It is a sad statement that some people accept the words of the Lord Jesus but reject the words of the Apostle Paul.  We read in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “ALL SCRIPTURE is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”  Are the writings of Paul to be considered as part of the scriptures?  We can look to the testimony of the Apostle Peter to answer that question.  He wrote in 2 Peter 3:15-16, “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also THE OTHER SCRIPTURES, unto their own destruction.”  Peter, himself, recognized that the writings of Paul were part of the Word of God when he noted his words could be hard to understand, as do also the OTHER scriptures of which writings Paul’s were part of.

Let’s consider Paul’s ‘appointment’ to being an apostle.  He wrote in Galatians 1:1, “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;).  Here, Paul states his apostleship did not come from any appointment of or by men, but by “Jesus Christ, and God the Father.”  So, yes, Paul received his apostleship from the Lord directly.  In 10 of 14 of Paul’s letters (epistles), he begins by asserting his apostleship.  He spoke of his appointment in 2 Timothy 1:11 where he wrote, “Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.”  For those who questioned his apostleship, Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 9:1-2, “Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord? If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.” 

Paul stated that he was an apostle to the Gentiles, while Peter was an apostle to the Jews (the circumcision).  We read in Galatians 2:8, “For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles.”  The Apostle Paul was humble in his work the Lord called him to.  He said in 1 Corinthians 15:9-10, “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”

It is important that we recognize that Paul was indeed an apostle and that his writings were inspired by God to be part of the Holy Scriptures.  To not listen to Paul, is to not listen to the Lord Jesus who appointed Paul to be an apostle.  (CC)  (712.4)