Duck

Besides the reference to the Last Supper.

John Kesler

Yes, in Acts 20:35:

jackal5096

There are a number of parallels between Jesus's dialogs in the gospels and Paul's letters (see below), but I tend to see them as an awareness by the Gospel novelists, writing decades later, of Paul's letters


(JESUS) Luke 6.27-28: "Love your enemies...bless those who curse you"
(JESUS) Matt 5.24: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you"
(PAUL) Romans 12.14: "Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse"



(JESUS) Mark 7:15: "there is nothing outside the man which going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.
(PAUL) Romans 14:14: " I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is profane in itself"



(JESUS) Matt 17:20: "if you have faith...you will say to this mountain, 'Move'..."
(PAUL) I Cor 13.2: "if I have all faith so as to move mountains..."



(JESUS) Matt 19.21: "If you would be perfect, go, sell all your possessions and give to the poor..."
(PAUL) I Cor 13.3: "if I give away all my possessions..." (contra Rabbinical advice! Cf. b. Ketubot 50a and Mishnah Arakin 8.4)



(JESUS) Matt 24.43: "But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 44 "For this reason you be ready too; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.
(PAUL) I Thess 5:2,4: "For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night...But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief;



(JESUS) Mark 9.50: "live at peace with one another" (verb forms are absolutely identical)
(PAUL) I Thess 5.13: "live at peace among yourselves"



(JESUS) Mark 4.22: "For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it should come to light.
(PAUL) I Cor 4.5: "who will bring to light the secrets of darkness and will make public the purposes of the heart"
(PAUL) Rom 2.16: "God judges the secrets of people, according to my gospel through Jesus Christ"
(PAUL) I Cor 14.25: "The secrets of his heart are made public"



(JESUS) Mark 14:36: "And He was saying, "Abba! Father" (very uncommon usage)
(PAUL) Gal 4.6: "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!""
(PAUL) Rom 8.15: "you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"



(JESUS) Luke 10.21f: ""I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding and didst reveal them to babes. Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Thy sight.
(PAUL) I Cor 1-2 (various verses): "hidden things" (2.7), "the wise" (1.19), "the understanding" (1.19), "God has revealed" (2.10), "to infants" (3.1), "God was pleased" (1.21)



(JESUS) ark 14:22-23: "And while they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it; and gave it to them, and said, "Take it; this is My body." 23 And when He had taken a cup, and given thanks, He gave it to them; and they all drank from it. 24 And He said to them, "This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
(PAUL) I Cor 11:23: "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 25 In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes." [the whole thing!]



(JESUS) Luke 10.7: "And stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages.
(PAUL) I Cor 9.14: "So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel. "
(PAUL) I Tim 5.18: "For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing," and "The laborer is worthy of his wages."



(JESUS) Matt 16.16-20: "And Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 And Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
(PAUL) Gal 1.15,16: "But when He who had set me apart, even from my mother's womb, and called me through His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood,



(JESUS) Mark 10.9f: "What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." 10 And in the house the disciples began questioning Him about this again. 11 And He *said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; 12 and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery."
(PAUL) I Cor 7.10-11: But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband 11 (but if she does leave, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not send his wife away


(JESUS) Matt 22.21: "Then He *said to them, "Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's." (reference to taxes and tribute)
(PAUL) Romans 13.7: "Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor" [linguistic forms are identical]



(JESUS) Matt 20.26: "It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, 27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
(PAUL) Romans 15.7: "For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision



(JESUS) Mark 10.44: "and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. 45 "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
(PAUL) I Cor 9.19: "I have made myself a slave to all..."
(PAUL) I Cor 10.33: "just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved.



(JESUS) Matt 5.33f: "Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.' 34 "But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 "Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 "But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes' or 'No, no'; and anything beyond these is of evil."
(PAUL) 2 Cor 1.17-18: "Or that which I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yes, yes and no, no at the same time? 18 But as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no."



Other similarities:

-the sending of the apostles on itinerant mission (Matt 10:2, 5/Mark 6:7/Luke 9:2/10:1; so 1 Cor 9:1, 5, etc.),
-their authority (Matt 10:1/Mark 6:7/Luke 9:1; so 1 Cor 9:4, etc.),
-to preach the gospel (Matt 10:7/Luke 9:2; 10:9; so 1 Cor 9:14-16, etc.)
-and to cast out devils and heal (Matt 10:1/Mark 6:7/Luke 9:1/Luke 10:9; so 2 Cor 12:12),
-their mission to Israel (Matt 10:5; so Gal 2:8, 9),
-"you received without payment; give without payment" (Matt 10:8; so 2 Cor 11:7; 1 Cor 9:18, etc.),
-"eating and drinking . . ." (Luke 10:7; so 1 Cor 9:4, etc.),
-"the laborer deserves to be paid" (Matt 10:10/Luke 10:7; so 1 Cor 9:14, etc.),
-"eat what is set before you" (Luke 10:8; so 1 Cor 10:27),
-"be wise as serpents and innocent as doves" (Matt 10:16; so Rom 16:19),
-"whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me" (Luke 10:16; so 1 Thes 4:.

These were from a book by Glenn Miller, I don't have the title handy.

Amedeo

Paul never met the preaching Jesus. So, whatever he may quote is somebody else's word. He quoted his visionary Jesus... which may be nothing but the voice of his own conscience.

He was a theologian who invented the doctrine of Jesus' death as the expiation of sins. So, jesus is conceved as the savior of mankind. He failed to quote or re-quote the reason for the messiahsih of Jesus, namely the preaching of the kingdom of God, fast approaching after the imminent end of the world [with one generation of his life], so that Israel, may be saved from the fires of hell and be in God's kingdom. (Paul taught to the Gentiles and had to create a different theory of salvation -- salvation for all people. That's Catholic, not Jesus' teaching.) Paul is the founder of Catholicism in contradistinction to Israelitism. The Gospels were written down in Greek after Paul's preachings and occasionally reflect the Pauline Catholicism. They also reflect the Dionysian conception of Jesus that the Greek writers had -- the eating of the body of Dionysus and the drinking of his blood, wherefore the initiates are saved from death. (Read the Last Supper episode again.)

Both the expiation of sin by death and the saving homophagia are foreign to the Judaic religion, which is Jesus's religion. (And don't tell me that Jesus was a Judaic heretic and founded his own religion! Almost everything he said or did was so in order that the Scriptures would be fulfilled. The telling to Peter that He was founding his church -- God's People -- on him was not in fulfilment of any prophesy!!! The Bible prophets never contemplated the end of Israel and the formation of a new People. At any rate, why would Jesus establish a new People when the world was to end within one generation? The Greek interpolator must have been one of those who lived in the second generation and disregarded Jesus' prophesy.)

Equinox

OK, these are pretty obvious comments that someone will probably make in a minute anyway if I don’t, but what the heck, I feel like saving someone a little time.

John wrote:

I don’t think that’s what the OP was asking for, since Acts was written decades later than Paul’s death, is based on hearsay, and is known to be incorrect about a number of aspects of Paul’s life. Thus, Acts may put something on the lips of Paul, but that doesn’t tell us that Paul actually said it. I think the OP was asking about what Paul appears to have actually said.

Jackal wrote:
I agree – and that is an important point – that even if we find very good parallels (and some below are very good), then it seems at least plausible, and perhaps likely, that the letters of Paul found their way into the gospel accounts, not the other way around.

Flag on the play – Tm is almost certainly not by Paul, and postdates not just Paul, but even postdates the gospels.

I’ll stop playing Mr. Obvious now. Have a fun day all-

Equinox

robto

In the parallels that jackal listed, Paul doesn't indicate that the saying is from Jesus. (In fact, some of Paul's sayings could have become attributed to Jesus before the gospels were written.)

There are, however, five places where Paul actually mentions teachings "of the Lord": I Cor 7:10-11, 7:25, 9:14, 14:37, and I Thess 4:15-17.

These are from Koester, Ancient Christian Gospels (or via: amazon.co.uk), p.53

(Looking back, I see jackal mentioned the possibility I mentioned above.)

Clivedurdle

Has anyone ever argued that Peter is a fictionalisation of Paul?

John Kesler

The request was for a place where Paul quotes a teaching of Jesus, which is what I supplied. The thread starter even said, "Besides the reference to the Last Supper," a reference to 1 Corinthians 11:23-25, a passage which also may not genuinely go back to Jesus. Whether a quotation attributed to Jesus faithfully transmits his words is a separate issue from the fact that the attribution is made.

Duck

Actually, I realize that I wasn't as specific as I wanted to be in the thread title.

I was looking for Paul directly quoting like: "Jesus said" or "As Jesus our Lord said" or "Jesus Christ said".

jackal5096's post has many of the teachings of Jesus but Paul does not directly attribute them to Jesus. (At least, according to my quick scanning of the verses.)

Of robto's examples, I think that only one qualifies:
1 Cor 7:10: And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband.

Thanks, though. All of the posts have been helpful.

Solo

Perhaps more than likely in some cases. Consider the parallel below, one that can be considered as one of the "signature" sayings of Jesus:

Luckily, Paul left his "signature" on it. The passage from which "loving of one's enemies" is derived, Romans 12:14-21, contains not just the "ever morally superior" markers of Paul's ethics but, luckily for us a little scriptural assembly which was highly unlikely duplicated. The critical verse 20 says:
"if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if his is thirsty
give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning
coals upon his head".

This verse repeats Proverbs 25:21-22, which says:
"if your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat,
if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,
for you will heap coals of fire upon his head,
and the Lord will reward you."

So, Paul paraphrases the scripture nearly word for word except the assurance that the Lord will repay the benefactor. This however was a telling ommission. In the ancient Jewish wisdom, the reward of the Lord was in shaming the enemy into realizing his own lack of righteousness. To show humanity to an enemy was not an act of "love" but decency, which had the magical property of making people come around. But that is not how Paul read it. For Paul, the Lord repays one's enemies (and) with vengeance. This is the idea expanded by Paul (using Deuteronomy 32:25)

(19) Beloved, never avenge yourselves but leave it
to the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance
is mine, I will repay".
(20) No, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if his is thirsty
give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning
coals upon his head".
(21) Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The effect of combining the two scriptural saying is that it completely changes the import of Proverbs' image of the "burning coals". Invoked in conjunction with Lord vengeance, the "repair by shame" becomes "the final judgment executed upon the enemy". Effectively, what Paul is saying is" be kind and solicitous to your enemies, for this is the efficacious way to consign them to hell.
Since, the saying is refered back to OT scripture, and spliced incogrously from two passages, it was very likely the original effort of Paul.

So if the outcome between the Pauline church and the Jewish gnostics of Peter, was reversed, Jesus would have likely said (in Greek):

Verily, it is best to have no enemies,
for if you have them you will not love them,
and if you love them, you will not have them as enemies.

Jiri