COMPARING PETER AND PAUL:
IT’S EASY, PROVIDING YOU REALLY
ARE READING THE BIBLE!
COMPARING
PETER AND PAUL:
IT’S EASY, PROVIDED YOU REALLY
ARE READING THE BIBLE!
JAN LILLEBY
On the last page you shall find a simple comparison ‘In colors’ – which will let you see how things were, regarding Doctrine of Faith, in the times of the apostles. There existed two types of doctrine; the first was the teaching and preaching to Israel by the twelve, offering the Kingdom of God on earth, the so-called millennial kingdom which shall have Jesus Christ as king and ruler from Zion, Jerusalem. Dan. 2:44; Luke 1:32, 33; Rev. 20:4.
Paul got himself an extension of his ministry after Acts 28:28. Which actually describes the divorce between God and Israel; Israel fell away from God.
He was given a special revelation by Christ in person, a revelation of the Mystery – which had been hidden in God from before the creation of the world, Eph. 3:1-9, NASB, written from his jail cell in Rome 63 CE…possibly 64 CE, while it was the reign of Emperor Nero (Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus), - this revelation became the second kind of Gospel, which is the one we have had ever since that day – and it dismissed the Kingdom Gospel,
«1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles -
2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you;
3 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.
4 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;
6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,
7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of His power.
8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,
9 and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;” (Editor’s emphasize).
This passage from Eph. 3:1-9 may be called ‘The Declaration of the Free Grace Gospel of Christ to the Entire World Internationally’.
Before Paul had this divine revelation by Christ visiting him, the Gospel of Jesus Christ was only preached to Israel with its Jews and proselytes, and not to the international world. The apostles offered them the Kingdom of God on earth, so they could not go to the entire world freely, as if that kingdom was offered to all nations. It was offered to Israel exclusively! But it had one clause to it: The entire nation had to repent and believe on Jesus as their Messiah King, so that God could send Him back to them and thus establish that promised kingdom.
But instead the nation fell away from God, as seen in Acts 28:25-28, when Paul had his confrontation with the Sanhedrin in Rome. As a consequence to their spiritual fall, the nation was destroyed entirely in 70 CE by Rome. These are both Biblical facts proven, as well as facts which we learn from history.
But it pleased God to have Paul sent as His apostle to us Gentiles, in spite of (or rather because of?) the fall of Israel, and by that offering the free Grace Gospel to the entire world, and not with any earthly kingdom as hope of salvation, but with the heaven up above (where Christ is seated at His Father’s right hand) as our hope of salvation. In Greek: Epiouranos – the ‘Heaven-up-Above the Heavens’ or if you like, the ’Super-Heaven’.
Have a look at my very simplified color illustration below!
GRACEPANO.COM
