Romans – A Treatise
Chapter Sixteen
WHAT IS PAUL’S GOSPEL?
Scripture Reading: verses 25-27
The keynote of this benediction in Romans 16:25-27 is found in the expression “my gospel.” The expression refers to the unique ministry of the Apostle Paul which differs from the ministry of others in the New Testament, as considered in the last treatise
Running rapidly over Paul’s Epistles, they go somewhat as follows.
(1) In the Roman Epistle we have the legal settlement of all the criminal charges brought against Jew and Gentile, and on the platform of guilt they are brought in silenced before God. Then they are justified on the principle of grace by the faith of Jesus Christ (as we saw in Rom. 3:21-24). As such they are brought together under the favor of One whom they can both call “Abba, Father.” National and racial distinctions are obliterated and together they stand under the canopy of God’s heaven, recipients of His sovereign mercy.
(2) In the Corinthian Epistles we have set forth the great truth of the one body, and all the implications of that truth. “By one Spirit are we baptized into one body.” In the Corinthian Epistles it is not exactly the Body of Christ, but rather the one body – the unity of all true believers on earth, interdependent one on the other, whether they be Jews or Gentiles, and according to the Corinthian Epistles this has all been brought about by the introduction of a new creation in Christ.
(3) In the Galatian Epistle Paul sets aside ritualism and observances that which were under the Mosaic economy, and demonstrates with finality that in Christ we are not under law but under grace.
(4) In the Ephesian Epistle we have the body of Christ, of which the Lord Jesus Himself is the Head in heaven, exalted above all things, and as members of His mystical Body we are the fullness of Him who fills all in all. In that Epistle we also have the saints of God as the bride of Christ which has been brought in to fill the heart of our Lord when Israel, the earthly bride, has been laid aside.
(5) In the Philippian Epistle we have the Lord Jesus as the true believer’s life and the truth that every other object must be discounted as rubbish compared to the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. In Philippians it is more the individual Christian treading the path of faith, much like a runner in a marathon race bending every energy to run across the goal line with honor.
(6) In Colossians it is Christ Himself indwelling those who belong to Him, “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” and the saints of God livingly united together by joints and bands, just like the members of our physical body.
(7) In Thessalonians we have the grand truth that the saints of God shall be reunited with Him in the air.
(8) First Timothy takes up the moral order of things in the Church as it was set up in apostolic times – as the pillar and base of the truth. We have the mystery of godliness, incarnation, testimony, and ascension of our blessed Lord as the central theme among those who love His Name. There Paul teaches how we should behave ourselves in the House of God.
(9) In Second Timothy we find truths relating to the last days when failure and disintegration have come in, and it is no longer a question of how to behave in the house of God, but rather how to behave individually, when outwardly the Church has fallen into decay.
(10) Paul’s Epistle to Titus takes up the inroads which false pretenders are making among God’s people, giving us instructions on how those who would be faithful to His Name must stand against them. Paul sets in order things that have been put in confusion, and reminds us that the confusion will not go on always because we are looking for the blessed hope.
(11) Philemon is a rather personal commendation of a runaway slave, restoring him to his master. This indicates that the Church has not been brought into the world to revolutionize. In other words, it is not a social Gospel; it is for the salvation of souls; for development of the Christian life in whatever sphere we may be found, whether slave or freeman.
(12) Then the great Epistle to the Hebrews takes up the Lord Jesus as the Son, the One who eclipses everything the Israelites held dear in past dispensations. It shows that the Lord Jesus is greater than all the patriarchs, greater than all the rituals, all the buildings, all the spiritual order of the Hebrew Bible. Further, that He is outside the camp of earthly religious profession, and that he who follows Him must share His reproach.
That is a short review of what Paul’s Gospel means. Were is not for these wonderful Epistles in the New Testament from the hand of Paul (assuming he authored Hebrews), we would be largely in the dark as to what God is doing among Jews and Gentiles in this day of His excellent grace. To know Paul’s Gospel better is to be more established in the faith, and if we read his Epistles more, we would be less likely to be filled with doubts and fears, and less liable to follow the vain teachings of unscriptural cults as we find them in the world today.
