Kierkegaard caught Protestantism's adulation of genius as it displayed itself in the insipid state-church Lutheranism of Denmark. In his day scholars and preachers deliberated on the apostle Paul's supposed genius. If St. Paul is to be regarded as a genius, then things look pretty bleak for him. As a genius St. Paul cannot be compared with either Plato or Shakespeare, as a coiner of beautiful similes he comes pretty low down in the scale . . . S. K. highlights three basic differences between a genius and an apostle.
Genius brings forth something new, but it is eventually assimilated and advanced upon by humanity.
The apostle Paul has something new to bring as well, but it can never be assimilated and advanced upon by humanity. The message of the apostle remains new for eternity. A man may have reached the age of discretion long ago, when suddenly he is called to be an apostle. Divine authority is, qualitatively, the decisive factor. It is not by evaluating the content of the doctrine aesthetically or intellectually. . . .