Did Paul and Jesus Teach the Same Things?

 It has been a while since I posted anything here. I have read all of the New Testament. I'd like to answer the question I asked in the beginning of this blog; did Paul and Jesus teach the same spiritual lessons? 

 In 1 Thessalonians and in Galatians, Paul says no man taught him about Jesus. It was an instant and direct revelation from God. It was 14 years, if I remember this correctly, before he visited Peter and they compared what they were teaching converts. It was the same at that time. 

Considering Peter and the other disciples lived and learned from Jesus for several years, they should have a firm foundation and understanding of the teachings of Jesus, too.

Here's the thing. The Gospels tell how the apostles misunderstood Jesus for the entire time they were with him. It was only after they received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost that they also received a revaluation. Was it similar to the revaluation that Paul received? 

The question is, would God teach Paul one thing and have Jesus teach something else? Can we know the degree of understanding given by the two methods? Would it vary by aptitude? What was the total amount of knowledge given? 

I believe the Holy Spirit within a believer is the same spiritual being. It is the same well of water. The same teacher bring us to remembrance of the divine goal. What varies is the believer's willingness to receive it and obey it. We still have our human nature to contend with, so that takes practice. 

The conclusion of the matter is that the divine nature of God (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) are one and when planted within us, makes us one with them.

Oh, I almost forgot. Yes, Paul and Jesus were in alignment and taught the same things since these teachings came from the same divine nature of God. 

Holy Spirit Teaches the Same Message to All

How the Apostles became preachers 

The apostles were not Jewish scholars. Rather they were common working people. They had been educated in the Jewish religion as common people would be. We know they were concerned about being right with God, because two or more had sought out and listened to John the Baptist. 

They heard the message of God straight from the Messiah. They traveled with him, ate with him, slept with him. They would have seen him debate Jewish leaders, and heal beggars. As a result we know their preaching and letters after Jesus died were what God wanted the world to know.

Paul did not study with the Apostles 

In Galatians we learn a surprising bit of information about Paul.

Paul did not seek out the apostles after his conversion on the road to Damascus. He took off on his own and preached for 3 years in Arabia. He visited Perter for 15 days, and then took off for an additional 14 years of preaching. Finally, he decides to align with the apostles. And we learn an amazing and wonderful thing. The messages are the same.

 “1:16 I immediately prepared to do this work without asking for advice or help from anyone. 17 I did not go to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was. But, without waiting, I went away to Arabia. 18 Three years later I went to Jerusalem to meet Peter. I stayed with him 15 days. 19 I met no other apostles—only James, the brother of the Lord. 2:1 After 14 years I went back to Jerusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with me. 2 I explained to them the message that I tell the non-Jewish people. I also met alone with those who were considered to be the leaders. I wanted to be sure we were in agreement so that my past work and the work I do now would not be wasted. 6 Those men who were considered to be important did not change the Good News message I tell people. 7 But these leaders saw that God had given me a special work, the same as Peter. God gave Peter the work of telling the Good News to the Jews. But God gave me the work of telling the Good News to the non-Jewish people. 10 They asked us to do only one thing—to remember to help those who are poor. And this was something that I really wanted to do.” Galatians

Amazing! 

Paul was a scholar of the Jewish law and a Pharisee. He was passionate about living for God and zealous to stamp out Christianity. But a vision from Christ, changed everything. Now he could interpret the scriptures correctly. He knew Jesus was Christ. His deep understanding of scriptures plus a revelation vs. the apostles learning from walking and living with Jesus, bought them all to the same place. This is just one more proof that the Holy Spirit will not teach you one thing and me another. The Holy Spirit will teach everyone the same thing.

Feeling Your Need

Verses

• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.  Matt 5:6
• Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.  Luke 6:25
• “Neither of them had the money to pay him back,” Jesus said, “so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"  Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled. “You have judged correctly," Jesus said.  Luke 7:42-43

Theme

• The above verses cover several themes which Jesus taught. First of all, if we feel spiritual hunger for the things of God, Jesus promises that we will be filled and satisfied by what God spiritually provides us. 
• Conversely, those who do not have God in their lives, and feel nothing missing, are in serious danger. After death, they will fell their need then. But it will be too late to do anything to fix it. They will be hungry for all of eternity. 
• The third theme is about the degree of satisfaction those who have felt their need are going to experience. Those who have had the greatest load of sin forgiven, will be the most grateful, and will love God the most. 

Comment

To stay alive here on the Earth, we naturally feel our need to consume food. Sometimes our appetites will guide us to the nutrient we need.  “What are you hungry for? What sounds good?” are words we often hear. In a similar way we should have an appetite for spiritual food. The things of God sound good to our hungry hearts. We will desire to hear more, learn more, and consume more.  The promise Jesus makes with us is, if we do feel our need, God will fill us.

What Is God Like?

Verses

• “The Father and I are one.” John 10:30
• “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father too.” John 14:9
• “Only the Father knows the Son. And only the Son knows the Father.  Mathew 11:27
• Jesus can reveal fully and accurately God the Father to ...anyone to whom the Son deliberately wills to make Him known. Mathew 11:27

 Theme

God and Jesus have the same divine nature. They have the same message, attitudes, judgments, and goals. To be familiar with Jesus is to know what God is like.

Comment

There have been millions of people throughout history, who have passionately sought to understand and serve the gods or God. There have been hundreds, maybe thousands, of religions teaching people a confusion of ideas. When Jesus came, the fog cleared and the mystery was solved. We can know for certain what God is like. He is just like Jesus. As God’s messenger, Jesus presented to us what God wants us to know and to do. As a result, we can study the words Jesus spoke, and measure how aligned we are with them.

Was Judas a Tare Among the Wheat?

Theme

Jesus tells a story about tares (weeds) and wheat. The plants represent people and their spiritual situation with God. Some people produce spiritual fruit which God desires. Other people produce nothing of spiritual value like weeds also known as tares. The theme Jesus is sharing is that God allows such non-fruitful people to live and prosper upon the Earth along with fruitful people. On the Judgement Day, the weeds will be cast into a fire.  

Comment
God’s decision to do this was meant to protect the wheat, but can make life harder for them too. The actions and attitudes of the weeds can have a negative influence.  This would have been the situation Jesus had among his disciples with Judas in their midst.  We don’t know the influence Judas had on the other disciples. The Gospel of John states that Judas was a frequent thief. Jesus, who knew the hearts of men, probably knew Judas was a weed. Yet Jesus did not cast him out. Allowing Judas to stay may have allowed his negative attitudes to spill out now and then with words and actions. Jesus allowing Judas to stay also indicates Jesus knew the mind of God and acted in the same way God does within his kingdom here on Earth. 

Verses

John 12:6 Judas did not really care about the poor. He was a thief. He was the one who kept the moneybag for the group of followers. And he often stole money from the bag.

Matthew 13:24 Jesus said, “God’s kingdom is like a man who planted good seed in his field. 25 That night, the man’s enemy planted weeds (tares) among the wheat. 26 Later, the wheat grew, and heads of grain grew on the plants. But at the same time the weeds also grew. “The servants asked, ‘Do you want us to pull up the weeds?’

29 “He answered, ‘No, because when you pull up the weeds (tares), you might also pull up the wheat. 30 Let the weeds (tares) and the wheat grow together until the harvest time. At the harvest time I will tell the workers this: First, gather the weeds (tares) and tie them together to be burned. Then gather the wheat and bring it to my barn.’”

Few Will Achieve Salvation

 Verses
 "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" Luke 13:23

•  "Many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. " Luke 13:24
• "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!"  Mark 10
• "But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Matt 7:14
• "For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it."  Matt 7: 13
• " I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. " John 10:9

Theme
Jesus makes it clear in all of the gospels that it is difficult to be saved.   Only those who enter through Him will be able to. And that number will be small.

Comment
It might be a good idea to learn what the concept of "entering through Jesus" really means.

Connect To and Depend On Jesus For Life

Theme
We need to connect to and pull spiritual nourishment from Jesus to sustain the divine life planted in our hearts.

Comment
Like a baby nursing from its mother's breast, we depend on Jesus to provide us with spiritual nourishment. Another example is the branches of a vine connected to the trunk and roots. To have life and get nourishment, the branch depends on its connection to the main trunk or it will die. Without His spirit and teachings feeding our divine life, it will not grow or make fruit. Jesus often told people He was food or drink. They needed to consume Him - to get Him inside them. Is it any surprise then that the communion remembrance ceremony is the eating of bread and wine.

Verses

• “I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I to you, you will produce plenty of fruit. But separated from me you won’t be able to do anything.   John 15:5

• "I am the bread that gives life." John 6:48

• But anyone who drinks the water I give will never be thirsty again. The water I give people will be like a spring flowing inside them. It will bring them eternal life.” John 4:14

Same Theme, Different Illistrations

Have you noticed that Jesus would use different stories or comments to illustrate the same theme? The verses below are an example of the theme "be humble".


Verses

• Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5
• Whoever will humble himself therefore and become like this little child [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving] is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  Matthew 18:4
• If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.   Mark 9
• To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable, "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 18:9
• Mother and Sons of Zebadee come asking Jesus to sit on his right and left in the Kingdom.  Jesus explains leaders must be servants of all. Matthew 20

And there are a lot more such as these.

I Say I Believe. What Does the Evidence Show?

Themes

• Jesus said, to say we believe God, we need to value His opinions. John 5:44
• He also said, to believe requires seeking God's praise. John 5:44
• And He said, you can judge whether something or someone is good or bad by the fruit (results) produced. Matt 12:35

Examining our own fruit
It is easy to make excuses for our own behavior and attitudes. Most of the time we feel justified; even when the results are destructive and painful.  If we can step outside ourselves and view impartially the results of our behavior, then we can see the evidence for ourselves of the degree to which we esteem God's opinions. The type of  fruit we see is the evidence of our secret beliefs and desires. Do we feel God would praise us for it?

Verses:
"You like to have praise from each other. But you never try to get the praise that comes from the only God. So how can you believe?"  John 5:44

Restated, in order to say we believe and follow God, we need to seek His praise for our daily behavior. Also it is a high priority with us to seek praise from God.

" You will fully recognize them by their fruits. Do people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."   Matt 7:16-20

"The good man from his inner good treasure flings forth good things, and the evil man out of his inner evil storehouse flings forth evil things." Matt 12:35

Upon self examination, what fruit do we see in our daily words and actions? If we are honest with ourselves, we see a mix of good and bad. To seek God's praise, we  work on producing good fruit. This is a decision we make. May God follow our decision with strength and support in changing our attitudes and desires.

Our Heart's Desires Defile Us

Verses

• “18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.” Matt 15: 17-20
• "Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean." Mark 7:15
• "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." Luke 6:45
• 11"It is not what goes into the mouth of a man that makes him unclean and defiled, but what comes out of the mouth; this makes a man unclean and defiles [him]." Matt 15: 2 & 11
• The Pharisee was surprised when he saw that Jesus did not wash his hands first before the meal. Luke 11:38
• Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23

Theme
Jews were concerned about being defiled and unclean. They had laws and ceremonies for what to eat. When to wash. Who they could eat with. Jesus makes it clear (as well as Proverbs) that defilement comes from our hearts. What desires we have in our hearts will flow out of us in the form of actions, attitudes, and words. Jesus brought the attention of the Jewish people to this idea on several occasions by openly violating the cleansing ceremonies. Once shocked and focused on him, Jesus would explain this principle to them.

ONLY God is Good: What To Do When We Disagree With Jesus

Verses

• "No one is good—except God alone." Mark 10:18 (Jesus had been called good).
• "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone."  Luke 18:19
• Jesus answered, “Why do you ask me about what is good? Only God is good." Matt 19:17

Theme
One of the themes Jesus teaches is that only God is good.  Everyone else, including himself, is not in the same category. In the Amplified Bible "essentially and perfectly morally" good is used to highlight the connotation of the word good.

What if I disagree with Jesus?
I personally find this teaching hard to accept, because I want to put Jesus in the same category of goodness as God. After all Jesus had the divine nature of God within him.  But here we have Mark and Luke showing us Jesus meant for this category to exclude himself, and he was very insistent about it.

Choices
I have several choices when I do not like an idea Jesus spoke. I can reject it, which doesn't sound like a very smart way to respond. Or I can open my mind and submit myself to the teaching. I will also continue to look for more verses which will explain why he excluded himself. Meanwhile, I'll ask the Holy Spirit to help me understand and accept that Jesus wants us to know that only God is good.