Kristy Burke admits she doesn’t like Paul and insists that he is a false teacher who contradicts Jesus in many regards. She correctly claims that Paul teaches a salvation by faith alone but also wrongly claims that Jesus teaches a salvation by good deeds:
• Paul: Romans 10:13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
• Jesus: Matthew 5:20 “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
There can be no contradiction here, because Jesus also taught that salvation is by grace through faith:
• John 6:29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
• John 8:24 “I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”
Consequently, we need to re-examine Matthew 5:20 to understand “righteousness” as the fruit or result of salvation and not its cause, as Jesus had taught two chapters later:
• Matthew 7:17 “So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.”
The tree must first be healthy (saved and indwelt) before it can bear the good fruit of the Holy Spirit—the result of salvation and not its cause! Once again, Burke contrasts Paul with Jesus:
• Paul: Ephesians 2:8–9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
• Jesus: Matthew 5:19 “Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
According to Burke, Paul is all about grace through faith while Jesus is about doing good deeds. Once again, this apparent contradiction is easily resolved once we understand that Jesus is focusing on the fruit (the result) of salvation and not its cause.
Likewise, regarding their differing esteem for marriage, there is no contradiction between Paul and Jesus:
• Paul: 1 Corinthians 7:6–9 Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. I wish that all were as I myself [unmarried]. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
• Jesus: Mark 10:6–8 “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh.”
While Jesus expressed a general principle about marriage, Paul didn’t contradict this the wholesomeness of marriage) but expressed some exceptions to marriage relative to the person and challenges in his time of great persecution.
Burke also claims that they held opposite views regarding enemies:
• Paul: Galatians 1:8–9 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
• Jesus: Matthew 5:44 “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
Is this a contradiction? Not if Paul is preaching the same message as Jesus:
• Paul: Romans 12:14,18-21 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them…If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all…“if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink… Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
In view of this, how then do we interpret the Galatians verses? Paul did not ask his brethren to curse or to avenge themselves upon those false teachers. Instead, it is likely that he was asking God to avenge Himself upon those who had been harming his brethren with their false teachings. This does not at all contradict the teachings of Jesus who had taught more on the horrors of the final judgment than anyone else in the Bible.
One final contradiction. Burke alleges that Jesus had a very positive opinion of women while Paul wanted to keep them in servitude:
• Paul: 1 Timothy 2:11–14 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
However, Paul also taught the essential equality of man and woman:
• Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
• 1 Corinthians 7:4 For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
• 1 Corinthians 11:11–12 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.
Nor did Jesus ever teach anything against the traditional subservience of the wife to her husband. Nor did He appoint any women among his Twelve.
Burke’s contradictions look more like biases. It is not that Christians do not struggle with what appears as contradictions. However, we seek to resolve them while others revel in them. Why the difference? It is the difference between the believer and the unbeliever. The first seeks to exalt the Word of God, while others seek to denigrate it.
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