Acts 10:28 … Neither profane nor unclean (05/23/17)
“God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.” ~ Paul (Acts 10:28)
First of all, before we start looking at this verse itself, let’s remember a few things about the “apostle” Paul … Consider the following:
A) Paul himself had passive-aggressively manipulative (and therefore “unclean”) motives behind his ministry (see 2 Corinthians 2:1-4, 2 Corinthians 2:9, 2 Corinthians 7:2-4, 2 Corinthians 8:2-8, 2 Corinthians 8:24, 2 Corinthians 11:7, 2 Corinthians 12:19-21 et al) …
B) Paul believed that God showed him authoritatively “from above” as opposed to Lovingly from within (see Romans 7:4, 1 Corinthians 2:11, 2 Corinthians 1:10, 1 Corinthians 15:23-25, 2 Corinthians 9:10-11, Philippians 4:6 & Philippians 4:19 et al) … and —
C) Paul believed that only he had been shown “the Truth,” and that it was therefore necessary for him to aggressively condemn & then convert others of unlike mind (see Acts 13:10, Romans 16:17-18, 1 Corinthians 5:9-13, 1 Corinthians 9:24, 1 Corinthians 10:21, 1 Corinthians 11:19, 2 Corinthians 11:4-5, Galatians 1:9, Philippians 1:28 & Philippians 3:2).
Secondly, note that Jesus Christ disagreed with Paul on all three of these fronts, even though Jesus did agree in principle on not calling anyone else “profane or unclean” (see Luke 10:27 & John 14:20). Indeed Paul was a full blown hypocrite in this regard, as we often see him insulting or berating or belittling others in his letters (see 1 Corinthians 16:22, 1 Corinthians 5:4-5, 1 Corinthians 10:20, 2 Corinthians 10:6, Galatians 2:11, Galatians 3:1, Galatians 5:12, Philippians 3:18-19 & 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16).
And indeed & in truth, Jesus really couldn’t stand hypocrites of any sort (see Matthew 6:5, Matthew 7:1-5, Matthew 7:15, Matthew 7:21-23, Matthew 23, Luke 6:46, Luke 12:2, Luke 16:15, Luke 20:46-47, John 8:4-9 et al) – which is probably why he warned us quite clearly of preachers like Paul ahead of time (see Matthew 15:13-14, Mark 7:6-8 & Luke 12:1 vs Acts 23:6, Acts 26:5, Galatians 1:14 & Philippians 3:4-5 … see John 5:43 vs Acts 13:9 … and see Matthew 24:26 vs Acts 9 & Galatians 1:11-12).
As such, in closing, when judging the quality of your “prophet,” always do so facta non verba (always looking to his or her actions, never his or her words – see Jesus’ “Fruit of the Tree” test in Matthew 7:15-20).
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