Did Paul have any connection with the twelve apostles?
No. Paul had absolutely no connection whatsoever with the twelve apostles. He separated himself from them. The twelve were Apostles of Israel, chosen within Israel’s borders, while Paul was commissioned as the Apostle of the Gentiles on Gentile ground. He would not fit the requirement to replace Judas.
Les explains that Paul, formerly Saul of Tarsus, had absolutely no connection with the twelve apostles; he separates himself from them. The twelve were Apostles of Israel, chosen within the borders of Israel. Paul, by contrast, is the Apostle of the Gentiles, chosen and commissioned by God on Gentile ground. Les notes that some theologians thought Peter was remiss for allowing Matthias to take Judas’s place and should have waited for Paul, but Les says that would never have worked—Paul would never have fit. In Acts 1:21 Peter lays out the qualifications for Judas’s replacement, and Saul of Tarsus could not fulfill that requirement. Paul was a Jew but also a Roman, a Gentile by citizenship.