Did Paul Teach Something Different From What Jesus Taught?

I once saw a comment in YouTube by a Muslim, who said that the apostle Paul taught something different from what Jesus taught. And that in Islam they call Jesus blessed but Paul calls him cursed and lastly that Paul didn’t meet Jesus and he also was not in peace with the other disciples of Jesus.

Now let’s look at the claim carefully, first it’s important to know that Paul’s theology came from oral histories, the Old Testament and the revelation of Jesus.

Where Paul’s Theology Actually Came From

“Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come— that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.” — Acts 26:22-23 (NKJV)

“Then Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, ‘Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen: The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He brought them out of it. Now for a time of about forty years He put up with their ways in the wilderness. And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land to them by allotment. … after John had first preached, before His coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his course, he said, “Who do you think I am? I am not He. But behold, there comes One after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to loose.”’” — Acts 13:16-19, 24-25 (NKJV)

Did Paul Call Jesus “Cursed”?

Now about Paul calling Jesus cursed in Galatians.

“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’ … Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’),” — Galatians 3:10, 13 (NKJV)

The Curse of the Law: Why No One Could Keep It

Now there is a background to this, in that in the Old Testament, we know that the children of Isreal was given the law of Moses. Now the problem with the law is that the law expected people to be righteous because of its commandments but didn’t give them the capacity to keep them.

So anyone that didn’t keep them was cursed. And the curse meant death.

“‘Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law by observing them.’ ‘And all the people shall say, “Amen!”’” — Deuteronomy 27:26 (NKJV)

So, on the one hand the law expected righteousness but since no one could be righteousness because there were about 600 laws and if one was broken then all was broken.

So, because of that, on the other hand, the law brought a curse for those who could not keep it and since no one was able to keep it in its entirety, they all fell under the curse.

Fulfilling vs. Abolishing the Law

So when Jesus said,

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” — Matthew 5:17 (NKJV)

We see Jesus fulfilled the law in that, as Paul said he became a curse for us (he died in our steed) because that was the punishment for our sins.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” — Romans 6:23 (NKJV)

And on the other hand, through him we became righteous

“For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” — 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT)

Now as Jesus fulfilled the law, he then abolished it

“For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.” — Ephesians 2:14-16 (NKJV)

And that is why Paul would say that we are no longer under the law but under grace {redemption in Christ— speaking of his death and resurrection} (Romans 6:14)

So, we see that there is a difference between destroying and abolishing, in that to destroy means to cancel out without fulfilling but to abolish means to meet the requirements and then officially put it to an end.

The Dietary Law Question

Now this is the first; the second is dietary restrictions. Some would say Jesus was a Jew and so obviously he followed the Jewish dietary restrictions especially about not eating pork but then comes Paul saying that nothing is unclean.

So how can we reconcile the two?

First of all, God chose the children of Isreal as a nation by his mercy, and the reason he chosen the children of Isreal was because he wanted to show man his eternal plan (which was that Everyman would be in Christ)

So, when he chose the children of Israel, he told them that they are to be holy (meaning set apart for him/ or belong to him)

However they couldn’t be holy on their own strength and that is why the law was introduced, to show people that they needed help and point them to the savior.

“Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people.” — Galatians 3:19 (NLT)

“Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” — Galatians 3:24 (NKJV)

So, Gods plan was never that people should live under the law, it was only to show men how helpless they were and point them to the saviour.

But back to our subject matter, so God gave the children of Israel the laws, now specifically we will talk about the dietary laws— now on one hand, the dietary rules that God gave the children of Isreal was for their own benefits, because we see that the things God told them to eat were very healthy and the things God told them to avoid was for their own good. Let’s take pork as an example, now we know that pork contains a parasite Trichinella spiralis (which causes trichinosis) and the larvae of this parasite requires extreme heat (reaching an internal temperature of 71 degree Celsius) to kill.

Now the people in those times didn’t know about this, and just as a joke sometimes I saw that they lived like carnivorous people, in that there are places where the people of Israel ate animals with their blood.

“And the people rushed on the spoil, and took sheep, oxen, and calves, and slaughtered them on the ground; and the people ate them with the blood.” — 1 Samuel 14:32 (NKJV)

Now imagine that being in the case of pork, then the children of Isreal would have always been sick and need healing. But we see that nowhere in the Old Testament were the children of Isreal sick because of natural causes, any sickness that we see they had was because of judgment from God, when they transgressed Gods law. (And to be clearer, Gods judgement was not because God just wanted to be harsh, Gods judgment is him basically taking his mercy away from man, and when that happens judgement would come and why is that? Because there is sin. And that is why we are preserved because of his mercies).

Now secondly, as I said God chose the people of Isreal to be holy to him, and the laws was also to separate them from other nations (in the way they dress, ate and all) because when people saw these differences, they would ask who was there God (but however many times the children of Isreal rather profane the name of God among other nations—

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes.”’” — Ezekiel 36:22-23 (NKJV)

But we see something spectacular in the New Testament. A vision Peter had:

“The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But Peter said, ‘Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.’ And a voice spoke to him again the second time, ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common.’” — Acts 10:9-15 (NKJV)

Now from this vision, God was using unclean animals to tell Peter something and what was the thing? That everything is cleansed in Christ (including the gentiles - whom the Jews back then considered unclean too)

And that’s why Peter would say

“You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.” — Acts 10:28 (NKJV)

Now with this in mind, that everything is cleansed in Christ, that is what will then make Paul say:

“I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died.” — Romans 14:14-15 (NKJV)

So, Paul wasn’t just saying things from the air.

Did Paul Actually Meet Jesus?

Now about Paul himself, people claim the Paul didn’t see Jesus, yes and no. In that Paul didn’t see the man Jesus Christ but he encountered the resurrected jesus.

“Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ Then the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’” — Acts 9:4-5 (NKJV)

And the disciples of Jesus understood and accepted him as one of them.

“And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out.” — Acts 9:26-28 (NKJV)

“Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’” — Acts 13:1-2 (NKJV)

In fact the apostle Peter even talks about Paul in his epistle

“Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.” — 2 Peter 3:14-16 (NKJV)

And Paul even talks in his own epistle about meeting some of the disciples himself

“Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.” — Galatians 1:18-19 (NKJV)

Also In,

“and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.” — Galatians 2:9 (NKJV)

So, the claim that Paul was teaching something separate from Jesus and his disciples is wrong.

Was Paul at War With the Apostles?

Then finally, I will like to address one more thing which is in Galatians 2, where Paul rebuked some of the disciples of Jesus.

Now Paul didn’t rebuke them because he was in conflict with them but because at that point in time they did something wrong and as believers if you see your fellow brethren doing something wrong, you rebuke in love and that’s what Paul did.

“Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, ‘If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.’” — Galatians 2:11-16 (NKJV)

So, what was happening here was that, as I said to the children of Israel, the gentiles (gentiles are basically everyone that is not a Jew/ from the commonwealth of Israel) were unclean.

But then Peter has already come to know that anyone in Christ Jesus has been cleansed, so before someone Jews came Peter would gladly eat with gentiles, but when the Jews came, he withdrew from them in pretense.

And that was what Paul was rebuking Peter for, that if he says he has been saved by faith in Jesus Christ why does he still act as though he is saved by the works of the law and then command the gentiles to have faith in Jesus.