You are very selective in you reading of scripture, reading only what supports your precoonceived theology. Come into the light
This passage is from ACTs 8:
3 Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the church; entering house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over for imprisonment.
4 Now those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.
5 Thus Philip went down to (the) city of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them
You can see from this passage that while Paul was still persecuting the chruch, Philip was preaching to the Samarians. The very same Samarians that Jesus would not preach to because they weren’t part of Israel.
And how about this from later in Acts 8:
26 Then the angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, “Get up and head south on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route.”
27 So he got up and set out. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, that is, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury, who had come to Jerusalem to worship,
28 and was returning home. Seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
29 The Spirit said to Philip, “Go and join up with that chariot.”
30 Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31 He replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him.
32 This was the scripture passage he was reading: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
33 In (his) humiliation justice was denied him. Who will tell of his posterity? For his life is taken from the earth.”
34 Then the eunuch said to Philip in reply, “I beg you, about whom is the prophet saying this? About himself, or about someone else?”
35 Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this scripture passage, he proclaimed Jesus to him.
36 As they traveled along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, there is water. What is to prevent my being baptized?”
38 Then he ordered the chariot to stop, and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water, and he baptized him.
39 When they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but continued on his way rejoicing
Obviously here, we have an apostle, prior to St. Paul’s conversion, preaching to and baptizing an Ethiopian.
and how about ACTs 10, which recounts how God led Peter to baptize the gentile Cornelius and all his household.
Finally, lets look at Acts 15:
7 After much debate had taken place, Peter got up and said to them, "My brothers, you are well aware that from early days God made his choice among you that through my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe.
8 And God, who knows the heart, bore witness by granting them the holy Spirit just as he did us.
9 He made no distinction between us and them, for by faith he purified their hearts.
10 Why, then, are you now putting God to the test by placing on the shoulders of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?
11 On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they
As you can see, Peter is the one who God made the choice to speak to the Gentiles. (as we saw clearly in Acts 10).
I know Paul claims in Galatians 2 that it was agreed that he and Barnabas would go to the Gentiles and so they did, but not exclusively. If you read Acts, you know they usually started in the local synagogues and then went to the Gentiles… And I know he says the others would go to the circumcised and they did, but not exclusively nor for all time. From the passages I quoted above, you already know that Philip and Peter were preaching to the uncircumcized prior to Paul even becoming a believer. And ultimately as history tells us, Peter moved first to Antioch and then to Rome and preached to Jews and Gentiles alike… In 1Peter he addresses 5 cities in Asia Minor not confining it to Israel: Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen sojourners of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
As you can see, your claim that Paul was exclusively the apostle to the Gentiles is without merit and in fact is clearly wrong.
), etc. If they were not formulated by an authoritative Church, what guarantee of being Spirit-lead would those confessions have? Certainly, a lot of scripture is understandable to the common man, but not all.
You are a part of this, as well. May God dissolve our differences and unite us as one.
