There is no need to read the letters of Paul through Gospel-tinted glasses. Indeed, what mythicists seem to do is make it an unquestionable methodological principle that what Paul wrote cannot converge with what the Gospels say no matter how natural it might be to interpret them as doing so. Otherwise it is difficult to explain the convoluted efforts to make Paul’s reference to Jesus as “of the seed of David according to the flesh” mean something other than that he believed this man was the awaited anointed one from the line of David who would restore his dynasty to the throne, as such language widely meant in Judaism. And of course, that Paul maintained this belief despite Jesus’ apparent disqualification through crucifixion is one of the signs that he is not merely concocting a belief system, but participating in one that was struggling with the cognitive dissonance caused by real-world events and religious expectations clashing.