The Central Difference
The central difference between Yeshua's teaching and Paul's church was in justification by faith. Paul believed the statement in Ephesians 2:8: "You have been saved by God's love and kindness because you believed. It was not because of anything you did, but it was a gift from God."
Yeshua said repeatedly what was reported in John 3:3: "'I tell you the truth. No person can see God's kingdom if he is not born again.'" And in another form in Luke 17:20-21: "The kingdom of God does not come visibly, nor will people say 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." Humankind was to develop its own salvation by changing within. No one would give it to a person as a gift.
Yeshua promised the transformation would require work: "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matthew 7: 13-14) Spiritual development, Yeshua assured us, was going to be hard. He described the thought and behavior that should be characteristic of a spiritual person, but said it would take work to attain it. He never suggested that all a person had to do was swear allegiance to him and nothing else would be required.
A few passages later in Matthew, Yeshua is reported to have said, "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." (Matthew 7: 24-27)
Yeshua gave the blueprint, but it would require that those receiving it build the house by putting the lessons "into practice." That means someone might hear the words and have the belief in Yeshua as the Messiah so they build a house on the words, but if the person doesn't grow spiritually, the words are meaningless--they have a foundation of sand, Yeshua said. He made a point of contrasting the two approaches to his teaching: belief is not sufficient, he said; spiritual growth is necessary.
Yeshua asserts elsewhere that simply making a statement of belief is insufficient to achieve what he describes: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' (Matthew 7:21-27) Evildoers is an appropriate name for many in the church today who confess belief, but whose actions defy Yeshua's words about living in love; that is especially true of those who sexually abuse children or protect the perpetrators.
Yeshua states explicitly that the person who will live in the kingdom of God that is within, for eternity, is the one who loves God and loves his neighbor:
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"What is written in the Law?" [Jesus] replied. "How do you read it?"
He answered: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind"; and, "Love your neighbor as yourself."
"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." (Luke 10:25-37)
Yeshua makes no mention of believing in him as the Messiah as a requirement to inherit eternal life, even when asked directly what one must do!
Because a believer in Paul's church needed only make a statement of belief to fulfill all the requirements of Paul's Christianity, no expectation of spiritual growth was included in the new church. Not surprisingly, after two millennia of Paul's church, little advancement in spiritual maturity among Christians and in the church as a whole has resulted. Neither the church nor the believers have been able to see the kingdom of God within as Yeshua described it. The societies founded on Paul's teaching bear no resemblance to the kingdom of God in Yeshua's teaching.
