More Similarities between the Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul

compiled by Anthony Wales


[ Note: The following is a sequel to the first article titled 100 Similarities between the Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul. ]


101. Jesus observed the Jewish Law

JESUS: Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. (Matthew 5:17)

PAUL: God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law. (Galatians 4:4)

102. Genesis 2:24 quoted when talking about marriage

JESUS: Some Pharisees came to him, and to test him they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?" He answered, "Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female’, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?" (Matthew 19:3-5)

PAUL: In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, because we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church. Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:28-33)

103. Focus on heaven, not on earthly things

JESUS: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

PAUL: Seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (Colossians 3:1-2)

104. Jesus’ blood saves

JESUS: This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 26:28)

PAUL: God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1:20)

105. New covenant in Jesus

JESUS: This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. (Luke 22:20)

PAUL: He took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood." (1 Corinthians 11:25)

106. Jesus was obedient to the Father

JESUS: I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. (John 6:38)

PAUL: He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death. (Philippians 2:8)

107. Believers are light

JESUS: You are the light of the world. (Matthew 5:14)

PAUL: Once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light. (Ephesians 5:8)

108. Testimony of two or three witnesses

JESUS: If you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. (Matthew 18:16)

PAUL: Never accept any accusation against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. (1 Timothy 5:19)

109. Kingdom of God

JESUS: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news. (Mark 1:15)

PAUL: The kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power. (1 Corinthians 4:20)

110. Death called "sleep"

JESUS: He told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him." The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right." Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead." (John 11:11-14)

PAUL: He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15:6)

111. Works called "fruit"

JESUS: Beware of false prophets, who comes to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. (Matthew 7:15-17)

PAUL: You have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. (Romans 7:4-5)

112. God is Creator

JESUS: From the beginning of creation, "God made them male and female." (Mark 10:6)

PAUL: What can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. (Romans 1:19-20)

113. Evil comes from the heart

JESUS: What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. (Matthew 15:18-19)

PAUL: God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity. (Romans 1:24)

114. Whoever listens to the apostles listens to Jesus and God (the Father)

JESUS: Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me. (Luke 10:16)

PAUL: Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ... I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you... We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word. (1 Corinthians 11:1, 23 and 1 Thessalonians 2:13)

115. The Law is completed with the coming of the Gospel

JESUS: The law and the prophets were in effect until John came; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone tries to enter it by force. (Luke 16:16)

PAUL: Before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. (Galatians 3:23-26)

116. The Scriptures point to Jesus

JESUS: You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life... If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say? (John 5:39-40, 46-47)

PAUL: From morning until evening he explained the matter to them, and testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the law of Moses and from the prophets. (Acts 28:23)

117. The Church

JESUS: I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build by Church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)

PAUL: If I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15)

118. The Church is built on the apostles

JESUS: I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven... Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven... Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. (Matthew 16:18-19, 18:18, 28:19-20)

PAUL: You are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. (Ephesians 2:19-20)

119. Christians should be one

JESUS: Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one... I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one... The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one. (John 17:11, 20, 22-23)

PAUL: I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you should be in agreement and that there should be no division among you, but that you should be united in the same mind and the same purpose. (1 Corinthians 1:10)

120. The existence of angels

JESUS: Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. (John 1:51)

PAUL: In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels, I warn you to keep these instructions without prejudice. (1 Timothy 5:21)

121. False messengers described as wolves

JESUS: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. (Matthew 7:15)

PAUL: I know that after I have gone, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Some even from your own group will come distorting the truth in order to entice the disciples to follow them. (Acts 20:29-30)

122. The existence of demons

JESUS: If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. (Matthew 12:28)

PAUL: I imply that what pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. (1 Corinthians 10:20)

123. The enemy will produce great signs and omens to lead people astray

JESUS: False messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. (Matthew 24:24)

PAUL: The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs, lying wonders, and every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10)

124. Those who endure will be saved

JESUS: By your endurance you will gain your souls. (Luke 21:19)

PAUL: If we endure, we will also reign with him. (2 Timothy 2:12)

125. Leave everything and follow Jesus

JESUS: If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me... Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life. (Matthew 19:21, 29)

PAUL: Whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:7-11)

126. The resurrection of the dead comes through Jesus Christ

JESUS: I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. (John 11:25-26)

PAUL: In fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:20-23)

127. Jesus Christ has power to do all

JESUS: Whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomsoever he wishes. (John 5:19-21)

PAUL: Our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation so that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)

128. Judging others

JESUS: Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgement you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? (Matthew 7:1-3)

PAUL: You have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things... Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? (Romans 2:1, 3)

129. Nothing can separate believers from Jesus Christ

JESUS: My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:27-28)

PAUL: Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? …I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35, 38-39)

130. The devil tempts people

JESUS: Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’." (Matthew 4:1, 7)

PAUL: Devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. (1 Corinthians 7:5)

131. Jesus proclaims peace

JESUS: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you." Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you." (John 14:27, 20:19-21)

PAUL: He came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. (Ephesians 2:17)

132. Believers are reborn, are a new creation with a new life

JESUS: Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:3-6)

PAUL: If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you... If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (Romans 8:11 and 2 Corinthians 5:17)

133. Angels saw Jesus Christ’s life on earth

JESUS: Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him... Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength... He said to him, "Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." (Matthew 4:11, Luke 22:43, and John 1:51)

PAUL: He was revealed in flesh, vindicated in spirit, seen by angels. (1 Timothy 3:16)


Readers are welcome to send me similarities between Jesus and Paul that are not listed in these two articles. More similarities will occasionally be added to this article as I come across them and/or other people bring them to my attention.

Who is Jesus?
The Apostle Paul
Articles by Anthony Wales
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