⁷For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Paul was not a self-proclaimed apostle. True, he defended his apostleship at times, but that is not to be confused with his actual authority given to him by God. Luke writes as an independent testimony:

But the Lord said to [Ananais], “Go, for [Saul, aka Paul] is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” (Acts 9:15–16)

Peter, a key apostle of the Lord and a prominent authority in the early church movement, clearly articulated his belief that Paul’s ministry was authoritative when he penned the following:

… 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, in which are some 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, emphasis added)

Paul’s writings were considered to be on the same level as “the rest of Scripture,” thus being of the same authoritative class as all the OT writings. In other words, what Paul wrote was to be considered the Word of God.

When writing to Timothy, Paul reminds him of this authority. Not because Timothy would doubt that, but for emphasis. Note his appointment was also as a preacher (from the Greek: “keryx”). He later tells Timothy to do the work of a preacher: “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus . . . preach the word” (2 Tim 4:1–2). The master preacher is challenging his younger brother and disciple to follow his example. It is interesting that here he speaks as though under oath. This is not a careless statement thrown out for effect. He affirms his authority.

While he preached to the Jews whenever he had the opportunity, Paul’s primary calling was to non-Jews. He would have spent more time with his fellow Israelites, but they mostly rejected his message and drove him out to the Gentiles. His heart was for Israel (see Romans 9:3). How ironic that he whose persecution once drove Christians out of Israel was now the one being forced out of Jewish synagogues, resulting in the expansion of the gospel to non-Jews!

Lord, thank You for the example of passing on the baton of leadership.