It is sometimes incorrectly thought that because Paul was not a follower of Jesus' during his ministry in Palestine, he knew little about him his teaching, compared to the other apostles. Careful reading of P letters disproves this. The fact of his violent hostility to the early Church when he was still a Pharisee indicates that even then he knew enough about the influence of Jesus Christ and his followers to consider it necessary to fight against it. Sometime after his conversion, he met Peter from whom he says he obtained information, and James, of the f of the Lord (Galatians 1: 18-19). He kept in touch with the apostles, visiting the Jerusalem Church several times (Galatians 2: 1, Romans 15:25, 1 Corinthians 16:3-4). He was obviously very familiar with the early preaching and teaching of the Church, from very many references in his letters. The first written account of the Last Supper is in 1 Corinthians 11:23-25. There are passing references to Jesus' ancestry from David (Romans I: 3), Jesus' birth (Galatians 4:4), Jesus' family (I Corinthians 9:5, Galatians I: 19), and Jesus' character (2 Corinthians 10:1, Romans 5:19, Philippians 2:8). Romans 12, 13, 14 and I Thessalonians 5 clearly reflect the teaching of Jesus at point after point, on the behaviour expected of the follower of Jesus.

The Gospel of Christ, as Paul understood it, is the Good News of the salvation which God has provided for the sinner through Christ's incarnation, death, resurrection and living power.