St. Paul could be prickly at times, nowhere more so then in the letter to the Galatians. He was convinced that only by holding onto right doctrine (which for Paul meant “preaching Christ Jesus and him crucified”) would the unity of the church be preserved. When he detected the Church in Galatia deviating from the message he reacted strongly, defending his ministry. The Gospel preached by me is not of human origin. For I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ. One thing about his preaching style was that Paul doesn’t refer to Jesus’ preferred method of teaching through parables, like the much beloved parable of the Good Samaritan. By concentrating on the pascal mystery Paul avoided the tendency to think of Jesus merely as a nice guy or good teacher. One of the blessings we have as Christians today is the richness of the New Testament, with several different voices all expressing how Jesus touched their lives.
