Paul teaches same gospel as the Jerusalem church?

By Jeff Ward

Paul made a trip back to Jerusalem in approximately 55 AD. By this time, the Jerusalem church has been thriving for over 20 years. Paul has been teaching what he calls “my gospel” for approximately 15 years.

It’s rather remarkable, but the Jerusalem church now has thousands of followers, and they don’t even KNOW what Paul has been teaching, except for some rumors.

Paul presents himself before some very concerned elders of the Jerusaelem church as described in Acts 21:18-22.

18 On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. 19 After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law, 21 and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs. 22 What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.

  • James, the brother of Jesus is now the leader of the Jerusalem church. There is good reason to think his religion would be consistent with that of his brother.
  • By now, many of Paul’s epistles are being circulated. In them, he indeed does speak against circumcision and calls the law a curse and bondage.
  • Apparently, rumors of his teachings or even copies of his letters have made it back to Jerusalem.
  • The leadership do not yet know whether the accusations against Paul are true.
  • They give Paul benefit-of-the-doubt, presuming the charges are not true.
  • They point out not just a handful, but THOUSANDS of people with the same two traits.
    • They believe in Jesus,
    • They are zealous for the law, and it’s not some new “law of Christ”, it’s the “Law of Moses”
  • To the leadership, these are not fringe lunatic beliefs. They are instead, “our customs”. v.21
  • They are seeking assurance from Paul the rumors are false and that Paul has the same beliefs they do.
  • Paul neither confirms nor denies.
  • Paul’s letters are plentiful with rantings against the “party of the circumcision”. He clearly did not place himself under their authority, at least when removed from their presence.

The literal family of Jesus, the twelve apostles, the leadership of the church Jesus was speaking to when he ascended…clearly did not know that Christ is the end of the law as Paul states in Romans 10:4. Try to get that through your head. That is a foundational doctrine in modern Christianity, and was something the church Jesus knew thought of as repulsive.

Predictably, the church tries to synchronize and homogenize the teachings with Paul and the Jerusalem church, pretending they were identical. After all, 2000 years of allegedly-inspired TRADITION is at stake here. But how do they unite them? By making Paul conform to James and those that knew Jesus? No, they try to bend and shape the beliefs of the many to conform to Paul. Everybody gets thrown under the bus to save Paul.

🙋❓Why does the modern church insist Paul and Jerusalem taught the same thing when it's EASILY demonstrated, not only were they at odds, but they spent decades mostly unaware of each other? Why is the church unwilling to recognize the nature of these differences? Why is Paul's doctrine held above everyone else's, including Jesus and those he ordained?