The Lost Gospel of Jesus, part 3
October 25, 2010
(This is part 3 of the Lost Gospel of Jesus series, part one is here, part two here.)
The Gospel of Christ
Romans 1:15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Paul calls the gospel which he preached, “the gospel of Christ,” at least that’s how the King James version has it. The modern translations omit “of Christ,” as there is apparently a variation in the original Greek documents, some have “of Christ” others do not. Either way is okay with me. The point I wish to make is that if you prefer the “gospel of Christ” translation, then you need to understand that it does not mean the Gospel about Christ, but Christ’s Gospel, i.e. the Gospel which Christ preached. Whether you call it just the Gospel or the Gospel of Christ, Paul, as we’ll see, preached the same Gospel that Jesus preached.
So what did Paul preach? If you were following along in a Bible I would tell you to turn back a page or so, from Romans 1 to the last chapter of the book of Acts. The last Chapter of Acts takes place quite a while after Paul wrote his letter to the Roman Christians. In Romans 1, Paul said he wanted to come and preach the gospel to the Christians at Rome. In Acts 28 Paul has at last arrived at Rome, albeit under arrest, and finally gets to preach to the Romans:
What did Paul preach to the Romans when he finally made it to Rome? What was the essence of Paul's preaching for the entire two-year period he was under house arrest in Rome? The kingdom of God. Now look at verse 23 of Acts 28:
Acts 28:16 And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him. 17 And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. … 21 And they said unto him, We neither received letters out of Judaea concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came shewed or spake any harm of thee. 22 But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against. 23 And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.
What did Paul expound and testify to these Jewish leaders who were interested in hearing about the Christian sect? The Kingdom of God. Turn back to Acts 20 where Paul stopped on his way to Jerusalem, (Where he was arrested and eventually transported to Rome.) inviting the Christian leaders of Ephesus to meet with him. Among other things Paul says:
Acts 20:25 And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.
What was it that Paul had preached to the Ephesians? The Kingdom of God. Now turn back a chapter to Acts 19 where Paul arrives in the city of Ephesus.
Acts 19:8 And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.
For three months Paul preached about the same subject, the Kingdom of God.
We saw above that Paul wrote to the church in Rome:
Romans 1:15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
Paul said he wanted to preach the same Gospel to the Romans he had preached elsewhere. But when he finally made it to Rome he spent the next two years preaching about the Kingdom of God. So what happened to preaching the Gospel? When Paul says “the gospel” he means “the Kingdom of God,”and vice versa. In a little bit we’ll see that this was also true for Jesus and his disciples, for them “the Gospel” was synonymous with the “the kingdom of God.” The Gospel that Paul preached was the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
Now some people argue that the Gospel Paul preached is set out in 1 Corinthians 15:
1 Corinthians 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
But if you read the context you’ll see that Paul is not setting out a summary of the Gospel he preached, (He does, after all, say “first of all.”) but is actually dealing with questions regarding the truthfulness of the Christian teaching about the resurrection of the dead. He’s not summarizing his Gospel, he is in essence saying:
‘Why are you asking if there is a resurrection of the dead? Don’t you remember that the first thing I told you was that Jesus was raised from the dead? If Jesus was raised from the dead then there’s a resurrection of the dead.’
I go into this in a little bit more detail here.
In any event, it would be surprising to discover that Paul preached something other than the Gospel of the Kingdom of God; since, as we’ll see, that is the Gospel that Jesus preached, the Gospel Jesus taught his disciples to preach, and the Gospel Jesus said was to be preached in all the world.
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