The Gospel According to Paul: Part 2

It was a while ago that I wrote The Gospel According to Paul: Part 1. You may want to read it before you continue on with this, but hopefully this will stand alone also. I write this series because there are many Christians these days that emphasize the red letter parts of the New Testament and down play or suggest that Paul was not an apostle really connected to the actual message of Jesus. And, quite frankly, it is easy to see why one would arrive at that conclusion by reading the content of two messages that seem to be different. Many liberal theologians have suggested that the Christianity of Christ and Paul is different, and that Paul is responsible for the Christianity that exists today, especially in evangelical circles.

The truth is that there is but one gospel and that progressive revelation unveils more and more as the pages of the New Testament expand. The reason for this was that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah during his earthly mission. In fact he stated that his mission was strictly to the Jews under the Mosaic Covenant. He even asked a Gentile woman at one time should he give the children's bread to the dogs, meaning  should he give the message meant for the Jews to the Gentiles. There was a reason, he was sent strictly to the Jews under the Old Covenant as the fulfillment of the Messianic promises and prophecies.

Mat 15:22-28 CSB "Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.”  (23)  Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples approached him and urged him, “Send her away because she’s crying out after us.”  (24)  He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  (25)  But she came, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, help me!”  (26)  He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”  (27)  “Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”  (28)  Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment her daughter was healed." 

Now, while he rewarded her faith, he maintained that his mission and message was to the Jews only. The gospel was to be given to the Jews first, and then to the Gentiles. When Jesus sent out the seventy, he told them specifically not to go to the Gentiles. During the earthly sojourn of Christ the gospel was strictly for the Jews under the Mosaic Covenant. And yet, Jesus prophesied that ultimately, because of the fact that the Jews would reject Him as Messiah, the gospel would go to the Gentiles.

Fast forward to after the resurrection: Pentecost, the gospel still only was available to the Jews.  All of those who were baptized with the Spirit were Jews. In fact, the first nine chapters of the book of Acts was solely about Jews and the gospel of grace. From Pentecost forward, the gospel of the kingdom was in fact the gospel of God's grace. It is the tenth chapter of Acts where the narrative changes a bit. Peter is miraculously sent to Cornelius' house. There, the Gentiles as a group, first heard the gospel message, and upon hearing it, they were given the Spirit of God similarly to the Jews at Pentecost. There was a difference however, the believing Jews had been baptized by John the Baptizer and they received the Holy Spirit at nine in the morning on Pentecost. The Jews that heard Peter's sermon, asked what they could do? Peter told them to repent and be baptized in Jesus name and they would receive the Holy Spirit, and there were about three thousand that day added to the church. However, at Cornelius house, the Gentiles received the Holy Spirit upon hearing and believing the message Peter preached and were baptized afterward.

In both instances, the gospel that was preached by Peter was solely the message of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Peter did not rehearse the teaching that Jesus had given to the Jews during his ministry. For him as for Paul, the gospel was the good news of the reconciliation God provided by the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The first four books of the New Testament known as the gospels, mostly refer to events that happened before the cross/resurrection event. This makes the bulk of their content Mosaic Covenant in nature. While the teaching of Jesus is timeless it was solely to Jews under the Old Covenant.

Paul was given progressive revelation. He was called the apostle to the Gentiles and he was specifically given understanding for what he called the "new creation." Jesus spoke of the new creation in less specific terms in John chapter three. He told Nicodemus that he must be born again.  Nicodemus did not understand it at the time but Jesus was really speaking to him about the new creation... i.e., being born of the Spirit. He also said that his kingdom was not of this world. That can only mean that it is a spiritual kingdom if it has reign in this world. Thus when Paul spoke of the kingdom of God, he did so with progressive revelation that went beyond the time when Jesus ministered solely to the Jews under the Mosaic Covenant.

To wrap this up let me state that from both part one and two, again I would suggest reading part one and two as a whole even though there is some distance in time between the two posts, Paul's understanding of the gospel of the kingdom is based upon spiritual reconciliation. While as pointed out in part one, salvation has two meanings... one is physical salvation from the impending destruction of the temple... and the other is spiritual salvation which is synonymous with reconciliation. The true kingdom of God is the one in which reconciliation has taken place and is completed. The only thing that humanity has to do with this situation is apprehend it by faith.