What does Paul say the gospel is and what does it reveal?

Answer 1

A:

In Romans 2:16, Paul says God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to "mygospel." In Galatians 1:11-12, he says this is not the gospel of man, nor did he receive it from any man: " But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." For Paul, the gospel was something personal to him and perhaps not known to man before his revelation.

in Galatians 1:6-7, Paul says he was amazed that the Galatians, having been called into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, they quickly forsook this for that of Paul - not that the gospels really were different. So, for Paul, there were different or parallel gospels, and in this case he seems unable to attack the other gospel, merely to curse anyone who teaches a gospel other than his. Again, in 2 Corinthians 11:4, Paul refers to another Jesus and another gospel, which Paul has not preached to the Corinthians and which they should not accept. Clearly then, whatever Paul meant by "the gospel," there were different versions of this being preached around in the thirties to sixties of the first century.

In Romans 1:1, Paul refers to the "gospel of God," saying that he was "a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God (KJV)." In Romans 1:9, Paul refers to the "gospel of his Son," saying that he served God "with my spirit in the gospel of his Son." It is as if there were two gospels, one of God and one of the Son, both of which Paul preached. In Romans 1:16, he says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." No one could be ashamed of the accounts revealed in the four New Testament gospels, and he seems not to be using the word 'gospel' in the sense of the story of Jesus of Nazareth, his miracles and crucifixion. If he had to defend himself in this way, he was probably talking of contentious ideas or rules for living.

Paul does not seem to have been aware that Jesus was a man who had lived and died in Palestine in the recent past. His description of the resurrection suggests he believe that the resurrection and the ascension to heaven were one and the same event. In 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, he describes the risen Jesus as appearing to (among others) the "twelve," quite at odds with the gospel account in which there could only be eleven disciples, but he describes these appearances in terms that suggest they were purely spiritual. If his gospel had been about the life of Jesus, it was certainly not the same as the accounts we read in the four New Testament gospels.

In Romans 10:16, Paul says, "They have not all obeyed the gospel." In 1 Corinthians 9:14 he says the Lord ordained that those who preach the gospel should live by the gospel. So, to Paul, the gospel is not so much a story of the life of Jesus but something to be obeyed and lived by. Perhaps this is the closest we will come to understanding what Paul meant by his gospel.