why did some people in Paul's churches not accept him as a real apostle?
Some among Paul's congregations rejected his apostolic authority because he lacked the credential they valued: personal companionship with Jesus during His earthly ministry. Although he had a divine appointment as an apostle of Christ, they measured apostleship by having walked with Christ in the flesh, so they questioned whether his calling was genuine.
Les explains that Paul was confronting critics who thought of him as if he walked according to the flesh. Within his congregations there were people who did not recognize his divine appointment as an apostle of Christ, because he could not claim to have walked with Jesus in His earthly ministry. Les then reviews Acts 9, where Saul's conversion outside Damascus is recorded and the Lord sends Ananias to him, showing that Paul's apostolic calling was real even though it did not come through Jesus' earthly ministry.
But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
More Questions
Why did some people refuse to accept Paul as an apostle?
The reason some rejected Paul's apostolic appointment is that he could not claim to have walked with Jesus during Jesus' earthly ministry.