Often
one will encounter the argument that the apostle Paul knew precious little, if
anything, about the life of Jesus, and in the case of some Christ Mythicists, believed
that Jesus lived and died in outer space (yes, you read that correctly).
Today,
I read a book by Stephen O. Stout, The “Man
Christ Jesus”: The Humanity of Jesus in the Teaching of the Apostle Paul (Eugene,
Oreg.: Wipf & Stock, 2011). While one will disagree with some statements in
the book (e.g., a rather weak attempt to downplay the salvific nature of water
baptism), much of the book is rather sound, showing that the apostle Paul knew
a great deal about the life of Jesus. Furthermore, it serves to refute the
claim that “Christianity” is the invention of Paul (or was hijacked by the
apostle—something one finds in both liberal scholarship and Islamic
apologetics).
A
good supplement to this book would be a volume I read a number of years ago,
David L. Dungan, The Sayings of Jesus in
the Churches of Paul (Pa.: Fortress Press, 1971). Here are some excerpts:
The Family of Jesus
Paul is aware that several “brothers of the
Lord” existed (1 Cor 9:5; οι αδελφοι του κυριου), and he had personally met “James the Lord’s brother” (Gal 1:19, Ιακωβον τον αδελφον του κυριου). This family connection is confirmed in
Acts 1:14 (“Mary the mother of Jesus, and His brothers”) and especially in Matt
13:55 || Mar 6:3, where Jesus is identified as “the
carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon.”
Whereas the Gospels refer to Jesus as “son of Joseph” (Luke 3:23; John 1:45,
6:42), Paul does not mention any earthly father of Jesus, much less name
Joseph, although the existence of His brothers implies they also shared a
common father (Jesus by adoption and the other sons presumably by birth,
despite Roman Catholic dogma that the brothers of Jesus are not subsequent
children of the Virgin Mary but sons of “the other Mary” of Matt 27:56). The
absence of Joseph in Paul’s letters, however, does not imply ignorance, since
Joseph is not mentioned outside the nativity narratives except for John 6:42.
Other than this paternal omission, Paul knew that this “Man Christ Jesus” was
born of a mother and had several brothers—as recorded in the Gospel narratives.
(pp. 83-84)
Answering the objection “why didn’t
Paul explicate the various events in the life of Jesus?” Stout writes:
While it is readily admitted that Paul’s letters lack the specific
detail of Jesus’ earthly ministry, the Pauline allusions to the ministry of the
historical Jesus agree completely with the record as documented in the Gospels.
It should be recognized that the genre of Paul’s correspondence is not
narrative biography purporting to present the works of a great man. Instead,
Paul uses specific incidents from the ministry of Jesus when appropriate to
illustrate and fortify his doctrines; otherwise, Paul emphasizes the crucified
and resurrected Christ, the one he had seen on the Damascus Road. In other
words, Paul writes about the Jesus who appeared to him but he yields to
apostolic tradition in matters where he is neither an eyewitness nor an
ear-witness of Jesus’ earthly ministry, deferring to those who had seen Him and
heard His instructions on such topics as the Eucharist and His parousia. Since Paul had no first-hand
knowledge of the teachings and miracles of Jesus, this accounts for his rare
references to them except by appeal to common tradition. On the other hand, the
traditional authors of the Gospels were either first-hand witnesses (Matthew
and John) or had access to those who were eyewitnesses of Jesus (Mark; Luke
1:1-4) in their task to present more of a biological narrative of Jesus. The
Evangelists are the story-tellers of Jesus, whereas Paul is an explainer of
Jesus, for his take is to define the significance of the historical ministry of
the “Man Christ Jesus.” (p. 110)
