telling: “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ” — past tense. Then: “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss... for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” He has not changed his mind since.
Everything Paul names there, he is not naming in its pure form. He is naming the Pharisees’ corrupted version of it, the oral tradition and the tradition of the elders laid over it. That was his righteousness, his pedigree, and all of it stood contrary to the Lord Jesus Christ.
“For whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”
A drastic shift happens in Paul’s life when he meets the risen Lord and receives grace and apostleship. We have the benefit of all of it.
A Dispensation of Grace
What Paul is given is a dispensation of the grace of Christ. John writes that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, full of grace and truth: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” The law came by Moses; grace and truth comes by Jesus Christ. Paul is given a dispensation — a stewardship — of that grace, which is in the risen and ascended Lord. It is special revelation, not given to anyone prior to him.
A dispensation is not a period of time. It functions within one, but the word itself is an issue of stewardship, the management of a household. The King James translators, in choosing “dispensation,” were thinking management, household stewardship. A household is in view. God had his house in mind before the world began — the house is Jesus Christ. Ever since he made man he has been building it, through various dispensations regarding what he wanted to reveal.
This same word is translated “stewardship” repeatedly in Luke 16, and “edifying” in 1 Timothy 1. The doctrine Paul teaches, and commends others to teach, is what produces the godly building up of his house, which is in faith. It is not the apostle, and it is not the teacher, that does that — it is the doctrine. That is why it can be followed irrespective of the man who brings it: if I go the wrong direction, abandon me, but do not abandon the truth.
One Household, Not Two
In Ephesians 2, Paul connects Jews and Gentiles as part of the household of God. In chapter 3 he singles out the Gentiles directly: “For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles...”
God is building his household today, a house that spans heaven and earth. Ephesians 2 puts it together:
“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”
Notice he does not say Israel there. God was building his house before Israel existed. Being in Israel never by itself meant being part of God’s eternal house — one had to be counted for the seed, having the faith of father Abraham, as Paul teaches in Romans 4.
In Ephesians 3 he adds:
“Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given... that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ... and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God... according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
He is to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, that all men would see — the working out of what God purposed in Christ. This is what is given to Paul.
If the dispensing of grace builds the house, and it is given to Paul but is not Paul’s, who really builds it? Jesus Christ does, by the Spirit, through the instrumentality of Paul and the Word. Hebrews 3 puts the comparison plainly:
“Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.”
Christ was faithful to the Father, as Moses was faithful in his house — an equal comparison in one sense. But Moses is part of the house; Christ builds it. The builder has more glory than the house. Christ builds his house, whether in time past or today — through the dispensation of his grace to Paul, as the means of doctrine for the management of the church: how it is built, and how we are to live within it.
Answering the “Neither Jew Nor Gentile” Objection
There is a lot of talk in recent years about chopping up Paul’s epistles — that he is writing only to Jews here, only to Gentiles there. He is writing to the nations and what he writes is applicable to both although he may be addressing one or the other. That is his apostleship, and it does not need to be divided to be understood. There are times he speaks to Jews because of Jewish culture, background, and what God was doing with them, and things he speaks to Gentiles about — but that is not confusion, that is simply attending to his apostleship.
Where Paul wants to draw a connection between what came before and what is now, he does so clearly. He says in 2 Corinthians 3 that he is an able minister of the New Testament — ministering that New Testament to Jews and Gentiles alike. The New Testament, in contrast to the Old, includes imputed righteousness and the forgiveness of sins. To the Gentiles, Paul does not use the phrase “New Testament,” but he does speak of the forgiveness of sins and imputed righteousness. That dynamic runs through these letters often.
There are things I do not even argue about anymore, because people often do not want to listen. Galatians 3 gets raised — “in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile” — as though the distinction simply vanishes. The question worth asking back is whether there is neither male nor female anymore either. Paul is addressing the Gentiles in Ephesians; he calls them that by name. A Gentile does not stop being a Gentile by believing, any more than I stop being Polish. God gave that diversity, that beauty. What changes is that we are no longer judging status by it. The one significant change we are now making judgments on is whether a person is in Adam, or in Christ.
My own understanding of Paul’s apostleship is twofold, and this is where the confusion usually starts. The reason people want to chop Jew and Gentile apart in his letters is a lack of understanding of his connection with what came before. It is not that Paul lacks that connection — it is that we do not often recognize the connection he does have.
Part of his ministry connects with what came before; part of it does not. This is why he can call Abraham “your father,” call Israel’s exodus generation “our fathers,” call himself an able minister of the New Testament, tell the Galatians “as Isaac was, so are you,” and call the Jerusalem above the mother of us all. Not everything Paul reveals was previously hidden, and his own writing tells us so.
Romans 1:1 says he is separated unto the gospel of God. What gospel is that? Verse 2: “which he, God, had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures.” Paul is separated unto something God had already promised, in the Scriptures — that is part of his apostleship. That is why, in Acts, Paul can say that all Moses, the Psalms, and the prophets said is what he teaches. Three times in Acts he alludes to teaching that which was revealed in the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets. He says, “I preach none other than the hope of Israel” — the resurrection. That is why in 1 Corinthians 15 he says the gospel he preached was that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and rose the third day according to the Scriptures. He is preaching some things because he is separated unto some things, not everything — things God promised before but revealed only a little at a time, with Paul given the final revelation of it. And then there was revelation never spoken of before, given to him as well.
“Concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David” — track the risen, ascended Lord back to David, and the Gospel genealogies become infallible proofs of who sits at the Father’s right hand, in view of who he was according to the flesh, even though we no longer know him that way. There is continuity there. “And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” — some things regarding David, some things regarding the resurrected Lord, and this one has given Paul grace and apostleship. As these thirteen letters unfold, this is whose marching orders we are under: the one who died on that tree, was buried, rose again, and ascended. Paul carries the conclusion of the gospel of God, and the mystery of Jew and Gentile in one body — both, together, through all thirteen letters.
All the Profit of Scripture
Paul’s letters are framed a certain way. Doctrine is teaching that engages the mind and heart, but it is not meant to stay there. Paul typically ends every letter with what the doctrine is supposed to produce in a life, given as instruction. In Romans, the teaching of our identity in Christ is meant to produce a renewed mind and a life walked out. Teaching without the walking becomes heady and high-minded; walking without the teaching becomes religion, mere human wisdom. The whole letter is what we are after, not half of it.
This shows up in the instructions: live peaceably with all men. We have peace with God and with one another — what is that supposed to look like? Not complicated, though it can be made so. Everything taught earlier in a letter equips a reader for the latter half; unable to live peaceably, go back to the doctrine of peace with God, and let it reign in the heart. It becomes the source and supply for what is instructed later.
2 Timothy 3:16 names it directly: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” All four of these run through Paul’s letters. In 1 and 2 Corinthians and Galatians there is heavy reproof, correction, and instruction tied to the churches’ failures. Ephesians is mostly doctrine and instruction. Philippians and Colossians carry more reproof and correction. But all thirteen carry something of all four.
A doctrine-only reading gets one-fourth of the profit of Scripture. Doctrine-and-reproof is half. The whole is doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction together, so that, as verse 17 says, “the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” Doctrine alone does not furnish anyone unto good works; it takes the instruction that corresponds to it. Paul says in Philippians 4: think on these things — and do. Thinking cannot be skipped to get to doing, so both are needed.
Where These Letters Are Headed
Paul’s epistles can be arranged several ways — chronologically, by apostolic journey, prison letters, pastoral letters. What matters here is their doctrinal order, which is their canonical order: Romans through Philemon. There is profit in the order they are placed in.
Romans lays the doctrinal foundation of the gospel — justification, sanctification, glorification — climaxing in chapter 8, then turning to instruction on the believer’s relationship to Israel, to one another, and to the world.
1 Corinthians corrects a church fractured by division, carnality, and disorder, calling it back to the mind of Christ and order governed by love.
2 Corinthians defends Paul’s apostleship and instructs the church in generous giving, godly sorrow, and the ministry of reconciliation.
Galatians corrects a drift back toward the law, reasserting that righteousness is by faith alone and that liberty in Christ is standing, not license.
Ephesians unveils the mystery of the one body and expands the believer’s position and inheritance in Christ beyond Romans — it picks up Romans 8 and enlarges it — then calls the church to walk worthy in unity, purity, and spiritual warfare.
Philippians strengthens a beloved, supportive church toward unity and joy amid suffering, holding up the mind of Christ as the pattern.
Colossians corrects an early error against the sufficiency of Christ, exalting him as preeminent and complete for the believer.
1 Thessalonians corrects confusion about the Lord’s coming while commending a young church’s work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope.
2 Thessalonians corrects the idea that the day of the Lord had already come, and the idleness that followed from it, calling believers back to steady labor.
1 Timothy instructs Timothy on ordering the church and confronting false teachers, so it functions as the pillar and ground of the truth.
2 Timothy, Paul’s final charge from prison, urges Timothy to guard sound doctrine and endure hardship in the face of coming apostasy.
Titus instructs on establishing order and sound doctrine in Crete, grounding godly living in the grace of God that has appeared.
Philemon, finally, is Paul’s personal appeal to receive the runaway slave Onesimus back as a brother — a living picture of how the gospel reshapes relationships in the local church, fittingly the last of Paul’s letters canonically.
Why This Is Worth the Walk
Most of the teaching in this church has run through Romans and Ephesians — wonderful books, and rightly central. But that leaves real room for a congregation not to be unified: some doctrinal people, some reproof-and-correction people, some instruction people, depending on what service or season a person came through. Walking all thirteen letters, in their own order, closes that gap. What remains is to learn it, believe it, and use it.
That is the stake in these letters. They protect against division. They keep a church from drifting back to the law. They humble self-sufficiency. They comfort and charge in view of the Lord’s return. They shape how a body of believers is governed, leadership held responsible and those under it. They give the foundation, the superstructure, and the capstone of what, in the dispensation of grace, a church ought to be built to be — faithful to what has been given, knowing all along that it is Christ who is building the house.
That is why these thirteen letters are worth walking through together, one chapter at a time, beginning in Romans.
Look Up,
—Josh Strelecki, Pastor-Teacher
Letters to the Nations, Article 1
This is the first lesson of our new series through Paul’s thirteen epistles — Introduction & Overview. You can listen to it here.
Next up: Romans Chapter 1