Jesus, Luke, Paul, and Cyril

Two "hard sayings"

There is a popular misconception that seems to make the rounds now and then on social media and elsewhere, and — to wax confessional for a moment — it tends to annoy me. I refer to the claim that Jesus’ message was all about love and freedom, while Paul was authoritarian, demanding, and harsh. Now, it’s scarcely necessary to say that assertions of this sort reveal a woeful ignorance of the New Testament, and I really shouldn’t be annoyed so much as amused. Then again, one can’t deny that woeful ignorance feeds popular ignorance, and, well, there’s the rub; that’s what I find annoying. The truth regarding the differences between Christ and Paul (and there are differences) is strikingly unlike the popular notion.