Understanding the New Testament Gospel Differences (Part 3)

Understanding the New Testament Gospel Differences (Part 3 --- By the Scriptures)

In this post we continue with the comparison of the gospel of God and the gospel of Christ. I recommend to start at the beginning of this comparison to gain the necessary context of this series of posts.

By the scriptures vs. Unsearchable 

The gospel of God is the Kingdom gospel with the addition of one HUGE event; the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This gospel, preached by Peter in Acts 2, reignited the hope that the King could come and bring a restoration to Israel through His Kingdom. This narrative had been prophesied centuries before and many aspects of Jesus birth, life, death and resurrection can be found in the scriptures as proof of His identity and purpose.

Before we continue with our point, I'd like to state one fact that is worthwhile mentioning at this time. We must understand that even if all of Jesus life and purpose was laid out in the prophetic scriptures, it was God who hid these truths from men until an appointed time. The Scribes and Pharisees would have known about these verses. Surely they would have read Isaiah 53! Though the knowledge of these scriptures were there, the truth was never revealed. Consider this passage in Matthew,

Luke 18:31-34 Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. 32 For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: 33 And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. 34 And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.

Matt.16:21-22 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. 22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

Peter, after hearing these things about the Lords purpose was still vehement that this should not befall Jesus. Even in the garden, after His betrayal, Peter tried his utmost to stop the arrest of Jesus by drawing a sword and cutting off the ear of the servant of the High Priest, (Luke 22:50). With all the truth that Peter and the other disciples were exposed to in Christ's teachings, one would think that he had put two and two together! No! God had to keep these things hid until the time was right to expose the truth.

1Cor.2:7-8 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

So, when we come to the other end of Christ's death and resurrection, we see the puzzle pieces start to fit, and we see the truth start to be revealed for the first time. The gospel of God finally started to make sense to Peter. I believe that this truth was finally exposed by Jesus as he appeared to the disciples over the 40-days after his resurrection, teaching of the things of the Kingdom.

The gospel of God continued to be preached in synagogues and churches at this time, and more and more people were exposed to the truth of Christ's resurrection and the hope of the Kingdom. Both the gospel of God and the gospel of Christ can be found in the prophetic scriptures. It would not have been hard for the 12 apostles and Paul to prove to their listeners that Jesus was the Christ. Much was predicted of Jesus life, death, resurrection, and purpose. Consider just one passage in Isa.53:1-12. The scriptures below indicate that Paul proved his gospel by using the scriptures,

Acts 17:2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,

Acts 18:27-28 And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace: 28 For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.

Romans 16:25-26 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, 26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 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:

But what about the unsearchable riches?

There is a part of the gospel of Christ that is different to the gospel of God. The gospel of Christ has a mystery involved in it. Yes, Jesus life and purpose could be found in the scriptures, but nowhere do we find in the prophetic scriptures that the Jews and Greeks, by means of their salvation through the gospel of Christ, would become part of the Body of Christ, saved outside the means of Israel and apart from the law. This was something entirely new and unheard of! Paul himself writes to the Corinthians that they are a brand new creature in Christ, and that all things have become new, (2Cor.5:17).

One last point to confirm the above is that further down the path of Paul's ministry, —during his imprisonment at Rome, he writes the following to the Gentiles who were "far hence"; those who did not know the God of Israel, those who could not participate in the promises of blessing Israel as a means to salvation, (Matt.25:31-46), those who were without hope, and without God in the world, (Eph.2:12).

Ephesians 3:6-9 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. 8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; 9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

So what does this mean? Well, it proves that the gospel of Christ, preached to those Jews and Greeks that believed the gospel of God and were encouraged to continue in the grace of God, (the gospel of Christ), were these people that were saved into the Body of Christ according to the mystery revealed to Paul. If the "far hence" Gentiles were "fellow-heirs", and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel, then the Body of Christ was already started with the gospel of Christ, when those taken from the synagogues believed in the mystery gospel of Paul and were saved into a new program.

There are still a good number of additional key points to deal with that show the difference between the gospel of God and the gospel of Christ. It seems good to deal with one, or maybe two per post, so this series will become a bit more extended than I anticipated. Nevertheless, it makes for easier reading and easier consumption as we take smaller bites to digest.

We will continue in the next post.