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You place oral tradition as equal to SCRIPTURE, even though oral tradition is suspect at best for its veracity.

As Jaded said in post #1683: "Paul did not learn at the feet of Jesus Christ. Paul himself said "what I have taught you by word of mouth or by letter." Word is tradition. Letter became Scripture"

Do you agree with that, or do you think the letters of St. Paul are not scripture and thereby agree with OLD Reggie in post # 1611 "It is refreshing that you recognize Paul frequently speaks for himself and himself only. Please advise some of your compatriots that I am not a bitter "ex" or anything like that when I say that not all of Paul's writings are "Commandments of God"."

"...Paul did not learn at the feet of Jesus Christ...."

Paul is truly unique in this regard. In his conversion though in ACTS one passage stands out.

Acts 9:15-16 " But the LORD said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their Kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."

Paul was called out by the LORD. He was noted for writing letters/SCRIPTURE from the beginning. He did not learn the LORD'S teachings at his feet while he was physically with the Apostles and because of that I think you can make a case that he is not an Apostle, but a Disciple. However, I believe because the LORD reached down and personally assigned him a mission (preach to the Gentiles) you can argue he is an Apostle. Either definition doesn't matter in that he was the most prolific writer used by the LORD in writing the New Testament.