Is Paul the Servant of Christ?
Galatians 1:10 - For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
These two verses seem to indicate that Pual was not the servant of Christ.
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Bro. Adam,
Look at the apostolic greetings of Paul in the Pauline epistles. Romans 1:1 the Bible states, " Paul, A servant of Jesus Christ called to be an Apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God. Eph. 1:1, "Paul, and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ...". Titus 1:1A, "Paul, a servant of God...". The term servant means "bondman". Paul is a sold out individual for Christ after his conversion on the road to Damascus. According to 1st Corinthians 6:19-29 declare, " What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." In the Gospel of John, The Lord Jesus Christ gave us the principal of truth about servanthood. It states in John 13:15, "For I have given you as an example, that ye should do as I have done unto you." Then Phil. 2:5, the Scriptures tells us, " Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:" as a commandment to be a servant. As I stated Sunday, God did not save us to merely stand, we are to serve Him with all that is within us. This servanthood is not an emotional commitment, it is a special blessing to serve our Lord and Saviour much more than serving ourself. Let me know what you think,
God Bless,
Bro. Chris Davidson
Eccl. 3:1
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No contradiction because what he seeks is for men to get saved, and while doing that he will try not to offend them in unessential matters that are not relevant to the gospel.
But when it comes to the gospel message itself, he offends men and gets rebuffed, but he won't compromise. So it is in this area that he doesn't care what people think, and thus he serves Christ faithfully.
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Context. "that they may be saved" is the qualifier. If pleasing them means that they go against the gospel and don't get saved, then Paul would stick on God's side.
But the context of 1 Cor 10 is about drinking and eating things sacrificed to idols. In the chapter, he says if your liberty is going to weaken the conscience of another, then don't do it.
I believe when Paul uses "in all things" he is extending this principle to any other issue, not just idol food, or worshipping on a certain day, but smoking, swearing, stealing small things, etc.
In a related note, Jesus' words
Matthew 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
can be taken be taken to mean please all men. So the important thing is the qualifier "that they may be saved" and whether it is a situation where pleasing men will go against pleasing God. If it isn't a mutually exclusive decision, by all means please men so that you can save them.