Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Paul wrote first. The Gospels came decades later. So why does the Gospel Jesus keep saying things that read like Paul's letters — sometimes on the same topics, in the same order, resolving the same disputes in Paul's churches?
Richard Carrier joins me to work through the connections between Paul's epistles and the Jesus of the Gospels: where the parallels are, how tight they are, and which direction the borrowing runs. If Mark built his Jesus partly out of Paul, that reverses the usual assumption that Paul is echoing sayings he inherited from a historical teacher.
Some of what we get into:
- Food laws — Romans 14:14, 20 ("nothing is unclean in itself") and Mark 7:19 ("thus he declared all foods clean")
- Divorce — 1 Corinthians 7:10-11, where Paul cites a command "from the Lord," and Mark 10:11-12
- The Last Supper — 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Paul's version "received from the Lord," and Mark 14:22-25
- Taxes and Caesar — Romans 13:1-7 and Mark 12:13-17
- Resurrection bodies — 1 Corinthians 15:35-50 and Mark 12:18-27
- Love fulfilling the law — Romans 13:8-10, Galatians 5:14, and Mark 12:28-34
- "Abba, Father" — Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6, and Mark 14:36
- Faith that moves mountains — 1 Corinthians 13:2 and Mark 11:23
- The laborer's wages — 1 Corinthians 9:14, quoted as scripture at 1 Timothy 5:18, appearing as a saying of Jesus at Luke 10:7
- Peter, James and John as "pillars" in Galatians 2:9 and Mark's inner circle
- What Paul says his information source actually was (Galatians 1:11-12) and why that matters
Plus the obvious objection: parallels run both ways, so what distinguishes Mark using Paul from Paul echoing Jesus? We take that seriously rather than waving it off.
Carrier's summary of the case: "the sayings and teachings of Jesus in Mark were adapted from what began as the teachings of Paul... the sequence of causation appears to have gone the other way." (The Obsolete Paradigm of the "Historical Jesus")
CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
FURTHER READING
Richard Carrier, "Mark's Use of Paul's Epistles" — richardcarrier.info/archives/15934
Richard Carrier, On the Historicity of Jesus (Sheffield Phoenix, 2014), ch. 10
Richard Carrier, The Obsolete Paradigm of the "Historical Jesus" (2025)
Tom Dykstra, Mark: Canonizer of Paul (OCABS, 2012)
Thomas Nelligan, The Quest for Mark's Sources: An Exploration of the Case for Mark's Use of First Corinthians (Pickwick, 2015)
David Oliver Smith, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Paul: The Influence of the Epistles on the Synoptic Gospels (Resource, 2011)
Eve-Marie Becker et al., eds., Mark and Paul: For and Against Pauline Influence on Mark (De Gruyter, 2014)
Richard Carrier's blog: richardcarrier.info
#RichardCarrier #ApostlePaul #BiblicalScholarship #HistoricalJesus #NewTestament
Want to stand up and use your voice like this? Check out Streamyard!
streamyard.com/pal/d/5461246688624640
Paul wrote first. The Gospels came decades later. So why does the Gospel Jesus keep saying things that read like Paul's letters — sometimes on the same topics, in the same order, resolving the same disputes in Paul's churches?
Richard Carrier joins me to work through the connections between Paul's epistles and the Jesus of the Gospels: where the parallels are, how tight they are, and which direction the borrowing runs. If Mark built his Jesus partly out of Paul, that reverses the usual assumption that Paul is echoing sayings he inherited from a historical teacher.
Some of what we get into:
- Food laws — Romans 14:14, 20 ("nothing is unclean in itself") and Mark 7:19 ("thus he declared all foods clean")
- Divorce — 1 Corinthians 7:10-11, where Paul cites a command "from the Lord," and Mark 10:11-12
- The Last Supper — 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Paul's version "received from the Lord," and Mark 14:22-25
- Taxes and Caesar — Romans 13:1-7 and Mark 12:13-17
- Resurrection bodies — 1 Corinthians 15:35-50 and Mark 12:18-27
- Love fulfilling the law — Romans 13:8-10, Galatians 5:14, and Mark 12:28-34
- "Abba, Father" — Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6, and Mark 14:36
- Faith that moves mountains — 1 Corinthians 13:2 and Mark 11:23
- The laborer's wages — 1 Corinthians 9:14, quoted as scripture at 1 Timothy 5:18, appearing as a saying of Jesus at Luke 10:7
- Peter, James and John as "pillars" in Galatians 2:9 and Mark's inner circle
- What Paul says his information source actually was (Galatians 1:11-12) and why that matters
Plus the obvious objection: parallels run both ways, so what distinguishes Mark using Paul from Paul echoing Jesus? We take that seriously rather than waving it off.
Carrier's summary of the case: "the sayings and teachings of Jesus in Mark were adapted from what began as the teachings of Paul... the sequence of causation appears to have gone the other way." (The Obsolete Paradigm of the "Historical Jesus")
CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
FURTHER READING
Richard Carrier, "Mark's Use of Paul's Epistles" — richardcarrier.info/archives/15934
Richard Carrier, On the Historicity of Jesus (Sheffield Phoenix, 2014), ch. 10
Richard Carrier, The Obsolete Paradigm of the "Historical Jesus" (2025)
Tom Dykstra, Mark: Canonizer of Paul (OCABS, 2012)
Thomas Nelligan, The Quest for Mark's Sources: An Exploration of the Case for Mark's Use of First Corinthians (Pickwick, 2015)
David Oliver Smith, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Paul: The Influence of the Epistles on the Synoptic Gospels (Resource, 2011)
Eve-Marie Becker et al., eds., Mark and Paul: For and Against Pauline Influence on Mark (De Gruyter, 2014)
Richard Carrier's blog: richardcarrier.info
#RichardCarrier #ApostlePaul #BiblicalScholarship #HistoricalJesus #NewTestament
Want to stand up and use your voice like this? Check out Streamyard!
streamyard.com/pal/d/5461246688624640
