Here are three examples of how Paul's "gospel" is a departure from Christ's Gospel.
1.) Jesus gave clear instructions about how to be forgiven, be saved, and receive Eternal Life. Mat. 6:14-15, "If you forgive men their tresspasses, your Father which is in heaven will also forgive you. But, if you do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your tresspasses." As well, the rich nobleman who came to Jesus asking about eternal life in Luke 18:18-23 was told by Jesus to perform the works of The Commandments, and to divest himself of personal wealth. Jesus said nothing about "Grace."
Paul diverted from this by saying in Eph. 2:8, "By Grace are you saved through faith, and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." Paul ignored Jesus' clear requirement a person must forgive all others their tresspasses before they can enter Heaven, and must follow The Commandments. Additionally, Jesus never is shown anywhere to speak the word "grace," yet Paul constantly promoted it.
2.) Paul jumps up with his idea of coming to Christ by writing in Rom. 10:13, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
This is not what Jesus said. Mat. 7:21 has Jesus saying, "Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the Will of my Father." Doing the Will of God is a works based salvation, far from Paul's so called "grace."
3.) Paul strangely writes in 1 Tim. 2:4, "[God] Who will have all men to be saved." This is Universalism at its heart. But, Jesus stated in Mat. 7:21, "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads into life, and few there be that find it." Paul's "All men" is not in any manner the same as Jesus' "few."
Chatting, sharing possible ideas, exegeting Scripture, becoming intense, speaking ad hominem, and diverting this topic will not change the gross discrepancies of Paul's gospel in comparison to Jesus' statements from The Father Himself.
Hi Garrison,
I agree with you 100%.
When reading Jesus and reading Paul we do get two perspectives.
So much so, that some are being called Paulines or something like that.
Pauline theology.
If we examine carefully what Paul wrote, he really did not disagree with Jesus. How could he?
The problem is that Paul was a very intelligent person, an intellectual actually, and he had his way of writing what he believed was taught to him. He spoke to everyone he could and studied for 3 years before coming up with his theology.
In many places Paul writes of how we are to act and how we are to do works. For instance,
Romans 9:8-14
He lists sins that are not to be commited.
1 Corinthians 5:9-13
Ditto
Look at
1 Corinthians 10:21
Paul says we cannot drink from the cup of the Lord AND the cup of demons -- which would be SINNING.
In 1 Corinthians 15:2 Paul says that we will be saved IF we hold on to what was preached. What was preached?? ONLY to call on the name of Jesus?? Not much preaching there.
Check out Galatians 5:17-21
All acts NOT to do.
He then goes on to 5:22 which explains how we ARE to behave.
Which very much reminds me of the beatitudes in Mathew 5.
So it's not that they don't agree.
It's that Paul uses language that has caused difficulty because we have people that want easy believism, or hypergrace, and churches that teach this to fill up the pews.
For instance, when Paul says we are no longer under the law...
Many believe this to mean that we need not worry ourselves about obeying the 10 commandments when nothing could be further from the truth.
This is what I have come to believe.
I also used to think they were in disagreement.
However, I do want to say that if there is ANY QUESTION,
one always goes to JESUS, not to Paul.