WHAT PAUL MEANT

Book review by David Frank

Like many people, I was deeply suspicious of Paul and his New Testament letters. How well did he actually know the teachings of Jesus? Was he the actual founder of the Christian Church? Did his writings help create antisemitism and the disempowerment of women?

Garry Wills’ slender, best-selling book, What Paul Meant, has allayed my fears and led to new insight. The introduction, called “The Bad News Man” mirrors my own concerns using the words of famous people throughout the years. Thomas Jefferson, for example, called Paul the “first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus.”

Mr. Wills begins by using Paul’s own words describing his conversion in Galatians chapter one, instead of the more familiar version told in Acts written some fifty years later. Paul says he saw Jesus (Greek ophthe) conversed with him, then went “at once” to Arabia (the desert). There he must have pondered his experience in prayer, thought, and planning. Like Jesus, his mission began with intense solitude with God. Of all who had seen the risen Jesus, his is the only account we have in the first person perspective. His are the earliest writings in the New Testament and in that way closest to Jesus. His are the only writings we have from a Pharisee.

The author demonstrates a long list of Paul’s teachings that directly reflect Jesus’ teaching. He describes the meaning of Paul’s heroic travels, his relationship with “the Brethren” in Jerusalem (initially rocky), and his co-worker women who could be emissaries (apostolos), deacons, prophets, hosts, leaders. His letters to troubled gatherings of early Christians show him to be “all things to all people.” Examples are encouraging some, correcting others, consoling, reconciling, or empowering (depending on circumstances).

In summary, Garry Wills concludes that “Paul meant what Jesus meant, that love is the only law.” I thank him for opening this window of growth into discipleship.