Romans 10:9-13 “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (10) For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (11) For the Scripture says, "whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." (12) For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. (13) For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
There is only one gospel of salvation. Both Jews and gentiles alike, come to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, and no other way. When He teaches us how to be saved in the scripture quoted above, the Holy Spirit clearly tells us that there is no distinction between Jew and gentile. But although we both come into the kingdom through the same door, and that door is Christ, we come in from two distinctly separate people groups. And so it is because of where we come from, that there are then two gospels. There is only one gospel “of” salvation, but there are two distinct gospels “after” salvation.
Galatians 2:6-9 “But from those who seemed to be something--whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favouritism to no man--for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me. (7) But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter (8) (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles), (9) and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul stated that our Lord Jesus had committed the gospel for the uncircumcised to him, while our Lord had committed the gospel for the circumcised to Peter. Clearly there are two different gospels, one to the circumcised, and the other to the uncircumcised. We have already seen that there is no difference between the two gospels with regards to salvation, so where then does the difference lie between them? The difference lies in the backgrounds of the two people groups that come into the kingdom. We have already seen that the gentiles, before they come into the kingdom, have no pre-existing covenant relationship with God. And so, the gentiles that come into the kingdom enter the covenant relationship with the Lord, called the New Covenant, and nothing more. That however, is not the case with regards to the Jews who come into the kingdom, for as we have already seen, they already have a covenant relationship with God, and that is the covenant of the law. So, as far as the Jews are concerned, the question is asked what happens to the first covenant that they already have when they partake of the New Covenant. We have already seen earlier that God makes their first covenant obsolete and replaces it with the new covenant. However, although God makes the first obsolete and replaces it with the new, in this life (and only in this life), He deals with the Jewish believers differently to the gentile believers. And so it is in the way that God deals differently with us in this life, that we have the two gospels.
The two differ in keeping the law
Romans 11:13 “For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry.”
On numerous occasions the apostle Paul told the church that the Lord Jesus had appointed him as the apostle to the gentiles. The above quoted passage of scripture is one of those occasions. The reason that the Lord appointed Paul as the apostle to the gentiles is because he received specific revelation regarding the gospel to the gentiles that was different to the gospel preached to the Jews. We have already seen that Peter had been appointed by the Lord to preach the gospel to the circumcised i.e. the Jews. And so we see that when the writings of these two apostles to the church are compared, there is a distinct difference that comes to light. Firstly, let me say that when we look at Peter’s letters to the churches that we also need to include the letters of James, John and Jude in the same grouping. For in Galatians chapter two quoted earlier, Paul tells us that James and John were included in the grouping of apostles that the Lord had appointed to the circumcised, and Jude, as James’ brother, also fell into that same category. So what difference comes to light when the two groupings of letters are compared? In order to understand the significance of the difference, we need to understand the mindset of the two camps of writers. Paul was writing his letters primarily to gentile believers, whereas the other writers were writing their letters primarily to Jewish believers. Peter addressed his letters to the dispersion (1 Peter 1:1), while James addressed his letter to the twelve tribes scattered abroad (James 1:1). The dispersion and the twelve tribes scattered abroad, referred to the Jewish believers who were living among the nations of the world at that time. Let me also say however, that although both sets of letters were written to believers of different backgrounds, both sets of letters are still applicable to both Jewish and gentile believers alike, because we are one church and one body of Christ. However, Paul, in writing to gentile believers, emphasizes something that the other writers find no need to address. That emphasis is picked up in the word, “law”. Peter, John and Jude never once mention that word. James is the only one who mentions it, and he mentions it seven times. Paul on the other hand, in his letters to the churches, mentions the “law”, one hundred and forty-eight times. Clearly the Holy Spirit uses Paul to address an issue among the gentile believers, that He does not need to address among the Jewish believers. That issue is to teach the gentile believers what is acceptable for them to observe with regards to the law, and what is not acceptable. Peter and the other apostles, in writing to Jewish believers, never instruct them to stay away from the law. In fact, James admonishes Jewish believers to keep the law, for he teaches them that to break just one law, is one and the same as if they had broken all the law (James 2:10). Paul on the other hand, in writing to the gentile believers, continually admonishes them to stay away from the law. The Holy Spirit has no problem with the Jewish believers in this area, simply because, as quoted in the following passage of scripture, He gives them grace to observe the law. Gentile believers on the other hand, have not received grace in this area, because the Holy Spirit does not allow them to keep the law.
Ephesians 4:7 “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.”
Michael E.B. Maher
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