The commission of Jesus in His earthly walk and of the Twelve was that they were sent to the people of Israel. But which words in Scripture are addressed directly to us? These are the words of the apostle Paul. He is the apostle of the nations.
Paul received his message not from Jesus on earth, but from the resurrected Christ, from heaven. Not intended for one nation, but for all nations, without distinction. In this present time, God is gathering a people from all nations for His name (Acts 15:14).
Romans 11
13 And I say to you, the Gentiles, inasmuch then as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I glorify my ministry…
Galatians 2
8 For He who works in Peter for the sending of the circumcision also works in me for the Gentiles—
9 And when they recognized the grace given to me, James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship: we, indeed, for the Gentiles, and they for the circumcision.
Ephesians 3
8 To me, the least of all saints, this grace was given, to evangelize the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentiles.
1 Timothy 2
7 I was appointed as a herald and an apostle—I tell the truth, I lie not—a teacher of the Gentiles in knowledge and truth.
2 Timothy 1
11 And I was appointed to this end as a herald, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles
Apostle
If we correctly divide the word of truth, we recognize that James, Peter, and John are apostles from the circumcision (Gal. 2:9) with a message for the circumcision (>the Jewish people).
Paul is the apostle of the nations (Rom. 11:13; 1 Tim. 2:7), and his letters are addressed directly to us, believers from the nations. He is the apostle who was authorized to make known the truths concerning the ecclesia, the body of Christ (Eph. 3:3-7; Col. 1:26-27).
But make no mistake. This does not mean that the truths Paul reveals cannot be found in the Hebrew Scriptures and the Gospels. Precisely because Paul removes the veil, we can find what is hidden in ancient history and rituals, throughout Scripture.
A Different Meaning
Paul himself leads us in this when he speaks about the story of Abraham, who had two wives, Sarah and Hagar (Gal. 4:20-31). He says that these two women fundamentally represent something different; it is a metaphor for spiritual things. There is a deeper meaning in the story of Sarah and Hagar and the two sons they bore, Isaac and Ishmael. Or, as the Statenvertaling translates it: which are things that have a different meaning (Gal. 4:24). Paul rebukes the Galatians for not knowing this meaning of history. They wanted to live under the law, but didn’t truly listen to it (Gal. 4:21). They didn’t know the deeper meaning of the Old Testament, and Paul reproaches them for it!
Typological
In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul speaks about the things that happened to the people of Israel in the wilderness. He says about this: “Now these things became types for us” (1 Cor. 10:6), and these things happened to them typologically, and it was written for our attention (1 Cor. 10:11). So he’s not saying: this is the Old Testament and we have nothing to do with it. On the contrary, these stories were written down specifically for us, and we should pay attention to the typology we find in them.