The Actual Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 5 of 5)
as presented by the early church

The gospel of God’s Grace.

Acts 20.24: “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” (N.I.V.)

The English word grace translates the Greek word ‘charis’ which means ‘undeserved and unmerited favor’. However, more than merely God viewing mankind’s failings and saying ‘I forgive them’, charis denotes God acting to set things right, regardless of man’s sins. It is the hand of God extended in love to personally execute each stage of redemption, with the exception of forcing man to believe. Why, even the faith is a gift from God. (Eph. 2.8)

For the purposes of our study, we will limit ourselves to the relationship between the gospel message and God’s revelation of His grace.

In Acts 20, Paul is addressing the church in Ephesus before going on to Jerusalem. Verse 21 states, “…solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus verse we opened with, showing that he understood ‘the gospel of God’s grace’ to be almost solely concerned with tearing down the wall of division between the Jews and gentiles for the purpose of extending salvation to all peoples.

In the book of Romans, Paul expands and clarifies this issue throughout the first 11 chapters. It doesn’t take a degree in theology or 4 years of New Testament Greek to follow Paul’s logic; only to twist it to read the way dispensationalists force it to read.

If you can read English and have at your disposal a reputable translation of the Bible (or preferably several) then you will be able to understand exactly what Paul is trying to say.

Right off Paul states the issue clearly. In Chapter 1 verse 16, Paul says:

“For I am not ashamed of the good news (gospel), for it is God’s power for the salvation of everyone who has faith, of the Jew first and then of the Greek.” (Goodspeed) (also 2.7-16)

Romans 3.22-24 states:

“This righteousness from God comes through faith in Christ Jesus to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justifies freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (N.I.V.)

Furthermore, 4.16 says:

“Therefore, the promise (verse 13) comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring – not only to those who are of the law (2.17-24) but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.” (N.I.V.)

Please notice; Paul is stating that the promises to Abraham, which were given before the law was given through Moses, were meant for the Jews AND the gentiles and found fulfillment ONLY through Christ and ONLY in the church of God. This is not meant to sound anti-Semitic, which has been a term used against the Amillenialists form time to time. God has clearly included everyone under His condemnation as being sinful, Jew and gentile. He ahs also included everyone under His canopy of grace, Jew and gentile. The only requisite for inclusion in this grace is faith in Christ. Not bloodline, not national origin or religion; only faith in the resurrected Messiah.

I have touched only briefly and lightly in Romans. In order to receive the full brunt of the weight of what I am saying you will need to read the first 11 chapters, carefully and more than once. Not because the truths are hard to come by but because a faulty mind set is difficult to dispel. When I was introduced to this concept it was slow work, wading through the ocean of misconceptions I had learned in the 18 years I had been a believer. But once I realized I had been led astray of the full truth by the many (so called) Bible scholars I had trusted to teach me, the scriptures no longer held any mysteries or seeming contradictions. And you, too, will find it richly rewarding, if you take your blinders off and allow the scriptures to be their own interpreter.

We find an interesting statement in Galatians 5.4:

“You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.” (N.I.V.)

From this verse, as well as those studied in Romans, we see that the Jewish legal system, the Mosaic Law, is the antithesis of God’s grace. The law was given to the Jews through Moses; grace was given to the whole world through Jesus Christ.

According to Galatians:

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law…in order that the blessing to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.” (3.13, 14 N.I.V.)

“What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come.” (3.19)

“If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (3.29)

Listen to what Paul has said. Christ redeemed us in order that the blessing to Abraham might come to the Gentiles! Did Jesus fulfill all he set out to accomplish? Did Jesus leave some portion of his work of salvation to be consummated at some future date? Paul certainly didn’t think so.

· The gospel of the grace of God can be summed up like this.

· God revealed Himself to mankind through a few men in ages past.

· He chose a lineage for His son, the Messiah, to proceed through.

· In Abraham God found the blood line of the savior (Isaac, Judah, David, etc.) as well as the qualifying factor for salvation: Faith.

· The law was enacted to show how wicked the sinfulness of man was and to lead the Jews to Christ, and mankind with them.

· The grace of God was revealed in the act of God sending His son to die as penalty for our sins; the sins of all mankind, Jew and gentile.

The clear teaching of scripture is that salvation was always meant for all peoples, but God chose the children of Israel, Abraham’s descendants, to proclaim that good news. As Galatians 3.7, 8 says:

“Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”” (N.I.V.)

By the grace of God the ‘dividing wall of hostility’ was destroyed, Jew and gentile reconciled to God and a ‘new man’ created in Christ. (Eph. 2.11-18) This was God’s eternal purpose, (1.4, 5) and the Jews of Jesus’ time rejected it and bore the condemnation of Christ and the judgment of God.

“Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute form city to city, that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechia, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation.” (Matt. 23.34-39 N.A.S.)

Now, and for the remainder of history, only a remnant of the Jewish nation will be saved, and that only through faith, just as the gentile nations.

“In the same way then, there has come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” (Romans 11.5, 6 N.A.S.)