Jesus vs. Paul

That's exactly what it is and it is nothing new. The theory goes that Jesus was kind, loving, sweet, gentle, forgiving, and liberal; while Paul was a judgemental, angry, mean fundamentalist.

 

I had never seen or heard this set of ideas before, but I have to say that I have dealt here and there with people who say that they don't like Paul, either because of a few items about women or because he develops a theology of the cross and the atonement that is only implied and not fully opened up in the Gospels. These are people who would like to be ethical followers of Jesus ("Love thy neighbor, etc."), but without what they consider the baggage of sin and salvation, etc.

Don't get after me ... I do handle that set of arguments!

Personally I love to preach from Paul, even though (or is it because!?) it irritates some of our folks.

If you want, however, to differentiate Paul from Jesus, ponder how Paul seems to have very little knowledge of the historical Jesus, making very few references to events in the life of Jesus and quoting Jesus very seldom.

 

Didn't Paul meet Jesus face-to-face on at least two occasions, probably more? And didn't he talk about what Jesus had instructed concerning the Lord's Supper?

 

When I read the OP, the first thing I thought of was N T Wright and his "new" perspective on Paul. This has caused quite a stir in academic evangelical circles.

I think it has to do with the assertion that Paul was not talking about justification by faith. Just Google "N T Wright new persepctive on Paul" and you'll get articles/interviews of and by Wright as well as critiques of what he says.

 

He met Jesus in His glorified and resurrected body, but was not with Him during the days of His earthly ministry and never cites anything that Jesus did during that time, other than the Lord's Supper citation you mention. In fact he speaks of himself as one born out of due time, yet permitted to be an apostle because he had met the Lord in the resurrected state. My point was and is simply that Paul does not seem to use the words or actions of Jesus to support his own theologizing. However, he is much like the Gospel writers in that the focus is very largely upon the cross.

There is one place where Paul quotes Jesus, "It is more blessed to give than to receive," but we do not have that saying in our Gospels. One small scrap to remind us that there were other (probably oral) collections of the sayings and deeds of Jesus that did not get used in the canonical Gospels.