Two Gospels

I’ve been in a study of Galatians and this just keeps coming back to my mind about the different gospels so I wanted to record what I’ve found. First, I’ll start with 2 Timothy 2:8-13.

8 Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel

9 Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.

10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

11 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:

12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

In verse 8 the apostle Paul says that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead according to his gospel. Did this gospel only belong to Paul? A careful examination of the scripture would say that yes it did. It should be noted that there were two gospels that were quite similar going on during Paul’s lifetime, for we read in Galatians 1:6-7 about different gospels:

6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:

7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ

This is where most if not all English translations do a bit of disservice to the original inspired word of God. The Greek word for “another” in Galatians 1:6 is heteros, meaning another of a different kind. The Greek word for “another” in verse 7 is allos, meaning another of the same kind. The heteros gospel he is referring to is a hybrid gospel that combines the message given to Paul by Jesus Christ of grace apart from works and the message given to Peter by Jesus Christ of grace with works.

Paul is clear that we are saved apart from works (Rom 4:4-6, Eph 2:8-9, Acts 16:31, 1 Cor 15:1-4, etc.). So adding works to this message would be to ignore the message of Jesus Christ. These would be the people saying, “Great, you are saved from your sin by your faith! Now be circumcised or you lose it all.” Today we have some people doing the same thing. Some churches demand that you be baptized in water to be a member. Some say you must speak in tongues in order to show you have the Holy Spirit. Why are only some laws demanded? What about the sacrificial system and worshiping in Jerusalem? Regardless, these ideas are contrary to what the word of God says. Think about that. You are saved by faith apart from works. Period. Knowing who you are in Christ will stir up a zeal to do good works (Eph 2:10, Titus 2:14) but these do NOT save from sin. Jesus did all the work on the cross of Calvary, so who are we to think we need to add anything to the work of God? This is the message given to Paul.

Now I mentioned the message given to Peter and the twelve being different. It is true that they had another gospel, called the gospel of the kingdom (Matt 4:23, 9:35, 24:14, Mark 1:14, etc.) but this would fall under the allos type of gospel since it is a gospel where they were saved in faith through Jesus Christ, but it also required keeping the Law as given to Moses. Thus, another gospel of the same kind. Why was it called the gospel of the kingdom? Because it was prophesied that the Messiah would be of the seed of David and reign from the throne in Jerusalem. It would be the kingdom of God on earth as written throughout the Law and Prophets. Jesus Christ in His earthly ministry gave them this gospel as the way to be saved from their sins. The gospel was to again have faith in the Messiah, but then to show it by observing the Law (Matt 19:16-22, 28:20, Mark 10:17-22, John 8:1-11, 14:15, 21, 15:7-17, etc.). It was this gospel that compelled the disciples to ask the question “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” in Acts 1:8 after Jesus’ resurrection. But it was not yet time. Israel was not yet ready, and sadly, we read that as a nation, Israel did not have faith and rejected the kingdom. Therefore, God concluded them in unbelief, but not forever. Note what is said of Israel in the epistle to the Romans.

Romans 11

1 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,

3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.

4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.

5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes.

29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:

31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

Before I get too far, I want to note that both the gospel given to Paul and the gospel given to Peter required faith in Jesus Christ. However, there is an obvious change in which gospel to follow in Romans 11:25-32. It shows that the gospel of the kingdom is put on hold for the sake of the gospel of grace, but in verses 1-5 we see that the gospel of the kingdom is not yet completed and God will follow through on His promises (verse 26-27, 29).

So then the next logical question is how did this all take place? Can we really believe that we should follow Paul’s gospel today and not Peter’s? To answer that, let’s look at the history as given by God.

At the end of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we have what has been called the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20, Mark 16:14-18, Luke 24:47-49, John 20:21-23). The book of Acts picks up right where this left off. The book of Acts is extremely important in that it is the only history book in the New Testament. It is the link between the two gospels, which we will look at together. In Acts 2:14-40, the sign gifts come in as promised upon the twelve apostles (Mathias having replaced Judas Iscariot) and Peter preaches the gospel of the kingdom. He preaches it again in 3:12-26 and we see the consistency through Acts 7 of this gospel of the kingdom. But then a change takes place when the leaders of the nation of Israel stoned Stephen who was full of the Holy Ghost in 7:54-60. Here we see that Saul of Tarsus was leading the persecution, but he gets radically changed in 9:1-9, 20.

Now in Acts 10, we see Peter being sent to a Gentile by the name of Cornelius to give him the gospel which is still very much the gospel of the kingdom. Note in verse 35 that he that “feareth him and worketh righteousness”, or faith and works, is accepted or saved in God. Moving over to Acts 13:1 we see the bigger picture of change when God said to “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” Right after this we see a symbolic encounter. Simon Barjesus, a name meaning wise son of Jehovah, tries to stop a Gentile, Sergius Paulus, from hearing this gospel, and what happens? The Holy Ghost calls Simon Barjesus a child of the devil and has him blinded FOR A SEASON in verses 9-11. Doesn’t that sound an awful lot like what we read in Romans 11 that Israel was blinded in part until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in? Doesn’t that imply the blindness is temporary?

Also in Acts 13 we see a different message in verse 39 where it says “And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye COULD NOT BE JUSTIFIED by the law of Moses.” The gospel being preached is no longer of works; it is simply by belief. It even emphasizes that works of the Law CANNOT save. In Acts 15 we encounter a clash of the gospels. Paul, Barnabas, and Titus go to Jerusalem to discuss the matter and meet with the apostles of the kingdom gospel. The big question dealt with circumcision, which was part of the covenant given to Israel. The Jews weren’t exactly out of line because before Paul was commissioned, all that came to know God had to come through Israel in the gospel of the kingdom and keep this part of the Law. This encounter correlates to Galatians 2:1-10 which will also be looked at in a moment. We see in Acts 15:7 that Peter says that the Gentiles should not have to keep this law. Why would he say that? Because scripture records that he met with Paul and the men abode with each for a period of time (Gal 1:18-20). Is it unreasonable to think that they would have discussed what they had both learned from Jesus Christ? Peter would share about the earthly ministry and Paul would share about the heavenly ministry.

Now let’s look at what it says of this encounter in Galatians 2:7.

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;

Note the two different gospels being addressed. Let’s take a moment to consider this question as well: Who gave these two apostles their messages? None other than God Himself in Jesus Christ. Galatians 2:8 confirms this by saying, “For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles.” The same one gave them both their apostleship.

We see this distinction also in the epistle to the Romans:

Rom 11:13 For I (Paul) speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office.

The Greek for "I am" in the second half of the verse is "eimi ego," meaning I am, I. In other words, this verse literally says "I am, I the apostle of the Gentiles." This is very emphatic of his place of authority as given by Jesus Christ.

Now note these verses later in Romans:

Rom 15:8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers

16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my (Paul’s) gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began (not known or written in the scriptures, cf Eph 3:1-9),

26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets (prophets of the gospel of grace, not of the Old Testament), according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:

There is a bit more to show on the distinction between apostleship, but also the authority that both sets of apostles have. By both sets I mean the one set of apostles to Israel and the gospel of the kingdom and the other to the nations and the gospel of grace. Note how Paul does not downplay Peter in his apostleship but rather confirms his authority.

1 Corinthians 9

1 Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?

2 If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.

3 Mine answer to them that do examine me is this,

4 Have we not power to eat and to drink?

5 Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?

1 Corinthians 3

21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;

22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

23 And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.

Now that we see this distinction, what became of the counsel of the two gospels? Let’s continue in Galatians.

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.

The twelve apostles who were commissioned recognized the change that was taking place by the Holy Spirit. Giving the right hands of fellowship shows that they are in agreement that Peter and the twelve would stay within Israel while Paul would now go to the Gentiles with the gospel of the uncircumcision, in which there is no difference between Jew or Gentile, bond or free, male or female, all are one in Christ Jesus (Gal 2:26-29).

Now we know that Peter was given the authority from Jesus Christ as follows in Matthew 18:18-20

18 “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

Their agreement at the counsel with Paul and the gospel of grace certainly would fall under the conditions of this authority. It’s amazing how God orchestrated this through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. God purposed it and brought it to be by following His own words perfectly.

Remember, God says that this gospel of grace is only for a season until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. After that, the blindness of Israel will be removed and God will work mightily to have them saved and set up the kingdom on earth as He promised, just like we read in Romans 11.

Now I want to point out one last thing that is extremely important. In the gospel of the uncircumcision, also called the glorious gospel of the grace of God and only given to Paul (1 Tim 1:11) a believer in this gospel CANNOT lose salvation once they believe. In the gospel of the kingdom you read words like “he who continues to the end shall be saved,” or “the latter end is worse with them than the beginning,” meaning that some knew of salvation and then walked away and await a worse fate than if they simply didn’t believe. Some references for that are Matt 24:13, James 1:2-4,12, Rev 2-3, especially 2:7, 2:10, 2:17, 2:26, 3:5, 3:12, 3:21, 2 Peter 2:20-22, Matt 12:43-45, Luke 11:24-26). Eternal security of salvation was NOT promised.

But with the gospel of grace, no one has to do any good works, because it is by faith only in Christ Jesus that one is saved from sin. This is why I included verses 11-13 in 2 Timothy chapter 2 at the beginning of this. Look throughout the epistles penned by the apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit:

Romans 8:

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

2 Corinthians:

1:21-22 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

5:4-5 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. 5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

Ephesians 1:13-14 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, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

There are more, but look at Ephesians 1:14 where it says that the Holy Spirit is the earnest until the redemption of the purchased possession. Friends that time is what we call the rapture, which could happen at any moment. Only God knows when the time is right and to call the church which is His body home to Heaven.

1 Thessalonians 4

15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

This marks the end of the age of grace where we are saved from sin by faith apart from works and sealed by the Holy Spirit Himself for eternal salvation. Just that part alone should cause us to agree with “Wherefore comfort one another with these words” In 1 Thessalonians 4:18. The choice is up to every individual person whether or not to accept this free gift from our God through Jesus Christ. Please consider what the word of God says and as always, search the scriptures to see if it is so.