Question:  Dear Greg,

            Is there a difference between Paul’s theology and that of Jesus Christ?  Did Paul impose or require things that Christ did not or vice versa?

            Dave

Answer:  Dear Dave,

            It is difficult to take such a view if you accept a Christian view of Holy Scripture and the doctrines and teachings of Christianity.

            The logic and reasoning of the Christian perspective regarding your question goes:

1.      All Scripture is inspired by God.  Human authors were used as tools, but their message was not given—God’s was.  Their personality was used, but their pet peeves and gripes are not represented in Holy Scripture.

2.      Jesus is God in the flesh.  What he said was and is what God says.

3.  Paul was inspired by God.  What Paul writes was inspired by God--that is, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

4.      A basic hermeneutical premise is that Scripture does not oppose itself, it cannot be broken.  A basic rule of logic is that the same source will not argue against itself.  Jesus spoke of this rule when speaking of Satan in Matthew 12:25.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht