Jesus and Paul

Epistles or Gospels, what do you read?  Actually, that's not the right question.  "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness"  (2 Tim 3:16 RSV). But it's worth checking to see if you are out of balance when it comes to NT study, as I was for years.
I am reading the book,  To Know Christ Jesus (1962, 1980  Sheed and Ward), by Frank Sheed, which is all about the Gospels.  Sheed and his book will be the subject of the next two posts. There  was a time when  my efforts "to know Christ Jesus" centered on  the epistles of St. Paul, not the Gospels.  How did  that happen?  

Out of Balance. You take on the habits of your friends. Starting back in the 1970's the people in our circles were focused on the Apostle Paul, although they never would have put it that way.    At our small group  Bible studies in the 70's and 80's  we would turn mainly to  St. Paul and his soaring theology of the risen Christ, and his powerful  phrases which we would memorize.
How can you beat Romans 8:1 ("no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"),  Philippians 1:6 ("he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus") and 2 Corinthians
 5:17 ("if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold all things have become new").
Even now, although my NT reading is more Gospels than epistles,   I still  love St. Paul.   I can at least paraphrase these verses which I had committed to memory 35 years ago, which is helpful especially when times get tough.    Today, though,  when I am in the writings of St. Paul  I am not so much looking at isolated verses.    Now  I prefer to hear the letters as a whole or at least longer sections - listening to the audio NT in my car. 


2 Cor 4.   As an example of this  "broad sweep" approach to St. Paul,  lately when I am  in my car  I have been listening to audio of the entire letter of 2 Corinthians. Here is a portion of  that letter: 


[5] For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

[6] For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
[7] But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.
[8] We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;
[9] persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
[10] always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
[11] For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
[12] So death is at work in us, but life in you.
[13] Since we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, "I believed, and so I spoke," we too believe, and so we speak,
[14] knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.
[15] For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
[16] So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day.
[17] For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
[18] because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 
2Cor.4:5-18   (RSV)


From Paul to Jesus.  Anyone who loves the Gospels would have to be grateful for this wonderful quoted teaching from 2 Corinthians 4  on how the life of Jesus impacts the life and struggles  of the believer in Jesus.  This passage  shows how the epistles and the Gospels enhance each other. Startling passages like this, which remind  believers that we too live  "so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our bodies"  (2 Cor 4:10), create a desire in me to  know more about the life of Jesus when he walked among us.  This epistle takes me back to the Gospels.
Also, when you think of these 2 Cor 4:10  words of St. Paul ("the life of Jesus")  they need content.   You can't pull images of the life of Jesus out of some kind of Pauline thin air.  You have to go back to the Gospels to learn of Jesus' actual life.  See  David M. Stanley S.J.,  “Contemplation of the Gospels, Ignatius Loyola, and the Contemporary Christian,”   Theological Studies, Vol. 29 - 3 (1968) at  417 ("St. Ignatius relied mainly upon the contemplation of the earthly history of Jesus for the effectiveness of his carefully constructed program of Spiritual Exercises.").
    
Future Projects.   As a future reading  project  on  "Jesus and Paul" issues, I plan to study  The Origen of Paul's Religion, by John Gresham Machen (Macmillan 1921), which you can find  here.    I have given Chapter IV titled "Paul and Jesus" a quick read, but I look forward to going through all of the scripture which he cites.  Why Machen?  He  presents solid scholarly arguments on  how the life and teachings of Jesus and Paul fit together beautifully, and he is clear, concrete and easy to read, like Frank Sheed.  First I need to finish Sheed's To Know Christ Jesus, which is the subject of the next two posts,  and then I will  move on to Machen.