The Seal of God
God’s grace and peace be yours this day in Christ our Lord!
Paul has just addressed the issue of using our freedom in Christ for personal gain, verses using our freedom as a means to bless other people. He even speaks of limiting freedom that others might grow in their faith. Freedom is still his focus as he turns to the role of himself as an apostle and beyond the apostles to God’s chosen leaders in the Church.
First, Paul speaks of his own apostleship!
Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?
Paul has been set free in the Gospel! He is no longer bound by the Law, which is exactly what he has previously addressed. The question of apostleship rests in the choice Jesus made! Now Paul is asking the question in a rhetorical fashion. Who is there who would question Paul’s apostleship?
Actually, there were those who questioned Paul’s position because he was not one of the original 12 chosen by Jesus. However, Jesus intervened in Paul’s life on the Road to Damascus. Paul was called for the specific purpose of taking the Gospel to the gentile world of the first century.
One of the qualifications for Apostleship was to be a witness of the Resurrection of Jesus. Paul knew Jesus died on the cross. He was already in a position of influence when Jesus was put on trial and condemned. Immediately after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, Paul was chosen by the Sanhedrin to lead the offensive against the followers of Jesus.
It was in the midst of this time of persecution, led by Paul, that Jesus appeared to him and called him to be an apostle. Paul immediately went from a man who denied Jesus as the Messiah, denied the resurrection of Jesus, and rejected the Gospel, to a man who knew Jesus was the resurrected Savior of the world. Paul immediately began to preach Jesus and salvation in His name.
What we often do not realize is that Paul was very meticulous in his missionary efforts. Having departed Antioch on his first journey with Barnabas as his partner, Paul made his way through Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and then back to Antioch. As he prepared to depart on his second journey, he and Barnabas separated over John Mark. Barnabas went one way with Mark, and Paul taking Silas, traveled overland to Greece. Once in Greece, Paul made his way around the country establishing churches in Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, and Corinth.
It was Paul’s desire and plan to make his way to Italy and beyond to France and Spain. Paul wanted to circumnavigate the Mediterranean Sea, spreading the Gospel in every nation. As an aside, it is very possible that Paul was released after his Roman imprisonment and made his way to Spain. Then sometime after was once again arrested and executed.
Most people who read of Paul’s journeys in the New Testament also do not understand that Paul stayed on average at least two years in each city where he established a new church. This means when Paul was writing letters back to the churches he had established, he knew these people very well.
This is the case as he writes his first letter to the church of Corinth. When he speaks of them being the seal of his apostleship, he speaks of what their relationship has been based upon. Paul was sent by Jesus, (Apostle literally means “sent one”) to the Gentile peoples of the world. Corinth was a huge Gentile city in the first century. Estimates have the population during Paul’s day at about 700,000 people, with 2/3 of those being slaves. Corinth was a wealthy and influential city.
Paul was used by God to establish the church in Corinth and the very presence of the church is a testimony to Paul’s apostleship. Listen to what he says.
If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
What is a seal? A seal marks something as valid and valuable! As seal means something is genuine. Paul is affirming the value of the Christian Church in Corinth as something genuine and valuable which testifies to the fact that he truly is an apostle of Jesus.
In other words, if God the Holy Spirit has worked faith in Jesus through the ministry of Paul, this very fact proves his position as an apostle. If he had been a false prophet, there would be no working of faith by the Spirit and no church.
This idea of a “seal” of authenticity shows up again in a place you might not expect it, and with a message you may have never heard. Two places in Revelation John records that God’s people are sealed as belonging to Him.
Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. Revelation 7:3
They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. Revelation 9:4
The word used is of a beautiful, embossed seal which marks both ownership and value. When faith was born in your heart by the working of God’s Holy Spirit, a seal was placed upon you.
You were marked as one who belongs to God! You are His prized possession. This also states the value God places upon you! The value that He would pay the price of the blood of Jesus to have you as His own.
May you be encouraged to know who you are and Whose you are! You are the prized possession of the God of creation. He has become your Savior.
Blessings,
Pastor Russ
Paul has just addressed the issue of using our freedom in Christ for personal gain, verses using our freedom as a means to bless other people. He even speaks of limiting freedom that others might grow in their faith. Freedom is still his focus as he turns to the role of himself as an apostle and beyond the apostles to God’s chosen leaders in the Church.
First, Paul speaks of his own apostleship!
Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?
Paul has been set free in the Gospel! He is no longer bound by the Law, which is exactly what he has previously addressed. The question of apostleship rests in the choice Jesus made! Now Paul is asking the question in a rhetorical fashion. Who is there who would question Paul’s apostleship?
Actually, there were those who questioned Paul’s position because he was not one of the original 12 chosen by Jesus. However, Jesus intervened in Paul’s life on the Road to Damascus. Paul was called for the specific purpose of taking the Gospel to the gentile world of the first century.
One of the qualifications for Apostleship was to be a witness of the Resurrection of Jesus. Paul knew Jesus died on the cross. He was already in a position of influence when Jesus was put on trial and condemned. Immediately after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, Paul was chosen by the Sanhedrin to lead the offensive against the followers of Jesus.
It was in the midst of this time of persecution, led by Paul, that Jesus appeared to him and called him to be an apostle. Paul immediately went from a man who denied Jesus as the Messiah, denied the resurrection of Jesus, and rejected the Gospel, to a man who knew Jesus was the resurrected Savior of the world. Paul immediately began to preach Jesus and salvation in His name.
What we often do not realize is that Paul was very meticulous in his missionary efforts. Having departed Antioch on his first journey with Barnabas as his partner, Paul made his way through Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and then back to Antioch. As he prepared to depart on his second journey, he and Barnabas separated over John Mark. Barnabas went one way with Mark, and Paul taking Silas, traveled overland to Greece. Once in Greece, Paul made his way around the country establishing churches in Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, and Corinth.
It was Paul’s desire and plan to make his way to Italy and beyond to France and Spain. Paul wanted to circumnavigate the Mediterranean Sea, spreading the Gospel in every nation. As an aside, it is very possible that Paul was released after his Roman imprisonment and made his way to Spain. Then sometime after was once again arrested and executed.
Most people who read of Paul’s journeys in the New Testament also do not understand that Paul stayed on average at least two years in each city where he established a new church. This means when Paul was writing letters back to the churches he had established, he knew these people very well.
This is the case as he writes his first letter to the church of Corinth. When he speaks of them being the seal of his apostleship, he speaks of what their relationship has been based upon. Paul was sent by Jesus, (Apostle literally means “sent one”) to the Gentile peoples of the world. Corinth was a huge Gentile city in the first century. Estimates have the population during Paul’s day at about 700,000 people, with 2/3 of those being slaves. Corinth was a wealthy and influential city.
Paul was used by God to establish the church in Corinth and the very presence of the church is a testimony to Paul’s apostleship. Listen to what he says.
If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
What is a seal? A seal marks something as valid and valuable! As seal means something is genuine. Paul is affirming the value of the Christian Church in Corinth as something genuine and valuable which testifies to the fact that he truly is an apostle of Jesus.
In other words, if God the Holy Spirit has worked faith in Jesus through the ministry of Paul, this very fact proves his position as an apostle. If he had been a false prophet, there would be no working of faith by the Spirit and no church.
This idea of a “seal” of authenticity shows up again in a place you might not expect it, and with a message you may have never heard. Two places in Revelation John records that God’s people are sealed as belonging to Him.
Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. Revelation 7:3
They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. Revelation 9:4
The word used is of a beautiful, embossed seal which marks both ownership and value. When faith was born in your heart by the working of God’s Holy Spirit, a seal was placed upon you.
You were marked as one who belongs to God! You are His prized possession. This also states the value God places upon you! The value that He would pay the price of the blood of Jesus to have you as His own.
May you be encouraged to know who you are and Whose you are! You are the prized possession of the God of creation. He has become your Savior.
Blessings,
Pastor Russ
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