Was Apostle Paul a Slanderer?

Any of the 12 disciples chosen by Jesus Christ was known as an apostle (from Greek apostolos, “person sent”), and Jesus chose them from his disciples “whom he named apostles” [Luke 6:13; Mark 6:30]. The Twelve were: Peter and Andrew, the sons of John [John 21:15]; James and John, the sons of Zebedee; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James, the son of Alphaeus; Jude, or Thaddaeus, the son of James; Simon the Cananaean, or the Zealot; and Judas Iscariot. When Judas Iscariot defected and died, he was replaced with Matthias via elections [Acts 1]. It is therefore to members of this band of 12 that the word ‘Apostle’ is usually applied in Acts.

Paul was converted to Christianity a few years after Jesus’ death and therefore was not one of the 12. However, the ‘apostle’ title was also applied to Paul [Galatians 1:1; Romans 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:1; 1 Timothy 2:7; 1 Corinthians 15:3-10; Galatians 2:8; 1 Corinthians 9:1-2] because of his encounter with Christ Jesus [Acts 9] on his way to Damascus, where he had planned to take the Lord's disciples [whether men or women] as prisoners to Jerusalem. Originally named Saul of Tarsus, Paul was probably born in 4 BCE, in Tarsus in Cilicia [now in Turkey] and believed to have died in c. 62–64 CE, in Rome [Italy]. Regarded as the most important person after Jesus in the history of Christianity, Paul was one of the leaders of the first generation of Christians.

It is interesting that Paul, despite being a major figure within the very small Christian movement, had many enemies and detractors, and his contemporaries probably did not show him as much respect as they gave Peter and James. Paul was therefore forced to struggle to establish his own worth and authority. Paul wrote 13 of the 27 books in the New Testament, and about half of the Acts of the Apostles, deals with Paul’s life and works. From Paul’s letters it is easy to see that he was not only passionately committed to Jesus Christ, but he also had dedication, compassion, and empathy. It is interesting too that Paul could sometimes be harsh and angry, while at the same time maintaining his clever and intelligent disposition. Paul’s mission targeted the Gentiles, who therefore made up most of his converts.

Who is a slanderer? According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, a slanderer is an individual who utters “false charges or misrepresentations which defame and damage another's reputation”. It goes further to define slander as “a false and defamatory oral statement about a person”. What is a misrepresentation? It is a false statement of fact, and in law, there are three types of misrepresentation: innocent misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, and fraudulent misrepresentation. In the case of an innocent misrepresentation, the statement was false, but the source of the statement was not negligent in making the statement. The source of the statement must reasonably believe what was stated to be true. Therefore, the statement will be regarded as 'wholly innocent'. On the other hand, negligent misrepresentation is a representation made carelessly and in breach of duty owed by an individual to another person to take reasonable care that the representation is accurate. And fraudulent misrepresentation is where a false representation has been made knowingly, or without belief in its truth, or recklessly as to its truth.

What is reputation, and why is it so important? Simply put, an old proverb says character is the story we write about ourselves, while reputation is the story others write about us! The importance of “reputation” therefore is the ability of what others write/speak, etc. about us to reflect the “character” that we have written about ourselves.

Now, let us consider some issues in which Paul was involved, to determine if he was a slanderer. When Apostle Peter showed favoritism to Jewish believers who taught that Gentiles must obey the law, which was a serious misrepresentation of the Gospel, Paul rebuked Peter in front of everyone for his hypocrisy. I do not recall reading anywhere in the Bible about the exact confrontation between Paul and Peter. However, we do know that in his letter to the churches of Galatia, he wrote about the incident as follows:

11 When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. 12 Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. 14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?” [Galatians 2:11-14].

Here Paul describes how Peter stumbled by favoring legalism when he visited Antioch. During this visit, Paul was obliged to point out Peter’s sin. It will be recalled that Paul and all the apostles and elders in Jerusalem had deliberated during a council session and established that Gentile believers did not need to be assimilated by Jewish religious practices through circumcision and observance of Jewish religious rules [Acts 15: 1-10]. Peter himself had stated at the session, that regarding salvation, God made no distinction between Jews and Gentile because the hearts of the latter were purified by faith” [Acts 15:9]. Peter, to whom Jesus Christ gave “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” [Matthew 16:19], was not immune to hypocrisy. Despite Peter’s great standing, he still failed – and that should encourage us. Paul reports that the rest of the Jewish believers joined Peter in hypocrisy—including Barnabas, who had spent years preaching the Gospel to Gentiles.

Why did Paul not rebuke Peter privately in Antioch? While in general, sin should be dealt with privately [Matthew 18:15], false teaching is an exception, which must be dealt with publicly. It would have been expected that after such an ‘embarrassing’ rebuke, Paul and Peter would have gone their separate ways. However, Peter expressed his admiration for Paul in 2 Peter 3:15-16, rather than nurse a life-long grudge, which would have further compromised his own spirituality. Peter knew that Paul was telling the truth. Let us look at another issue – that of Hymenaeus and Alexander the metalworker whom Paul “handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme”, while he wrote to encourage Timothy [1Timothy 1:19 – 20]. It is believed that Alexander used to be a Christian but later veered off course and drifted into false teaching. Paul does not give details regarding the harm Alexander did him. However, we know it was “great” [2 Timothy 4:14].

It is believed that Alexander was an influential Jewish metalworker, who lived in Ephesus. Hymenaeus and Alexander indulged in godless pastimes so much that they became more and more ungodly. Paul warned Timothy that the pair’s teaching that the resurrection had already taken place [and thereby destroying the faith of some] would spread like gangrene. Paul referred to the men’s action as ‘wicked’ and therefore warned Timothy, who was pastoring in Ephesus [about them]. Was Paul slandering them? No!

If I have caused many people to leave the faith and created fear in the hearts of the current membership because of my legalistic and pharisaic style of leadership [what was alleged by some who left and some members of the current congregation], and a member of the congregation respectfully called my attention to this, I should be glad to listen – especially if the member has been around long enough to witness first-hand the impact of my leadership style while on another continent. If the member was exasperated and infantilized by one of my leaders, and out of frustration, he repeated the advice he had given me regarding the impact of my leadership on the historical continent [because he assumed that I was behind the way he was treated and was therefore avoiding him] to a third/fourth/fifth party, same time, same day, same environment, I would be careful to rush to the pulpit to use the revered Holy Book to judge that the member was a slanderer and directly insinuate that the congregation should have nothing to do with him [1 Corinthians 5:11].

Let us consider another incident where you and your wife were holidaying in a sub-zero country but determined to worship with the arm of your church in the country. So, you set out looking for the church location while all your emails [to the church], text messages and video clips [to the ‘pastor’] of the traumatic experience with your spouse were sent to the individual pastoring the congregation. But you were ignored! Though another individual whom you contacted through the details given to you by a local ‘brother’, did reply to one of your text messages, this was in the evening, after church was long over. You subsequently [after your holiday] tried severally to reach out to the ‘pastor’ just for an explanation [and backed up your approaches with relevant scriptures].

You were ignored for almost a year before you finally gave up and removed his number from your handset. And then global worship modes got altered by the pandemic, and you were forced to sometimes watch this individual ‘preach’ from the Holy Book. You cringed whenever [not many times – maybe twice or more] he appeared on the screen to preach from the Holy Book. After one of those occasions, you humbly and openly confessed your feelings as SIN to a group of male members of your congregation, and you were asked to “stop”, because you were “slandering and in SIN”. Your trauma was instantly relived as excuses were being made for the ‘pastor’, who refused for about five years now, to acknowledge the pain and hurt that you communicated to him. But you were confessing it as a SIN – why then were you reminded that you were sinning? You certainly were not slandering the ‘pastor’ because you referred to him as a ‘hypocrite’ [on the back of Galatians 2:11-14] based on his conduct towards you and your wife.

You were shocked at the way this was handled… what does James 5:16 say? “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” Was there no righteous man in the room? Rather, what happened? Matthew 7:1-5. And you further asked your ‘judges’ for the contact details of the ‘pastor’ who now preaches from another country. Silence! How should you treat the ‘pastor’ and those who are led astray by his hypocrisy – like Paul treated Alexander for the “great” psychological/emotional as well as physical [in a sub-zero temperature for hours] harm the pastor inflicted on you and your wife? Surely not! Matthew 18:21-35 is a command though you consider it a struggle as you continue to seek closure with the ‘pastor’ via his ‘friends’ in your country’s congregation. Yes, you must train your heart to forgive the individual… you have no choice! And you must love him…wow! [1 Corinthians 13:4-8; Matthew 5:43-45]. Do not see the ‘pastor’ as an enemy though!

Conclusion We may not be everyone’s favorite, and we probably are not accorded as much respect as others are shown. We need not stress ourselves out trying to establish our own worth – God is in control! Maybe you innocently/negligently misrepresented a historical event while angry [hence your apology to the individual concerned]. However, it was never your intention to damage anyone’s reputation. We also should emulate Peter, who despite being very close to Jesus, still held Paul in high esteem, not holding any grudge against him. He never used the pulpit to ‘retaliate’ against Paul but praised him for his faith and work in Christ. No one should be above correction [2 Timothy 3:16–17].

You reflected and perhaps thought your WhatsApp profile picture of a leaflet handed to you at your local train station, by campaigners, urging people affected by racism to come to central London on some date for a peaceful demonstration, could have put the ‘pastor’ off - despite that you never planned to participate in the protest [and you never did]? But should we judge a book by its cover? You were obviously traumatized by racism at the time the leaflet was handed to you. What was the motive of the third party [who had infantilized and exasperated you] and made you SIN? [Proverbs 16:2]. What could he have done better? [Matthew 5:9; Proverbs 17;9; Proverbs 26:20; Proverbs 6:12]. We all are sinners and fall short of the glory of God. We are only justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. I am 100% certain that Paul did not slander Peter by telling all the churches in Galatia about an incident that had already been settled between them… Peter did not feel bad about this at all! He never de-sanctified the pulpit with a retaliatory ‘sermon’ against Paul.

Shalom!

Dublin Church of Christ