[goat granny]

Problem with Paul being an apostle is that Peter laid out the rules for being an apostle when Matthias was choosen to take Judas place....Paul calls himself an apostle but does not meet the criteria set out for the replacement of Judas. The lot fell to Matthias. He furfilled also all the criteria Peter set down....

If I remember correctly God called Paul to be an instrument to take the gospel to the gentiles...he did not call him an apostle....

[PapaNew]

Peter laid out the rules for being an apostle when Matthias was chosen to take Judas place

The point I was making, that I also think God's Word is making, is that Peter in Acts 1 was still running ahead of God the way he always tended to do. He didn't wait for Him to come in the form of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, as Jesus had told him. So their efforts in Acts 1 seemed to come to naught including the selection of Matthias. The weak and futile efforts of the Acts 1 church became powerful and effective in the spirit-filled Acts 2 church.

God called Paul to be an instrument to take the gospel to the gentiles...he did not call him an apostle....

"Apostle" means "one who is sent." As you say, that certainly was Paul. The Word of God calls Paul an apostle in scriptures already referenced and in other verses as well. Paul by the Holy Spirit announced often (he had to, not unlike Jesus) that God had called him to be an apostle. If Paul wasn't an apostle he'd be discredited as a liar by God's Word and the other apostles. But Peter himself acknowledged the truth and wisdom in Paul in 2 Peter 3:15.