Was The Apostle Paul A Christian?

 It has been disputed even today whether Paul was an apostle or one duly appointed and even an inferior one at that. Paul was so questioned about it that he wrote 2 Corinthians to refute the idea in chapters 10 and 11 he makes his case. What else is an apostle but one who has seen the risen Lord, can do miracles, signs, and wonders, and is personally appointed by the Lord Himself?  But the contention was that Paul was just a troublemaker, not a peacemaker, a divider, was always in trouble with the law or in jail, got shipwrecked, stoned,  beaten with rods, unpopular, left for dead, gone without food,  not an uniter, and a poor preacher and even too hard to understand and didn't get along with Peter or other apostles even disputing with Barnabas. 

We see believers do likewise today thinking that if you haven't achieved the American dream or are not a success in the eyes of the world, then you are not measuring up as a Christian and not be one at all, especially if bad things happen like divorce, bankruptcy, unemployment, disease, disability, or trouble with the law.  The proliferation of prosperity theology is appalling and widespread and is popular as even the mention of the word "sin" is considered a killjoy and taboo.  What we must learn is that we are not to cash in on our spiritual lottery ticket but learn to be content in whatever circumstance God gives and be thankful to be in God's will.  

But we must realize that hardship is par for the course in our Christian experience of hard knocks and the spiritual adventure and road to Reality 101 learning. In short, we are not promised a bed of roses and our life is no rose garden. We can have just as many hardships as an unbeliever. It is written that the Jews thought they were immune to disaster or calamity by virtue of being God's people but had a wake-up call during the Babylonian captivity. It is true God can and does put a hedge of protection around us but God can allow short-term evil for long-term good; look at Joseph saying, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good." and also Job saying, "Should we accept good times from the LORD and not evil times?" 

We are to judge Paul by his writings which Peter called "scripture" despite being hard to understand. He is the one we owe our understanding of the gospel message.  Paul is the one who preached to the Gentiles and founded more churches than the other apostles in Europe and Asia. But we must put his life into the perspective that Jesus said he would suffer 'great things for Him." Paul said it was a privilege to suffer for the sake of the Name. Paul wrote at least 13 epistles and is considered the chief New Testament writer.