Paul, Mary, and the Meaning of Suffering – A Look into Karen King's Commentary
From The Gospel of Mary of Magdala by Karen L. King, Chapter 11
A Note to the Reader
If you’ve ever flinched when someone says “there is no such thing as sin,” you’re not alone—and you’re not wrong to pause. For many, sin names real harm, real injustice, real rupture. But in the Gospel of Mary, what’s being challenged isn’t morality or accountability—it’s the framework. What if sin isn’t a stain to be cleansed by punishment, but a misunderstanding of who we are? What if the “bad news” is forgetting we are divine, and the “good news” is remembering?
This chapter doesn’t offer answers meant to replace yours—it offers a parallel vision, drawn from the earliest struggles of Christian identity. And as Karen King shows, it’s not heresy. It’s history.
The Setup: Two Competing Gospels
Chapter 11 of King’s book sets Mary Magdalene and Paul side by side—not as enemies, but as architects of two distinct blueprints for salvation. They share terminology (spirit, flesh, death, resurrection), but not the same meanings. This isn’t just a doctrinal disagreement; it’s a full-blown cosmological divergence.
Paul’s gospel hinges on the transformed body, the resurrection, and suffering as purification. Mary’s gospel centers on the soul’s liberation from worldly attachments. If Paul says, “Die with Christ to live again,” Mary says, “Awaken to what never died.”
Paul: Salvation Through the Spirit-Transformed Body
One challenge readers often raise is the ambiguity of what kind of "body" gets resurrected. Is it your child body? Teenager body? Elderly body? And what does it mean to be resurrected bodily in light of Paul’s own teaching that “there is no male or female” in Christ (Galatians 3:28)? If resurrection transcends gender and presumably age, then what exactly is being raised? These tensions hint that even Paul may have envisioned a radically transformed state of being—spiritual, not merely anatomical. Paul sees the body not as evil, but as a vessel that must be disciplined and transformed. The ultimate hope is resurrection—not escape from the body, but its transfiguration into a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15). Faith in Christ’s death and resurrection purifies the self and aligns the believer with divine will.
Suffering, in this model, becomes pedagogical. It humbles. It purifies. It shapes the sinner into a servant of God. This thinking later fuels Christian asceticism and martyrdom theology—the idea that pain is spiritually productive.
Mary: The Soul’s Return to the Good
Mary’s gospel flips the script. The body is temporary; the soul infused with spirit is what is truly human. Salvation doesn’t come through suffering but through gnosis—knowledge of the soul’s divine origin. Attachment to the body and the material world produces what we call “sin,” not as crime, but as confusion.
Notably, this vision seems to sidestep traditional notions of reincarnation. There is no suggestion in the Gospel of Mary that the soul cycles through many lifetimes. Instead, the emphasis is on awakening in this life—liberating the soul from illusion so it can return to its source. This return is not repetition, but remembrance.
“The Savior did not teach that his death… atoned for the sins of others,” King explains. “Since sin does not exist, atonement is unnecessary.” Rather, sin is defined as attachment to what deceives—the body, passions, and illusions. To turn from the love of the world to the love of God is to dissolve the power of sin. Mary’s gospel flips the script. The body is temporary; the soul infused with spirit is what is truly human. Salvation doesn’t come through suffering but through gnosis—knowledge of the soul’s divine origin. Attachment to the body and the material world produces what we call “sin,” not as crime, but as confusion.
“The Savior did not teach that his death… atoned for the sins of others,” King explains. “Since sin does not exist, atonement is unnecessary.” Rather, sin is defined as attachment to what deceives—the body, passions, and illusions. To turn from the love of the world to the love of God is to dissolve the power of sin.
Fear of Death and the Early Church
One of King’s most insightful contributions here is her treatment of martyrdom. Where later Christians mythologized the fearless martyr, Mary’s gospel is more honest. The disciples—except Mary—are afraid. Persecution is real. The Romans killed Jesus; why wouldn’t they be next?
Elaine Pagels’ research, cited here, shows how theologies of the body shape attitudes toward death. If the body is essential, then death is terror. But if salvation is release from bodily illusion, martyrdom is just the shedding of skin—not something to seek, but not something to fear.
Mary’s message to the disciples is not “Die bravely,” but “Don’t forget who you are.” She comforts them, not by promising survival, but by pointing to the truth beyond suffering.
Suffering Isn’t Salvific—It’s Just Resistance
In sharp contrast to Paul, the Gospel of Mary does not sacralize suffering. Preaching the gospel may lead to persecution, but that persecution is not spiritually useful. It’s just the world resisting truth.
Suffering doesn’t redeem—it distracts. The goal isn’t to endure pain, but to awaken from the dream that says pain is proof of your faith. “The Gospel of Mary… does not teach that people need to suffer in order to gain salvation, nor do people deserve to suffer because they sin,” King writes.
No Wrathful God, No Hell, No Atonement
If you’re waiting for Mary’s version of hellfire and divine payback, you’ll be waiting a while. There is no wrathful judge here. God is simply “the Good.” There is no hell. No atoning death. No cosmic blood payment. The gospel is not about fear—it’s about release.
A Different Question of Sin
Where Paul sees sin as a cosmic power overcome by Jesus’ sacrificial death, Mary sees it as spiritual forgetfulness. Karen King notes that this can be misunderstood—just as Paul was misread to say morality didn’t matter, Mary could be misread to mean “anything goes.”
But Mary’s gospel is ethically rigorous. Her vision of salvation is rooted in clarity, compassion, and courage. Mary leads not just by teaching, but by standing up to Peter, comforting the disciples, and continuing the work in the face of resistance. She models what it means to live from spiritual maturity.
Conclusion: More Than Just Another Gospel
King doesn’t argue that Paul or Mary "got it wrong." She shows they were each answering the same deep questions—what is the self? what is salvation? what do we do with suffering?—but from different angles, shaped by different communities.
But the Gospel of Mary is more than just another gospel. It’s the sacred memory of a community that recognized Mary Magdalene’s authority at a time when male apostles—and the church structures that followed—actively worked to erase it.
Many today assume the Orthodox Church always honored her as “apostle to the apostles.”
But that title wasn’t bestowed until the 9th century.
Before that? She was written out.
In both East and West, her voice was buried. Her legacy, suppressed.
The Gospel of Mary is not simply alternative theology—it’s evidence of an alternative Christian lineage.
One that remembered Mary not as a footnote, but as the one who understood.
If we were standing there—dust on our sandals, watching the aftermath of the crucifixion—and someone asked,
“Who really got what Jesus was about?”
It wouldn’t be the one who denied him three times and then built an empire (Peter).
It wouldn’t be the one who never met him in life but claimed exclusive rights to interpret him (Paul).
It would be the one who stayed.
The one who saw him first.
The one he called by name in the garden—not to start a church, but to awaken her soul.
The one who understood resurrection before anyone else had even stopped weeping.
You’d have to be willfully blind—or steeped in patriarchal tradition—not to say Mary.
She wasn’t just the apostle to the apostles.
She was the disciple who didn’t need a rebrand.
She didn’t seize power.
She didn’t rewrite doctrine.
She listened.
She remembered.
She knew.
And that’s exactly why they buried her gospel.
No one silences the unimportant.
Meditation
Let us sit in stillness for a moment, breathing in the presence of Mary Magdalene—the one who did not flee, the one who did not forget.
As you inhale, silently say: Mary Magdalene…
As you exhale, silently say: …show me the way.
Breathe with her. Stand with her. Let your soul recall its origin.
Dedication of Merit
May the insight generated by this reflection be offered to all beings caught in shame, control, or silence. May the wisdom that has been suppressed rise again in every heart. And may we, like Mary, have the courage to speak what we have seen.
In her name, and in the name of the Good beyond name—Amen.
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References:
[1] Bruce Chilton, Mary Magdalene: A Biography
[2] The Gospel of Mary, translated by Karen King
Good morning, Alek
I have been quietly asking to remember now since reading your posts. From writing on a theory or maybe a remembrance I wrote the piece "The Garden" that you graciously read and commented on. I wrote another, it is more a prose (poetry) after focusing on remembering.
It`s called "Rise and Shine!" if you`re interested in taking a peek. I am curious of your thoughts on it.
I read your writings every day, for reflection, for insight and for remembrance.
This is so powerful. Thank you for your insights and dedication.