While the four gospels of the bible certainly played a significant role in the development of the Christian religion, the Pauline epistles deserve the credit for establishing many of the core doctrines and views, especially with regard to modern Christianity. Unlike the gospels, which supposedly record the events and life of Christ, Paul's writings emphasize what Christians should believe, how they should behave, and so on. As we will see, Paul was not always diligent in following his own teachings - some of which were very controversial and downright despicable, yet have carried on with Christianity for centuries since its inception. We may not know much about the authorship of the gospels, but the Pauline epistles tell us a good deal about the origins of the religion and even the nature of its followers.

I. All About Paul

What do we know about Paul? There is really no historical record of Paul outside of his own writings, and so most of what we think of as the character named Paul comes from the bible or religious traditions that have passed down. In Acts 9:1-31, we find an individual named Saul who is an avid persecuter of the early Christians. On a journey to Damascus, Saul encounters a bright light that blinds him, professes to be Jesus Christ, and arranges for him to meet a disciple in the city who restores his sight. Then we are told that Saul changes his tune and begins to preach the good news. Almost in passing, it is mentioned in Acts 13:9 that Saul is "also called Paul", and from here on the name Saul is never used for him again.

Aside from his roadside revelation, Paul never meets Jesus in person, and yet he goes on to author 13 books of the bible, which make up about half of the New Testament. Does this not seem the slightest bit suspicious, coupled with the idea that Paul once vehemently opposed Christianity? Some time later, after his conversion and authorship of the epistles, Paul is imprisoned in Caesarea and then transferred to Rome. Although tradition and some non-canonical books give Paul a martyr's death, there is no biblical or historical evidence to support it.

It is of particular interest to note that the book of Acts, which gives us the introduction to Paul and describes a lot of his life, is attributed to the apostle Luke. In Colossians 4:14 and several of his other epistles, Paul speaks very highly of Luke, calling him a "dear friend". Paul and Luke write about a great deal of similar concerns, focusing on the universality of Christianity, persecution and suffering of the apostles, the concept of the holy spirit, and other themes. This, of course, would mean that Luke was not an eyewitness to the gospel he allegedly authored, and that his account of Paul's conversion and life events are not entirely reliable if he might have conspired with Paul to write them.

Why should Paul be considered the founder of Christianity, instead of Jesus or Peter? Even though Christianity centers around the figure of Jesus Christ, we have no actual writings or reasonably authentic words of Jesus. The gospels detail his life, yet do little to ascribe specific doctrinal views to the accounts or events going on. Peter is traditionally thought to have written two epistles (1 Peter and 2 Peter), yet these are of little significance in shaping the core values and beliefs of Christianity, and their authenticity is doubted by many scholars today. Paul is considered Christianity's founder because of the number of books he contributed and the content in them that has been adopted into doctrine and dogma.

II. The Epistles

The writings of Paul are important in the development of Christianity for many reasons, but one of the foremost is that they are not merely intended to be historical accounts as the gospels allegedly are. Paul's epistles are instructional, as they give the basic guidelines for living the Christian life. This is critical because while the gospels do not explicitly deal with concepts like the trinity or the divinity of Christ, Paul's writings do. Paul feels there is no problem with giving his personal opinions in many of the books he writes, which is particularly interesting to consider how a Christian might then believe the bible is the literal word of God. One central theme in the Pauline epistles is doing away with the old covenant in the Jewish Torah and accepting a new one, which Paul claims God instituted through Jesus' death and resurrection. You might imagine that Paul's distaste for the old covenant is due to its demanding nature and less-than-loving precepts. The Mosaic Law, made up of the first five books of the Old Testament, states that God demands animal sacrifice and strict obedience to a large number of arbitrary rules, many of which are of questionable morality.

Paul's Epistles: -Romans -1 Corinthians -2 Corinthians -Galatians -Ephesians -Philippians -Colossians -1 Thessalonians -2 Thessalonians -1 Timothy -2 Timothy -Titus -Philemon

In several passages, Paul denounces the old system of Mosaic Law and praises his newly devised system of salvation via belief in Christ. It is understandable to denounce a set of laws that includes killing homosexuals (Leviticus 20:13), killing those who commit adultery (Lev. 20:10), and compulsory marriage of rapists to their rape victims (Deuteronomy 22:28-29), among various other things. Yet there is terrible inconsistency with Paul's attempt at doing this, especially since Jesus himself expressed the importance of the old Law in Matthew 5:17,19-

Paul does exactly this when he disrespects and teaches others to disrespect the kosher food law (Romans 14:14), the seventh day Sabbath law (Colossians 2:16), and the circumcision law (Galatians 6:15), just to name a few. In Galatians 3:13, Paul refers to the Law as a "curse", says that its letter "kills" in 2 Corinthians 3:6, and calls it a "ministry of death" that "condemns men" in verses 7 and 9. However, God does not seem to agree with Paul's assessment in the Old Testament, as it claims "the law of the Lord is perfect" in Psalm 19:7 and warns against adding to or subtracting from it in Deuteronomy 4:2. [To read more about the "new" covenant and its violation of Mosaic Law, check out the article "Christianity's Unbiblical Covenant".]

III. The Bigotry of Paul

Why does Paul dislike the old covenant so much? As I said above, it may simply be that he did not like all the hard work it demanded that should be done to achieve salvation - perhaps Paul wanted a shortcut, or perhaps he did not like the ethically unsound views of the old Law. There is, however, another possibility which might have had something to do with it. In his writings, Paul appears very critical of the Jews, and so it would not be surprising that he might despise their exclusive covenant with God and their status as the "chosen people". In 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16, Paul makes scathing mention of the Jews:

And again Paul blasts the Jews in Titus 1:10-14...

Some Christians have labeled Paul as a Jew, but there is next to no evidence that he was actually Jewish, especially given the massively critical eye he often laid on the Jews in his writings. In Acts 22:2-21, Paul gives his testimony, claiming that he is a Jew, "born of Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city [Jerusalem]". At first glance, this may seem self-explanatory, but why does Paul clarify that he was born in Tarsus, but brought up in Jerusalem? Cilicia was a Roman province back in Paul's day. In Acts 22:3, Paul continues his testimony, "Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today." Gamaliel was one of the most respected rabbis in Jewish antiquity (1), so it is curious that Paul claims to have been his pupil for several reasons. Perhaps Paul was saying that he was born a Roman or Greek, but soon lived in a Jewish city and studied under a Jewish theologian - therefore considering himself a Jew.

However, the likely alternative is that Paul's entire pre-Christian persona of Saul the persecuter was invented, to make himself more of a legend among the people reading his works. Throughout his epistles, Paul exhibits an extremely poor understanding of Judaism, and high levels of anti-Semitism as well, which are somewhat confounding if he had truly been educated by a pious leader of the Sanhedrin like Gamaliel. Paul was a people-pleaser though, as he admitted in 1 Corinthians 9:20- "To the Jews, I became like a Jew, to win the Jews". He is willing to do whatever might help him relate to others and get them on his side. Like many Christians today, perhaps he felt that twisting a little of his past could help his witness. How many times have you heard a Christian say, "I used to be a non-believer like you too, but..."

IV. The Hypocrisy of Paul

Paul was such a man of the people that he would often ignore his own teachings to win some friends, or he would change his tune under enough pressure, if only for a moment. In Acts 21:21-26, we hear of how Paul consents to take part in Jewish purification rites, after pissing off some Jews with his disregard for the Mosaic Law and other Judaic customs. Shortly before his purification ceremony is to end, Paul is arrested and then delivers his "I am a Jew" speech to a Roman commander who mistakes him for an Egyptian revolutionary (interesting, to confuse a Jew for an Egyptian) in Acts 21:38. With the permission of the commander, Paul then addresses the mob of angry Jews that mean to kill him, giving his testimony mentioned above.

Once again, we have Paul changing his tune when it will help him out of trouble. Not surprisingly, the Jews only become more outraged by Paul's claims, and so he is taken to the barracks amidst violent shouts and rioting. When he is alone with the Roman commander and soldiers, Paul drops the Jew act and states over and over that he is a Roman citizen (Acts 22:25-29). The Roman commander decides to convene a meeting of the chief priests and the Sanhedrin, and "knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees", Paul then professes to be a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee, in Acts 23:6.

If this is not the perfect example of the type of doublespeak that Paul and other religious zealots are extraordinarily guilty of, then perhaps I know not what doublespeak is. Paul the hypocrite even has the nerve to criticize the apostle Peter for eating only with Gentiles when Jews were not around (Galatians 2:11-14). After voicing strong anti-Semitism in his epistles, Paul calls out Peter for being a hypocrite, apparently ignorant of Christ's teaching on hypocrisy in Matthew 7:1-5, where he instructs one to remove the plank from their own eye before pointing out the speck of dust in another's eye. This is especially hypocritical in light of 1 Timothy 2:9-15, where Paul expresses some very misogynistic views of women, because he does not want them to be too much of a culture shock to Jews or other believers.

Fascinatingly, there is some record of the opposition that Paul faced in his day from a group known as the Ebionites. Many of the early Church Fathers considered them a heretical sect, for their rejections of the divinity, virgin birth, and physical resurrection of Jesus (2). The Ebionites taught that Jews and Christians alike should observe the Mosaic Law, and many of them apparently considered Paul to be an apostate. The fourth century Church Father Epiphanius mentions that some Ebionites believed that Paul was a Greek who had converted to Judaism so that he could marry the daughter of a high priest of Israel, but when she rejected him, Paul became an apostate (3). It is also reported that the Ebionites endorsed James, the brother of Jesus, as the rightful 'heir' to the church, not Peter or Paul.

Although there is no concrete information on the size of the Ebionite sect, it is clear that they were not the only Jewish-Christian group to teach the Mosaic Law and oppose the other budding branches of Christianity during the first and second centuries. There were also the Elcesaites, the Nazarenes, the Carpocratians, and others who disputed several teachings that have now been cemented into Christendom by church, canonization, and/or doctrine. The early history of Christianity was not concentrated in one area or another, and it seems that points of contention still arising today also have their origins far back in antiquity. The individual identified as Paul was not the only voice fighting for recognition, but it may seem that way to some, since history is written by the winners.

V. The Christian Community's Influence on Paul

At this point it is important to remember that practically all we know of Paul comes from the bible. There is little evidence that he really existed or that the events he describes in his epistles ever happened. He may not have been the one who actually founded Christianity, just as he may not have persecuted the early Christians as his testimonies assert. Much of Christianity's origins is unclear, but if one thing is certain, it would be that a character whom the bible addresses as Paul is largely responsible for shaping and developing what has become known as Christianity today.

Yet again I must emphasize that Paul never met Christ in person, and the few interactions he had with any of the twelve disciples were not very pleasant or frequent. Paul did attend various meetings or councils in Jerusalem, according to Acts 15, for example, where a council is held to discuss the issue of circumcision. Curiously though, the final outcome of the council was to teach abstinence from food sacrificed to idols, the meat of strangled animals, sexual immorality, and eating blood (Acts 15:20,29). How much does Paul care for the opinions of others? Not much at all, as he proceeds to teach against almost everything the council decided upon:

These examples should make it pretty clear that Paul teaches the version of Christianity that he wants to teach, regardless of general consensus, accuracy, historical reliability, etc. So in looking for how Paul spread his views, we should remember that he was not often consistent in his beliefs. Paul's chameleon-like brand of Christianity is not unlike himself, as it changes to suit its environment or for the sake of survival. Although he might have pretended to be a participatory member of the "body of Christ", it seems that Paul really considered himself the utmost authority on God's nature, his will, his plan, and so forth.

VI. Paul's Influence on Christianity

If we are to accept the bible's account of Christianity's formation, then there was certainly some type of foundation already laid before Paul began his preaching. Tradition holds that Christ was executed sometime around 30 AD, and dating of Paul's first epistle, 1 Thessalonians, has been placed at approximately 50 AD (4). This means that only 20 years would have passed between the resurrection and Paul's first writing. Could Christianity have really grown much in such a short amount of time? It does not seem likely, given a number of factors.

First of all, there are several instances in the epistles that indicate uncertainties among the fledgling churches and converts. The most obvious evidence of this is in Paul's own letters, written to aid churches or other Christians with a variety of dilemmas they were facing. The council at Jerusalem was convened to decide how to instruct other believers on doctrinal matters. These uncertainties show that the religion was not yet well established by this point, and disputes were still quite common.

Second, we find no specific identification of a group known as "Christians", nothing in Paul's work or in extrabiblical accounts. Added to the fact that the believers in Paul's time were still fairly unsure of their own religion, it becomes harder to know who were really the Christians and who had just been going along with the fancy promises of paradise and eternal life that might've been delivered by the apostles. In the days of Christ and Paul, there were many smaller sects or "mystery cults" that attracted dedicated followers, as did the countless messiah claimants like Judas the Galilean, the unnamed Samaritan prophet, Theudas, and others. (5) It was no unusual thing to be a member of multiple sects or religions in the Greco-Roman era.

Lastly, the book of Acts mentions the conversion of two different Gentiles, a Roman centurion in Acts 10, and an Ethiopean eunuch in 8:27-39. These conversions are regarded by many as the first Gentile conversions. Coupled with the various indications of Jewish hostility toward the gospel that are found throughout the New Testament, it seems likely that Christianity was more of a small, Jewish sect in Paul's day than it was a religion with many members and solid foundational beliefs. Of course, as the conversions multiplied, organization and structure would become more and more necessary within the body of believers - elements that Paul would help to supply in his interactions with different churches and apostles.

In the New Testament alone, Paul wrote to six churches, at Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colosse, and Thessalonica, also authored three personal letters to individual apostles (who were doubtlessly spreading what they learned from Paul), and made a general address to all who lived in Rome. But Paul's influence is not only constrained to the 13 canonical books that we have. 1 Corinthians 5:9 brings up a previous letter Paul had written to the church that has since been lost. Similar lost writings of Paul are mentioned in 2 Corinthians 2:4, 7:8-9, Ephesians 3:3-4 and Colossians 4:16.

While some of the other apostles might have been out ministering or planting churches, Paul was corresponding with numerous individuals and communities, both by writing and visiting - all the while promoting and spreading his interpretations of Christianity. Interpretations that are full of contradictions, bigotry, hypocrisy, anti-Semitism, sexism, and possibly even total fabrications. With such an unscrupulous and unstable person having played such a large role in founding Christianity, one can hardly help but see the parallels in many believers who still seek to propagate the religion today. The fanatical, fundamentalist interpretation is not merely concocted by certain individuals, but is rooted in the core teachings and doctrines of Christianity too.

1. Anonymous. Gamaliel - As Rabban. Wikipedia. Retrieved Nov. 8, 2008.
2. Klijn, A.F.J. & Reinink, G.J. (1973) Patristic Evidence for Jewish-Christian Sects. Brill.
3. Epiphanius. Panarion. 16, 9.
4. Malick, David. "An Introduction to First Thessalonians", III. Date and origin
5. Josephus, Flavius. Jewish War 2.433; Jewish Antiquities 18.85-87, 20.97-98