Hi,
In order to answer your question thoroughly we have to have a quick history lesson about the man originally named Saul and later Paul of Tarsus after proclaiming himself an Apostle, even though he wasn't really an Apostle of Jesus. He never even met Jesus.
Paul is pretty much responsible for what we know as Christianity today. His writings comprise about 45% of the new testament. His writings were very influential so he must have known what he was talking about right?
Paul clashed with the disciples based in Jersulsalem who were Gnostics. After persecuting the Christians for years he converted to Christianity after his claim to having a strange vision and from that point forward he continued to organize the religion.
The original Disciples of Jesus were very skeptical of his claims and vision. As a matter of fact, Jesus' Disciples and Paul didn't see eye to eye and even had open disagreements about Paul's interpretations of Jesus' teachings.
The theology of Paul was more concerned with informing people how to behave and act. In all of his writings he only directly quotes Jesus once. In his writings Paul introduces things that were not taught by Jesus, such as celibacy and in some instances even contradicts the teachings of Jesus.
Paul disagreed with the Church of Jerusalem that was formed by the original disciples of Jesus on a number of different issues and there are even instances from Paul's own writings where he directly confronts Peter, of whom Jesus said "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church". Paul undermined Peter. For example Paul wrote" When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him face to face, because he was clearly in the wrong".(Paul writing in Galatians)
There was a public side and a private side to the teachings of Jesus. Because Paul never met Jesus or was never taught by his Disciples he didn't have privy to that information. Paul just didn't understand. He only wrote about and taught from the public side of the teachings without truly understanding Jesus' teachings.
So really quickly here is a recap:
Paul, originally Saul, was an active persecutor the early Christians and was opposed to the Church of Jerusalem and took an active role in suppressing movements that appeared to threaten the Roman occupation.
There is much more but he went on to have his experience. In his own view, he had received a revelation that put him far higher than the apostles.
So that is pretty much it. Jesus' true Apostles were what we call today Gnostics. They had privy to Jesus' private and personal teachings and they were a threat to the Roman occupation for a number of reasons. Paul the former prosecutor had a revelation where he claimed to be above the Apostles. It takes very little imagination to see why he was so opposed the them.
I know there is a lot here but I wanted to try and explain things logically and in an accurate historical context. If you would like more direct resources let me know I have a few really good ones.
Kind regards,
Chris
P.S. Is this really for religion class? Because if it is for one at the college level this will get yon A+ but if its for a church class or a religious school then they you will probably see a clash between their belief ( and hence their faith based interpret ion) and non biased historical documentation. In that case it might be better for your grade to not mention this.
What is gnosticism and why was Paul opposed to it? ?
