Was Paul a social crusader or moral reformer, and what did he actually preach?
Paul was neither a social crusader nor a moral reformer; he was not a politician or great moralist. He preached the Gospel of the grace of God—a new revelation for the Gentiles not based on Judaism, the Law, or the Old Testament. By simply preaching that Gospel, he turned the Roman Empire upside down.
Les explains that before his conversion Paul hated everything associated with the Christ of Calvary and thought he was destroying Judaism. But God in grace saved him on the road to Damascus and immediately gave instructions that he would go to the Gentiles with a whole new format—not based on Judaism, the Law, or the Old Testament, but on a new revelation of new truths never mooted before. Sent among pagan Gentiles, he was constantly confronted with abject immorality, yet out of that wickedness he turned the Roman Empire upside down by simply preaching the Gospel. He wasn't a crusader, politician, or great moralist; he preached the Gospel of the grace of God. Later, imprisoned because of his apostleship, he would write the next three letters. He was an apostle not by his own volition but by the will of God, writing to the saints—the believer, the Christian.