It has been absurdly suggested by John Stuart Mill, and others,[66] that Paul originated the dogmatic doctrines of Christianity. Now we know that Paul, in the early years of his ministry, communicated with James, Peter, and John, at Jerusalem, respecting that gospel which he was preaching among the Gentiles; for he writes to that effect in his unquestioned epistle to the Galatians, and tells them that when "those three apostles, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to him, they gave to him and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship." Would John and Peter and James have done this if the miraculous gospel Paul told them he was preaching was inconsistent with their own knowledge of the circumstances and events in Christ's life of which they were all eye-witnesses? [66] "Nothing can be more false than the fashionable notion of our day that Paul was the author of Christianity. The true founder of Christianity was Jesus."--_Rénan_ ("The Apostles," p. 3). We have John writing a book before the destruction of Jerusalem, and Paul an epistle before the reign of Nero, and they both bear testimony to the fact that Jesus was the Messiah of Jewish prophecy, who descended into our world to be its Saviour and Redeemer by the sacrifice of His life on the cross--His miraculous resurrection from the dead being the attestation of His atoning work, while His promise to come again to earth in like manner as He was seen to go away, they both relied upon with implicit confidence. As early as the year 52 Paul writes from Corinth to the Thessalonians, reminding them "how they turned from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come;"[67] and he charges them by the Lord that this epistle be read in all the Churches in Macedonia.[68] Its genuineness has never been questioned. [67] 1 Thess. i. 9. [68] Ibid. i. 27. Thus it is quite certain that Paul, at the commencement and throughout his ministry, preached the dogmatic doctrines of the Divinity of Christ, the resurrection, the atonement, the depravity of human nature, justification by faith, and the work of the Holy Spirit in renewing and sanctifying the souls of men, which constituted the Christianity of the first three centuries, and undoubtedly emanated--not from the depths of Paul's moral consciousness, but from the events, Divine utterances, and superhuman circumstances which were the theme of the earliest Christian records.[69] The Apocalypse is absolute proof as to how they originated, and that they were prevalent when it was written. [69] Paul tells the Thessalonians he is thankful that they received what he preached as the word of God, not as the word of men.