Unlikely Leaders

Some Leaders Continue to Hurt Paul’s Ministry

Afterward, when converts among the Gentiles were increasing rapidly, a few leaders at Jerusalem began to revive their former prejudices against Paul’s methods. Some of the leaders determined that from then on the work must be conducted according to their own ideas. If Paul would conform to their policies, they would recognize and support his work. Otherwise, they could no longer support it. ULe 146.5

These men had lost sight of the fact that God is the teacher of His people. Every worker in His cause is to follow the divine Leader, not looking to others for direct guidance. God’s workers are to be molded in the divine likeness. ULe 146.6

Paul had taught the people “not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Corinthians 2:4). He had looked to God for direct guidance, yet he had been careful to work in harmony with the decisions of the general council at Jerusalem. As a result, the churches were “strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily” (Acts 16:5). Despite the lack of sympathy that some showed him, he had encouraged a spirit of loyalty, generosity, and brotherly love in his converts, as the liberal contributions he placed before the Jewish elders showed. ULe 147.1

Paul “told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.” This brought the conviction, even to those who had been doubting, that God had blessed his work. “When they heard it, they glorified the Lord.” The methods the apostle followed bore the approval of Heaven. The leaders who had urged arbitrary control saw Paul’s ministry in a new light and were convinced that they had been wrong. Jewish customs and traditions had held them in bondage, and they had obstructed the work of the gospel by not recognizing that the death of Christ had broken down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile. ULe 147.2

This was the golden opportunity for all the leadership to freely admit that God had worked through Paul and that sometimes they had been wrong to allow his enemies to stir up their jealousy and prejudice. But instead of doing what was right to the one who had been injured, they showed that they still wanted to hold Paul largely responsible for the existing prejudice. They did not stand nobly in his defense but tried to strike a compromise. ULe 147.3