Quoted By:
Paul was a Pharisee. One day he had a ‘revelation’. He changed his name from Saul to Paul, and straightway preached his revelations about the ‘Christ’ in the synagogues. Paul continued to have new ‘revelations’ that spoke ‘of’ and ‘for’ a Christ, but he was glaringly silent about the actual life of Jesus and his teachings. In Paul’s epistles we find him using the words ‘Christ, Son of God, grace, redemption, resurrection, etc.’, but we learn little or nothing aboutJesus and his actual teachings. They’re virtually absent from Paul’s epistles. What we learn about are Paul’s revelations. Roughly 50% of the New Testament (13 epistles) is from Saul, a man who neither knewJesus in the flesh, nor was instructed by the apostles. Rather, he taught by unsubstantiated revelation, Ezekiel 13:2-9.
Paul considered himself the ‘apostle’ to the Gentiles, primarily because his doctrine (called ‘that way’, Acts 19:9, 23) was rejected by Judean Christians and the Asian churches alike; and he was forced to seek converts who knew nothing of Yahudim (Israelite) customs and the Law. Paul’s doctrine was adverse to the teachings of Jesus; and he was often in conflict with James, Peter, and John; the real apostles. Paul was not an apostle.
Paul spent an inordinate amount of time defending himself and his teachings from accusations of guile, lies, and covetousness. None of the real apostles were so accused. Paul’s core philosophy of justification by faith and abolition of Torah Law stands in opposition toJesus’ statements in the gospels. Paul thought nothing of lying or practicing pagan customs if it meant gaining a new convert to his own brand of salvation, Romans 3:7, I Corinthians 10:14-21, 9:19-22.
