Couldnt you say Paul is the founder of modern Christianity and the biggest influence of the New Testament ?

Answer 1

"Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—"
Galatians 1:1

"For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake."
II Corinthians 4:5

"So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction."
II Peter 3:14-16

In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, "Ananias!"
"Yes, Lord," he answered.
The Lord told him, "Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight." "Lord," Ananias answered, "I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name."
But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."
Acts 9:10-16

Answer 2

NO Paul is not the founder. He is an excellent witness of what a relationship with Jesus Christ looks like.

For examples, Abraham was the human God worked thru in being an excellent witness of faith in God. But God was the founder and Abraham was a good model to follow.

David was a man after God's own heart and was used as an instrument of God's to author the Psalms that we have as a basis of how to praise and worship God.

Us even now, should with these great witnesses of the past be a witness those in our sphere of influence in showing others to Jesus Christ and a saving relationship.

Answer 3

While I will not say Paul is the founder of Christianity, because that was obviously Jesus, he did play the biggest part of anyone, bigger than the early apostles. He was also very close to the time of Jesus, Some of his letters were written barely a decade after Jesus was killed. So much of his information appears to be close to the source, making its authenticity strengthened.

Answer 4

No, I'd say that role was filled by Jesus Christ quite nicely :0)

Paul was, however, the most prolific writer in the New Testament, and an incredibly zealous man who brought Christianity to most of Asia Minor and the surrounding areas.

Answer 5

He was a 'chosen instrument' of Christ to spread the gospel, especially to the gentiles.

He says in one of his epistles that he laboured harder than the other apostles. Many of them had wives, so that restricted their ability to evangelise somewhat as well.

He also had a top-notch education studying at the feet of Gamaliel, who was prob the grandson of the famous Jewish scholar and leader Hillel. So he probably had an academic advantage over many of the other disciples in having known the Scriptures and Oral Law and had practice of arguing about it with the sharpest Jewish minds. That made him proud, but after his revelation on the Damascus road, he was a changed man.

Breaking free of being narrowly Jewish was a problem to many of the early Jewish-raced christians due to natural anti-gentile prejudice, and Paul had the benefit of Christ telling him very directly that He came as a light to the gentiles, and His salvation was for all.

Christ called him, commissioned him and also if you read his letters, gave him wisdom and strength to pursue his calling.

John also produced some pretty fine teaching. I think his being the closest friend to Christ during Christ's earthly ministry gave him insights the other disciples missed.

Answer 6

Well, of course you "could" say that but you would be wrong. Paul understood humility and knew about the power of Christ. As he was expelling the demon from the "seer", he didn't say in the name of me, Paul, come out. The demon inside the female recognized Paul as a servant of God. Not as God.

No question he wrote a good portion of the New Testament. He simply expounded on the teachings of Christ.

Answer 7

Christianity, modern or not, is based on the person of Jesus Christ.

Paul was an apostle, called by Christ, who turned from being a persecuter of Christians to one of the most passionate proclaimers of the gospel message who ever lived.

And yes, his writings gave us much of the new testament.

Answer 8

Jesus was the founder of what would later be Christianity - it was a sect of Judiasm in the beginning.

Paul also had the biggest influence over what later became mdoern Christianity, and all because he was one of the 10% of the population that could write, and he did!

As a result much of what he wrote forms the basis of Christian practice today.

Answer 9

I would say that Jesus was born and died a Jew named Joshua, and a religious one at that. The vast majority of his apostles did too. Paul however, was the one who separated Christianity from Judaism and made it a different religion. In other words Paul was the founder of the Christian religion, whereas Jesus (Joshua) was the central figure of said Christian religion.

Answer 10

You could say that . . . but why leave Jesus out?

Jesus was a Jew. Every time he came to town he went to the synagogue to preach to the Jews, until they started speaking against him, and he was forced to just take his message to the street, to the every day Jew on the street.

Paul did the same thing . . .from the synagogue to the street, then in his case to the Gentile . . . but Paul was well aware that he was called (by Jesus) to take the message to the Gentile.

The gospel was taken to the Jew first, then to the Gentile when they rejected the message.

Christianity started as a movement inside Judaism called The Way . . . it was driven out of Judaism by the Jewish leaders of the day.