Paul has a special significance in the New Testament. While the 12 apostles are in Jerusalem, Paul, as the 13th apostle, moves throughout the Roman Empire. What he says and writes differs in essential things from what Jesus taught in the Gospels and he makes extraordinary new statements. Anyone who reads the New Testament carefully cannot avoid the special position and significance of Paul. However, not everyone understands what is actually going on. Therefore, there are a lot of opinions about Paul. Let’s read a few of these assessments to get started.
Different assessments about Paul
Whoever studies Paul a little more intensively will soon find out that the work and message of this apostle are assessed quite differently.
Paul about himself
This is the beginning of the Letter to the Romans, where Paul writes about himself:
“Paul, slave of Christ Jesus, called apostle, set apart for the gospel of God…”
Rom 1:1
Paul the Super Theologian
There is no doubt that Paul did a tremendous amount of work. Its importance for Christianity should not be underestimated. If you look for opinions on the Internet, there are particularly many of them. Some positively emphasize the importance of Paul:
“Paul of Tarsus, according to New Testament (NT) tradition, is the first and most important theologian in the history of Christianity and arguably the most successful missionary of early Christianity.”
World of the Bible
“The most important missionary of early Christianity”.
Knowledge.com
Paul the forger
However, there is also another side. According to the opinion of other people, Paul directly misunderstood some things. So, in addition to the many positive assessments, there are also quite negative opinions of Paul. There we can read, for example:
“Paul did not understand Jesus.”
The mirror
“No missionary has earned greater merit in the spread of Christianity than Paul. And no other has so massively falsified the original teachings of Jesus.”
TimesWriting
“With Paul, however, began the falsification of the teaching of Jesus and the gradual building of an ecclesiastical institutional structure.”
The theologian
These and similar things are not only found on the cited websites, but almost identically we already read about the opposition to Paul in the New Testament and this is repeated until today. This is not to frighten us, but this has meaning. Understanding Paul correctly is crucial to understanding the New Testament. It also has everything to do with our calling to the church today.
Opinions differ on Paul
On the understanding of Paul the spirits divide, the theologies, the doctrines, the opinions and here quite generally the understanding of God’s action in this world divides. What Paul taught was not even very clear to Peter, for he writes:
“… And consider the patience of our Lord for salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, as also in all the epistles when he speaks in them of these things, in which some things are difficult to understand…”
2Pet 3:15-16
No wonder, then, if to this day Paul’s teaching and testimony are misjudged and banished. It was not easy even in New Testament times. Paul’s message is radical and stunning. And in fact, in some ways it is also quite different from what Jesus and the twelve apostles focused on. Understandably, this puts it at cross purposes to some assumptions. It seems all the more important that we understand Paul’s special mission and that we recognize his message in God’s light.
Paul always gave detailed reasons for his teachings and took a stand on many issues, but this did not automatically mean that he met with understanding. Not even in the communities he himself founded was success lasting. To his co-worker Timothy he writes the following assessment at the end of his life, probably from prison in Rome:
“This you know, that all in the province of Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.”
2Tim 1:15
The “province of Asia” (roughly the area of present-day Turkey) was the apostle’s most important travel destination throughout his life. This is where he did the lion’s share of his work. There, everyone turned away from the apostle. I can imagine that this development kept him exceedingly busy.
Who is this Paul?
Is it important to hear what Paul has to say, or is he just a crank who has abandoned the teachings of Jesus? What does the Bible itself say about these questions?
Paul’s letters and ministry are only a part of the New Testament. Mostly, however, this part remains unknown, because one throws Paul’s testimony into a pot with the rest and bends and mixes the different messages until a real mixed gospel comes out of it. This is then neither flesh nor fish, neither Peter nor Jesus nor Paul. It is then often “a little grace” and “a little law”. Paul himself puts such a mixed gospel under ban:
“I am amazed that you are so quickly changing your minds, away from the gospel that called you into Christ’s grace, to a different (gr. heteron) gospel, which is not a different (gr. allo) genuine one, if there were not some who want to trouble you and pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or a messenger from heaven proclaims something different to you besides what we have proclaimed to you as the gospel: Let him be put under ban! As we have emphasized before, so I say again now, if anyone preaches anything different to you as a gospel apart from what you have received from us, let him be put under ban!”
Gal 1:6-9
Not recognizing Paul’s message and reinterpreting his statements, mixing them with other thoughts (e.g. of Peter) leads to a “different” gospel, which is not a real “different” one. The two words used here in Greek point to the following difference:
- allo is different, but of the same kind. That is why there are “real” but different gospels.
- heteron is different, namely of a different kind and therefore not “real”.
There are several Gospels, several Good News, which, although different, are of the same kind. The gospel that Peter preaches is such a gospel. And the gospel that Paul preaches is also part of it. There are other gospels mentioned in the New Testament, such as the “eternal (aeonian) gospel” (Rev 14:6).
Contrasting with this are false gospels, which are of a very different kind. These are not true gospels. Paul now warns against “different” gospels, which masquerade as gospel, but do not really make free. A mixed gospel is mostly standard today. It will look like this: A little bit of Peter, a little bit of Paul. And then a few spiritualized statements of Jesus from the gospels sprinkled in between. Some law, some grace. This is a mixed gospel.
Such a mixed gospel means chaos, because the mixing of law and grace does not make free.
A key to understanding the New Testament
Understanding Paul’s message becomes a key to understanding the New Testament . However, this requires the courage to let the Bible writers themselves have their say, and not to make assumptions about the connections from the outset.
For example, when Jesus says that He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt. 15:24), we must believe it, as well as Paul’s statement that he was an apostle to the nations (Rom. 11:23). Such statements clarify the context. Jesus’ statement clarifies the time of the Gospels and the task Jesus had in that time, while Paul’s statement describes his own specific task. The two things are not in competition with each other, nor do we have to harmonize them by hook or by crook.
If you don’t understand Paul, you can’t understand today’s church and community. Without Paul, the congregation and church of all nations would not exist. Talking about Paul is not so much about him as it is about the message he proclaims. It is about the gospel, which Paul calls “my gospel.” Most Christians have never heard of it.
Paul’s message was not only addressed to a different audience, but also has its own unique characteristics. Paul would not exist without Jesus, but without Paul, the church of today would not exist. There is a development in the New Testament and understanding Paul’s task is a key to understanding the New Testament.
The Gospel of Paul
It may sound like heresy to some, because isn’t there only the “Gospel of Jesus”? Well, that would be too short-sighted. Indeed, Jesus himself speaks of the “gospel of the kingdom” (Mt 4:23; Mt 9:35; Mk 1:14, etc.). What Jesus proclaimed was a Kingdom that had come near with Him. His proclamation does not punish the cross and resurrection, because the two things had not happened until then. Accordingly, there is not simply “one gospel,” but there are even several gospels that are clearly distinct from one another.
A “gospel” is first of all a neutral term. It is a “good message,” and there are several such “good messages” mentioned in the New Testament. Paul also received a “good message” with which he alone was entrusted. He calls it “my gospel” several times (Rom 2:16; Rom 16:25; 2 Tim 2:8). This gospel is described in detail in his letters.
Paul once went up to Jerusalem to clarify the gospel he was preaching among the nations to the respected people there:
“Then (after fourteen years) I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas, and took Titus also. And I went up after a revelation, and presented unto them (but especially unto them that were esteemed) the gospel which I preach among the nations, that I should not therefore run or walk in vain.”
Gal 2:1-2
We will read more details about this visit afterwards:
“But of those who were esteemed (whatever esteem, as if they were something, they once had, does not matter to me, since God does not think anything of a man’s external esteem), yet these esteemed ones did not submit anything else to me, but on the contrary, because they realized that I am entrusted with the gospel of uncircumcision, like Peter with the one of circumcision (for he who works in Peter for the apostleship of the circumcision works also in me for the Gentiles), and recognizing the grace given to me, James, Cephas, and John, who are regarded as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might work for the Gentiles, but they for the circumcision …”
Gal 2:6-9
Two gospels are mentioned here:
- The gospel “of uncircumcision” and
- the gospel of “the circumcision”.
The gospel of uncircumcision was preached by Paul among the nations. He had gone up to Jerusalem precisely for this gospel so that he could present it to the apostles who remained there. We see from this procedure that Paul was not simply preaching the same thing as Peter. The focus and content of his gospel were different. That’s why he wanted to present it in person in Jerusalem.
What was different is the content of the Pauline letters. Differences between Paul’s letters and the other letters can be explained by their different missions and target audiences. Paul and Peter each had a “separate gospel” for a “separate target group” with a “separate and adapted content”.
The revelation of secrets
Many claim that Paul is telling the same story as Jesus and the twelve apostles, just with a slightly different focus. However, this is not true, as can be seen from the following section:
“For I make known unto you, brethren, that the gospel which I preach is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it; rather, it came to me by a revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Gal 1:11-12
What Paul tells is a special revelation of Jesus Christ. Should Paul tell the same as the twelve apostles, he could have simply asked them. However, he receives his message as a special revelation. Later in his life, Paul writes:
“Therefore I, Paul, am the bound of Christ Jesus for you who are of the Gentiles – for if you have heard of the administration of the grace of God that is given to me for you, since to me by a revelation the mystery was made known (as I wrote just before in a nutshell, by which you can understand when reading my understanding of the mystery of the Christ, which is Not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets): In the Spirit, those from the nations are common lot-shareholders and a common body and common partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which I have become a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace…”
Eph 3:1-7
Here it is said that the revelation concerned secrets. So Paul does not receive the same statements as the twelve apostles, but other statements, hitherto hidden things. Paul reveals secrets.
The word secret does not indicate obscure, unclear, mysterious things. Quite the opposite! Paul speaks about mysteries in order to reveal them. They are described as a mystery because they were unknown in the past.
Furthermore, Paul does not deviate from Jesus Christ, as some claim, but he receives the revelation directly from Jesus Christ – according to the statements. The differentiation is here: Paul actually deviates from what Jesus declared in the Gospels. However, what the apostle proclaimed was very much a message from Jesus Christ, but much later. The difference lies in the time, the target audience, the task. It was not the same, but it was specifically adapted to his task and the apostle received the testimonies of Jesus Christ.
Now what things in detail make up Paul’s gospel has not been traced here so far. However, the following may be clear from the passages mentioned:
- Paul has a gospel “of his own”.
- He had a special message from Christ Jesus
- This gospel corresponds to his special mission for the nations
- It is the “gospel of uncircumcision”, in contrast to the gospel of circumcision of Peter
- Important things of this gospel became known only by direct revelation from Jesus to Paul and were difficult even for Peter to understand
Paul, the apostle with a seal of approval
At the beginning we read a few opposing opinions about Paul. There are many more such contrasts, he said. Why do these differences exist? The following thesis could be tested: How one assesses Paul depends on whether one has recognized Paul’s special position.
How one assesses Paul depends on whether one has recognized Paul’s special position.
Too many people still think that the New Testament is all about one thing. People fail to realize that a development took place. What is seen today as the core of the Gospel is found in the letters of the Apostle Paul. If we leave out the letters of Paul, it will be difficult to find back the church of today in the New Testament. That is why we must learn to differentiate.
Nevertheless, with the differences now recognized, let us not forget that the apostles, after clarifying the differences, gave each other the brotherly hand. We read that earlier. Paul was explicitly recognized by the twelve apostles – despite the differences. He received a seal of approval from Jerusalem, so to speak.
So this is not just about emphasizing differences. Paul and the Twelve saw each other as complementary precisely because they had different tasks and a different focus. They recognized that Paul works for the nations as Peter and the Twelve Apostles did for the Jews. Both were due to God’s work and God’s grace. It is not just about a different target group, but the message was adapted to the target groups. The same God who walked an already centuries-old path with Israel was to deal intensively and in his own way with the nations via Paul. That was new.
We can learn to appreciate and understand these differences. In this way, we differentiate the statement and leave the statements in their own context. Through the distinction, many problematic passages of the New Testament suddenly disappear. It also becomes much easier to read the Bible in its own light. If we distinguish these things, then reading the Bible becomes more exciting and improved differentiation of the message gives light and relevance to our lives.