Jesus's Words

Paul Complains about Matthias

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Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) Galatians 1:1 In this opening sentence to the church in Galatia, Paul makes a claim to not being appointed an apostle by man. Since Jesus chose the other eleven apostles, Paul must be referring to Matthias, who was chosen in Acts 1:23-26. Why would Paul be complaining about Matthias?

The Bible speaks no word about Matthias after the apostles chose him to replace Judas Iscariot, so we are left with a variety of interpretations to choose from. Perhaps Matthias is actually the fake apostle, despite having eleven other apostles vouch for him. Perhaps Matthias kept his prayers silent, so others would not hear him. Perhaps Paul envied Matthias and wished to be in Matthias' position. This makes sense since Matthias was a real apostle, and Paul was challenged wherever he went. Whatever the case may be, we only see contentions between the apostles and Paul. We do not see contentions between the apostles themselves after Jesus's resurrection.

Alternatively, perhaps Paul is not complaining about Matthias being chosen, but asserting that he, Paul, is better than the other apostles for being chosen personally by God. If this is the case then Paul needs to study what Jesus said, But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.Matthew 20:26, 27 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.Luke 14:11.

Either way, Paul's actions in writing these words hinder his reader's trust of the apostles that Jesus chose, thus this action must be looked at unfavorably.


Value of this Evidence

These two verses are a good evidence that Paul is a false apostle. Paul either has contention between himself and the apostles, in violation of Jesus's raising of the law to include not hating anyone, or Paul lacked the humility to be a real apostle.

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