Paul, the Last Apostle and Second Moses pt. 1

Is there any written source of knowledge in our world on which we can count? For Christians Jesus is the great revelation of God in our world, but Jesus never wrote down a single word—but he did prepare his apostles who would write down what he taught.

At TruthXChange we often cite a form of the apostle Paul’s writings in the form of Oneism and Twoism as Romans 1:25 suggests. So, we count heavily on the teaching of the apostle. The apostle Paul believed that his calling and ministry was part of God’s special plan to bring the Gospel to the world. If any phrase could sum up in one word in the theology of Paul, it would be the word “gospel.” And this word means an important historical event that has already taken place. Its importance in Paul’s thought is to be measured by the fact that the substantive Gospel occurs 70 times and the verb “to Gospel” 22 times in the writings of Paul. Jesus begins his ministry in Galilee with the words “Today (“now”) the Scripture (Isa. 61:1-2) is fulfilled in your ears” (Lk 4:21). In conformity with this Paul proclaims to the Corinthians the present time of final fulfillment for them especially as Gentiles. His citation of Isaiah 49:8, since his own apostolic ministry seems to be a fulfillment of the preceding verse 6, which states, “I will give you as a light to the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Indeed, there is a blurring of images between the mission of Paul and that of Christ, but I believe that such blurring is of the essence of the relationship that exists between the Messiah of the end times and his eschatological apostle.

This is what Paul says to the Ephesian Christians: “you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy prophets and apostles by the Spirit.” (Cp. Eph 3:4–5). Also, compare 3:9: “the plan of the mystery hidden for ages.” This text relates to the fullness of time: “For he has made known to us in all wisdom…the mystery of his will…as a plan for the fullness of time” (Eph 1:9). There are two other texts that, in addition to Ephesians 3:5, seem to associate the giving of this mystery with the office of apostle. The second text is Ephesians 3:2–3, “the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation.” The difference would appear to be that the grace that Paul elsewhere characterizes as the grace of apostleship (Rom 1:5; Gal 2:8–9) is to receive the mystery by revelation and thus to be “entrusted with the gospel” (Gal 2:7).

The Old Testament Hebrew term sod, which can mean both the heavenly assembly, that is, God in his council, and as well as the divine secrets spoken there. And the reason is that the prophet to whom   is vouchsafed the divine secret, is he who has already stood in the council (by a vision) and overheard the heavenly deliberations (see Isa 6; 1 Kg 22; Amos 3:7).

Paul is only following the example of Jesus, who, after the Resurrection, opens the minds of the apostles to understand the Scriptures, and who during his earthly ministry says to his disciples, “to you has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven…blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears for they hear. Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and hear what you hear, and did not hear it” (Matt 13:11, 16–17). Jesus then is conscious of the same phenomenon at work in his ministry—the final fulfillment of Scripture.

Paul, the Last Apostle

With this in mind, one approaches 1 Corinthians 3:10ff with a great deal of interest. For Paul, who is very conscious of having been entrusted with the mysterion/sod for the people of God of the end time, now says, “According to the commission of God given to me, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation.”For what we know of this sod complex, it would hardly seem to be doing justice to Paul’s words if we concluded that he was merely claiming the honor of being the first missionary at Corinth (as does the well-known Bible scholar, C.K. Barrett, 1 Corinthians,p87), for Paul is a skilled master-builder precisely because he has been entrusted with the mystery/foundation which is Christ. If it is Paul’s role to be entrusted with this sod, it is also part of his role to make it the foundation/sod of the final people of God.

This idea drove me to study a fascinating text in Paul’s writing to the Corinthians (1 Cor 15:8), “Last (eschaton) of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.”On this text I wrote fifty pages, but do not worry. I will be shorter!

Critical scholars, wanting to eliminate any historical references in v.8, argue that when Paul uses “last” in v.8 he means “least,” playing himself down. But in the very next verse, v.9, Paul states: “For I am the least (elachistos) of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” Clearly Paul is saying two different things in two different verses with two different words. 

When Paul applies the term “last” to himself something significant is being affirmed. He uses the term “last trumpet,” “last enemy” “last days” and “last Adam” as significant events.

For example, the Last Adam represents the essential contents of the eschatological mystery of which the other “lasts” are but the consequences.

The Last Adam according to Paul, is capable of summing up the whole extent of Christian theology. The last Adam as “life-giving spirit” is in a mysterious way the essence of Pauline pneumatology. What I am trying to say is that the revelation of the mystery of the Last Adam is truly the last mystery to be revealed.

The temporal references begin already at verse 5 with the sequence, “then,” “next,” etc. This serial list culminates in the phrase ἔσχατον δὲ πάντων (15:8), “last of all.” The importance of the resurrection appearances in the ministry of the apostle establishes him as the foundation layer in the last days. Thus, I am obliged to conclude that the last appearance necessarily implies the last apostle. Paul is the final piece added to the apostolic foundation that Christ lays down for the church.

The Gentiles represent the apostolic ministry of Paul. Paul is, according to Romans 11:13, the apostle to the Gentiles, so that, as we shall see, Paul, in presenting the Gentiles as an example of the biblical theological principle of the last/least, is setting forth the salvation historical character of his own ministry. In other words, he is “eschatologizing” this biblical principle for himself and his apostolic ministry amongst the Gentiles. Just as the miserable persecutor is the Last apostle, so those who were not a people come in last of all to save the people of God in the last days (Rom 1¹).

The inclusion of the Gentiles was confided to him in a special way. That way Paul makes clear in Ephesians 3:8–9. He has been entrusted with the eschatological mystery of the place and role of the Gentiles in the final unfolding of salvation history. “The mystery was made known to me by revelation…When you read this you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ… how the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the same promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

The Gentiles, who in the past were “not by people,” have lately become “sons of the living God” (Rom 9:26). Already the parallel with “one untimely born” or “abortion” is striking. For the text has to do with a kind of birth, and a birth of illegitimate children, according to normal standards of judgement. But Paul goes on to represent them as a “foolish nation, as an “abortion” (Rom 10:19, is doubtless a term of abuse (see Rom 1:21), and finally as “a wild olive shoot” (Rom 11:17), which is grafted on after. Here again, chronological anomaly is unmistakably affirmed. Just as Paul was grafted onto the original apostolate, almost as if the result of a divine after thought, so the Gentiles are made part of the Israel of God. The parallel, as we should expect, is perfect. Paul goes on to establish that this event of sending for preaching to the house of Israel in the end times had already been prophesied in Isaiah 52:7 where the prophet says, “How beautiful…are the feet of him who brings good tidings.”

The following article will continue with Paul’s bold claim to be the Second Moses, examining 2 Corinthians 3–4 in depth, including the comparison of covenants, sufficiency (hikanos), and Paul’s role as mediator of the New Covenant.

1. ^[1] Hickling, art.cit, 386 uses the same expression. “Verse 3 also contains…an implicit contrast between…to activities of mediation, that of Moses on the one hand and Paul on the other.” Cf his similar comment on pa 385, concerning this same verse: “Paul explains what it is to be the runner who carries a letter written by Christ upon the hearts of men, and not ‘on tables of stone’ such as Moses had carried into the divine and subsequently down to the Israelites….” ↩︎