What gospel do you think Peter preached in Acts 10 to Cornelius the Gentile? Was it Grace or repentance.
Paul later in Acts in his sermons (after chapter 15-Jerusalem council) tells the hearers both Jew and Greek to repent. That can be found in Acts 17 and Acts 20. Then when Paul heads back to Jerusalem he summarizes his ministry by saying he preached all should repent. That can be found in Acts 26.
Then we have Paul saying below they all preach the same gospel:
1 Corinthians 15:5-11 NASB
and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
Isn’t Paul admitting here that all aforementioned preached the same Gospel?
We know that Paul said his commission was not to baptize. I give that double barrels to the Romans. However 1 Corinthians still tells us believers are baptized in water. What changed? Did Peter institute the first believers baptism with Cornelius before Paul started his ministry?
By your view of two gospels, I am assuming you believe the Holy Spirit indwelled both repentance kingdom gospel Jews and Grace gospel believers? Does that make them one or two bodies in Christ? Paul spoke a lot about one Head which is Christ and we are the members of His Body.
I will offer that if we look closely at the historical event of Pentecost and understand the scriptures Peter quotes and links to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, it is the same Gospel clearly outlined by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. Same if we look closely at Acts 3. Later we see Philip leading the Ethiopian to Christ using Isaiah 53. Some call Isaiah 53 the Gospel according to Isaiah. The scriptural evidence is there is one Christ, one gospel (the one He gave see Luke 24), one Holy Spirit and One Body.
I will ask again...by your view when does the Grace dispensation replace the “kingdom” dispensation? I have been given multiple allusions, hints etc, but nothing solid.
Finally what do we do with these words from Jesus Christ in Luke 24:
46 Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 And you are witnesses of these things. (NKJV)
Do we ignore the Words of Jesus Christ (Yeshua HaMashiach) or think “all nations” does not mean “all nations.” What do I see from examinining the scriptures in the OT and NT? That Peter and Paul and John are all faithful and true in executing our Lord and Savior’s mission statement. They follow it to the very jot and tittle and do not deviate.
Or do you believe the 4 Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are only for the circumcised?
Look closely at that chapter. Peter first said “That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;”. But as he continued talking with NO mention of repentance but only the word “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” Immediately after which “the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word”. Now look at the next verse.
“And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Peter and those with him were astonished at how the Holy Ghost had fallen on them right after “whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins”. They were not expecting that. It’s obvious that is not what Peter expected. I believe it was at that point that Peter realized that all the “rules” they thought they had to follow didn’t apply any more. That’s why he rose to speak at the council of Jerusalem in Paul’s support.
>>That can be found in Acts 17 and Acts 20.<<
There Paul is talking to the Jews and those Gentiles who had converted to the Jewish faith. We know that those Gentiles had converted or they wouldn’t have been in the synagogue. In Chapter 20 he says this, “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Can you tell me for sure that he didn’t say to the Jews “repentance” and to the Greeks “faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ”? In the Greek the words are not in the order they are in English so I’m not sure we can really tell from that verse.
>>That can be found in Acts 26.<<
There again, Paul is defending himself in front of King Agrippa after the Jews had accused him and he wanted to go before the king. He was defending himself because of accusations by the Jews who understood repentance. He was using their language if you will.
>>Then we have Paul saying below they all preach the same gospel<<
By the time he wrote to the Corinthians they were. That was written after the council of Jerusalem. And again I will say the use of “different gospel” is in my opinion the wrong terminology to use with regard to what Paul taught. It’s the same gospel, different dispensation.<<
It's going on 1am here and I am really tired. I will respond to the rest of your post and the others tomorrow if that's all right.
AMEN!!
It wasn't easy for any of them but, in spite of that, they all did it to a 'T' spreading His Word and doing what Jesus did in His name. I'm excited to meet them ALL one day.
Now on to you. I came to the thread from a ping from days ago but started it at the bottom where the link was and the few posts I read of yours, I witness someone who is running their race firmly and not being swayed by others. One Gospel was preached by them all and they did not miss a beat while doing it in spite of their hardships and surrounded by unbelief.
That being said I prayed last night and got the impression that we really need to look at the words we are using and discussing. It was rather enlightening for me an I hope for you and others as well.
I think most of us have been conditioned or taught that when we hear the word repent or repentance we think of stopping a sin. What I found cleared things up for me even more than before.
The Greek word for repent is metanoeó which literally means a change of mind or to think differently. The Greek word for sin is hamartia which means to miss the mark or simply sin. Here’s what Strong has to say which I thought was very interesting.
“/hamartía ("sin, forfeiture because missing the mark") is the brand of sin that emphasizes its self-originated (self-empowered) nature – i.e. it is not originated or empowered by God (i.e. not of faith, His inworked persuasion, cf. Ro 14:23).
We see an example of that here.
Romans 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
Notice that if it’s “not of faith” it is sin.
Now let’s look at that in light of what the Jews had been taught. They throughout the Old Testament understood, and rightly so, that what THEY did i.e. the law, dietary requirements etc was how they stayed right with God. Self empowering if you will is what they were taught was the requirement for being “right with God” or “of faith”. Not so with the Gentiles. They didn’t have to “change their minds” about how to be “right with God”. They didn’t have any faith in God to be doing anything that was not of faith.
That’s why we see all the apostles and even Paul when talking to Jews or Gentile converts to Judaism used the word repent which meant to “change their mind” about what they needed to believe. When speaking to Gentiles they didn’t have to “repent” or change their mind about how to please God. They simply had to believe.
Did that all make sense to you? It sure spoke volumes to me. I don’t know when the word “repent” came to mean “turn from sin” or “be sorry for sin” because it’s not what they meant back then.