It’s dangerous for people to continue with their unschooled claim that says, “I follow Jesus, I do not follow Paul.” By the words “follow Jesus” they mean the Jesus the ‘Four Gospel Records (Matthew through John). They foolishly try to know Jesus today in a manner in which God says we do NOT know Jesus today.

The “middle wall of partition” or distinction between Jew and Gentile was still in place during the Four Gospel records, but since then it has been done away “in Christ.” God has temporarily, during this age of “the grace of God,” suspended the distinction between Jew and Gentile. He changed the dispensational relationship and instructions to what we have with Him now, based upon Christ’s finished work of the Cross.

Conditions that were true in Matthew through John are not necessarily true today, so it is more appropriate that we follow the Apostle Paul ‘as’ (in the manner in which he, Paul, followed Jesus Christ. (cf. 1Cor. 11:1), rather than we following Jesus of Nazareth.

We are not exalting Paul; we are exalting the words of Jesus Christ whom Paul preached, the Jesus Christ as presented in “the mystery,” the formerly secreted truth revealed to and committed to Paul’s trust. Paul wrote the following verses as God the Holy Spirit guided him:

• 1 Corinthians 11:1: “Be ye followers of me (Paul), even as (the way) I also am of Christ.”
• 1 Corinthians 4:16: “Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me (Paul).”
• Ephesians 5:1: “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;….”
• Philippians 3:17: “Brethren, be followers together of me…
• 1 Thessalonians 1:6: “And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost.”

We follow Paul as he follows Jesus Christ, and Paul follows “Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery” (Rom. 16:25-26). Part of that revelation is that all believing Jews and Gentiles in Paul’s Gospel (1 Cor. 15:3-4) form the one Church “the Body of Christ.” You are encouraged to read Ephesians 2:11–3:11, with special emphasis on chapter 3.

“For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, ² If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: ³  How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, ⁴ Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) ⁵  Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; (Eph. 3:1-5)

Yet, 99 percent of “Christian” preaching and teaching today is from Matthew through John concerning Jesus ministry to “the circumcision,” while He excluded the Gentiles. They falsely proclaim God’s Word to Israel as though it were God’s Word to us Gentiles today. Those words are all about God’s program for Israel, yet they speak of it as though it were for the Church “the Body of Christ”!

They could not be more wrong because Jesus Christ’s ministry through Paul is almost, and sometimes entirely, ignored. No wonder there is no power of God in our churches and lives today. We stay focused on things God is not doing today, stressing concepts that are not applicable to God’s will for man today.

The choice is either back to Pauline truth, or … onward to further apostasy!

We do not know Jesus of Nazareth “after the flesh” any longer. We do not know any person after the flesh any longer. Christ’s earthly ministry, based on the middle wall of partition, is not how people should relate to God or each other today.

From the time “the dispensation of the grace of God” began with Paul’s salvation and ministry, Almighty God has revealed to us (mankind) how He no longer, and we should no longer know or relate to people according to their fleshly identity. Unlike “time past,” today physical circumcision and physical uncircumcision are not the issue in the “but now.” Rather, we understand people to be either “in Christ” (saved, going to Heaven) or “in Adam” (lost, going to “the lake of fire”), this is the only distinction today.

• The Bible says, during today’s “dispensation of the grace of God,” there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. This was not true during Christ’s earthly ministry.
• Today there is no spiritual advantage to being a Jew and there is no spiritual disadvantage to being a Gentile.

When studying the Bible, when you come across any other distinction than “saved” and “lost,” then you know you are reading a Bible Book, chapter or verse that is in or referring to the “time past” arrangement, when there was racial distinction between Jew and Gentile.

Unless we recognize the radical dispensational change that occurred in the Book of Acts (particularly with Paul’s conversion and commission in Acts 9), we will not understand that God is dealing differently with mankind today in the “but now” than how He dealt with mankind in “time past.”

We will wind up majoring on issues that God no longer emphasizes; e.g., Law, works, our performance; while ignoring the issues that God currently upholds: love, grace, and salvation for “all men.”

Ignoring Paul and not acknowledging the changes God has made for us today only results in absolute confusion and disappointment. This is the result seen in the hearts and minds of seeking Christians when … they look for the truth … in all the wrong places!