That’s quite a shocking headline, huh? “Murderer Called to Ministry.”
Without any context, you might have one of several possible responses…
“What! Some sins permanently disqualify a person from ministry. This is heresy, unsafe, and unwise!” “Wow! What restorative grace!” “Whoa! I need to hear more of the context to even begin to wrap my brain around this and make an intelligent assessment…” Bad News from the Corinthian Post
And how would your response be impacted if you learned that this is not a modern headline from the Christian Post, but an ancient headline from the Corinthian Post—also known as 1 Corinthians 15:9?
“For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”
Persecuted the church—to the extent of being complicit in the murder of Stephen (Acts 8) and to the extent of “breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples” (Acts 9:1). John Piper even addresses the direct question, Why Did God Let Paul Become a Murderer?
Paul is right. He does not even deserve to be called an apostle. In fact, Paul reminds us that he—and everyone—is undeserving
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