Comparative Theology · Pauline Epistles & Early Church
Paul's Invention of the "Dying & Rising Savior God"
In short
- 1.Paul never met the physical Jesus (PBUH) — he claimed his gospel came solely by vision and revelation (Galatians 1:11-12).
- 2.He transformed a Jewish reform movement into a Hellenised mystery religion centred on a divine savior dying for universal sins.
- 3.Paul abolished the Torah (Galatians 3:13), while Jesus (PBUH) taught that not one letter of the Law would pass away (Matthew 5:17-19).
The claim being examined
Paul faithfully transmitted the teaching of Jesus (PBUH).
The Islamic position
Paul never met Jesus (PBUH), claimed private visions as his source, and abolished the very Law Jesus (PBUH) upheld.
Analysis
Paul's letters predate all four Gospels and shaped them. His categories — justification apart from law, dying-and-rising savior, union with a cosmic Christ — draw on Hellenistic religious grammar, not the Torah-observant preaching of a Galilean prophet.
From the Qur'an
وَمُصَدِّقًۭا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَىَّ مِنَ ٱلتَّوْرَىٰةِ وَلِأُحِلَّ لَكُم بَعْضَ ٱلَّذِى حُرِّمَ عَلَيْكُمْ ۚ وَجِئْتُكُم بِـَٔايَةٍۢ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ فَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُونِ
wamuṣaddiqan limā bayna yadayya mina l-tawrāti wali-uḥilla lakum baʿḍa alladhī ḥurrima ʿalaykum waji'tukum biāyatin min rabbikum fa-ittaqū l-laha wa-aṭīʿūni
And [I have come] confirming what was before me of the Torah.
From the Bible
I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
Read it in their Bibleοὐκ ἦλθον καταλῦσαι ἀλλὰ πληρῶσαι
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Read it in their BibleSources
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