Did Paul create Christianity or simply follow Christ?

Many people find Paul’s teaching difficult. It is often argued that Paul changed the message of Jesus – for the worse: he replaced Christ’s message of love with a dogmatic gospel of his own that is altogether less tolerant.  Did Paul create an unholy divide between Christ and Christianity?

Watch

In the Channel 4 programme, The Hidden Jesus, Robert Bexford argues that he did (see below).

ii

The Talk

In an excellent talk given on Sunday 26th April , Dr David Wenham explains why the evidence does not support this view.

Click here to listen

iiDr David Wenham is Vice Principal of Trinity College, Bristol, and is also chairman of the New Testament Group of the Tyndale Fellowship.  He is a leading scholar on the relationship between Paul and Jesus. After studying theology in Cambridge and Manchester University, he taught New Testament in India and then at Wycliffe Hall and the University of Oxford for 24 years.

His publications include, Paul: Follower of Jesus or Founder of Christianity?, Paul and Jesus the True Story and The Parables of Jesus.

Questions

What is the Didiche and does it contradict the Bible?

The word ‘Didiche’ means ‘teaching’ and contains early Christian teaching.  The date of the document is uncertain but is probably around AD100.  There is certainly some overlap between its teachings and the New Testament – for example, it refers to the ‘two ways’ of living and the ‘Lord’s supper’. But its silence on some issues does not add up to a contradiction as Bexford suggests; as with the letters of Paul, it is not trying to give us a complete account.

Is there any evidence that the apostles accepted Paul’s teaching?

Paul tells us that he went to Jerusalem; he presented and explained what he was preaching and the leaders of the church gave him the ‘right hand of fellowship’ (Gal 2:9)- they approved of it. That is Paul’s account. But the apostle Peter talks of Paul’s writing in his second letter and says that some of his writing is ‘hard to understand’ (be encouraged those of you who find some his letters difficult!) but some people twist his words ‘as they do the other scriptures’ (2 Pt 3:16). So here the apostle Peter accepts that Paul’s writings are the same as the scriptures. There is also the historical fact that church accepted Paul’s teaching very early on (not after Constantine as some claim), despite the fact the he used to be a persecutor of Christians.

How do we know that Christianity was not based on the ‘mystery religions’?

The Greek mystery religions do have some ideas parallel to Christian ideas, e.g. myths of gods dying and rising, sacred meals, etc.  But the Christians did not get their ideas from these pagan religions, but from first century events in Jewish Palestine. So, where did the idea of Jesus dying come from? The disciples saw him die on a Roman cross outside Jerusalem!  The last thing that one would invent is the idea that your messiah would be crucified. Crucifixion was a shameful, degrading punishment used by the Romans.  Crucifixion was not in the mystery religions.  Again, the idea of Jesus resurrection came not from a mystery religion but from the disciples’ experience of seeing the risen Jesus. And the Lord’s supper was originally a Jewish Passover meal.

How can we be so confident in the date of 1 Corinthians in the Bible? Listen by clicking here.

What are the best books on the reliability of the New Testament?

I ought to know the answer to this question, but am not sure that I do!  I would suggest three to start with:

The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable by F.F. Bruce.  The professor under whom I studied wrote this some years ago. This has been reissued and is a good book.

Is the New Testament Reliable?: A Look at the Historical Evidence by P. Barnett. This is a more recent publication by an Australian who is a very good scholar of ancient history.

Why Trust the Bible?: Answers to 10 Relevant Questions by A. Orr-Ewing.  Amy lives just down the road in Peckham and his written this popular but useful book.

More talks?