Apostolic Liberty and Submission

The experience of the Apostle Paul, after he was converted to Jesus Christ, is really very interesting indeed. It shows us something that is very important for every Christian to understand. It shows us that God has an individual plan for every Christian’s life; a personal plan for them, that He leads them by. According to these verses God led Paul into all the truth of what He wanted him personally do, so that it would be shown to all men that the gospel was not of men. We have already seen that when Paul was converted that he did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did he go up to those who were apostles before him, but he went away to Arabia and returned after that to Damascus, the city that he was from. The reason that God led the Apostle Paul this way was not because He wanted him or other Christians to think that they should live a life independent of Church authority as it was vested in the 12 apostles. It was to show all men that He was sovereign in the way that He established that Apostolic authority at that time. This revelation of what God did with Paul is given to speak to us today. Let us examine 1st - The issue of Apostolic liberty and our own liberty. (verses 18-23 of Chapter 1) 2nd – The issue of Apostolic submission and our own submission. (Chapter 2, verses 1-3) And 3rd – The issue of Apostolic Unity and our own unity with them. (verses 4 and 5 of Chapter 2)