Posted on 06/29/2011 4:25:29 PM PDT by bibletruth
Apostle Paul ministry to the un-circumcision (Gentiles)
Galatians 2:6: But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man's person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me:
Galatians 2:7: But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;
Galatians 2:8: For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me (e.g., Paul) toward the Gentiles:
Galatians 2:9: And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.
No denying God's Word in Galatians 2:7-8; Paul was definitely called by GOD Almighty to be mighty toward the Gentiles (un-circumcision). And praise GOD Almighty that HE wrought effectually in Peter as the apostleship of the circumcision (Jews).
Galatians 2:7: But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;
Galatians 2:8: For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me (e.g., Paul) toward the Gentiles:
II Peter 3:15: And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
II Peter 3:16: As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
guess i better take Matthew 28:18-20 out of my Bible then.
Let me guess: two different gospels?
No....you just need to properly translate it.
Who is the subject of this so called "Great Commission"?
[Matthew 28:18-20]18And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
The word "nations" in the Greek is "ETHNOS" (Strong's #1484) and its preferred meaning is "a race (as of the same habit), i.e. a tribe; specially, a foreign (non-Jewish) one (usually, by implication, pagan)"
Let's see who the Apostles were commanded to evangelize earlier in this same book:
[Matthew 10:5-6] 5These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6But go rather to the "lost sheep" of the house of Israel.
Now.....where do we find the Chief Apostle, Peter after he leaves Jerusalem? He writes from Babylon [I Peter 5:13].
[I Peter 1:1-3] 1Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
Here is the definition of "Strangers Scattered":
Strangers: #3927 PARAPIDEMOS an alien alongside, i.e. a resident foreigner
Scattered: #1290 DIASPORA dispersion, i.e. (specially and concretely) the (converted) Israelite resident in Gentile countries
Peter was evangelizing the folks who he had expressly been commanded to do so.....the Israelite descendants of the dispersion (721 B.C.) to Assyria [II Kings 17:6]. These particular folks lived along the southern shore of the Black Sea, an area the Holy Spirit told Paul not to go into....as it was Peter's territory....the circumcised [Acts 16:7-8]. These folks had a foreknowledge of God and were obviously descendants of the Ten Tribes of the dispersion. The other remaining ten Apostles were off in different directions....but to the same people....the descendants of Israelite tribes that had been exiled 700 years earlier. These descendants of the ten tribes were not Jewish.
[Matthew 15:24] Yeshua himself told us his mission here: 24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
This did not change and the commission to the Apostles in [Matthew 10:5-6] did not change either. What changed was the way the translators decided to render the verses, making it more in line with Main Stream Christian Theology. If you think the Apostles were told to go out and evangelize everyone, then ask yourself a couple of questions after reading these verses:
[Acts 10:28] 28And 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 11:1-3] 1And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. 2And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, 3Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them.
Why is Peter not aware that he is to evangelize everyone? It is now about 10/12 years after the resurrection and Peter is just now learning that the Gentiles are eligible for salvation also? Peter was used to convert Cornelius and call down the Holy Spirit as Paul was probably still in Arabia sorting things out [Galatians 1:17].
Why are the members of the Jerusalem Church (the headquarters of Christianity at that time) so upset that Peter went in and ate with uncircumcised men? This is more than a decade after the resurrection! Didn't they get the word either?
[Acts 11:18]18When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
It sounds to me like here is the first time anyone is aware of the Gentiles being eligible for salvation and evangelizing. If so......what do we do about [Matthew 28:18-20]? We interpret it correctly using the preferred meaning......Israelites of the dispersion!
But.....nevertheless, Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles.....not Peter or any of the others [Acts 9:15].
Do you still think that [Matthew 28:18-20] was a commission to go out and evangelize the world? Scripture would seem to disagree with that doctrine.
“who is the subject of this so called Great Commission?”
you underlined the wrong word, instead of underlining “nations”, you should have underlined “ALL”.
why all? because ALL have sinned, therefore ALL who are to be saved must be saved by the ONE Gospel, whether Jew or Gentile.
There is One Gospel, One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, One Body.
You are in error.
oh contraire, i read every word.
why don’t you come out and tell us what it means, are there TWO Gospels, TWO Lords, TWO Faiths?
Was Paul preaching a different Gospel than Peter?
You couldn’t have done that. If you had..... you wouldn’t be asking these silly questions.
Read it once more.....slowly.
Read the Word OF GOD: one God who sent TWO different apostles to be responsible to preach the gospel to their designated domains established by God - one to the nations (gentiles, pagan, etc), that was Paul; and the other, Great Commission to the Jews, that was Peter and the Twelve Disciples to Israel.
i read it sloooooowwwwlllyyyy.
what implications are there for someone reading this in the 21st century? if Peter and Paul taught the same Gospel, does it matter?
did they preach the same Jesus, the same Gospel, were they in the same Body?
or is there one Gospel for Israel and a different one for the Gentiles?
The implication is that we should properly discern what the Spirit has inspired. The "Great Commission" was directed to Israel....not the Gentiles.
Paul was later selected to be the Apostle to the Gentiles. Stop and think. Why Paul?
Paul was a doctor of the Law....having studied at the feet of Gamaliel himself [Acts 5:34][Acts 22:3] and as a Pharisee [Philippians 3:5][Acts 23:6] what better candidate could Yeshua select to carry His Gospel to the Gentiles. Here was a man who lived under the Law, taught the Law and persecuted the Church because of the Law. He would carry the Gospel of Grace to the Gentiles who for the most part (in Asia Minor) were pagans who worshiped according to Greek Asceticism which was full of restraints, regulations and law. They did penance, abstinence, fasting and even ministered self inflicted pain.(remind you of anyone else?).
The original Apostles were all considered "Country Bumpkins", uneducated and not familiar with the way of the world. Paul, on the other hand was sophisticated, born and raised in Asia Minor....a Doctor of Law now teaching a gospel of Grace.....in Asia Minor. Peter taught the Same Gospel.....only to Israelites. What better candidate could Yeshua have selected to bring the Greeks out of their Asceticism?
Source?
| Commission Gospel, i.e., Jesus’s promised Good News to Israel: | Paul’s Gospel: | |
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| 1. Preached the gospel of the kingdom | 1. Preached the gospel of the grace of God | |
| 2. Defined the kingdom of heaven as the prophetic kingdom to Israel | 2. Defined kingdom of heaven as the heavenly position of the body of Christ | |
| 3. Presented Himself as Messiah and King of the Jews (Israel) | 3. Presented Jesus as risen Lord, Head of the body of Christ | |
| 4. Preached repentance, water baptism, and faith as necessary for salvation | 4. Preached faith in Christ for salvation, sealed with the Holy Spirit | |
| 5. Had Jews for His audience, only (2 exceptions) | 5. Had Gentiles as his primary audience | |
| 6. Operated under the Mosaic Law, Jews were commanded to observe the law always | 6. Operated under grace, not under law or good works for salvation |
Jesus, John the Baptist, and the Twelve (to the circumcision) preached the gospel of the kingdom. This gospel was the long-anticipated and prophesied good news that the King of Israel had arrived. He would establish His kingdom and rule the earth. Its focus was Jewish as prophesied by the Old Testament prophets. During this kingdom reign, God would fulfill all His covenants to Israel. By Israels acceptance of their Messiah, Gentiles would also be blessed. Apart from this kingdom, God had no provision for blessing Gentiles.
The prophets had proclaimed this Messianic kingdom in hundreds of passages, Every Jew knew about it and every God-fearing Jew longed for it. One need only read the passages surrounding the account of the birth of Jesus to recognize this fact. The careful reader is encouraged to read the accounts surrounding the Magi (Matthew 2.1-12), Zacharias (Luke 1.8-17, 67-79), Mary (Luke 1.26-38, 46-55), Simeon and Anna (Luke 2.25-38).
The message and ministry of Jesus, John the Baptist, and the Twelve (to the circumcision) emphasized repentance (Mark 1.15), water baptism (Matthew 3.6; Acts 2.38, 8.34-38, 19.4) and belief that Jesus was the promised Messiah (Matthew 16.13-16; John 11.25-27). Salvation, and becoming a citizen of this kingdom, required all three of these things.
Paul preached the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20.24; 1 Corinthians 15.1-4). Paul’s ministry had little emphasis on repentance or water baptism. It would not be wrong in stating that Paul only mentioned repentance in reference to unbelievers once (Romans 2.4). With regard to water baptism, Paul declared, Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel (1 Corinthians 1.14-17). Peter would never say such a thing - God forbid! Later in Paul’s epistles he wrote that there was only one baptism (Ephesian 4.5). Since Paul obviously meant that the one baptism was baptism by the Holy Spirit, water baptism cannot be considered a legitimate practice in Christianity. We even find that John the Baptist spoke of Jesus has having a different baptism than he (Matthew 3:11: “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, . . . He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire”). Of course we know this was fulfilled at Pentecost. But notice, those at Pentecost were baptized with the Holy Ghost for salvation, not water baptism, otherwise John the Baptist was lying - God forbid!
With regard to belief, the focus of belief in the ministry of John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Twelve was that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the Son of God (Matthew 16.13-16; John 11.25-27) noted above. Paul preached this kingdom message (gospel) immediately following his conversion (Acts 9.19-22). However, shortly afterwards, the ascended, the glorified Lord gave Paul a different gospel (Galatians 1.11-12; 15-16). Paul’s gospel (Romans 2.16, 16.25), was different from the gospel of Jesus and the Twelve. Paul’s gospel was that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15.1-4). We do not find this gospel preached during Jesus’ earthly ministry or by the Twelve. The fact that Paul referred to his gospel as “my gospel” (Romans 2.16, 16.25) indicated that this was a different gospel than the gospel Jesus or the Twelve preached. Paul revealed that his gospel was a “mystery” (Gk. musterion) or a “secret”. We only need to read the gospels to realize that the Twelve had no understanding that Jesus would die and rise from the dead (Luke 18.31-34; John 20.3-10). Christ’s death was certainly not regarded as good news. Even after Jesus’ resurrection this message was not preached as good news. The biblical record is that the death of Christ was preached as bad news. Peter’s sermons indicate that he regarded the death of Christ as a message of condemnation to the Jews, a heinous act that demanded their repentance (Acts 2.22-42, 3.12-26).
For Paul, however, the preaching of the cross was salvation (1 Corinthians 1.18, 15.1-4) and was glorious (1 Timothy 1.11). Only much later did the Twelve began to preach Paul’s gospel of the grace of God. Paul’s gospel created so much friction that the apostles called a special counsel around 49-51 A.D. to consider it. The reader should understand that Paul was probably saved around 34-37 A.D. So a range of time of 12-17 years had passed before the Council at Jerusalem met. That’s a long time. At the Council, Peter made an astonishing statement (from a Jewish perspective) regarding this matter. Prior to Peter’s statement, the message of the Twelve had been that Gentiles could be saved the way Jews were saved. But at this council, Peter, under the power of the Holy Spirit, officially recognized that now Jews were to be saved as Gentiles (Acts 15.6-11). This was a watershed moment.
Jesus came as Israel’s Messiah (Romans 15.8). His ministry was to Jews exclusively (Matthew 10.5-6). As noted above, He made two exceptions to this policy: the Canaannite woman (Matthew 15.21-28) and the Roman centurion (Matthew 8.1-13 cf. Luke 7.1-10). Because of the great faith of both these individuals Jesus relented His Jew only policy and granted their requests.
Following Jesus’ resurrection and ascension Peter and the Twelve addressed the nation of Israel. They had no dealings with Gentiles. Most people think that the disciples ministered to Gentiles as well as Jews in light of the so-called Great Commission of Matthew 28.16-20). But the biblical record provides no support for this view. They continued to address Jew only. They recognized the Jewish priority of God’s kingdom program and that Gentiles were to be blessed through Israel. Because of this, they could not go to Gentiles until the Jewish nation repented and believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah. To have done so would have been disobedient to God’s command. Thus, even in the face of severe persecution they refused to leave Jerusalem and go into Gentile territory (Acts 8.1).
Paul was saved and commissioned as the apostle of the Gentiles (Romans 11.13). As we have seen, Jesus ministered exclusively to Jews and the Twelve were apostles to Israel. They had been promised rulership over Israel, not over Gentiles (Matthew 19.28). God began an entirely new program with Paul. The Old Testament kingdom program was in place during Jesus’ earthly ministry and would be fulfilled. Israel will repent and God will fulfill his covenant promises to the nation (Romans 11.25-27). But God interrupted this program to bless Gentiles apart from the disobedience of Israel. The next event on Israel’s prophetic timeline was the Day of the Lord: a time of wrath. Peter fully expected this event to occur soon. That is why he quoted Joel (Acts 2.14-21) on the day of Pentecost. But God in His matchless grace delayed His wrath. He saved Paul to minister to Gentiles. He revealed to Paul the body of Christ and other mysteries (secrets) He had kept hidden from the prophets and the Twelve.
What is the source of your cut and paste remarks? I ask this because we have seen your grammar and syntax, and they are not the same, so it is clear you are quoting someone.
Who?
Source you ask, the Pharisees themselves considered the disciples unlearned, it is evident from the way in which the Pharisees are critical of them in the Gospel accounts.
Source?
And what is the source of your little table delineating differences between gospels? Because it is clearly cut and pasted.
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