Did Jesus, Paul, and James have different Gospels? People have asked and answered that question longer than I have been alive. Critics allege Paul came along and started teaching something different from Jesus or James. And Paul just did his own thing. Critics also claim that Paul mentioned nothing about Jesus’ ministry outside of his death and resurrection. I have even seen where some claim that Paul never acknowledged the other apostles, and that the apostles did not accept Paul.
It is easy to go around and say these things, especially if you can get so-called Bible scholars, people who know a lot about the Bible, but they do not know the Bible, to back you up. It is amazing to me when I listen to some of these guys, like Bart Ehrman as an example. That as somebody who has grown up saturated in what the Bible says, in context, I listen to somebody like him, and I scratch my head as I wonder what Bible are they reading? It is certainly not the Bible that I grew up with. On the other hand, you have what I call the hyper-dispensationalist, who say that there was a separate way of getting saved at different ages, and Jews get saved differently than Gentiles do. I have a tough time with that because it all comes down to the same thing. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. In Deuteronomy 6.5, it says, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soul, with all thy mind, with all thy strength. In the New Testament, Jesus declares all the Law and prophets hang on this law and the second, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. He illustrates his point with the story of the Good Samaritan, or some call it the Traveler.
It is a twofold thing. Love the Lord your God with all your mind, body, and soul. The second is, love your neighbor as yourself. If we love God, we should emulate him. So, let us look at the gospel as Jesus talked about it. We will start with John 3. As a quick aside, keep in mind that when you read the Bible, inspiration does not apply to the chapter and verse divisions. So, you must ignore them and read the entire passage until there is a natural break. They are useful for finding passages but often come at the wrong place.
What did Jesus teach about faith & Works?
Let’s look at John chapter 3. It says there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. I will not go into all of it. Nicodemus comes to Jesus, and he says we know that you have come from God because nobody can do the works, the miracles you’ve been doing, except God’s with him. Jesus’ very first words out of his mouth are, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. So right away, Jesus is trying to get Nicodemus to think differently, and that difference is to quit thinking about the physical and start thinking about the spiritual. Nicodemus said unto him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born?
Okay, so immediately we have a misunderstanding here. Jesus is talking about the spiritual; Nicodemus is thinking about the physical, and that is the problem; everybody thinks physically. If I do enough virtuous deeds, God will surely accept me. Jesus is saying, no, it’s spiritual, it’s repentance, and we’re going to see that. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, you must be born again.
Now I realize for some of you this is confusing because I grew up with the King James. I love the King James Version. No, I am not King James only. I am King James preferred. I love using it. I love the language and the poetry of it. However, God did not write the Bible in Shakespearean English; words change meanings, and sometimes modern literal translations can give us a better understanding of some passages. Therefore, I use other versions alongside the King James.
Anyway, back to the text. Marvel not that I say it unto thee, ye must be born again. And then he goes into talking about the wind, which is another word for spirit. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit. Jesus is trying to get across to Nicodemus: we are not talking about the physical, we are talking about the spiritual. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, how can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things? And they continue their conversation.
Finally, we get to verse 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. And then it says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. So, we see here that this is not a works-based salvation Jesus is talking about. He even refers to the Old Testament, the incident with the serpent in the wilderness. The Israelites had been murmuring and rebelling against God, and God sent deadly snakes into the camp, and people were dying as punishment.
I remember when I was in Bible college, there was one incident where we were griping and complaining, and the professor looked at the ground, and we asked, what are you doing? I am watching for the snakes. That’s the environment I grew up in; we knew our Bible so well that we could make a joke like that, and everybody knew what the joke was.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, what happened was when the people cried out and asked Moses to go to God for them, Moses did and God said, make this brass serpent, put it on a pole, and put it outside the camp. Anyone who looks at the serpent will be healed. The Bible tells us that is what happened. We see here that Jesus is comparing himself to what happened there. It is where we get the phrase in the song, look and live, look to Jesus now and live. That is what we must do to be saved.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. (Jn 3:17–21.)
Jesus also says something similar in the Sermon on the Mount, let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven (Mt. 5:16.) In both cases, Jesus first taught how to become a citizen of his kingdom, then he dealt with the evidence of our new citizenship.
What did James teach about faith & works?
Let’s look at James next. James 2:14 poses a question, What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and have not works? Can faith save him? (This is where everybody gets hung up; remember I said you have to read the whole passage.) If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Here is the key. Thou believest there is one God; thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble. But will thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect, or a better word here would be complete. And the scripture was fulfilled saying Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. James is saying is, you can say you have faith, but if there are no works behind it, it is dead. It is not real. If we take the whole passage, we see how faith motivates us to action. If there is no action behind our so-called faith, then is there faith, is there salvation, has there been a change?
What did Paul teach about faith & works?
What about Paul? Well, everybody loves Ephesians 2:8-9. We all love Ephesians 2:8–9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.” That’s Ephesians 2:8-9, and everybody stops there. Keep reading; the next verse continues the thought. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
Looking at these passages, what can we conclude? Jesus clearly teaches that repentance brings about a change in behavior. We do not need to fear the light, rather; we bring our deeds into the light to honor God the Father. What does James say? If your claim of faith has no action to back it up, it is dead. It is useless. It is not even real. What is Paul saying? We receive salvation through God’s grace and faith, yet God saves us for a purpose. God saves us unto good works. All three are saying the same thing in different ways, and that is, salvation comes by our faith in God’s grace expressed to us through Jesus Christ and his atoning death, burial and resurrection. The evidence of that repentance and new faith is a change in attitude and behavior.
Now, what about Paul and the fact that allegedly he says nothing about the life of Jesus? You are aware, aren’t you, that Luke was Paul’s traveling companion and did much of the actual writing for Paul? Paul wrote only Galatians directly. Most of the time somebody else was there as a scribe, namely Luke. Luke wrote both Acts and the Gospel of Luke while he was traveling with the Apostle Paul. I take the view that the Gospels are best understood as literary portraits rather than traditional biographies or journals. With the Gospel of Luke, he paints Jesus as the Son of Man. In fact, that is the key phrase for Jesus in the book. He then followed that up with a history of the early church in the book of Acts.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul outlines what his preaching is about. Chapter 15 is a great declaration of the importance of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul built his teaching on what Jesus taught and accomplished on the cross. As important as what Jesus taught and the miracles he wrought, what matters is the cross. Without that fact, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:17–19, “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”
Paul builds on the foundation of Jesus’ message and mission.
Something I have always noticed from childhood is that Jesus set forth the framework of doctrines in the Gospels and then Paul came along and built the house on that foundation and the framework that Jesus had set up. There is no difference between the two; Paul just takes it to the Gentiles and fleshes everything out. The second church council included Paul and the other 12 in Acts 15. And again, Acts 22, Paul talks of how God sent him to the Gentiles, which is why it’s accepted that Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles and the others were apostles, primarily to the Jews. At the second church council, the question was: would they apply the Old Testament law and circumcision to the Gentiles to be saved, or was God saying no, that’s unnecessary? They realized that they themselves could not even keep the law, so why put this extra burden on the Gentiles? There were a couple of things, such as do not worship idols and do not drink blood that were universal. They agreed: salvation is by faith through the work of Jesus Christ.
So, there really is no discrepancy. I know people dislike that. Too bad. That is the Bible. And if you look at what the Bible says in context and in relation to other scriptures and compare scripture with scripture, it is amazing the truth that comes out. Suddenly, all these people with all their degrees and thinking they are so smart, start looking like a flat-earth conspiracy theorist when it comes to matters of the Bible, Christian belief, and faith.
As I wrap this blog up, I know this doesn’t settle the argument. The reason is that most people aren’t looking for information to form a fact-based foundation to build their beliefs on; they are looking for affirmation of what they already believe. I have laid out what the Bible says, and it is up to you to accept or reject the scriptures.