Heard

Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ. – Romans 10:17 (NRSV) 

That’s a bold statement for someone who never met Jesus or heard him teach in the flesh. 

Paul was not a disciple. In fact, Paul was a fierce opponent of the Jesus movement before he became its foremost promoter in Gentile territory. 

However, Paul’s status as a “promoter of the Jesus movement” needs a mountain-sized asterisk.  

The Christ he preached grew from a vision he never describes in his letters. The famous scene of Paul blinded by the light comes from Acts, written decades later by Luke. 

Think about that. The most influential theologian in Christian history based his understanding of Jesus on a private experience, one he did not submit for peer review by Jesus’s appointed successors for three years. He intentionally avoided them. He said his spiritual experience outranked their human experience, so why bother?  

Imagine someone claiming to have received a vision of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King that outranks the lived experience of those in Dr. King’s inner circle. Unlike King, Jesus left behind nothing but students—exactly who Paul dodged.  

Because Paul answered only to his experience of Christ, Christ-ianity does the same by viewing Jesus through Paul rather than the other way around. 

Yeah, I’m not exactly Paul’s biggest fan. But I’ll give him this: He had chutzpah, which is why you are reading this and why we have a church at all. Whatever my qualms with Paul, I’ll be forever grateful for his legacy: the Church that protects and proclaims the words of Jesus. 

Paul got us here. The Gospels point us to Jesus. 

Prayer
Help me balance my vision of Christ by attending to his words.

About the Author
Matt Laney is Co-Pastor of Virginia Highland Church UCC in Atlanta, GA. If you enjoy Matt’s writing, check out his new book, The Second Arrow from MacMillan.