Giuseppe wrote: ↑Sun Dec 17, 2017 12:19 pm
Ken Olson wrote: ↑Sun Dec 17, 2017 10:59 am
Your argument seems to be based on the premise that Paul uses the term Apostle to describe anyone who has seen the risen Jesus. I would need to see a fuller argument for that. It seems to me that the most plain reading of Paul in 1 Cor. 15 (which I take to be authentic) is that not all Jesus' appearances result in apostolic commissions. Jesus appeared to more than 500 of the brethren at one time and later to all the apostles. Did all the 500+ brethren become apostles? What would make us conclude that?
Yes. The 500 brothers become apostles in their own right just in the same instanct they "see" the Risen Christ. So Paul:
Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord?
(1 Cor 9:1)
I believe you are overinterpreting.
First of all, the
most one can get out of this verse by assuming such a close connection between seeing the Lord and being an apostle is that one category swallows the other whole. In other words, (A) all apostles having seen the Lord and (B) all people who have seen the Lord being apostles are not the same thing.
Second, are we entitled to assume such a close connection between these statements in the first place? What about the first one on the list, "am I not free?" Applying the same logic to freedom that you are applying to visions of the Lord Jesus, we would have to assume that all people who are free are also apostles. But:
Romans 8.2: 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
Galatians 4.31: 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman.
Galatians 5.1: 1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5.13: 13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Third, what about the last statement on the list? If everyone who has seen the Lord is an apostle, then can everyone who has seen the Lord lay claim to the Corinthians (or anybody else) as the result of his/her work in the Lord?
I think these
may be four independent statements which Paul is applying to himself. He is free, he is an apostle, he has seen the Lord, and he can claim the Corinthians as the result of his work. Verse 2 would be parenthetical, in a sense; nobody has ever questioned Paul's freedom, his vision, or his work in Corinth, but apparently someone
has questioned his apostleship, so he defends that one statement in particular.
And, even if they are
not independent statements, apostleship takes center stage, starting in verse 2, so the other statements would be describing apostleship: apostles are free, apostles have seen the Lord, and apostles produce results. Logically, the converse of a true statement is not necessarily true; so just because all apostles have seen the Lord does not mean that all people who have seen the Lord are apostles. Similarly, all cats are mammals, but not all mammals are cats.