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"To testify the gospel of the grace of God" TrustingTheLordGrace 101 Bible Studies |
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Galatians Chapter 3 – Part 3
One of the things I am sure you can see by now is that we are not dealing with things here that were just something the Galatians should be concerned about, but some very real things that the body of Christ is plagued with today. So what we can see here is going to be of great practical value for us. God’s covenant with Abraham is important, because it is the foundation, so to speak, of Paul’s gospel. It concerns the message Paul preached, that of salvation by faith alone. The truths in Galatians, if they are understood, clear up a big part of the religious, denominational confusion of today.
Let’s go back to two verses in Chapter Three:
Galatians 3:17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.
Galatians 3:18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
Now whatever the inheritance is that God promised Abraham, it must include eternal life. How could Abraham inherit anything unless he were alive to inherit it? So it’s the answer to this question:
Matthew 19:16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
It’s the answer to the question where you are concerned, as in here:
Acts 16:30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
So the Abrahamic covenant was a covenant of promise. It was not like the covenant at Mount Sinai, which was a contract between two parties, between God and the nation of Israel. In other words, if you do this, Israel, I will do that. As in Exodus 19:
Exodus 19:5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
Exodus 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
Now the people of Israel heard those words and look at what they said:
Exodus 19:8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.
Now we say that it was a mistake for the people to say that. Covenant theology believes they did the right thing. On the other hand Covenant theology believes a lot of things that just don’t stand up when you simply take God at his word, believing that words mean what they say, as they say it, where they say it. In order for “replacement” theology to work for them, they have to NOT believe that when God says Israel he means Israel.
Now in the case of the covenant with Abraham, it was not conditional. It was a promise. The only thing anyone can do with a promise is either to believe it or not believe it. Abraham believed it, and it, that faith, was counted to him for righteousness, as in:
Genesis 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
And not only that, but this uncircumcised Gentile, righteous before God by faith alone, also believed this promise:
Romans 4:17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
So God took this Gentile man named Abram, changed his name to Abraham and MADE HIM a father of many nations, calling those things which be not as though they were.
So we see then that there were people who would believe in all those nations Paul went to and preached, people not aliens from the covenants of promise, but IN them, during the time of the book of Acts.
So God made a promise and Abraham simply took God at his word…he believed it:
Romans 4:20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
Strong faith gives glory to God, and that’s what God requires for salvation today, faith in the finished work of Christ. That gives glory to God. Men who boast of their own good works try to get the glory for themselves, and that amounts to robbery, doesn’t it?
So a covenant of promise is not a reward for goodness, however noble a character Abraham might have been. There is one thing for sure I know about Abraham, he was a sinner. ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So I know that he didn’t earn the promise or gain it by good works. It was a free promise:
Romans 4:4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
Romans 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Faith is simply the reliance on the promise and the God who made it. There is no room for boasting, you have nothing to boast about. There is only room for gratitude. When you pray, do you ever find yourself just simply saying, Thank you, Lord?
Romans 3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
So through the fall of Israel, salvation had come to the Gentiles and Paul preached the gospel of Christ to the Jew first and also to the Greek. But now, the Galatians were being “bewitched,” being fascinated, and being removed to ANOTHER GOSPEL, not a false one, a very real one, the Jewish Messianic message of faith plus works of faith. That was the reason for the whole Galatian letter.
Up to here, in Galatians, Paul seems to have so completely eliminated the Law from God’s plan of salvation that it would naturally bring up the next question. They would naturally have this question, and it deserves an answer:
Galatians 3:19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
This question of why the law is a big question here for the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles Paul had preached to in Galatia, and it also comes up again in Romans. And the book of Romans, by the way, was written to Gentiles who were Jewish proselytes. They called themselves Jews. There is a difference in calling yourself a Jew and being a Jew.
Romans 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
Romans 7:13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
So the law was provisional. It kept down the wickedness of sinful men. It was a restraint, but at the same time it convicted men. It showed him his sinfulness and his helplessness. As in Romans:
Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
So the law gives man the knowledge of sin. Some say it is like a mirror and it reflects back the sinfulness of man.
Now the law can tell you what is right, what is just. It can show you your wrong, but it can’t do any more. The law “worketh wrath.” It makes sin exceedingly sinful. It also brought men under a curse:
Galatians 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Now back in Exodus the people proudly said that they would keep it. We say, wrong answer:
Exodus 19:8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.
But what happened? They failed. Time after time after time they repeatedly failed to keep the law. Israel had 1500 years of the law and trying to keep the law and failing to keep the law. How is it that an arrogant religious person today boasts that he is keeping the law. Peter says they were unable to bear it:
Acts 15:10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
That, by the way, is Peter’s observation when Paul went up to Jerusalem to communicate unto them “that gospel that I preach.” He writes about that in Galations chapter two. The people of Israel pledged to keep the law but they found they couldn’t. If it had not been for the provision in the law for forgiveness and atonement through the blood sacrifices none of them would have even lived to go in to the promised land. But for all of that, it was not the fault of the law, it was the fault of the people who couldn’t keep it. They were just like you and me, fleshly human beings. As they were, so are we. The law is righteous and holy and good, but what did Paul say?
Romans 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
Romans 7:13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
Romans 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Now Christ is the end of the law FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS. But it is not the end of the law. The law is still there. Some claim that the law was abolished. Not so. These are the words of Jesus Christ:
Matthew 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
So God’s law is still there, and it is a good thing:
1 Timothy 1:8 But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;
So God’s holy law is there, but the believer is delivered from it. Paul says:
Romans 7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
So those who are in Christ are delivered from the law and from the curse of the law THROUGH death, the death of Christ. The wages of sin is death, and Christ died for our sins. God made him to be sin for us. So Paul says I am crucified with Christ. When you are baptized into Christ, by the Spirit, you are baptized into the death of Christ. God counts it as your death. So the debt of sin is paid, the righteous demands of the law met in the death of Christ on your behalf.
The law was ordained by angels in the hands of a mediator. In other words, Moses was the mediator between the people and God. The “old covenant” the law of Moses was a contract, it was conditional, between two separate parties, and Moses was the go-between so to speak. But in the covenant of promise God is the one, the only party making the contract:
Galatians 3:20 Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.
A good bible word for this, that God is one, would be the word Godhead. Now another question comes up. The covenant with Abraham is a promise.
Galatians 3:21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
So Paul say no, the law is not against the promises, don’t even say such a thing. The law is also not another, separate way, to gain righteousness, because if the law could give life there would be no need for the promise and eternal life could have been gained by keeping the law. The law is right, and holy and good. The weakness of the law is not the law, it is the sinful man trying to keep it.
Galatians 3:22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
So there was a fatal IF in the law. He that doeth them shall live in them. And James says that if a man “keep the whole law and fail in one point, he is guilty of all.” So the scripture hath concluded all under sin.
Romans 7:10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
Romans 7:11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
So the law could only shut them up, as in prison or in bondage, so that the only hope of life is in the promise which is by faith of Jesus Christ and it is given, it is a free gift, to them that believe.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
The gift is the salvation, the redemption, eternal life in Christ. And that is the message Paul had preached to the Galatians, total justification by faith alone, apart from the Law of Moses. Before Paul came along, the Galations had heard the law preached in every synagogue every Sabbath day, as James said:
Acts 15:21 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.
So Paul now explains how they were brought from under the law into the grace of Christ:
Galatians 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Galatians 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
So the law was very much being taught in Galatia when Paul and Barnabas had made their trip there, and now the Judaizers were subverting their souls, telling them they must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses, in addition to their faith in Christ in order to be saved. That is the OTHER GOSPEL. Not a false one, but one that was very real at that time. It might be good to point out, once again, that the gospel of the kingdom, the gospel of the circumcison is not a valid gospel today. It was preached in time past. It will be preached in the future. But now, there is only one gospel, the gospel that Paul preached, the gospel of Christ.
Now when Paul says “that we might be justified by faith.” There is a special significance here in what Paul says. You could say that those under the law in the old testament had faith. They believed in God. They believed that God had given them the law through Moses. They believed that the law was the word of God. They also believed that if they kept it that God would reward them and if they failed to keep it he would punish them. The blessings and the cursings.
All of that could be said to be true of the people who were under the law. But that was not the faith Paul is speaking of. In fact he says that faith had not yet come. He says the law is not of faith but he that doeth them, and so on. He also makes a difference between the righteousness which is of the law and the righteousness which is of faith.
Romans 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
The only hope for righteousness which is of the law is to do the whole law. They didn’t do and couldn’t do the whole law, so there was provision in the law for judgment, mercy and faith, through the blood sacrifices. But it required the doing of things and doing them perfectly and without fail and they simply couldn’t do it. No man can, and no man ever has, other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
But the faith which came, that Paul speaks of is not the doing of anything. It is like not lifting a finger. Not going anywhere, doing anything or even saying anything. The issue in view in Romans 10:9 is not standing in front of men and repeating certain words. What Paul means is simply believing in, and trusting in the free gift of eternal life in Christ. Accepting the gift of God by faith in Christ.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now back in Galations:
Galatians 3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
So the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, Paul says, but now that faith is come we are no longer under, that is to say, we no longer have a need for a schoolmaster.
Children would be put in the charge of a household servant or slaves and they would have strict authority over the children. That’s the idea of the schoolmaster. That’s the meaning of the teaching in chapter four:
Galatians 4:1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Galatians 4:2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Galatians 4:3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
Galatians 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Galatians 4:5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
So the redemption being made, by the shed blood of Christ, the fullness of time being come, we might receive the adoption. The idea of the adoption is not the same as someone who might adopt the child of a stranger and raise him as his own child. That’s our idea of adoption today. But the idea of the adoption here is maturity. When the day of maturity came they were freed from the schoolmaster, freed from that rule, in this case, the law, and regarded as full grown sons, having the full rights of sonship. The rights of the inheritance. That is the idea the word conveys. Adoption, or the placing as sons, as heirs.
Galatians 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Now how that redemption was accomplished is pointed out in Romans:
Romans 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
The word married there is like united, literally it is jointed, joined to Christ. A lost of people like to use this verse to prove that the church is the bride of Christ but what you are joined to is the body of Christ, which is positively masculine. You are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones,
The adoption, the redemption. Look back at chapter two:
Galatians 2:19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: neverthless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
So we are all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ:
Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
So Paul says we have been baptized into Christ. You have to know that Paul is not referring to water baptism in the passage if you believe the next verse, there is neither Jew nor Greek. The baptism in verse 27 then must be a spiritual baptism because water baptism will not accomplish the truth of verse 28, where there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female. It is a spiritual realm, a spiritual body of believers, called the church, the body of Christ.
Now the promoters of that OTHER GOSPEL, which today IS a false gospel, like to go to 1 Peter in order to include the doctrine of water baptism in their preaching and teaching. For instance Peter says:
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1 Peter 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
1 Peter 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
1 Peter 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
So Peter is obviously making a reference to the water of the flood in Noah’s day and says THE LIKE FIGURE, the water, a reference to water baptism doth also now save us. Their water baptism was a baptism of separation. Peter had said “save yourselves from the untoward generation.,” just as Noah was saved from that generation. And he says it is the “answer of a good conscience toward God.
Obviously then, Peter believes in water baptism. Water baptism was a part of Peter’s preaching and his message. On the day of Pentecost he preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, and in Acts chapter ten, at the home of the ONLY Gentile in the bible that Peter ever went to, he commanded him to be baptized with water.
But what religion will not see is that Paul, never, anywhere in the bible, preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Paul never told anyone to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins. And this baptism cannot possibly be water baptism. Look at it again:
Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Notice that it says “baptized INTO Christ.” It doesn’t say “baptized in water in the name of Jesus Christ.” Now go back to 1 Peter and look at who Peter is writing to, and what he says about them:
1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;
Peter is writing to a HOLY NATION. He is writing to the NEW nation of Israel. Peter and the 12 were the founding fathers, so to speak, of that nation. That nation grew by 3,000 people in Acts chapter two and by 5,000 people in Acts chapter four and it is a royal priesthood, a holy nation.
But those who have been baptized INTO Christ, not in water in the name of Jesus Christ, are not a nation. There is NO nationality in this body:
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
The point being: The body of Christ is NOT that holy nation Peter was writing to. That holy nation, the Israel of God, is not the body of Christ. The two are different. Peter’s doctrine is that OTHER GOSPEL Paul was talking about. It was not a false gospel. It was a real gospel at the time. Today it doesn’t exist. But at the time of the book of Galatians it was a real gospel and there were real people involved in it. Those people all died in faith. That gospel, which was preached in time past is not to be preached today. Today, if you preach any other gospel than Paul’s gospel you are preaching a FALSE GOSPEL. You are perverting the gospel of Christ.
Any time anyone adds anything to the message of eternal security in Christ by grace alone through faith alone without works or effort of any kind, it perverts the gospel of Christ. And Satan has ministers in pulpits around the world who look just like everybody else preaching another Jesus and another gospel.
2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
The Jesus that Paul preached died on the cross for all of your sins. God was in Christ, reconciling you unto himself by the death of his son. There is but one Spirit and it is God’s Holy Spirit which baptizes a believer into the body of Christ and seals him unto the day of redemption. That Spirit is given the MOMENT a person trusts in Christ and there is NO OTHER Spirit or other anointing or other baptism to be had. And Paul says we should endeavour to keep, not make but to keep, the unity of the Spirit. The unity is already made for the believer.
Ephesians 4:3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Ephesians 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
Ephesians 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
Ephesians 4:6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Now to recap some of the things we have studied up to now in the book of Galations:
Paul preaches the gospel of Christ. Nobody else in the bible preaches the gospel of Christ. The gospel of Christ is the preaching of Jesus Christ according to Paul’s gospel, not THE gospel and not the gospel Peter preached in Acts chapter two. Paul’s gospel is called the gospel of Christ and you only find the words “the gospel of Christ” in the books Paul wrote, Romans through Philemon. Search as you will the phrase can’t be found anywhere else in the bible. But Paul wrote to the Galations and said:
Galatians 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Galatians 1:7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
The word “another” in verse six is HETEROS which means different, while the word for “another” in verse seven is ALLOS which means the same. In other words there was, at that time, another gospel of a different kind but not another gospel of the same kind. That is not true today. Today there is only one gospel.
There had been a DIFFERENT gospel preached both before the cross and after the cross all the way up to Acts chapter twelve. It was the gospel message committed to Peter. It was different than Paul’s gospel. That’s clear from this:
Galatians 2:7 But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;
So Paul had preached in Galatia in Acts chapter thirteen and fourteen and preached salvation by grace alone through faith alone, with no works and no water baptism. Paul never told anyone to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins. He preached total justification by faith alone.
Some people who had been involved in Peter’s ministry had come and were teaching a DIFFERENT gospel in Galatia. Paul had received his message directly from the risen Lord in Acts chapter nine and once he did, Peter’s Kingdom gospel had become a DIFFERENT gospel. The doctrine of Paul’s gospel is the gospel for the Galations and the gospel for today. It is no longer a Jewish Messianic message. That commission went out of commission. Here is the verse for that:
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.
So unless you could find some updated instructions that would supersede this verse, you shouldn’t preach or teach Peter’s gospel. What Paul writes about in the verse is what happened at a meeting in Acts chapter fifteen. By that handshake, James, Peter and John agree to NOT go to anyone but the circumcision with their gospel of the circumcision. So Paul writes to the Galations:
Galatians 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
When Paul says that which WE have preached unto you, he is not referring to Peter, James and John but to himself and Barnabas. There is no record of Peter ever preaching in Galatia. Only Paul preached in Galatia and he preached the gospel of Christ which he calls MY gospel, not our gospel.
Religion claims that there is only one gospel, but Paul talks about an angel from heaven preaching another gospel UNTO YOU. No angel from heaven ever preached unto the Galations, but there is an angel from heaven in the bible who preaches and you can clearly see that it is NOT Paul’s gospel:
Revelation 14:6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Revelation 14:7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
John in the book of Revelation sees an angel fly in the midst of heaven and he is preaching ANOTHER GOSPEL. It is not the same gospel Paul preached. Here is the gospel Paul preached:
1 Corinthians 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
Notice he says that I PREACHED UNTO YOU. There is no record of Peter ever preaching in Corinth, but Paul preached there for a year and a half in Acts chapter eighteen.
1 Corinthians 15:2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
Paul says it is the gospel by which you ARE SAVED. Peter doesn’t preach a gospel by which you ARE saved. He preaches a gospel by which some people SHALL BE saved:
1 Peter 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
But Paul is declaring the gospel HE preached, not the gospel WE preached or they gospel they all preached. Only Paul preaches this gospel:
1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
1 Corinthians 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
So Paul’s message is the gospel by which you ARE SAVED and Peter’s gospel is the gospel by which some people WILL BE saved in the tribulation. It is a DIFFERENT GOSPEL. It is not the gospel for today. You cannot be saved by Peter’s gospel today because Peter’s commission went out of commission for Paul’s commission.
Ephesians 3:1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
Ephesians 3:2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
Ephesians 3:3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
Paul’s gospel was a mystery up until the time the Lord revealed it to Paul. The Lord didn’t reveal Paul’s gospel to Peter. Peter didn’t know Paul’s gospel until the Lord revealed to Paul that he should go up, to Jerusalem, and tell it to Peter:
Galatians 2:2 And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.
So when Paul communicated his gospel to Peter then Peter’s gospel became a DIFFERENT GOSPEL. Not a false gospel, there is no such phrase in your bible as a false gospel. The bible does say that there are false Christs, false brethren, false apostles, false teachers, false prophets and false witnesses. But nowhere in the bible is there a false gospel. It is religion and preachers today who say that what Paul was talking about was a “false gospel.”
But Paul is not talking about a false gospel, he is talking about a different gospel. It was a gospel that was preached then. It is not a gospel that is to be preached today.The biggest blunder in religion today is that they think that Peter and Paul both preached the same gospel…and that there is only one gospel in the bible.
Peter preached a Jewish tribulation message. Peter called the people he preached to a royal priesthood. Nowhere in Romans through Philemon will you find Paul referring to himself or to you as a priest. The doctrine of the priesthood of the believer is nowhere to be found in Paul’s epistles. The Hebrews are the priesthood:
Hebrews 3:1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;
Take the time to read Hebrews chapter three. Take the time to read Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19 and 20 and 1 Peter 2:9. The message is a tribulation message. It is not the gospel Paul preaches. Look, for example at that Hebrews salvation:
Hebrews 3:14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
Now see if that verse with that big IF in it sounds anything at all like this:
1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
Read what Peter says about his salvation:
1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
Now see if that hoping to the end for grace at the end, which is the endure to the end tribulation message of Matthew 24:13, he that shall endure to the end the same shall be saved, see if that sounds anything at all like this:
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Ephesians 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
See if Peter’s preaching here in Acts 10:
Acts 10:35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
See if that sounds anything at all like this:
Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
Now what you have been listening to and looking at are things that are different. Things that are different are not the same. Peter has a DIFFERENT gospel. Not a false gospel at that time, but a different gospel. Now Peter’s tribulation gospel is not a valid gospel today. It will be the gospel preached in the tribulation. So when people came to Galatia with a different gospel than Paul had preached it was the wrong gospel.
That commission went out of commission. It will be recommissioned in the tribulation. If you plan to go through the tribulation then you will need that DIFFERENT gospel because Paul’s gospel of grace will no longer be offered to you. It will not be available to tribulation saints. They WILL have to endure to the end for grace at the end if they make it to the end. So the OTHER gospel Paul is talking about in Galations is a real gospel, not a false one. It is a different gospel. You can’t be saved by that gospel today.
How can you be saved today. Just like the Ephesians were saved. By simply trusting the Lord. By depending on HIS faith, not yours. He is the one who was faithful. He is the one who endured to the end in your behalf. God made him to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. It’s not necessary to go anywhere, do anything, or even say anything. What IS necessary is that you believe.
So believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
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