Did Paul and Jesus Teach Different Gospels?
I love to listen to Colleen and others because l have spoken to so many folks in cults and am thankful for your ministry to help.
I was interested in your thoughts on Romans 16 25 where Scripture is clear about how Paul was given his gospel and that it was directly from Jesus himself. Paul in his epistles talks many times using the word MYSTERY for what Jesus gave him personally in his gospel. I noticed that when I mentioned that Paul was given his gospel—which was a MYSTERY—Colleen said that there’s ONLY one gospel.
When Jesus was on the earth He didn’t teach Paul’s gospel because He had not gone to the cross yet and risen from the dead. So doesn’t Colleen believe that Paul’s gospel was that dispensation of the gospel of the grace of God which was not known before ?
Thanks, I would appreciate Colleen’s answer.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Thank you for writing.
First, we can’t evaluate Romans 16:25 without understanding what “mystery” means when Paul uses it. The gnostic, mystery religions used the word to mean special knowledge that was revealed only to the initiated. When Paul uses “mystery”, though, he means something different: he means it this way: a mystery is something that has always existed but has not been uncovered, or revealed, until the time God established to reveal it.
For example: Paul uses “mystery” to refer to Jesus’ incarnation as the source of all true piety (1 Tim 3:16); he uses “mystery” to refer to the death of Christ (1 Cor 2:7 where he says in context that God’s wisdom is a mystery); he uses “mystery” to refer to God’s purpose to sum up all things in Christ (Eph. 1:9), and he especially uses “mystery” to refer to God’s eternal purpose of including both Jews and Gentiles in the NT church (Eph. 3:3–6). He uses “mystery” to refer to the change that will take place at the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:51) and also to refer to God’s plan that, after a period of disobedience by both, Jews and Gentiles will be included in His kingdom by His mercy (Rom. 11:25). [These texts are courtesy of the study notes in the NASB95 Study Bible.]
“Mystery” does not refer to a special gospel that Paul received. It refers to the eternal plans and purposes of God, and these things are uncovered, or revealed, at exactly the times God intends.
God’s grace was always known—from Genesis 3 onward. Abraham is the example of how all people are saved: by believing God (Genesis 15:6). Furthermore, Romans 3:26, 27 show us that the cross was the revelation of God’s JUSTICE in showing why He had not destroyed all the sinners from previous times: because He was the JUSTIFIER who was taking the punishment and making propitiation for all sin for all time.
Everyone from Adam and Eve onward has been given the opportunity to believe God (Romans 1:18–21), and those who have NOT believed have suppressed the knowledge of God by their own wickedness. God has always taught humanity that sin required death and that atonement required blood sacrifice.
Paul’s gospel was not new. It was simply the explanation of the administration of the new covenant (Eph. 3:9) which God assigned him to explain to everyone: Paul received the “job” of explaining how Jesus fulfilled the law on the cross and thus tore down the dividing wall of the law so that gentiles and Jews alike could become one new body in Christ.
The way people practiced their worship differed through the ages: prior to the cross, they had to offer blood sacrifices. Yet Jesus revealed to His disciples that He would be persecuted and killed and rise on the third day. The Transfiguration revealed that the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah) were about to disappear, and Jesus alone would be the One to whom people were to listen (Luke 9:28–36).
Everyone has always been saved by BELIEVING God. The details of His salvation of us have been specifically revealed at different times, but the issue has always been: whom do you believe? We either believe God, or we cling to our own reasoning. Those who have believed God—from the time of Adam onward—have been saved by His grace because all of us are dead in sins, citizens of the domain of darkness. Believing God has always been the way of escape—and this belief has always depended upon the blood of the eternal covenant (Heb. 13:20): the blood of Christ.
The mystery of Paul’s gospel is the explanation of HOW the gentiles are brought near to God. It is not a different gospel from the one Jesus taught the Jews. His gospel of the kingdom is exactly the same. He told His disciples over and over that He would have to die and be raised on the third day. He taught that the only way to see the kingdom of God was by being born again—by believing Him and trusting His provision (see John 3). The mystery of Paul’s gospel was not a new gospel. It was the shed blood of the Lord Jesus that opened a new and living way to the Father through which every person may enter.
This mystery was not previously uncovered, but it was foreshadowed. Even gentiles were allowed to become Jews and worship Yahweh as they saw the evidence that He was the supreme and powerful God who provided for His people in the Old Testament. BELIEF has always been the way of salvation. After Jesus died, the details have become more clear—but there are still some mysteries which we will discover personally when the resurrection takes place. Yes, Jesus has already demonstrated to us what a resurrection body is like—but the full reality is still a mystery to us although we already know that it will be real.
And yes—Jesus DID teach “Paul’s gospel” while on earth. As I mentioned, He taught that He would be killed and rise on the third day. He told the Jews they would only receive the “sign of Jonah”. He took three disciples to witness the transfiguration where the Law and the Prophets disappeared, and God said to listen to His Son—and Jesus alone was in front of them. And the night before He was crucified, He gave His disciples the Passover bread and wine and told them of the wine, “This is the new covenant in my blood.”
What Paul received was the full explanation of how the new covenant was to be lived. He taught that the Law had been fulfilled, and gentiles as well as Jews were now part of one body through faith in the finished work of Christ. No one was to go back and bring the law along with them; they now had the Lord Jesus and the indwelling Holy Spirit.
I’d like to suggest that you read through the gospels of John and Luke and see how carefully Jesus revealed His identity and taught what He came to do. Then read the epistles of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Hebrews. The whole context of the New Testament helps cement that the gospel has always existed, but the revelation of specific events constitute the uncovering of the specifics that were not fully known before God’s appointed times.
I hope this helps!
What a Blessing
This is so wonderful (Former Adventist Podcast “In The Potter’s Hands”)! What a blessing as per usual, Colleen and Nikki. Thank you so much for ministering to me and my family so much over the years and to so many others.
Yes, the sovereignty of God is so reassuring. Our salvation is secure in the end because He chose us from the very beginning. God bless you all (including Richard!).
—VIA YOUTUBE
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Wonderful, scriptural “mystery” response…as always!