Comparison of Jesus and Paul's Teachings on Human Nature
and Inter-Human Relationships
In my paper on human nature and inter-human relationships, I am going to prove that Jesus is more loving and forgiving in his teachings and commands to the people, where as Paul is more direct and unyielding.
Both Jesus and Paul had similar ideas of what human and inter-human relationships should consist of, but they differed in the way they delivered their individual messages. When Jesus speaks to the people he conveys a more positive and uplifting tone. He encourages us to be like God instead of acting out on our deeply ingrained sinful nature. Paul differs from Jesus because instead of speaking in love and understainding, he speaks to the people in a more condemning way. He lays the blame of the sinful and death-filled world onto them. Paul’s message to the people is basically that there is little room for change of the way we are as people because sin has already entered the world through man.
Jesus believed that it was human nature for people to gravitate towards darkness instead of ‘light.’ Our human nature was to be evil and we did not want that part of us to be exposed. In John 3:19-20, Jesus speaks of how light has come into this world and been made available to us, but because of our sinful human nature we are ashamed to reach out and expose that part of ourselves.. According to him, we do not accept the light at first
because we are scared it may show our true identity. Jesus explains this concept in a non-judgmental way. He is trying to convey that he accepts us no matter what state we are in as individuals and this passage is showing that humanity may possess darkness, but we all have the free will to come into the ‘light’ because he has given us that option to redeem ourselves. We no longer need to fear and hide from it, we can come out in the open and receive what Christ has given to us.
Jesus believed that we should exemplify God’s behavior within our inter-human relationships. He does not just want us to love those that are easy to love in our everyday lives, such as brothers or sisters, friends. Jesus wants us to take on the hard and arduous task of loving all mankind, even enemies. In Matthew 5:43-44,48, Jesus states "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
After his conversion to Christianity, Paul traveled throughout the Roman Empire and preached the Gospel, similar to Jesus’ own ministry across Galilee. Paul’s teachings were more focused on the community and the relationships of its members with each other and with non-Christians, whereas Jesus’ teachings were geared towards the individual and his/her personal relationship to God. Despite this discrepancy in their doctrines, Paul’s teachings remain consistent with those of Jesus. In his First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul’s teachings, such as unity in the community and love for others, echo the teachings of Jesus as depicted in the Gospel of Mark and Matthew. Paul essentially reiterates the teachings of Jesus, and applies them to the lives of the people he preaches to, so that they may understand Jesus’ teachings and embrace Christianity.
Ruden, Sarah. Paul among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time. New York: Pantheon, 2010. Print.
When it comes to making judgements on the merits of others, it seems as though Jesus is quite set on relaying to his disciples the dangers of hypocrisy. One’s own actions must be accounted for before trying to account for the actions of others. Lessons of this kind would have helped to empower early Christians to better apply some sort of objective consistency to their lives. Jesus conveyed such concepts
The Bible shows God constantly pursuing His people and man rejecting him over and over again. This passage displays this ongoing struggle by showing all Jesus did for us and how the people still shunned and rejected him. However, this passage also gives reassurance that it is never too late to repent and accept the Lord. This passage displays some important themes of the Bible: man’s redemption, God’s forgiveness and grace, and the blessing of a relationship with God. This passage is essentially the message of the Bible in one small
The teaching of Jesus Christ is hard for some cultures to grasp. Humanity is prone to question everything. How people use their worldview plays a key role. Most Christian accept the Gospel message at it full value and yet with teaching from a church they only accept part of the message. Now it seems like progressively that people are turning away from God. Since people cannot see Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God they just suppress prier teaching from the Bible. In some cultures the Bible is looked at as a taboo.
A large number of Christians grew intolerant of other groups and the group 's ideologies which aroused questions. “Followers of different religions began to question the Christians and their newly discovered god” (Northcott). Many Christians believed that the Christian religion was the only true religion that should be worshiped, and felt the need to dissolve any opposing viewpoints of their Christian religion. Followers of the Christian religion would begin to travel to foreign places in order to spread the word of their religion. (Shelley 9). Spreading the word about Christianity and Jesus would continue, and still does in today’s modern
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Appetite for the gleanings of the media’s illusionary message causes society to deem the intentions of Christianity as undermining, which leads to jealousy and hatred. Jesus demonstrated that the truth spoken in love would glorify God and appeal to the heart of the lost.
Essay: The Bible says Jesus of Nazareth was a teacher who used miracles to help people. In reality he was a wandering man whose simple tricks and healing remedies were mistaken for miracles. He wandered Judea preaching about the validity of the jewish laws. This gained him a large following. Roman officials caught wind of this and were scared of an uprising. So they had him executed; however this had the opposite effect. The jewish sect that followed Jesus was pacified for some time but emerged again as Christianity, with a larger following than before. Eventually, and ironically, it ended up surviving the Roman Empire.
Jesus had infectious self-confidence that attracted all types of people to his cause. A teacher of the law said to Jesus, “Teacher, I will follow your wherever you go” (Matt. 8:19). He was also an optimist: Jesus said, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt. 6:33). He was an idealist; his mission commanded his followers to be spiritually perfect (Matt. 5:48). Although Jesus' ethical standard was incredibly high, his faith in God was...
Paul the Apostle, formerly known as Saul, lived much of his life preaching the Good News that Jesus brought and spreading it to the nations. Paul is a particularly notable follower of Jesus because he contributed several books to the Bible, and he reached a large number of people groups during his travels abroad. However, Paul was not always a such a saint. It is important to note that Paul was a human and had real struggles, just like us. Although he accomplished many things for the Kingdom of God, he wouldn’t have been able to do so without trusting God to work through him. In this paper I will demonstrate how God can turn a life around and what the life of a servant of the Lord looks like, with its successes and failures, through a chronology of Paul’s life.
Paul summarizes all this preaching in seventeen stanzas by referring to the "Spirit" and the "Flesh." We are first introduced by Paul of these topics/words in his letter to the Galatians. Paul contrasts the two ways of living in a community in chapter five of Galatians. "Spirit" is the caring of others and builds interpersonal relationships within a community. The "Flesh" is a self centeredness and a natural way to live of only caring for oneself. The "works of the flesh" will break apart a community.
... love your neighbor as yourself,” (www.biblegateway.com/NIV, 2011). The only command higher than this is that you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind. God values the feelings and emotions of all humanity, likewise, we should as well.
Paul, formerly a persecutor of Christians, was on the road to Damascus when suddenly God spoke to him. “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4) God asked. Paul was then blinded and led by his friends to Damascus, where a disciple named Ananias was waiting for him. Ananias cured Paul’s blindness and baptized him. From then on, Paul was devoted to spreading the Good News all over the world.
Today Christians see Christ somewhat through the prism of Paul's teaching. My dear follower, Luke, would write one of the Gospels as well as the Book of Acts. My life was vitally shaped by a dramatic meeting with Christ on the Road to Demascus and it was this drama, coupled with his fervor that would mold Christianity for the next two Millenia.