Posted on September 26th, 2022.

“Paul really messed up the Gospel” is something I’ve been told on a couple of occasions from various religious minded people. That Paul gave a different, distinctly separate message of the gospel of Christ from the other apostles and led Christian’s away from the law and the truth. It’s an interesting yet concerning proposition I hadn’t considered before. I first heard this claim several years ago in a meeting with some strangers and then most recently from a school friend of mine. I was left scratching my head and a bit baffled. So I thought I would do some digging on where this might stem from.

My school friend said that Paul completely messed up the gospel and that Paul was not even fit to be called a Christian. He also stated that while reading the New Testament he was going to stay within the red letters of the four gospels, which basically means ignoring all of the Epistles and only reading the words of Jesus. I would not have paid too much attention to this particular rant if it wasn’t for the specific fact that I have heard this exact same statement before. 

About six years ago I was called and asked by a friend of mine to meet with him, his daughter, and her friend to discuss the Gospel with three young Muslim men at a coffee shop. Wow! I was at the gym when I got the call but my curiosity was peaked so I left immediately to meet them. Since I had not known any practicing Muslims this sounded wildly off the wall and incredibly intriguing, I was in! My friends daughter had a girlfriend who had recently become a Christian and was currently dating one of the young Muslim men. The men were out to prove the bible was not reliable and wanted to expose how there were major flaws in order to influence her away from Christianity and convert her to Islam. The girl wanted to understand their claims against Christianity and hear if there was any merit to the accusations from Christians whom she trusted to have a good working knowledge of the Bible. So we met and talked for almost three hours about the claims the men had made against the Bible and her new found faith. It all seemed to rest against the Apostle Paul who had apparently “gotten it wrong” and had a “different message from all the other followers of the Prophet Jesus”. They said, “Paul and his writings should not have been included in the bible and Christians were confused because of him.” Their specific accusations were three-fold.

1. They stated Jesus was not God and that he never called himself God. They said Christians made him out to be God centuries later. They believe Christ was a prophet and respected him only as such. They do not believe that he actually died on the cross and therefore was not resurrected from the dead.
2. They stated that Christians could not even agree on the so called “Gospel message” and they fought amongst themselves. They cited Gal 2:11-14.
3. They stated that Paul corrupted the truth about the Law and messed everything up for all Christians.

(I found out at this point that one of the men was an Imam, a Muslim trained apologist. He had specific training in the bible for the purpose of refuting it and to convert Christians to Islam. He had pages of scripture in his hand and was prepared to debate his points on a chapter and verse level. He was appointed and trained by his mosque, this was his job. He then told me recent past stories of all the debates he had won. I was impressed.)

We first addressed the Deity of Christ: Was Jesus truly just a prophet or was He, in fact, the son of God? Many major religions that are not specifically anchored in scriptural historic Christianity have a common habit of deviating from biblical text. They always take aim at the nature of Jesus and then what He accomplished, or didn’t accomplish, at the cross. They go right for the heart of the gospel, the nature and work of Jesus. I suggested we start in the Old Testament by looking at the different scriptures and prophecies and following them through to the New Testament in order to see who Christ is. I won’t cover those particular scriptures in this article concerning the Deity of Christ, as I cover that important topic in a separate article. (The subject is too critical and needs to be fully covered in a complete study and not briefly explained leaving the topic vulnerable to unnecessary arguments or controversy). We spent about an hour discussing scriptures with them on that topic. The Imam and young men explained that in all their previous discussions no one had brought up or explained these verses to them before. They acknowledged that they now understood the verses and the conclusion about the Deity of Christ based on the scriptures we went over. Wow, that was a huge milestone but it wasn’t their main argument. It should have been but...they still weren’t giving up the perceived errors and contradictions in the Bible and specifically the writings of Paul. 

I went on to read the full text of the argument and confrontation that arose between Peter and Paul in Gal 2:11-16. The argument was the same issue over the central theme of the work of Christ throughout the whole New Testament. Believing in the grace provided by Christ but still needing to obey the Law of Moses, or in this case in the book of Galatians “the perceived appearance of obeying the Law”. The argument in the letter to the Galatians was over the works of the law verses grace. The Law verses Grace is not only the great battle within the New Testament, but all throughout church history, and is still a great battle today in all branches of religion. Almost all religions believe that faith and works are necessary in order to be saved. Legalism, a perversion of the gospel, is alive and well in the world of religion today.

History shows that no one, aside from Christ, was able to perfectly follow and keep the Law. Death is the penalty for sin and disobedience to God's law. Christ is the only one who was guiltless and perfect in all the law. As a result, he was the only one qualified to offer himself as that perfect sacrifice and pay the penalty for our sins, a penalty he did not owe. Because he is God in the flesh, he could bridge the gap and pay the price for all mankind as prophesied throughout the Old Testament. Isaiah 53 speaks of a man who would suffer greatly and take the sickness, sorrow, punishment and consequences of sin upon himself. Just as through one man, Adam, all were born into sin, so also through one man, Jesus, many would be made righteous by his sacrifice. John the Baptist introduced Jesus by saying, “Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29). Jesus said he would suffer, be crucified and raise himself up on the third day. (Luke 24:7, John 2:19) It’s taught in the Bible that only through belief and faith in Jesus and His sacrifice can we be saved. (Rom 10:9-10). Grace, in the greek means (Strongs concordance; Charis- grace as a gift or blessing brought to man by Jesus Christ, favor, gratitude, thanks, a favor, kindness) we know it to mean unmerited, unearned and undeserved favor. Those who believe in following the law believe they are working to earn their salvation through their own obedience to the law and good works.

The argument arose between Peter and Paul because Peter had been fellowshipping and sharing meals with the Gentile believers in Galatia until certain Jewish believers came from the great Jerusalem church. These visitors were Jewish believers who had come to faith in Christ. Jews who had been raised under the law of Moses and all the Jewish rites, practices and their own cultural traditions in the way they followed the Law of Moses. When these men had arrived, Peter backed away from the Gentiles and began acting more in line with the legalistic practices of Judaism. Peters actions made it look like belief in Christ and following the law was somehow more holy or a higher way of living as a Christian. Even some of the Gentile believers, who obviously were not Jewish, but had been hanging around Peter, started following the ways of Peter and these men in following the law in practice. This was a problem, so Paul called Peter out for his hypocrisy in front of everyone. The issue was following the law or walking in grace through faith in Christ and what He has done. Paul had been brought up, trained as a Pharisee, and was more well trained in the Law than his Jewish brothers. However, through Jesus, he learned that no one is justified by the works of the Law (Galatians 2:16). Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned and therefore all fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:10-11 says, “None is righteous, no, not one: no one understands: no one seeks for God.”

Houston, we have a problem. Our own goodness and attempts at obeying the Law and being self-righteous, or made right by our own actions, before God will not work. We cannot measure up on our own no matter how religious or pious acting we may portray ourselves before others. God knows the truth and the secret sins and condition of our hearts (Matthew 15:18-20, Ps 66:18) even if no one else does. Does this mean we are doomed? That answer is an emphatic YES! Jesus is the only remedy to rescue us from ourselves and the consequences of our own sin. Since the time in the garden mankind has tried to be independent from God and choose to do for ourselves. God created the planet, the sunshine, the air that we breathe and the food we eat. Yet somehow, we decide we don’t need him nor want him, and even go so far as to deny his existence to alleviate our troubled conscience. All the while, benefiting from everything he gave us to thrive and survive in a fine-tuned universe that sustains His precious cargo (people). 

That brings us to the message of the Gospel which is explained so completely by the Apostle Paul. Both my school friend, and the Muslim Imam, claimed that Paul stood apart and separate from Christ and the 12 apostles in his own gospel message. Did Paul really stand apart with a distinctly separate message of the gospel of Christ and lead Christians away from the truth of the Bible? Rather than compare each book of the New Testament on a verse by verse level in comparison to Paul’s writings, let’s just look at Acts chapter 15 to completely address the confusion.

Acts 15:1 says that, “Some men came from Judea and were teaching that unless you are circumcised according to the custom or law of Moses you cannot be saved.” Paul and Barnabas threw a huge fit (paraphrasing here)! So, the churches in Galatia wanted Paul and Barnabas and a few others to go to Jerusalem and talk to the acknowledged Apostles and elders there about this issue. It clearly was not even a question or issue to Paul and Barnabas; however they did go. They called all the Apostles and elders together and explained all that God had done with them in the outreach to the Gentiles and how some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said it was necessary to get circumcised and keep all the law of Moses (the commandments) to be saved. This was the first and only time that all the apostles had gathered together in one place with the Apostle Paul. Never again will it happen until the 2nd coming! This gathering came together because of one very important topic, what exactly was the gospel message of Jesus Christ in light of the Law and grace.

A great debate broke out, Acts 15:7. Peter arose to speak and reminded the brothers of his encounter with the Gentiles in Joppa when the Gentiles received the Holy Spirit (Acts 10) just as the 120 did in the upper room. No distinction in Joppa between Gentiles or the Jewish apostles in the upper room when it came to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit of Christ. Peter states the Law was an unbearable burden that no one could bear and that they believed all will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, Jews and Gentiles alike. Wow! There you have it in Acts 15:11.

It was forever settled in this historic meeting. James then quoted Amos 9:15 and they all agreed not to burden the Gentiles with the Law, but that they should only abstain from things polluted by idols, sexual immorality, and from eating things strangled and the blood. This seemed good to all the Apostles. I repeat, it seemed good to ALL the Apostles and elders and everyone present! Because this issue was so important for everyone to understand and be in agreement on, James, the half-brother of Jesus who was now the leader among the Apostles and the Jerusalem council decided to write a letter signed by them all and send it with Paul and Barnabas and two others to read to all of the Gentile churches in every region (Acts 15:23). This is the first letter, the first thing ever written by any believer in the New Testament!

This meeting took place about 15 years after the resurrection of Jesus, 14 years after Paul’s conversion and the stoning of Stephen and ten years after Peter had gone to the house of Cornelius from Joppa in Acts 10. There was 10 years between Acts chapter 10 and 15. Now in Acts 15:7 Peter says, “Remember back in the early years?” Now we know exactly when he was talking about and what event he was referring to in Acts 10.

Everyone present in this historic meeting agreed with Paul and they fully supported him with this letter being sent to confirm the authority and correctness of the message Paul had been preaching. Paul did not stand alone or separate and he was definitely not in error. He did not ruin or mess up the gospel message of Christ Jesus. He nailed it, so to speak, and defended it over and over in perfect understanding. He helped expose a secret group who were violating and corrupting the Gospel of grace. (Acts 15:25) The Jerusalem church made it known that the Pharisee sect of believers were spreading a false message of obeying the Law and faith in Christ and were not authorized by them.

About a year after this meeting Paul wrote Galatians, the first book written (48-49 A.D.) in the New Testament. This topic was so important, and the trouble and battle so great, that the first letter (book) was dedicated to setting this issue straight in further detail because of the deadly doctrine of legalism. Gal 1:6 says we are deserting Christ when we turn from grace. It also says anything else is a different gospel and if anyone else teaches a different gospel, let them be cursed. Gal 5:4 says we are fallen from grace if we seek to be justified by keeping the commandments and thinking our own behavior could add anything to the sacrifice that Jesus made. Our good works that God has for us to do after we are saved for His glory is an altogether different purpose and mission than fulfilling the requirements of the law for salvation Eph 2:10.

It seems to be in the pride of man that we can’t admit the reality of our own depravity and our total self-helplessness (new word here!), rather than simply surrendering and admitting our need for Jesus. We seem determined to show ourselves worthy and to be able to prove ourselves as being good enough or achieving acceptance in some way or form on our own terms. Does our pride insists it must be true that we can earn our part somehow? Is Jesus’ sacrifice fully adequate or good enough in representing us on the fateful day before God Almighty? John says in chapter 6:28-29 that to believe on Christ is to do the works that God requires of us.

Believing is doing the works that please God. And... It’s the hardest thing we'll ever do!