Paul found a theology that helped him understand Jesus' mission.After listening to the gospel preached by the Apostles of Jesus, the impression Paul was left with was that the Apostles were preaching about a different Jesus and, for that matter, he considered them as false apostles. (II Cor. 11:4 -6, 13)
The illiterate fishermen who followed Jesus around were not theologians. They did not use concepts like "died for our sins" or saw Jesus as divine. That interpretation came later.