Jesus vs. Paul

Many biblical scholars have noted that Jesus preached almost exclusively about the kingdom of heaven, while Paul highlighted justification by faith—and not vice versa. What gives?

出名的新約學者S. McKnight於Christianity Today上寫了一篇專文：Jesus vs. Paul，為要處理一個困擾許多人的問題：在福音書中，耶穌的教導是以上帝國／天國（kingdom of God / heaven）為核心，但保羅卻是教導因信稱義（justification by faith），我們該如何處理兩者間的歧異呢？究竟耶穌和保羅所傳的，是同一個福音嗎？

McKnight認為這樣問問題是走錯了方向，他的解決方案是觀察耶穌和保羅究竟如何理解福音（gospel），進而發覺無論是耶穌的宣講，抑或是保羅書信，兩者的核心都是基督論（Christology）：

Jesus may have spoken of kingdom, and Paul may have spoken of justification, but underneath both kingdom and justification is Christology: It is the story about Jesus, who is Messiah and Lord and who brings the kingdom and justifies sinners by faith.

因此，更好的問題是：耶穌自己和保羅是怎麼理解耶穌的？

we ask if Jesus preached Paul's gospel, then we are really asking, "Does Jesus preach Jesus?" Or, "What was Jesus' teaching about Jesus?" Or, "Does he preach himself as the completion of Israel's story?" Or, "Does Jesus preach his own life, death, burial, and resurrection?"

最後McKnight作結：

If we begin with kingdom, we have to twist Paul into shape to fit a kingdom vision. If we begin with justification, we have to twist Jesus into shape to fit justification. But if we begin with gospel, and if we understand gospel as Paul does in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, then we will find what unifies Jesus and Paul—that both witness to Jesus as the center of God's story. The gospel is the core of the Bible, and the gospel is the story of Jesus.

推薦給每一位對於此議題有興趣的人，Dr. McKnight的文字深入淺出，非常好讀！