… rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
Summary: Revelation of God’s truth changes people. Paul is no exception.
I once taught a Bible study on judging people and things (Matthew 7:1-5). To illustrate how we make judgments and how they affect others, I conducted an experiment.
In the experiment, I asked for a volunteer to come to the front of the class. Then, I presented her with two cigar boxes. She was to open the boxes one at a time, look into each box, and then close it without telling anyone what she had seen. The class’s job was to judge what kind of thing was in the box by observing her reaction.
So what was in the boxes?
The first box contained a small, cute child’s toy. It was the kind of thing I expected would light up the face of someone who liked children, and I wasn’t disappointed. The second box contained a mixture of rock, dirt, and miscellaneous small bits of garbage, all mixed in with fried egg. Yuck!
The reaction to the second box was what you would expect. The volunteer’s face looked like she had sucked on a lemon. She closed the box, gave me a disgusted look, and then she sat down.
Nobody else knew what was in the boxes, but the rest of the class knew that the volunteer knew. They had seen her open the boxes. They had seen her reaction to what was inside.
The Greek word for revealing what is inside a box is “apokalýptō.” This is the root word for “apokálypsis,” the Greek word for how Paul came to receive the gospel he preached. It was “revealed” to him.
In a sense, God let Paul look inside the box that contains the truth about his Son, Jesus Christ. Once Paul had seen inside the box, he understood God’s message for mankind. He knew the truth about the Gospel, and all of the Old Testament abruptly came into focus for him. The people who knew Paul personally saw his face. They could tell that he had seen something in the box. They understood that what Paul had seen was life-changing. They knew that Paul knew, but they couldn’t know what he knew until he told them.
Why did God pick Paul to look in the box? Why doesn’t God reveal his truth to all of us directly?
Paul had training in the Scriptures that few people would ever attain. He was driven to serve God in ways that required personal sacrifice that few were willing to make. In short, Paul was uniquely qualified to receive the Gospel by revelation from Jesus Christ.
Application: Ask God to let you see inside the box he showed to Paul.
Food for Thought: How does the revelation of God’s Truth alter our perception of Paul’s words? Put another way, what is the difference between a non-believer’s view of Paul’s writings and a believer’s?
I think that Paul best explains this difference in 1 Corinthians 1:18-24.
Thank you, JEC!
Great passage!
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
— 1 Corinthians 1:18
I agree with JEC. A believer will see Paul’s words for what they are while an unbeliever will see them as foolishness. God’s wisdom is not accepted by the worldly system of our day ruled by our spiritual enemy.
Paul reveals more of what he saw when he “looked in the box” and more of a wisdom the world will not understand in 2 Corinthians 12: 1 – 10.
Thanks Rich!
Yes! Paul writes about a man “caught up to paradise [who] heard inexpressible things.” That well describes looking in the box.
🙂
How does the revelation of God’s Truth alter our perception of Paul’s words? Or what is the difference between a non-believer’s view of Paul’s writings and a believer’s?
I agree with both JEC and R.
As an elderly person who accepted Jesus Christ at middle age, I have memories the many ways our Loving God pursued an angry young man through those non-believing years. He was patient, loving, gentle at the beginning, and I would simply push His messengers away, believing Christianity was a crutch for the weak. In the end God let me look at the other box as He made my condition, my final destination without change, very clear, and it was beyond scary. He broke through the hard shell, and presented another box, leading me into a bible study with a group of Christian men and in a short time I chose this new box of Life in Christ over the way of non-believers.
Today, I am often made aware of John 16:5-15, God’s box for this world and I find great peace knowing the Holy Spirit of God is convicting the entire world of sin, righteousness, and judgement to come as I remain here with purpose. God has called believers into His service to the non believers He has and will continue to bring into our lives. We don’t preach, we simply get out of the way and allow God, as He chooses, to serve and love other’s through us, our opportunity to experience Life in Christ. It is a blessed life as concerns of this worlds status, societies decay, yesterday or tomorrow, all go away and we live Matthew 6:33.
Ron,
Thank you for your testimony, and I love the passage you referenced, especially where it says “he [the Holy Spirit] will guide you into all the truth.” (John 16:13)
How does the revelation of God’s Truth alter our perception of Paul’s words? Put another way, what is the difference between a non-believer’s view of Paul’s writings and a believer’s?
I think it would be similar to Matthew 5:10-12 and how a person reads it one is understanding and the other wouldn’t see how that would be a blessing.
Matthew 5:11-12 —
““Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Tim,
I agree.
From a worldly point of view, it is hard to wrap one’s head around the idea of persecution being tied to a blessing. You bring to mind Richard Wurmbrand’s book, “Tortured for Christ.” In it he describes his experiences with persecution and discovering the associated blessings that were poured out on him by God.
While we are not all called to the level of sacrifice Wurmbrand and his family made, anytime was say “No” to our self-will in deference to the Lord’s will, the “self” suffers. The blessings that follow are real, even though the Enemy is steadfast in trying to paint them as less than nothing.
Everything depends on Jesus. Only by his power and his Holy Spirit can we hope to fully understand the blessings of being a believer.