Gospels and Raptures (God - Part 7): Origin

The Gospels and their Raptures (God - Part 7)

Before I get into the origin of the Gospel of God, I'd like to remind you of the infallibility of God's Word as printed in the King James Bible (1611). As I have written in other posts in this blog, we can trust that every word of every paragraph in the King James version is accurate and has inspired meaning and context. 

So, when we read of the "gospel of God" in some places, and in other places of the "gospel of Christ" we, as students of the Word, should take note and understand that it's not just an inconsistency or a reference to the same gospel with two different names. No! This actually means two different gospels.

It's similar to the expressions, the "day of the Lord" (Amos 5:18), the "day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor.1:8; 2 Cor.1:14), the "day of God" (2 Pet.3:12; Rev.16:14), and "the last day(s)", which are unique titles and specifically used in the context of future events when Christ will intervene decisively for judgment, and/or salvation, at different stages of His return.

We should therefore understand that there are reasons for these descriptions, and we should know (or find out) what these reasons are. In this study we will learn that the gospel of the Kingdom is different from the gospel of God, which in turn is different from the gospel of Christ (which becomes the Grace gospel).

Origin

The gospel of God was prevalent throughout most of the Acts period, which is from 30AD to 70AD, give or take a few years. It was preached for the first time on the day of Pentecost and the entire early Jewish church were converted by the message of this gospel. Paul also preached the gospel of God, by necessity and by strategy, during his missionary trips. (More on this later!)

We find direct references to the name, "the gospel of God" in the missionary epistles of Paul (written during the period of ACTS),

Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,

Romans 15:16 That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

2 Corinthians 11:7 Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?

1 Thessalonians 2:2 But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention.

1 Thessalonians 2:8 So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.

1 Thessalonians 2:9 For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.

Peter also makes reference to this gospel in one of his epistles,

1 Peter 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

To get you thinking about these gospels and how they originated, I'd like to end this post with the following scripture passage and some trailing thoughts. Let's read the passage first,

Romans 1:1-4 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, 2 (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) 3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; 4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

Let me now raise some rhetorical questions for you to ponder on. They will be answered in upcoming posts in this series.

• Why does Paul say he was separated unto the gospel of God? Wasn't he supposed to be preaching our grace gospel?
  
• Did you notice how Paul connects the gospel of God to that which was prophesied afore concerning the Son of God? This implies then that the gospel of God is found in the scriptures, right? So where is the mystery that he often refers to in his writings? Didn't Paul say that he preaches secrets revealed by God that cannot be found in the prophetic scriptures? So, what's going on here? 
  
• In the passage above, Paul says, "which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh". Why is Paul writing to the church at Rome about David? Isn't Paul supposed to be addressing Gentiles? What do Gentiles know about David that they should care about him?

These are valid questions and they deserve the time and study to answer correctly. We cannot just dismiss them as they provide clues into Paul's ministry and what he taught at specific times. Knowing the answers to these will help us gain deeper understanding into the transition of the gospels and Paul's ministry to Jews, the Greeks, and the Gentiles who were far hence from Jerusalem.

Acts 22:21 And he said unto me [Paul], Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.

Part 8 will continue with the 'message' of the Gospel of God.