Paul never followed Jesus while he was alive, but was converted by a vision of the risen Christ. Did he lack knowledge of – or interest in – the life of Jesus?
5. No longer having to follow the Jewish Law was a major theme of Paul’s letters, but not something Jesus said much about. People have tried various ways of explaining this: 1. Paul was a missionary and his writings are merely follow up letters to his converts. This means he has already told them all about Jesus, and he doesn’t need to repeat himself. 2. Not having first-hand knowledge of Jesus, he left all that stuff to people who did. 3. For a Jew, the crucifixion of God’s Messiah was one of the most offensive ideas imaginable, and “the age to come” one of the most glorious hopes. Once Paul accepted that the crucifixion and resurrection of the Messiah was God’s astounding way of bringing in that new age, here and now, this fact dwarfed everything else in the life of Jesus into relative insignificance. 4. He was a bit sensitive about not having been an original follower of Jesus, so he put all his stress on Jesus the risen Lord, than Jesus the Jewish teacher. 5. Jesus was a Jewish tea
