good morning! About a thousand pages ago neo very politely asked me to post some references to where Paul did not claim to be spreading the word of Jesus. Let me interupt here to answer his request.
I generally do not quote scripture but since you demanded... taken from the NSRV.
From the earliest dated letter circa 50 C.E. Thessalonians 2:8 "So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us." It's interesting to note the salutation in Thessalonians which does not claim any apostolic authority.
circa 54 C.E. Philemon is clearly written by Paul, from Paul. The salutation claims to be from a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother. Also circa 54 C.E. Philippians is from "Paul and Timothy, servants (Greek slaves) of Christ Jesus.
The later letters to the Galatians, Corinthians, and Romans claim an apostolic authority not seen in the earlier letters and might come from disagreements he had with the twelve original apostles, particularly Peter (see below).
Independent of Paul's claim, the author of Luke/Acts claims there were 12 apostles and when Judas was replaced by Matthias to fulfill the scripture and bringing the number of apostles back to 12 (Acts 1:20-26). Luke/Acts refers to the apostles and to Paul but not to Paul as an apostle - a status he claims for himself and feels compelled to justify in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, "For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them - though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether than it was I or they, so we proclaim and show you have come to believe.
By the last letter with undisputed authorship (Romans, circa 56-57) he was in full glory claiming to be "set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures...to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name". He has clearly separated himself from the Jews and Jewish Christians.
With regard to teaching a message that was not Jesus' look to the rivalry between Peter and Paul. Peter did not approve of Paul's eating openly with those who did not keep kosher, or with Paul's assertion that Christians need not be circumcised. Paul felt that gentiles should nnot be forced to live like Jews in order to become Christian. Peter represents a closer connection to Jesus. Peter was a close companion cand confidnat of Jesus until his arrest, Paul, in all probability, never met Jesus other than through his vision. Paul apparently remained alienated from 'the twelve' or super-apostles and felt the sting of perceived inferiority, which he strikes back at in 2 Corinthians 11 and 12.
In Galatians 1 and 2, Paul takes on his differences between himself and 'the twelve', Peter in particular, claiming personal revelations, and no help from 'the others'. The animosity between Paul and the original apostles seems to have continued. Some scholars feel that the formation of the canonical Gospels during the 4th century, which exclude Paul's message, was intentional and gave greater weight to the canonical four, even though they appear to be written later.
