Does Paul contradict Jesus?

Recently I finished The Heresy of orthodoxy: How contemporary culture’s fascination with diversity has reshaped our understanding of early Christianity by Köstenberger and Kruger. The first is a New Testament scholar and the latter is an early church scholar, so they are particularly capable of bringing clarity to the origins and early years of Christianity. This book is dedicated to debunking and replacing the “Bauer thesis” about early Christianity; many of you do not know it by name but have heard its claims from History Channel hot takes, annual Time Magazine Christmas exposés, your liberal religion professor, or Twitter. Here’s a few claims that you might recognize:

• Jesus and Paul’s teachings contradict each other.
• Paul is the true founder of Christianity.
• The New Testament we have today is the product of political and theological power grabs in the 4^th century.
• The early church had a bunch of other books like the gospel of Thomas, the gospel of Phillip, Gospel of Nicodemus, the gospel of Mary, and the shepherd of Hermes. (There is no good reason these shouldn’t be included in the Bible.)
• Numerous “unorthodox” groups emerged in the early church; this was the norm until Rome asserted its power to coerce doctrinal conformity.

Interestingly enough, I heard the first two claims in a recent conversation. It went something like this: “Jesus and Paul’s teachings are irreconcilably different; Paul warped Jesus’ teachings and is the true founder of what is ‘Christianity’ today.” This deserves a full and thoughtful treatment, but The Heresy of Orthodoxy gave a great summary response with footnotes for those wanting to dive deeper. It is a good place to start in such a conversation. Here is Andreas Köstenberger:

"With regard to the first question, the relationship between Jesus and Paul, it should be noted that although Paul's theology legitimately expands Jesus' teachings, it in no way contradicts them. Paul was not the "founder of Christianity," as some have argued; he teased out the major elements of Jesus' life and ministry in the course of his own ministry to various churches in the first century.

     Paul's core message was that Christ died for humanity's sin, was buried, and was raised from the dead (1 Cor. 15:3-4). This coheres with Jesus' affirmation that he would die as a ransom for others (Mark 10:45; cf. Matt. 20:28) and rise from the dead (Matt. 20:19; Luke 9:22). Paul, who shows knowledge of some of Jesus' specific teachings (Romans 12-13; 1 Cor. 9:14; 11:23-26; 1 Thess. 4:15), applied Jesus' teachings in the context of his own ministry.

     Continuity between Paul and Jesus, however, does not require uniformity. Paul was his own theological thinker. Since Paul's predominantly Gentile audience (Rom. 11:13) differed from Jesus' primarily Jewish audience (Matt. 15:24), Paul did not simply reiterate Jesus' teachings but developed them within the next phase of salvation history. For example, while Jesus rarely spoke of the church (Matt. 6:18; 18:17), Paul significantly expounded on this subject (Rom. 16:25-26; Eph. 3:2-11; Col. 1:25-27).

     Also, while Jesus focused his mission on Israel (Matt. 10:5-6; 15:24), Paul, taking the gospel to the ends of the earth (Acts 9:15; Rom. 16:26), explored the salvation-historical "mystery" of believing Gentiles becoming part of God's people (Rom. 16:25-26; Eph. 3:2-11; Col. 1:25-27). Thus "Paul did not limit himself to reiterating the teaching of Jesus but...formulated his proclamation in light of the antecedent theology of the OT and on the basis of the apostolic gospel as called for by his ministry context." (The Heresy of Orthodoxy, p84-85)