Indeed, as the Holy Spirit made it clear the same gospel Paul preached was preached by Cephas and the 11, though Paul mainly provided the theology behind it, and interpretive of the gospels.
But we have been thru the Paul vs. Peter thing before, someplace.
Here is a quick chart written today, praise God.
|
The gospel of Paul |
The gospel of Peter |
Comments |
|
• Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) • For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the unGodly. (Romans 5:6) Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:31) (Acts 26:8) |
• Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. (Acts 2:23-24) • And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly; (Acts 10:39-40) • For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18) |
Both Peter and Paul preached the atoning death of the Lord Jesus.Christ, and His burial and resurrection. |
|
• Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:21) • Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judæa, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. (Acts 26:19-20) • And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: (Acts 14:15) • That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9-10) • In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: (Colossians 1:14) |
• Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. (Acts 3:26) • Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 2:38 • To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. (Acts 10:43) • |
Both Peter and Paul preach repentance and faith for the forgiveness of sins. Note that there is not real difference between confessing the Lord Jesus by moving one's tongue versus moving one's legs to be baptized, and in neither case is there any credit for man. For God both enables and motivates man to believe, drawing and convicting the soul, (Jn. 6:44; 12:32; 16:9) opening the heart (Acts 16:14) and granting repentant faith. (Acts 11:18; Eph. 2:8,9) |
|
• For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9) • Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:5) • In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, (Ephesians 1:13) |
• And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. (Acts 15:7-11) • Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1 Peter 1:18-19) |
Both Peter and Paul preached the washing of regeneration by faith, in contrast to the Law. |
|
• ...when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter; (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)...they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. (Galatians 2:7-8,9b) • For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26-28) |
• For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. (Acts 2:38-39) • And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. (Acts 10:28) • Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? (Acts 10:47) |
Both Peter and Paul preached one gospel toward both Jews and Gentiles, and baptized them accordingly. |
|
• Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. (Titus 2:14) • Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4) |
• Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24) |
Both Peter and Paul preached the atoning death as purposed to bring about practical holiness. |
|
Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:31) |
And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. (Acts 10:42) |
Both Peter and Paul preached that the Lord Jesus would come to be judge of living and dead. |
I'll take it from the beginning: The first point states that both Peter and Paul preached the atoning death of Jesus Christ and His burial and resurrection. Peter did not preach the cross and Christ's death as GOOD NEWS. Read the sermon again. Peter at Pentecost had ACCUSED his hearers of crucifying Christ and had DEMANDED repentance and baptism for the remission of sins.(Acts 2:23,36,38). Paul proclaimed the crucifixion of Christ as GOOD NEWS (1 Cor. 1:18).
Question: IF Peter preached the same gospel of the grace of God as Paul, why did Peter demand repentance and water baptism FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS? Peter referred to the crucifixion, BUT DID NOT OFFER IT FOR SALVATION. Read his sermon again to see this important point. Without preaching the cross as our salvation, there is no gospel of the grace of God. Christ was set forth to be a propitiation THROUGH FAITH IN HIS BLOOD (Rom. 3:25). THAT'S THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD.
As an aside, did those who heard Peter's Pentecost sermon repent, get baptized and rejoice in the fact that they were now IN CHRIST? That their inheritance was in heaven and they were now all filled with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places? No. They repented, were baptized, sold everything they had, and waited for Christ to return to set up His kingdom. They did this because they knew prophecy and they knew the covenants God made with Abraham and David and they knew they were going to enter the millennial kingdom with Christ ruling. Is there anyone who can see this and see it's NOT part of the gospel of the grace of God, which pertains to heavenly blessings, but it IS part of the kingdom gospel which pertains to Israel, the Messiah, His kingdom, and their priesthood to the Gentiles.
What Peter DID demand was demanded in the gospel of the kingdom though. So which gospel did he preach? One that DID include water baptism and repentance. NOT faith in the finished work of Christ, that He died FOR OUR SINS, or that faith in Him would place us, by the Holy Spirit, into the Body of Christ.
1st Peter 3:18 is mentioned. THIS is about grace. But look when it was written, AFTER PAUL WAS SAVED, AFTER PAUL WENT TO JERUSALEM and communicated unto them (Peter, James and John) THAT GOSPEL that he preached among the Gentiles. They PERCEIVED THE GRACE THAT WAS GIVEN TO HIM and gave him the right hands of fellowship. Galatians Chapter 2. All of it. They learned the message (That gospel I preach among the Gentiles, Paul said) HERE. From Paul.
Acts 26:19-20: "Works meet for repentance. Not works meet for salvation. Where is the "baptism for the REMISSION OF SINS"? that Peter preached? " Peter said "repent and be baptized FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS. He did NOT say "Should be baptized" or "if you feel led to be baptized". He said that remission of sins demanded 1)repentance and 2)baptism. This is what God's word PLAINLY states. Paul in no place states that repentance is demanded for remission of sins. Or baptism. Once again, one gospel DID demand these very things: the gospel of the kingdom. The gospel of the grace of God did NOT. THEY ARE DIFFERENT.
Cornelius. Did Peter go to him as part of the great commission Christ gave them? Christ told them to go to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. So Peter must have jumped at the chance to go to a Gentile with the gospel. Acts Chapter 10 says differently. First he had to be given a VISION. He "rehearsed the matter". He "doubted in himself what this vision should mean. He had to be given the vision 3 times. For someone who understood that he was to take the gospel to all the nations, he sure did not act that way. If he already had been told what to do and he knew he was commissioned to do it, why the argument with God? In the gospel of the kingdom, the children (Israel) must be fed first. Once they have accepted Christ as Messiah, they are to go to the Gentiles with the good news. BUt they did NOT, as a nation, accept Christ. What could God do to insure that the Gentiles received salvation? He could wait to see if Israel would ever accept Him, He could postpone the times of the Gentiles until Israel had accepted Him, or He could raise up another Apostle, to carry the gospel of His grace to the Gentiles, apart from Israel. BTW: Note that Peter and Cornelius happens AFTER Paul is saved. This too is important. It is because of Peter's experience with Cornelius that Peter and the 11 ACCEPTED Paul's message and apostleship. Without the Cornelius meeting, Peter and the 11 would have remained preaching the kingdom gospel to the Jews and waiting for them to accept Christ before they went to all the nations. Does anyone understand this?
And BTW what gospel would Peter have given Cornelius? That by grace he was saved through faith and that not of himself it was the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast? Or repentance and baptism for the remission of sins? Also, read Peter's sermon, Acts 10:34-48. He preached that Christ had died and was raised up the third day. But WHERE does he say that Christ's death was FOR OUR SINS? If Peter understood that whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins, that Christ's death was FOR OUR SINS, why baptize them? The baptism they preached was "repent and be baptized for the remission of sins". The very fact that he baptized them shows that baptism was part of that gospel. The gospel of the grace of God requires NOTHING to be added to the finished work of Christ for our salvation.
And BTW: The Galatians baptism you wrote of is the Holy Spirit baptizing us into the Body of Christ when we are saved. It is spiritual, not water. It is the Holy Spirit doing the baptism, not water. Ephesians 4:4-6 makes that clear: there is NOW ONE baptism. Not two. Not water AND the spiritual baptism the Holy Spirit performs to place us into the Body. Both the baptism and circumcision are spiritual.
The rest of your Scriptures are from 1 Peter. You do understand that by the time Peter wrote these he well understood Paul's message of grace?
It truly is not my intention to argue with anyone. But it IS my intention to explain WHY, WITH SCRIPTURE that IF READ AS IT IS WRITTEN, I believe how I do. I cannot NOT stand for what I believe. And all our discussions are over the meat of God's word. We, as members of the Body of Christ, have all accepted the finished work of Christ for our salvation, and everything else is just Bible study, having no baring on our salvation. I hope you know and believe that. God Bless you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
Excellent laydown.