What does Paul talk about in contrast to the Gospels?
Paul talks about the crucified, buried, and risen Lord who is now ascended to glory. He preaches Christ crucified, and all he knows is the work of the cross. The Gospels, by contrast, present Christ before the cross, under the Law, before the atoning blood, not the Gospel of Grace.
Les explains that Paul made a big deal over having seen and heard these things from the resurrected Christ. If a person stays in the Gospels, there is nothing wrong with reading them, but that was Christ before the work of the cross, before the atoning blood was shed, and under the Law. Everything Jesus said then was in accordance with the Judaic legal system, with nothing of the Gospel of Grace; Peter carried that on in the early ministry of Acts. Paul, by contrast, talks only about the crucified, buried, and risen Lord now ascended to glory. Paul says, “We preach Christ crucified,” and all he knows is the work of the cross. The little Jewish epistles—James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1 and 2 John, Jude, and Revelation—do not even mention the word cross, because for them it was not the pinnacle of information as it is with Paul.