Volume 2 · Honest HereticsLesson 14About 22 minutes

Paul and the First Churches

When you hear a verse quoted, do you know whether it was Jesus, or someone writing about him?

Honest Heretics edition for skepticsSwitch to Centered (for believers)

The center · Matthew 10:24

²⁴“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord.

Much of what is preached on Sunday comes from Paul. Saved by faith alone. Wives, be subject to your husbands. The wages of sin. All good, it is said, because it is all the Bible. Paul wrote more of the New Testament than anyone, and many Christians quote him more often than the one he followed.

You're not imagining it. In many churches the letters set the agenda and the Gospels supply the stories. Paul never met Jesus during his life, and he quotes him only a handful of times. Yet whole systems of belief, and many of the rules that have hurt people, are built from his letters while Jesus' own commands sit at the edges.