Peter and Paul

Two of the most prominent leaders of the early church were Apostle Peter and Apostle Paul.  Both of them were strong leaders, and yet, they were very different men.  Paul was a Pharisee prior to his conversion; Peter was a fisherman.  Paul was, by the nature of his position, a very educated man; Peter, being a fisherman, most likely had minimal learning.  On the other hand, Peter spent three years learning directly from the Master, while Paul spent most of his life, up until his conversion, learning from ‘masters’ that couldn’t recognize the fulfillment of prophecy when it unfolded right in front of them. 

Peter and Paul each had at least one life-changing experience with God after the Ascension.  Peter, who had been given the keys to the kingdom by Jesus, had a vision that extended salvation to the Gentiles.  Paul, on the road to Damascus, was knocked to the ground, struck blind, and told directly by God that he was not following the right path.  So, Peter did not have a complete understanding about who he should be sharing the Gospel with, but Paul had a major misunderstanding about what the Gospel was.

Now, it would make sense to me that Peter, having unlocked the door of salvation for those of us who were not born Jewish, would be heavily involved in ministering to the Gentiles from that point on.  Paul, on the other hand, with all of his knowledge of Old Testament Scriptures and Prophecy, was uniquely qualified to counter any arguments that any of the Pharisees could use to come against the Church.  That is not the way that God chose to use them, though.  In fact, at one point Paul criticized Peter for his dealings with Jews and Gentiles.  Later, Paul pronounced judgment against the Jews, and announced that he would concentrate on the Gentiles.

You may have heard it said that whom God calls, He qualifies.  It is also true that, frequently, God will use people that would seem to be poorly qualified to do whatever it is that He has called them to do.  That way, when people try to find fault, they have to at least consider that this person is doing something that they shouldn’t be able to do.  Some people don’t let that bother them.  When Moses, under God’s direction, pronounced judgment against Korah, the earth opened up and swallowed up Korah and his family.  That was a new thing; nothing like that had ever happened before.  The very next day, though, there were people accusing Moses of murder, as if Moses could orchestrate an earthquake by himself.  Some people will attribute miracles to any supernatural power they can imagine, rather than acknowledge God.

The point of all of this is that God will frequently do things that don’t make sense to the natural mind, even the minds of people that are very smart, but He does it so that He will be glorified.  He doesn’t want us to get all egotistical about what we can do, as if we could actually accomplish something on our own.  That’s why Jesus told us to let our light so shine, that others would see our good works and glorify the Father in Heaven.  People that are paying attention will know that we just aren’t good enough to do the things that we do.  We should be grateful for this because, if people thought that we could actually do those things that only God can do, then they will look to us for answers and solutions that they should be looking to God for; believe me, you don’t want that kind of responsibility.