How Paul Ruined Jesus’ Teachings for Everyone
From silencing women to inventing Original Sin, Paul reshaped Christianity into something Jesus never preached.
Most churches today preach Paul more than Jesus. Walk into any sermon, and you’ll hear Paul quoted like he’s the boss. His letters fill the New Testament, his theology built most of Christian doctrine, and his voice still echoes every Sunday from pulpits. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: Paul didn’t just shape Christianity. He hijacked it. He twisted Jesus’ radical message of love, justice, and compassion into a rigid religion full of rules, hierarchy, and fear.
And Christians still live under his shadow. Paul’s words have been weaponized for centuries to silence women, suppress gay people, keep slaves obedient, and pump guilt into every human alive with the nonsense of “Original Sin.” He also handed Christianity a dose of antisemitism, setting Jews up for centuries of persecution.
Jesus preached freedom. Paul built a cage.
Let me explain.
Oppression of Women, Misogyny, and the Church Boys’ Club
Jesus treated women like human beings. He had female followers, he talked with them publicly, and the Gospels even have women as the first witnesses to his resurrection. That was shocking in a culture where women’s testimony didn’t even count in court.
Paul, on the other hand, dragged women right back into silence. In 1 Corinthians 14:34–35, he wrote: Women should keep quiet in the churches. They are not permitted to speak but must be in submission, as the Law commands. And in Ephesians 5:22: Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
Translation: Be silent, obey, and know your place.
For centuries, churches used these verses to lock women out of leadership, deny them education, and keep them as second-class Christians. Forget being pastors or priests—Paul made sure women’s job description was “silent helper.”
Jesus lifted women up. Paul shoved them down.
And it wasn’t harmless “ancient culture.” These verses became weapons. They justified misogyny in church, in marriage, and in law. From the Catholic ban on female priests to Protestant preachers yelling that women should “submit,” Paul’s words have stuck like glue.
Paul’s Homophobia: The Oldest Excuse for Exclusion
Jesus never said a single word about gay people. Not once. If it was such a big deal, you’d think he might’ve mentioned it. But Paul? He jumped right in. Romans 1:26–27 condemns men who burn with lust for one another and calls same-sex attraction “shameful.”
That passage has been the go-to excuse for Christian hostility toward LGBTQ+ people for nearly 2,000 years. It’s the backbone of anti-gay sermons, “pray the gay away” programs, and laws that treat LGBTQ+ people as criminals.
Some scholars try to soften it, saying Paul was only condemning exploitative Roman practices. But churches didn’t read it that way. They used his words as a blank check to exclude and reject.
Instead of preaching love, Paul gave Christians the excuse to push LGBTQ+ people to the margins. Jesus healed the outcasts. Paul made new ones.
Paul’s Slave Morality
Slavery was normal in the Roman Empire. But here’s the question: did Paul ever stand up and say “This is wrong”? No. He told slaves to obey your earthly masters with respect and fear (Ephesians 6:5). He even sent a runaway slave, Onesimus, back to his master in the letter to Philemon.
Yes, Paul added that masters should treat slaves fairly—but he never condemned the system. He never said slavery was evil.
And that silence gave Christian slaveholders centuries of cover. Plantation owners in the American South waved Paul’s verses to justify chains, whips, and auctions. Colonial societies across the globe used Paul to say slavery was part of God’s plan.
Jesus opened his ministry with Isaiah’s words: to proclaim freedom for the captives. Paul told the captives to stay put.
The Guilt Bomb: Original Sin
Here’s where Paul outdid himself: inventing Original Sin. In Romans 5:12 he wrote, sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin.
From that one verse, church leaders built the idea that every baby is born guilty because Adam once ate a piece of fruit. Imagine starting life as a criminal just for being alive. That’s Paul’s gift to humanity.
Original Sin became the excuse for baptizing babies “before they die in sin.” It’s why generations of parents panicked about their children’s souls. Worse, it gave churches a permanent leash on people: you are rotten by nature, so you need us to save you.
Jesus told people they were children of God. Paul told them they were born failures. Which one sounds more like good news?
Faith Alone: The Shortcut to Irresponsibility
Another big one: Paul’s doctrine of “justification by faith alone.” His letters, especially Romans and Galatians, hammer the idea that you’re saved not by what you do, but only by believing in Jesus.
Sounds easy, right? Just believe, and heaven is yours.
But here’s the problem: it killed moral responsibility. If deeds don’t matter, why care about justice, compassion, or integrity? Whole churches built their faith on empty words while ignoring the poor, hoarding wealth, and covering up wrongs.
Jesus said, by their fruits you will know them. Paul said, faith alone saves you. Which one builds real virtue?
Paul and Antisemitism: Fuel for Hatred
Paul was Jewish, but some of his letters painted Jews as obstacles to the Gospel. Romans 11:28 even says, they are enemies of God for your sake.
Later Christians didn’t bother with nuance. They took Paul’s words as a license for anti-Jewish hatred. From medieval pogroms to the Holocaust, Paul’s verses were quoted to justify persecution.
Jesus was Jewish. His disciples were Jewish. His whole ministry was within Judaism. But Paul’s framing helped detach Christianity from its roots and fed a toxic legacy of antisemitism. Instead of building bridges, he burned them.
Paul did not think he was teaching something that contradicted Jesus, but in fact his message was in many ways different from what Jesus himself proclaimed. Bart D. Ehrman, 2012, Did Jesus Exist?
Paul the Theologian of Control
Take a step back, and you see the pattern. Paul’s letters didn’t free people. They tightened chains.
Women: be silent and submit.
Slaves: obey your masters.
Gay people: your love is shameful.
Humanity: you’re born guilty.
Believers: faith alone is enough, so stop asking questions.
That’s not Jesus’ kingdom of love. That’s a manual for control.
Paul didn’t just twist the message; he built a whole theology where authority rules over freedom, fear rules over love, and guilt rules over joy.
Jesus preached the coming kingdom of God; Paul preached Jesus as the coming king. In so doing, Paul transformed the religion of Jesus into a religion about Jesus. Geza Vermes, 2012, Christian Beginnings: From Nazareth to Nicaea
Jesus vs. Paul: Two Different Religions
Line them up side by side, and it’s like two different faiths.
Jesus: Love your neighbor. Paul: Women, stay silent.
Jesus: Set the captives free. Paul: Slaves, obey your masters.
Jesus: Blessed are the meek. Paul: Submit to your husband.
Jesus: Judge a tree by its fruit. Paul: Faith alone is enough.
Jesus: Do to others as you’d have them do to you. Paul: Gays are against nature.
Which one looks like good news? Which one looks like bad religion?
Paul is not the second founder of Christianity. He is the first. It was he who turned Jesus the Jew into the Christ of the Gentiles. Hyam Maccoby, 1986, The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity
Why Paul Won
So why did Paul’s version take over? Simple. Power.
After Jesus died, his brother James and the Jerusalem community tried to keep his Jewish-rooted message alive. But Rome crushed Jewish Christianity in 70 CE. Meanwhile, Paul’s Gentile churches spread across the empire, detached from the temple, easier to sell to non-Jews.
Paul’s religion fit the Roman world better: hierarchy, order, obedience. It was built for empire. And empire always wins.
By the time the Church grew into Rome’s official religion, Paul’s theology was the blueprint. Jesus’ radical love was sidelined, buried under Paul’s rules.
Who Cares?
This isn’t dusty history. Paul’s fingerprints are all over Christianity today.
Women still fight for ordination because Paul’s words lock them out.
Gay Christians are still told their love is sin because Paul said so.
Churches still guilt people with “you were born sinful” because Paul invented it.
Preachers still cry “faith alone” while ignoring justice because Paul gave them cover.
Antisemitism still simmers because Paul fed it centuries ago.
If Christianity looks more like Paul than Jesus, no wonder it’s driving people away.
Before You Go
Some Christians say Paul expanded Jesus’ message to the world. But looking at the damage, it’s fair to ask: did he save Christianity, or did he sabotage it?
Jesus preached love, mercy, and justice. Paul layered on rules, guilt, and hierarchy. Jesus healed. Paul controlled. Jesus spoke about God’s kingdom on earth. Paul obsessed over sin, flesh, and formulas.
If Christianity is supposed to be about Jesus, then why is it Paul’s voice that dominates?
Maybe the real question isn’t “How did Paul shape Christianity?” but “How much of Christianity is even left of Jesus?”
Sources and Further Reading
Paul the Apostle and women
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_the_Apostle_and_womenPaul the Apostle: Did his homosexuality shape Christianity?
https://qspirit.net/apostle-paul-homosexuality/Did the Apostle Paul Condone Slavery?
https://sharedveracity.net/2021/10/10/did-the-apostle-paul-condone-slavery/Paul and the Sin of Anti-Semitism
https://www.paulineuk.org/blog/item/Paul-and-the-Sin-of-Anti-SemitismThe Apostle Paul on The Impact of Salvation By Faith Alone
https://reasonabletheology.org/apostle-paul-impact-salvation-faith-alone/Galatians 3:28
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galatians_3%3A28Paul’s Letter to the Romans….Daniel Patte
https://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/religious_studies/109/romansgbc.htm
It might not make much difference, because the text was swallowed wholesale by the Church, but some of those writings in Paul were added by others and even contradicted Paul in some instances.