Paul was well aware of many details about the life of Christ. Some of what we have labeled allusions and echoes can be explained in some alternate way, but enough parallels between Jesus and Paul are secure enough to refute those who would say Paul knows little or nothing about the historical Jesus. Yet the question remains, why didn't Paul cite Jesus much more often and plainly? Six factors go a long way toward answering this question.

First, we must remember that none of Paul's letters represents first-time evangelism of unsaved people or even the beginning of the discipleship process for brand-new Christians... Second, none of the rest of the New Testament epistles has any greater frequency in using the Gospel tradition of Jesus's words and deeds... Third, following from these first two points, early Christian epistles were apparently not the preferred genre or context for catechetical instruction about the life and teaching of Jesus...Fourth, as briefly noted above, Jesus's followers, quickly recognized that the most important features of his life were his death and resurrection... Fifth, the sense of divine inspiration or guidance that Paul experienced would have freed him up to write in the words he sensed he was supposed to use... Sixth, on more than one occasion Paul has to stress that he has as much authority as the apostles in Jerusalem do, against those who doubt or oppose him (esp. Galatians 1-2; cf. Acts 15).