Paul: THE APOSTLE WHO RECEIVED NOTHING

There is a sentence at the head of Paul’s angriest letter that ought to have settled the whole quarrel about apostolic succession before it was fairly begun, and which has instead been tiptoed past for the better part of two thousand years. The apostle is introducing himself to the Galatians, and he does it by naming, with some heat, everyone from whom he did not receive his office:‍ ‍

Paul, an apostle — not from men, nor through a man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.‍ ‍