Gospel of Paul

With help from James Bishop’s blog, I’ve compiled quotations from Paul which elaborate upon his understanding of Jesus’ life (a sort of mini-gospel):

But when the fullness of time had come, Gxd sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.

Galatians 4:4 (NRSVue)

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of Gxd, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of Gxd with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the gentiles for the sake of his name, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, to all Gxd’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from Gxd our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:1–7 (NRSVue)

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for[f] you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

1 Corinthians 11:23–5 (NRSVue)

For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of the churches of Gxd in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you suffered the same things from your own compatriots as they did from the Jews [NB: not all Jews categorically, but just a subset of Judeans, analogous to the subset of Thessalonians persecuting the church there] who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and drove us out; they displease Gxd and oppose everyone by hindering us from speaking to the gentiles so that they may be saved.

1 Thessalonians 2:14–6 (NRSVue)

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified!

Galatians 3:1 (NRSVue)

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

1 Corinthians 15:3–7 (NRSVue)

And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, Gxd made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.

Colossians 2:14 (NRSVue; note that Col. is deutero-Pauline)

In an attempt to hit on all of these points: Jesus was a human descendant of David, born (like most of us!) of a woman. In life, he taught the fulfillment of the Law through Love. Then he was betrayed and crucified by fellow Jews who had opposed the extension of salvation to the nations. However, he had foretold his death as well as his resurrection three days later, after which he appeared to Cephas, then to the ‘twelve’, then to five hundred others, then to his literal bio-brother James the Just, and finally to the apostles (who at this point in time were categorically distinct from the disciples; think of Paul etc.). Through death, Jesus redeemed our debts under the Law so we could be adopted by Gxd. Through his resurrection, he himself was adopted as the Son of Gxd (though he was also already apparently the Son of Gxd before being born—is this a difference of Christology, or a matter of human versus divine perspective?).

Missing are: general historical details (accurate or otherwise), a special birth narrative, tales of exorcisms and miracles, the march on Jerusalem, and the Temple’s occupation. We shouldn’t argue from silence about what were or were not considered to have really happened by the Church (or by various assemblies) at the time of Paul, much less what really happened historically, but that should give us some hints in terms of what parts of the Gospels were written from ‘tradition’ versus what parts were invented by nature of them being (literarily speaking) a Greco-Roman divine biographies.

How much of this is Paul as opposed to the larger community? I lean towards Paul being not as controversial as is sometimes assumed. I actually wonder if he has better relations with the twelve than with James who, I realize, is not counted amongst the twelve! Is James, despite being Jesus’ literal brother, as much of an outsider as Paul even despite the former’s position as leader of the assembly in Jerusalem? Keep in mind the twelve all kind of fucked off and ministered elsewhere anyway. I understand and accept that Acts is not a reliable narrative, but it seems like it’s not unfair to locate James as a geographically limited leader in the Assembly, compared not just to Paul but to the twelve. Maybe, then, it’s fair that Paul asks James to stop messing with his assemblies w.r.t. matters of the Law. Maybe we should read the various councils in Acts as the twelve trying to reconcile Paul with James as fellow community leaders, rather than James being a birthright hegemon whose authority is gradually wrested away. Anyway, I see zero central leadership in this. Every figure seems unsure of what to do or how to collaborate on paper, acting on their hunch faster than they can agree on what they’re doing. See poor Cephas/Peter getting chastised by James for eating with gentiles, and then by Paul for not eating with gentiles, in Gal. 2:11–3; this seems to culminate in the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, where they all finally get together to talk it out. Slow-motion train wreck.

The following are teachings of Jesus according to Paul:

Therefore one must be subject [to the authorities], not only because of wrath but also because of conscience. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are Gxd’s agents, busy with this very thing. Pay to all what is due them: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not murder; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

Romans 13:5–10 (NRSVue)

To the married I give this command—not I but the Lord [Jesus]—that the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does separate, let her remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband) and that the husband should not divorce his wife. To the rest I say—I and not the Lord—that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her.

1 Corinthians 7:10–2 (NRSVue)

Do you not know that those who work in the temple service get their food from the temple and those who serve at the altar share in what is sacrificed on the altar? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

1 Corinthians 9:13–4 (NRSVue)

[Jesus] himself granted that some are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of Gxd, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11–3 (NRSVue)

As you can tell, these are all referred to in passing as common knowledge (that is, as an appeal to what the audience independently understand as sayings of Jesus). I’ve noticed a common assumption that Paul and his audience had some access to a sayings gospel such as the ever-elusive, hypothetical Q. Speaking of, I’ve ordered a critical edition of Q which will be interesting to read! It both seems that something like Q existed but also, w.r.t. the composition of the Synoptic Gospels, it seems more likely that Luke wrote from Matthew (or vice versa) rather than independently integrating Q with Mark. And I’m not an expert; it just seems like a reasonable position.

I’m writing this down to specifically compare with Q. I know the common understanding is that Paul takes the apocalyptic prophet Jesus and ascribes to him divinity, turning him (in the words of James Tabor) from the “proclaimer” into the “proclaimed”. Simultaneously, I don’t think Paul is so removed from the cultural or theological context of Jesus. After all, at least one other (and relatively recent) rabbi was understood by his followers in life and after death to be the Messiah and even an incarnation of Gxd. Despite being technically unorthodox on paper, it seems like a recurrent pattern in Jewish thought. So, you know—it’ll be interesting to compare and see if Paul’s gospel is so deviant and if Jesus’ teachings are so conservative (speaking relatively to his time).