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Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional
January 3
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Today's Pathway:
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I doubt that we will be spending this much time on most of the individual verses we will look at this year. However, since Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, opened this very doctrinal book this way, I think it is wise to gain insight into who Paul was. We have seen that he was a slave to Christ, and that he held the office of an apostle. Now we see a third characteristic: he was separated unto the Gospel.
The Greek word that is translated "separated" means "to designate, to mark out by fixed limits. It denotes those who are called out from the common mass." In other words, God took Paul from the path of life that he was traveling on and designated him to preach the Gospel. I did a study on the word, and was intrigued by its usage in the New Testament. It only appears nine times, and some of those uses include the separation of the sheep and goats at the judgment of nations (Matt 25:32) and the example of how Christians are to separate themselves from that which is sinful (II Cor. 6:17). So, God separated Paul unto the Gospel just like He will separate the sheep and the goats, and just like he expects His children to be separated from sin. This would indicate a total disunion between the two. Paul was no longer to live his life as he pleased. Those days were over - his focus in life was now to be the Gospel.
According to Romans 1:3, the Gospel message that Paul was separated unto was Jesus Christ. The word "gospel" means "good news". Thus, the good news that Paul was to devote his life to was the message of Who Jesus is, and that He had provided salvation from sin. Paul was so strongly committed to this that in I Corinthians 9:16 he wrote,
"Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!"
He was completely consumed with the truth of salvation, and he spent the remainder of his life delivering the message to all who would listen.
None of us hold the office of an apostle. However, as believers, we are all to be servants of Christ, and all of us are to be separated from sin and unto the gospel. We may not all be "preachers", but we all can deliver the good news of Jesus Christ. Let's commit to doing that.
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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