Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.
Summary: Paul uses a turn of phrase that prompts us to think about how we would react if Jesus appeared at our doorstep.
How does Jesus feel when he shows up? Did people treat him like an “angel of God?”
As it turns out, most people didn’t. Most people who met Jesus were skeptical, and almost all were hostile. Very few people were excited to see Jesus when he presented himself on earth.
We can relate to the skeptics. If someone came up to us, even today, and said, “I’m the Son of God,” we would be skeptical. Even if this “someone” did amazing things, we would be hard to convince. There are too many magicians around who seem to do the impossible for us to be taken in by a parlor trick.
Attitudes changed after Jesus had been crucified and rose from the dead. People started to realize that Jesus was more than just human. Someone who dies a bloody death, is buried for three days, and then breaks out of a sealed tomb is not like anyone you have ever known.
With the Holy Spirit’s prompting, Jesus’ disciples began to understand what they had witnessed. The same was true for Paul. In the beginning, he rejected Jesus. Then, on the road to Damascus, he met the risen Lord. When that happened, everything changed.
What changed?
Paul himself changed. He changed from someone who believed Jesus was dead to someone who knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus was alive. Paul never even qualified as a “doubter.” Before he met Jesus, he was certain that God was in heaven and that Jesus was nothing more than a political troublemaker. After he met Jesus, Paul was certain that he had been wrong. He now knew the truth.
When Paul says, “… you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself,” he is not thinking of how people who don’t believe in Jesus. Paul has in mind people who know Jesus is alive and know he is the Son of God.
There are a lot of people today who claim to be Christian. The questions today’s passage prompts us to think about are, “How would I welcome Jesus if he showed up at my door? Would I welcome him as if he were Christ Jesus himself?”
Application: Check your level of belief by imagining Jesus knocking on your door. How would you welcome him?
Food for Thought: What is required for a person to be able to recognize an angel of God or Jesus Christ himself?
For the Jewish people, Jesus’ appearance through the Incarnation did not happen in a vacuum. There were many specific prophecies in the OT texts that pointed to who the Messiah would be. He would be born in Bethlehem, in the lineage of King David, of the tribe of Judah, of a virgin, at a specific time (Daniel 9: 20 – 27). He would do specific miracles, his ministry would be in the humble region of Galilee, etc.
To this day Jesus is the only one who met the specific prophecies of the Messiah. There are no other competitors. We have God’s written word to guide us today. And we still see there was and us no one like Jesus.
Faith is required to recognize Jesus, but it is not a blind faith. Often the issue is not evidence but a hard and rebellious heart that keeps people from recognizing just who Jesus is.
Rich,
Thank you! Well said!
Whether or not a person recognizes Jesus, then, depends on how well they know the Old Testament. This is a good reminder that we need to be reading the Old Testament as well as the New.
What is required for a person to be able to recognize an angel of God or Jesus Christ himself?
An angel is a messenger of God, will deliver God’s messenger and return to God. The message of an angel is received by faith.
Luke 1:11-13, Zacharias laughed at the message that he and his wife would have a son, and an angel took away his ability to speak until after John the Baptist was born.
Matthew 1:20-21, An angel assured Joseph, Mary would conceive a Son conceived by the Holy Spirit of God.
Acts 1:10-11, At His tomb, an angel told the men of Galilee, Jesus had been taken to heaven.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God who resides in the hearts of all believers by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Hebrews 12:2, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
1 Corinthians 12:9, to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit.
Ephesians 6:23, Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
As Rich tells us, Romans 10:17. Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. Recognizing, receiving the message of an angel, or Jesus Christ are both by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Well said, Ron!
The message is indeed received by faith!