1:7). 1:18,23). This is why the doctrines in each of his great epistles to the churches are followed by practical applications to our behavior in “this present evil [age].”. Paul was – is – the apostle to the Gentiles. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Moses had much to say about loving God and obeying His commands, but it soon became evident that the Mosaic Law would not produce results, as God pronounced it “old”2 and promised to make a new covenant with His people, under which He would so work within them that they would spontaneously do His will (Jer. “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. The word "gospel" means "good news", and "grace" means "good will, loving kindness, unmerited favor". 36:26,27). The word "gospel" means "good news", and "grace" means "good will, loving kindness, unmerited favor". He says in verse 5, “ through whom we have received grace.” In other words, God’s grace has come to Paul through the Lord Jesus Christ who was born as a son of David and was raised as Son of God in power. It is very important to understand the history of Paul. to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." 11:13) sent to Gentiles throughout the world. 1:19), and was reminded that the deacons must hold “the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience” (I Tim. 11:13) sent to Gentiles throughout the world. Saul of Tarsus, that we now know as the Apostle Paul and wrote 13 Epistles ,Romans through to Philemon,was persecuted and put in prison because was preaching The Gospel of The Grace of God. It is better to zoom out – so to speak – and view the big picture. Apostle Paul's Accomplishments When Saul of Tarsus, who was later renamed Paul, saw the resurrected Jesus Christ on the Damascus Road, Saul converted to Christianity . PAUL the Apostle of Grace. “Behold, before God, I lie not” (Gal. It is better to zoom out – so to speak – and view the big picture. We are made nigh by the blood of Christ (Eph. And wherever the Spirit of God propelled him to go, he led people to Jesus. By his own words, it was by God’s grace that he was chosen for salvation and to be God’s messenger (Galatians 2:9). And yet now, he fully embraces salvation by grace as the only means of salvation. Again, THIS CLAIM IS MADE FOR NONE OF HIS PREDECESSORS. “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. He was God’s great example of grace, the “chief of sinners” saved by grace (1 Tim. First things first for the Apostle Paul, we see here the good and proper response of one who has in fact been saved by God’s grace, thankfulness. First things first for the Apostle Paul, we see here the good and proper response of one who has in fact been saved by God’s grace, thankfulness. Jesus Christ had revealed Himself to Paul, just as He had appeared to Peter, to James, to the Twelve, after his Resurrection. A wealthy man had a servant who just wasn’t working out. On his way to Jerusalem Paul declared his determination to fulfill his Christ-given commission “to testify the gospel of the grace of God” (20:24) and then commended the Ephesian elders to “the word of [God’s] grace” (20:32). 11:26). Hence, indeed Paul worked harder than the 12 to promote this creedal Christianity but the reason is that the 12 were busy preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus taught -- a far different gospel than what Paul taught. “I speak the truth in Christ and lie not” (I Tim. Notice how this Gospel of Grace was exclusive to Paul’s ministry; nowhere else in Scripture is that Gospel message mentioned. He also preached to them the same Gospel that also includes the Kingdom. Later Peter confirmed Paul’s message, publicly declaring his conviction: “We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we [Jews] shall be saved even as they [Gentiles]” (15:11). Prime. “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Rom. The man was slower than a dusty turtle. Throughout Scripture, the apostle Paul explained that the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in Christ should cause us to be loving towards others. 1:18). 8:11,12). They were all FILLED with the Spirit (Acts 2:4). We are to show forth the Lord’s death till He come (I Cor. Paul had a double ministry, and wrote of himself as minister of the Gospel and minister of the church (Col. 1:23-25). "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." Cart Hello Select your address Best Sellers Today's Deals Electronics Gift Ideas Customer Service Books Home New Releases Computers Gift Cards Coupons Sell. Peter at Pentecost could point out that “this” was “that which was spoken by the prophet Joel” (Acts 2:16), why would he need to swear that he was telling the truth? For the apostle Paul there are only two ways to be justified before God: By depending on the keeping of the whole law — that is, by works. Paul understood simply that acceptance or belief in these facts was the good news and if you believe them you were saved unless this news was untrue in the first place. We have peace through the blood of His Cross (Col. 1:20). Introduction The epistles of Paul begin with a salutation that always includes the words, “grace to you and peace” or “grace, mercy, and peace” as in the case of 1 and 2 Timothy. The word “gospel” (εὐαγγέλιον) means “good news”. It was Paul's Gospel because he received it directly from the Lord by divine revelation. This message and gospel of grace is first taught by the Apostle Paul as it was revealed to him by Christ for he had not learned it from the disciples (Gal 1:11-12). know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? He did not preach the gospel of the kingdom. 2:14). The Message of Jesus: The Gospel According to Paul: A Bible Study. It is the same with the Old Testament types of our Lord’s death. They all lived for each other. The Covenant of the Law was nailed to the Cross (Col. 2:14). And this is representative of many similar passages. 3:2) and that it was his “ministry… received of the Lord Jesus” to make known “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). we read : " 2 Corinthians 11:18 Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. But whether it is a single local church or the combined efforts of multiple churches (such as in sending missionaries or planting a new church), Paul gave us three components of what creates true gospel unity. Paul, Apostle of Grace: Amazon.sg: Movies & TV Shows. 4:1-3). Many of them go so far as to condemn baptism for the remission of sins as a "works doctrine" and having nothing to do with the remitting of sins. Paul's gospel pertains to God's gracious offer of salvation without works during this resent dispensation of grace, and is called, appropriately, "the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24). 11:31). “Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men” (Acts 24:16). Again, Paul never preached the Gospel of the Kingdom. 2:7). 1 Hearing of the Gospel Romans 10:8-17. Saul of Tarsus, that we now know as the Apostle Paul and wrote 13 Epistles ,Romans through to Philemon,was persecuted and put in prison because was preaching The Gospel of The Grace of God. charis) with its derivatives appears in the original only 13 times (much less often in the English A.V.) Paul’s salutations include the writer, the recipient, and the greeting proper, which follows the style of other letters of his time. Many of the Calvinists and their offspring teach salvation by either grace alone or faith alone. By comparison, the epistles of Paul, only about one twelfth the size of the Old Testament and one-half the size of the four Gospels, employs the word grace and its derivatives no less than 144 times, more often than all the rest of the Bible together and nearly twice as often as the whole Old Testament and the four Gospels together! 1:3). Paul described himself as set apart for the gospel of God and called to be an apostle and a servant of Jesus Christ. Every epistle signed by his name opens with a proclamation of grace and peace “from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” In the epistles we find that we are “justified freely by [God’s] grace” (Rom. and then rarely in even a doctrinal, much less a dispensational, connection. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. 6:11-14). It was Paul's Gospel because he received it directly from the Lord by divine revelation. Do you have questions about the Bible? The Apostle Paul, from the outset of the epistle to Galatia, is dealing with the heresy of adding requirements to the Gospel of Grace by faith. Aside from Jesus of Nazareth, no person is more important to God’s eternal plan than the Apostle Paul. Peter, James, and John are not mentioned in Acts 20:24, Romans 2:16, Romans 16:25, 1 Timothy 1:11, or 2 Timothy 2:8. Under such Spirit-controlled conditions it would be superfluous to caution one to regard the conscience of another. this claim was made for none of his predecessors, nor did any of them even mention the dispensation or the gospel of the grace of God so far as the record is concerned. 11:10). Hence it is appropriate that the apostle should insist again and again that he writes as in the presence of God. 1:23). Post was not sent - check your email addresses! “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.” (Acts 22:3-4). 1:12-16). The answer to this question is again to be found in the distinctive character of Paul’s ministry as the apostle of the mystery. There is only one way to be saved and that is by the Grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Separate from the twelve, who were widely known as the apostles of Christ, Paul had been raised up to make known a wonderful secret which God had kept hidden from all who had gone before. 1:12). God designated Paul as the apostle of Grace, finally revealing to the world the mystery He had kept hidden since Creation (Ephesians 3:9). When Paul preached to the Jews he “proved” to them first of all that the Lord Jesus Christ was Messiah. We'd like to help. ( Log Out /  Not only does Paul himself declare this by divine inspiration but his declarations are amply confirmed by a comparison of his message and ministry with the messages and ministries of all his predecessors. The Prophet Joseph Smith declared, “Paul perfectly understood the purposes of God in relation to His connection with man.” 1 It would therefore be logical to suppose that the Latter-day Saint view of grace, as taught by modern-day prophets, and the teachings found in the writings of the Apostle Paul, when properly understood, are the same. 1:12-16). Paul taught the kingdom of God, but he did not offer David’s earthly kingdom to … The Apostle Paul goes so far as to proclaim; “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” (Galatians 5:4). 5:15). Even as early Acts 15 (cf. 2:16). We can now look back at them and exclaim: “God had it in mind all the while!” but we are not told of one single case where those of that day were informed that the death of Christ was being prefigured. It would likewise have been superfluous to exhort Peter and his brethren at Pentecost to hold the truth in a pure conscience for they were all “filled with the Holy Spirit” according to promise. And we could go on and on adding up the evidence that “the dispensation of the grace of God” was indeed committed especially to Paul to make known to us. 16:21; Mark 8:31; Luke 9:22), and then we read: “Then Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee” (Matt. Paul in First Corinthians chapter 15 explains that his gospel is the acceptance as true certain facts that he was taught by the 12 apostles. Let us next consider Paul’s presentation of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. no other bible writer devotes so large a proportion of his teachings to this subject. (Acts 20:24) The apostle Paul was commissioned by Jesus to proclaim good news of God's grace! To Agrippa he could say, with regard to his Damascus road experience. Your experience matters More than a biography; Paul, Apostle of Grace is a Bible study of Paul's gospel of grace and God's ultimate plan from the beginning, including chapter reviews. We are saved through faith in His blood (Rom. The Apostle Paul On Grace And The Law. 9:8), that it is God’s purpose for “the ages to come” to “show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (Eph. How all this cumulative evidence marks Paul as the one especially raised up of God to make known the particular truths for the present dispensation! We’ll proceed book by book, just skimming the surface, looking primarily at verses that use the Greek word for gospel or for preaching.. 1. “I give thee charge in the sight of God” (I Tim. Thus we see that the Apostle Paul’s “my gospel” is a message of grace and love from the Gentile Jesus through the Gentile apostle (Paul is indeed the “apostle to the Gentiles”, see Rom. Further he appeals to the consciences of others. We are made one Body by the Cross (Eph. 6:13). “Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19). His life was far from ordinary. He had even been conscientious (though conscientiously wrong) in his persecution of Christ (Acts 26:9) and while it is clear that he was not saved through obedience to his conscience, this characteristic of his make-up became the more strongly marked after his regeneration and enlightenment by the Holy Spirit. My studies are based on the gospel of the grace of God as revealed to us through the Apostle Paul, which is centered on the accomplishment at the cross by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He was sent forth to proclaim “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). We are to boast in the Cross alone (Gal. “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward” (II Cor. 1:23,24). Visit the store. Not only did he exhort others to “provide things honest in the sight of all men” (Rom. When Paul preached to the Jews he “proved” to them first of all that the Lord Jesus Christ was Messiah. “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (I Cor. In Paul: A Man of Grace and Grit Charles Swindoll looks at the life and spirituality of this most influential apostle. “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Paul was God’s chosen vessel to proclaim grace to humanity and especially to the Gentiles. There would have been little need for such precautions and exhortations or even for such collections, had the Pentecostal program continued uninterrupted, for “the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which is possessed was his own; but they had all things common….Neither was there any among them that lacked…” (Acts 4:32-34). And he proved this to Felix himself as he refused to yield to the temptation to seek freedom by giving him a bribe (Acts 24:26). “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost” (Rom. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. This is so again with regard to the broad subject of the believer’s spiritual life and conduct. We are sometimes asked: “Did not others before Paul speak of grace?”. One of the Greastest Dispensational Teachings I have ever heard !! 3:9). It is interesting to note that the apostle both showed and exhorted conscientiousness, especially where financial matters were concerned. Paul wasted no time making his point in his letter to the Galatian Christians. Paul’s salutations add a new flavor, however, due to the meaning of the words “grace” and “peace” for believers in Christ. Often we are accused of placing Paul above Christ !! 9:1). He made three long missionary journeys throughout the Roman Empire , planting churches, preaching the gospel, and giving strength and encouragement to early Christians . Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Learn how your comment data is processed. In connection with the larger contributions being made by the Gentile churches to the saints at Jerusalem, he wrote to the Corinthians that along with Titus (sent to collect their contributions) he was sending another brother, who was well known to all the churches and appointed by them to travel with him in taking the gift to Jerusalem: “Avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us: “Providing for honest things [what is honorable] not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men” (II Cor. These differences can be identified by examining the letters attributed to Paul and the answers he gave to those who questioned him: The word grace had deep meaning for the apostle Paul. He said that these have nothing to do with salvation. Outlined by the apostle Paul in First Corinthians 15, the gospel of grace concern the person of God's Son, the Lord Jesus, in His death, burial, and resurrection. This death was not a suicide, the result of an accident, or the punishment of a criminal. The apostle Paul says you would see the grace of God (Acts 20:24) and the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4,6) so that you will walk worthy of that gospel (Philippians 1:27). Try. The Apostle Paul Preached The Grace of God and the Kingdom of God! It is not merely Paul, but the inspired Word which declares that “the dispensation of the grace of God” was committed to him (Eph. He constantly speaks of them, not in hidden meanings, but in open declaration, as good news, as that around which God’s eternal purpose revolves and from which all our blessings flow.1. But with Paul it was a different matter. Why is this? He did not preach the gospel of the kingdom. “And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me” (I Cor. It is not a message to or through Israel, or to Jews. All Hello, Sign in. 1:10-12). The epistles of Paul begin with a salutation that always includes the words, “grace to you and peace” or “grace, mercy, and peace” as in the case of 1 and 2 Timothy. 3. Dr. J. S. Howson has pointed out how the Apostle Paul calls God for his witness more than any other Bible writer, and also has more to say about conscience, particularly his own.4 But Dean Howson did not see the relation of these facts to the revelation of the mystery and the dispensation of Grace. This unity is the result of the grace of God and the Christ-centered focus of our church family. 3:2) and that it was his “ministry… received of the Lord Jesus” to make known “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). ( Log Out /  2:13). These differences can be identified by examining the letters attributed to Paul and the answers he gave to those who questioned him: As we know, however, Israel rejected the King and His kingdom and that operation of the Spirit ceased. Paul’s calling as an apostle to the Gentiles was also reinforced by the original apostles.In his letter to the church in Galatians, Paul wanted the Galatians to know that they didn’t need to follow the Law of Moses to be saved.The gospel he preached to them was … God needed someone resolute and bold, even brazen, yet a servant leader to bring in the new gospel after Christ’s Cross provided salvation and spiritual change. He was an enforcer of the Law. When Barnabas “had seen the grace of God” in saving Gentiles at Syrian Antioch, he “was glad” (Acts 11:23). 16:22). ( Log Out /  Even as early Acts 15 (cf. You ever read consider briefly some of the gospel of the gospel of the features of Paul 12! Phones or tablets to Agrippa he could SAY, with regard to the (! 'S example below or click an icon to Log in: you are commenting using your Google account disciples! And again that he writes as in the life of the believer ’ death... 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