Episode 26: Did Paul Change Jesus’ Message?

This week we’re talking about one of the biggest critiques surrounding Christianity today: Did Paul change the message of Jesus?

Why do Jesus and Paul sometimes sound so different? Why does Jesus teach through parables while Paul writes theological letters to churches? And why do so many modern critiques of Christianity seem to center around Paul specifically?

In this episode, we unpack the tension people feel between the Gospels and Paul’s writings, the difference between Jesus’ ministry to Israel and Paul’s mission to the Gentiles, and why the early church saw Paul not as someone who changed the faith, but as someone carrying the message of Jesus to the nations.

Transcript

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Welcome to Rooted with Emily Talento, where we explore who Jesus is through context, culture, and covenant. I don't know about you, but I've been seeing this isn't a new argument, I've heard it before, but I've been seeing it a lot lately. This idea that you don't hate Christianity. No, you hate Paul. Jesus' teachings were great. Paul is where things got a little bit wonky. So that's what we're gonna unpack today. The question: did Paul actually change Christianity? Did Paul distort Jesus' teachings? Now it doesn't take a theologian to notice that there is a difference in the tone between Jesus' teachings and Paul's writings. But it's important that we recognize that quite a bit changed. Jesus is usually preaching, speaking, these are documented uh sermons of his, teachings of his, that happened in real time. Whereas Paul's writings were letters often sent to other churches or individuals. Naturally, that could feel like two distinct, different voices. But did anything actually change between Jesus' teachings and Paul's writings? That's what we're gonna dive into. So what I think is super important to note is that Jesus is in the story, like I just said, and Paul is explaining the story. That alone creates a different sense of urgency. It's not just the moment that changed, it's also the audience. When Jesus was speaking, he was speaking specifically to Israel. So these were a group of people that already understood Covenant, they already understood Torah, they already understood the story. And so Jesus was able to kind of just flow. He was able to shorthand, he was able to speak about these concepts and not have to go into details because they were all coming from the same background, from the same playing field. Whereas when Paul gets on the scene, he's speaking to Gentiles. They don't have the framework, they don't understand covenant in the same way that the Jews do because they don't have this long history where God has been showing them his faithfulness for thousands and thousands of years. Jesus could assume the foundation, but Paul had to build it. And so that alone is a massive distinction in how you speak. Paul had to go into the logistics of how everything worked because now he's speaking to a group of people who, without it, are very lost. I think it's also important to note that this was always the plan, right? So when Jesus showed up on the scene, and you could see this throughout the Gospels, he was very adamant that his message was just for Israel. There were exceptions where you could see that the message was ultimately for the nations, for example, the Canaanite woman. However, that expansion didn't happen yet. And that expansion happens under Paul. And so it's not a shift as much as it's a progression. From the beginning of time, God decided to work through one people, with always leaving breadcrumbs, Easter eggs, that his message would ultimately be to the nations, that the nations of the world would be blessed through Israel. It's ultimately what happened. However, it wasn't time under Jesus for that to come to fruition. However, after his death and resurrection, it was time. And we can see that through Paul's writings. Let's look at the text. Did Paul actually change anything? Did Paul actually distort Jesus' message? Well, I think it's incredibly important to note that Paul had the backing of Jesus' original disciples after he met Jesus, which here's the thing. If you want to criticize and say, yeah, Paul had a vision of Jesus, but how do we know? Okay, sure, maybe. Whatever. After he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he went to Jerusalem and met with Peter, met with James, Jesus' brother. And if you didn't know, we are studying the book of James together on Tuesdays, you should check that out. But there was ample time for the original church fathers to be like, whoa, this guy is rogue. This guy, we don't claim him. And that's not what happened. They affirmed him. Not only do they affirm him in person, but Peter himself writes about Paul in 2 Peter chapter 3, verses 15 and 16. It says, This is crazy. Okay. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you, according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. Ready for this? There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. Okay, so there's so much here. First of all, baseline. He calls Paul's writings scriptures. He's account, he's he's putting them on the same level as the other scriptures, he's counting his words as wisdom, it says. This is not someone whose messaging is diverting from Jesus. Peter is Jesus' right-hand man. We know that, we've seen that. And the fact that Peter himself is giving this level of recognition to Paul's teaching, it says so much. You also have the line, there are some things in them, the letters that Paul wrote, that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction. Is that not what the basis of this entire video is? Because, yeah, there's parts of Paul's writings that are hard to understand, that are hard to swallow. Jesus's teachings, they were not easy, just for the record. If you actually are living what Jesus called us to live as, it's so radical and it's so challenging, but it's nice and they're parables and it's flowery and it has a good, feel-good message. Whereas that's not what Paul is saying. Paul is breaking down what Jesus' teaching looks like in practice. All that to say, if Paul was distorting Jesus' messaging, it would have been caught by the other disciples. Also, I do think it's important to note that Peter and Paul had disagreements. And even in their disagreements, this is how Peter still chooses to write about Paul. It's not somebody who's speaking heresy. I think what the issue is for most people, where is the criticism coming from? Right, okay, let's let's take a look. The criticism that most people have for Paul is usually, not always, but usually from the more progressive church, from the a more liberal understanding of scripture. And what I truly believe it comes back to is more of a sense, you don't like what Paul has to say. It's not really about whether his messaging aligns with Jesus, but rather it's calling you to something more. There is authority in the way that Paul speaks. He's speaking about ethics, there's structure, it's calling you to live to a higher standard, it's forcing you to die to self, to not do the things that you want to do. It's not supporting the things that you as a human being might want to support. And so I don't think that most people struggle with Paul because he's confusing. I think that they struggle with him because he's specific, because he's he's actually not reinventing anything. He's just applying, he's not replacing, he's just extending. Jesus came for a very specific mission at a very specific time, and he laid the groundwork perfectly. Obviously, it's Jesus. But Jesus's messaging, and when I say messaging, I don't mean like the face value messaging because they're so much deeper. We talked about this. It's being spoken to an audience who would have understood the deeper meaning, right? And I think that deeper meaning is so important in understanding why Jesus came, what he came to do, all of that, right? And so if Paul just came and spoke the exact same way that Jesus spoke, and you want to know something? The actual craziest part of the whole thing is we're living it, right? These people are reading Jesus' words in their Bibles. The people who criticize Paul, and they're like, this is great, not realizing that Jesus was saying the exact same thing. He just wasn't going into the same explanation because he's speaking to Jews instead of the Gentiles. They actually just proved the point. So it's necessary that Jesus came to do what Jesus was gonna do, and it's necessary that Paul came to do what he came to do. He brought Jesus' message to the world, and thank God for that. And so, in closing, Paul didn't change Christianity, he didn't distort it, he just expanded it to the people who weren't there when Jesus said it first, who would have lacked the understanding that was required to actually understand what Jesus was saying. So, that is today's episode. I hope this episode was helpful in expanding your view. So when you do hear people criticize Paul, because you will, I've been hearing it literally every day. You can feel confident to say, that's not how that happened. So if you could like, comment, subscribe, whatever they have on the platform that you're either watching or listening to this on, I would really appreciate it. You could also follow me on Instagram at Emily Talento and at rooted with Emily Talento. And I will see you next time.