The Last words of Jesus (Part 4)

6.6 Paul and the Judeo-Christianity

All historians agree that the existing Christian theology is based on the perception of

Paul and not on the true message of Jesus. Paul is called the greatest missionary of

Christianity and its first theologian. Yet all Christian preachers attribute Christianity to

both Jesus and Paul.

Paul: Evangelist to the Gentiles

In the late 1900s, major attention in the history of Christianity was focused on Paul. This

was due to a strong critical examination of his views on Judaism and the Mosaic Law.

His position regarding the Law changed completely after his conversion. The book of

Acts and Paul’s Epistles have been used as a source of understanding Paul’s early life,

conversion, and approach to theology. However, there are problems in reconciling the

accounts in Acts with those in Epistles. Gal. 1:15 suggests that, immediately before his

conversion and for three years afterwards, Paul lived in Arabia and Damascus. Acts

seems to suggest that he lived in Jerusalem (7:58-8:3; 9:1-2; 22:3). Similarly, while

Paul’s letters mention two visits to Jerusalem (Gal.1:18; 2:1), and that he hoped to make

a third (Rom. 15:25; 1 Cor. 16:4), Acts makes obvious references to five visits (9:26-28;

11:27-30; 15:1-4; 18:22; 21:17-19). Attempts to reconcile these contradictions were

extremely difficult; so many scholars accepted their discrepancy and used Acts and the

Epistles separately without trying to confuse the public.

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Paul was born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia (in present day Turkey) in 4 AD. He

became a convert to Christianity after experiencing a vision of Jesus during a journey

from Jerusalem to Damascus (Acts 9:1-19, 22:5-16, 26:12-18) about 33-35 AD. It is

important to remember the above contradiction relating to his companions during Paul’s

vision. After 14 quiet years, Paul began to write his Epistles that took him through Syria,

Galatia, Asia Minor, and Rome. Some scholars argue that Paul spent those missing 14

years in Macedonia, Greece. This is probably true if one assumes that he was testing

and adjusting his method to present the new religion to Pagans. Though Paul was in

Jerusalem at the same time as Jesus, it is doubtful that the two men ever met. His zeal

for Mosaic Law led him to persecute the Christian church. First he thought of the church

to be a Jewish sect that was untrue to the Law and should therefore be destroyed (Gal.

1:13). Acts 7:54-60 portrays him as a supportive witness to the stoning of St. Stephen,

the first Christian martyr. Paul was arrested in Jerusalem after riots heated by his Jewish

opponents, and was eventually sent to Rome to stand trial. It is unclear how that trial

ended, or if he ever left Rome. Eventually, in 64 he was executed near Rome.

Paul established his credibility by maintaining that Jesus spoke to him after he

was raised to Heaven. Paul perceived this revelation to mark the end of all religions, and

thus of all religious distinctions. He consistently spoke of God's “call” to him. God has

called people and is continuing to call people into the Christian community. Paul

recognized Peter’s effort to introduce Christianity to the Jews, but he was convinced that

Christianity was God's call to the entire world. Although scholars do not fully understand

Paul's motive for this effort, it is certain that he attempted to bring together the churches

of his Gentile mission with the Jewish Christians in Palestine.

The New Testament contains 13 letters bearing Paul's name as author, and 7 of

these were almost certainly written by Paul himself: 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, 1

Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Romans, Philippians, and Philemon. Christian scholars

debate the authenticity of the rest of the letters. The seven letters, attributed to Paul, in

which he occasionally speaks of his personal experience and his work, are the major

sources of knowledge about the course of his life. Most scholars concentrate on them

and consult the Acts of the Apostles as an additional source.

The letters of Paul reveal that his missionary itinerary was focused on three

major objectives:

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• The expansion of Christian missionary to the Gentiles in areas not approached by

other Christian evangelists—hence his plan to go as far west as Spain, (Romans

1:14; 5:24, 28).

• The concern of a preacher to revisit his own congregations as problems arose. This

was demonstrated by his several visits to Corinth.

• His constant determination to collect money from his largely rich Gentile churches

and to deliver the money himself to Jesus’ Apostles in Jerusalem.

Without a doubt, Paul had remarkable qualities that made him the top evangelist

in the history of Christianity:

• He was very active in traveling and propagating his version of Christianity to the

Gentiles.

• He had an extraordinary capability for adapting himself to the situation of his

audience.

• He was more effective in writing than in speaking.

• He knew very well how to package the new religion, and presented it in an

acceptable form to the Gentiles.

After knowing that about Paul, it is no wonder that very many “successful” TV

evangelists are adopting Paul’s approach in addressing the Christian public. TV

evangelists receive calls from God, and they continually talk about those divine calls.

These God’s calls range from requesting money, to God’s revelation to the evangelist of

his forgiveness if the evangelist committed a major sin.