In addition to the distinctions between the ministries of the twelve apostles and Paul, the Scriptures also clearly distinguish between the ministries of Peter (as leader of the twelve) and Paul.
 

A comparison of the above passages reveals the following similarities:

1.  Both Peter and Paul saw the Lord in glory.
2.  Both heard voices from heaven.
3.  Both were witnesses of what they had seen and heard.¹

Yet there are distinct differences between the circumstances and significance of their experiences.

1.  Peter saw the Lord in His glory on earth.  Paul saw Him in His glory in heaven.
2.  Peter saw Him in His kingdom glory.  Paul saw Him in the glory of His grace at the Father's right hand.
3.  The voice Peter heard had the acceptance of Christ in view (cf. Matt. 17:5, "Hear ye Him").  The voice Paul heard had the rejection of Christ in view ("Why persecutest thou Me?").
4.  What Peter saw was a demonstration of "the power and coming" of Christ.  What Paul saw was a demonstration of the grace that caused Him to delay His coming (cf. II Peter 3:9,15).
5.  Peter's experience harmonized with his position as an apostle of the Messianic kingdom.  Paul's harmonized with his position as the apostle of the grace of God.
 
 

In Matt. 4:17 we read:

"FROM THAT TIME JESUS BEGAN TO PREACH, AND TO SAY, REPENT: FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND."

Matt. 10:5-7 tells how the Lord sent His twelve apostles forth with the same message: "The kingdom of heaven is at hand."

How was the message received? Matt. 16:21 answers this question:

"FROM THAT TIME FORTH BEGAN JESUS TO SHOW UNTO HIS DISCIPLES, HOW THAT HE MUST GO UNTO JERUSALEM, AND SUFFER MANY THINGS OF THE ELDERS AND CHIEF PRIESTS AND SCRIBES, AND BE KILLED, AND BE RAISED AGAIN THE THIRD DAY."

Imagine the apostles' feelings now.  They were already discouraged over the poor response to their proclamation of the kingdom.  And now the opposition of the rulers becomes more intense and their Lord begins to talk about being killed!

If His "defeatist" attitude bewildered them, they must have been completely at a loss to understand His reference to being raised again.  Indeed, the account in Luke 18:34 states in three different ways that they did not have the slightest idea what He was talking about.  Apparently they could only conclude that He was conceding defeat, for in the next verse of Matthew's account we read:

"Then Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee" (Matt. 16:22).

Undoubtedly this attitude on the part of the apostles was one great reason for the transfiguration of our Lord.

While telling the apostles of His rejection by Israel and His approaching death, He nevertheless wished to reassure them as to the final outcome.  Hence He took the three who were closest to Him and gave them a glimpse of the glory and majesty that would one day be His.  The incident is described for us in Matt. 17:1,2:

"AFTER SIX DAYS JESUS TAKETH PETER, JAMES, AND JOHN HIS BROTHER, AND BRINGETH THEM UP INTO AN HIGH MOUNTAIN APART,

"AND WAS TRANSFIGURED BEFORE THEM: AND HIS FACE DID SHINE AS THE SUN, AND HIS RAIMENT WAS WHITE AS THE LIGHT."

That day Peter, James and John became "eyewitnesses of his majesty" and heard the voice of God Himself, confirming what they saw.  Come what may now, they had no reason to ever doubt that Christ was God's Anointed and would eventually reign in glory.

Some thirty years after the ascension, while Christ still remained away, Peter referred back to this experience, as we have shown above, assuring his readers that he, James and John had not "followed cunningly devised fables" when they had proclaimed Christ's "power and coming," but "were eyewitnesses of His majesty," and had heard the Father's "voice from heaven" confirming what they saw.  Thus Peter saw the Lord in His glory indeed but, be it noted, in His kingdom glory on earth, and he himself associates the vision with our Lord's "power and coming."
 
 

The Lord also appeared to Paul in glory, but under very different circumstances and for a very different purpose.

As we know, Peter and the eleven did not succeed in bringing Israel to Messiah's feet.  Indeed, the opposition of Israel's government to Christ became even more bitter than it had been before the cross until, finally, the blood of Stephen was shed, and then more blood and more and more.

This is where we read of Saul of Tarsus, for it was he who inspired and led the "great persecution" against the Pentecostal believers.

Concerning the murder of Stephen we read: "And Saul was consenting unto his death," and in the same verse: "And at that time there was [arose, R.V.] a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem" (Acts 8:1).

That Saul was the chief persecutor is certain, for the Scripture record of the persecution places him in the foreground.  Acts 8:3 says: "As for Saul, he made havock of the church" and the next chapter finds him "yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord" (Acts 9:1).  The Damascus believers spoke of him as "he that destroyed them which called on this name" (Acts 9:21).

Paul himself acknowledged years later: "I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women" (Acts 22:4), "and many of the saints did I shut up in prison . . . and when they were put to death, I gave my voice [vote] against them.  And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities" (Acts 26:10,11).  In his letter to the Galatians he sums all this up in the words: "Beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it [laid it waste]" (Gal. 1:13).

In all this Saul was the personification of Israel's spirit of rebellion against Messiah.  But when the persecution was at its height; as Saul, breathing threatenings and slaughter against Messiah's followers, traveled toward Damascus to "destroy" still more of them, the rejected Lord Himself intervened and Saul, like Peter, saw the Lord in glory and heard a voice from heaven.

But how different the circumstances!

Peter, as the Lord's apostle, had seen, heard and proclaimed that Jesus was the Christ.  Saul was Peter's bitterest enemy for proclaiming that fact.  Peter was the leader of the Pentecostal church; Saul was the leader of the persecution against that church.

Moreover, Paul saw the Lord, not in His kingdom glory, as Peter had, but in the glory of His grace, exalted "far above all heavens."

There are two facts in connection with Saul's experience on the road to Damascus which deserve particular attention:

First, it should be noted that the Lord's rejection by Israel was now assumed.  Before the stoning of Stephen and the raising up of Saul, God had offered the kingdom to Israel on the assumption² that she would repent and accept her Messiah.  But now, with Israel waging war against the church (of that day) and Saul of Tarsus making havock of the church, the rejected Lord calls from heaven: "Why persecutest thou Me?" After that the kingdom was never again offered to Israel so far as the record is concerned.

Secondly, we should notice that while Saul was Christ's bitterest enemy on earth, yet the Lord dealt with him in grace.  Instead of judging him, He saved him!

All this is deeply significant, for, since Israel had turned to be God's enemy, God was now to conclude her, along with the Gentiles, in unbelief, "that He might have mercy upon all" (Rom.11:32).

Looking back, years later, Paul refers to himself as one "who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious," but he goes on to say:

"AND THE GRACE OF OUR LORD WAS EXCEEDING ABUNDANT, WITH FAITH AND LOVE WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS.

"THIS IS A FAITHFUL SAYING, AND WORTHY OF ALL ACCEPTATION, THAT CHRIST JESUS CAME INTO THE WORLD TO SAVE SINNERS, OF WHOM I AM CHIEF.

"HOWBEIT FOR THIS CAUSE I OBTAINED MERCY, THAT IN ME FIRST JESUS CHRIST MIGHT SHOW FORTH ALL LONGSUFFERING, FOR A PATTERN TO THEM WHICH SHOULD HEREAFTER BELIEVE ON HIM TO LIFE EVERLASTING" (I Tim. 1:14-16).

It is difficult to understand how anyone can read this portion of Scripture without seeing that God began a new dispensation with the conversion of Saul.  Rather than judging Israel and the world immediately, the rejected Lord demonstrated His infinite love by saving Saul and sending him forth with "the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24).  This "dispensation of the grace of God" by Paul is the dispensation under which we now live.  It will not be brought to a close until the Lord Himself comes to call the members of His body to heaven.  Then the prophetic program will again be resumed and the bowls of God's wrath poured out upon a Christ-rejecting world.
 
 

The Lord's promise in Matt. 19:28 had left no doubt that the twelve were to occupy thrones with Christ in the kingdom, and what Peter saw and heard "in the holy mount" concerned the glory which he himself was to share at the reign of Christ.

What Paul saw and heard, however, concerned the Lord's suffering--and his own.  The rejected Lord said to Saul: "Why persecutest thou Me?" but He also said to Ananias concerning Saul: "I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name's sake" (Acts 9:16).  Christ was, in grace, to remain in exile, rejected still by the world, but Paul, the sinner saved by grace, was to bear the suffering and the rejection.

This explains Col. 1:24, where the apostle says:

"[I] now rejoice in my SUFFERINGS for you, and FILL UP THAT WHICH IS BEHIND OF THE AFFLICTIONS OF CHRIST in my flesh, for His body's sake, which is the church."

In what sense did Paul fill up that which remained of the afflictions of Christ?  Surely he could add nothing to the finished work of redemption.  The point is that, while Christ's vicarious suffering for sin was over, He was still rejected, and in grace chose to remain so for a time rather than proceed immediately to judge His enemies.  So, putting off "the day of His wrath," He saved Saul, His chief foe, and sent him forth to proclaim grace and peace to His enemies everywhere.  Thus the great persecutor now became the persecuted one, bearing the afflictions of Christ's continued rejection.  And as long as our Lord in grace remains away we, the members of Christ's body, follow Paul in this, as it is written:

"FOR UNTO YOU IT IS GIVEN IN THE BEHALF OF CHRIST, NOT ONLY TO BELIEVE ON HIM, BUT ALSO TO SUFFER FOR HIS SAKE.

"HAVING THE SAME CONFLICT WHICH YE SAW IN ME, AND NOW HEAR TO BE IN ME" (Phil. 1:29,30).

Such suffering, however, is sweet.  The apostle calls it suffering "with Christ" (Rom. 8:17), "the sufferings of Christ" (II Cor. 1:5), "the fellowship of His sufferings," and longs for this fellowship (Phil. 3:10).

It may be asked: Had not the twelve suffered for Christ too?  Yes, but always in the hope that Israel would yet accept Christ.  When Paul, rather than Peter, takes the place of prominence in the Book of Acts it is because Israel's rejection of Christ is recognized and assumed.  This is not to say, of course, that God immediately closed His dealings with Israel as a nation, for the sentence upon Israel is not officially pronounced until Acts 28:28.

Thus Paul was called to preach Christ in a Christ-rejecting world and to suffer for it.  He was chosen to fill up that which still remained of the sufferings of Christ--and so are we, for He exhorts us, by the Holy Spirit: "Brethren, be followers together of me" (Phil. 3:17).

Christ is still rejected and still remains away and we bear, or should bear, in our flesh the sufferings of His rejection. In a world at enmity with God and His Christ we cry:

". . . WE ARE AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST, AS THOUGH GOD DID BESEECH YOU BY US: WE PRAY YOU IN CHRIST'S STEAD, BE YE RECONCILED TO GOD.

"FOR HE HATH MADE HIM TO BE SIN FOR US, WHO KNEW NO SIN; THAT WE MIGHT BE MADE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM" (II Cor. 5:20,21).

Christ died in our stead, and we consider it a privilege to stand before men in His stead, though it frequently involves suffering. Like Paul, we plead with men and say: "Christ is not here; you did not want Him, but we are here in His stead to tell you that He loves you and died for you that you might be reconciled to God through His merits."
 

 

PETER AT JOPPA	PAUL AT JERUSALEM
Acts 10:9-16	Acts 22:17-21
"On the morrow... Peter went up upon the housetop TO PRAY about the sixth hour. "And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into A TRANCE, "And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet, knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: "Wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. "And THERE CAME A VOICE TO HIM, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. "BUT PETER SAID, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. "And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. "This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven."	"And it came to pass, that when I was come again to Jerusalem even while I PRAYED in the temple, I was in A TRANCE;  "And SAW HIM SAYING UNTO ME, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning Me. "AND I SAID, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on Thee: "And when the blood of Thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. "And He said unto me, depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles."

Here again Peter and Paul each heard a voice; each while in a trance and each having been engaged in prayer at the time.  Peter's experience concerned God's purpose to go to the Gentiles; Paul's concerned His purpose to turn from Israel.  Both talked back to God.

Peter, in his abhorrence of the unclean, objected that he had never eaten anything common or unclean.  Paul, in his eagerness to minister at Jerusalem and win his kinsman to Christ, argued that they all knew him as the former persecutor of the church.

In each case, however, the Lord insisted on carrying out His purpose.  To Peter He said, "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common," and bade him go to the Gentiles "nothing doubting." To Paul He replied, "Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles."

We are well aware of the fact that Peter did not proclaim the mystery of God's purpose and grace to these Gentiles.  He did not even know it.  He did not even know why God was sending him and, when called to account, explained simply:

"What was I that I could withstand God?" (Acts 11:17).  Furthermore, his ministry to Cornelius' household was accompanied by water baptism and miraculous signs.

Nevertheless Peter's mission was one of the first steps in the unfolding of the mystery, God's plan to bless the nations in spite of Israel's rejection of Christ.

While recognizing fully the kingdom aspect of Peter's message and Cornelius' conversion, we should not forget the following facts:

1.  The incident took place after the conversion of Saul, which was the first step in the introduction of the new dispensation (I Tim. 1:13-16).

2.  Peter was not sent to Cornelius under the so-called "great commission" but by a special commission; not because Israel had accepted Messiah but in view of the fact that she was rejecting Him.  It was not the next step in the carrying out of the "great commission," for according to that commission Israel must first be brought to Messiah's feet (see Luke 24:47, Acts 1:8, 3:25,26) and it had become increasingly evident that Israel would not accept Messiah.

3.  Here for the first time we learn that God has put "no difference" between Jew and Gentile (Acts 15:9).  This, as we have seen, was not so under the "great commission;" nor will it be so in the day of the Lord, when that commission is carried out (Matt. 24:14 cf. Isa. 60:1-3).  But before the Acts period closes it is fully demonstrated that "There is no difference," either as to man's sin (Rom. 3:22,23) or as to God's grace (Rom. 10:12).

4.  It was on the basis of Peter's experience that Paul's ministry to the Gentiles was recognized by the church at Jerusalem (Read carefully Acts 15:7-35).

As to Paul's experience in the temple on that first return to Jerusalem after his conversion, it indicates clearly that Israel's rejection of Christ had now been assumed.  The message of the twelve having been spurned, Paul now supposed that they would listen to him, seeing he had once led them in their persecution of Christ.  But the Lord knew better and said: "They will not receive thy testimony concerning Me."

Again, let us remember why God thus broke off dealings with Israel as a nation.

"FOR GOD HATH CONCLUDED THEM ALL IN UNBELIEF, THAT HE MIGHT HAVE MERCY UPON ALL.

"O THE DEPTH OF THE RICHES BOTH OF THE WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD!  HOW UNSEARCHABLE ARE HIS JUDGMENTS, AND HIS WAYS PAST FINDING OUT!" (Romans 11:32,33).
 
 

1.  Where did the "transfiguration" of our Lord take place?

2.  In what greater glory did Paul later see Christ?

3.  What did the voice from heaven say at the "transfiguration"?

4.  What was the significance of the "transfiguration"?

5.  What did the voice from heaven say to Paul when he first saw the glorified Lord?

6.  In what way was this significant?

7.  How did the details of the "transfiguration" harmonize with Peter's ministry?

8.  How did the details of the revelation of Christ to Paul harmonize with his ministry?

9.  What had been the apostles' reaction to Christ's prediction of His death and resurrection?

10.  How had Peter responded?

11.  How should the "transfiguration" have affected this situation?

12.  Give three Scriptures describing Saul's role as persecutor of Christ.

13.  How did God reply to Saul's (and Israel's) rebellion against Christ?

14.  Give one Scripture indicating that God began a new dispensation with the conversion of Saul.

15.  Give one Scripture indicating the relation between Christ's rejection and Paul's suffering for Christ.

16.  Give one Scripture indicating that we too are to suffer for Christ's rejection.

17.  Give three indications that Peter's mission to Cornelius was one of the first steps in the unfolding of the mystery.

18.  What was Peter's vision on Joppa's housetop intended to teach him?

19.  What was Paul's vision in the temple intended to teach him?

20.  What relation was there between Peter's visit to Cornelius and Paul's subsequent ministry among the Gentiles?