2.1 The Christian Dilemma
© 2016 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
We must put in front of our minds Paul’s claims concerning the gospel and the Jesus whom he preached.
I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:6-9).
A different gospel – any other gospel, even from an “angel from heaven.”
Another Jesus. I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it! (2 Corinthians 11:2-4).
Another Jesus – a different spirit – a different gospel. Here is the reality from Galatians 1 and 2 – although Paul did not say it directly, he implied that church leaders in Jerusalem were actually preaching this “different gospel.”
An Enormous Problem. Paul’s claim faces us with an enormous problem. Every teacher who has ever presented “Paul’s gospel” has assumed two things: first, that Paul’s gospel is clearly presented and second that he or she understood Paul’s gospel. Every teacher presenting “Paul’s gospel” has been utterly wrong on both counts.
Our problem has two parts. First, Paul was a preacher, not a writer. When he said, “My gospel,” he was referring to what he had preached. We don’t have what Paul preached. Paul’s letters are simply responses, off the cuff, to different questions and issues. Only two, Romans and Ephesians, show prior thoughtfulness and careful intent.
Where Is Paul’s Gospel? Paul even had someone else write while he dictated. Dictating a letter is not a good way to lay out systematic thought.
Okay, Paul – you said, “My gospel.” So where is it?
Most contention in church history, including a primary reason for the Nicene Creed, is to solve the confusion of “Paul’s gospel.” I have presented my own understanding of “Paul’s gospel” in the same vein as everyone else, that Paul’s gospel is clear and that I understand it. If I have conveyed that idea, please forgive me. Any Bible student can find statements in Paul’s writings that repudiate what I teach – that is, statements of a faraway and someday Jesus.
Huge Contradictions. When we look at some of the deepest things Paul wrote, including Romans 8:29, Ephesians 1:23 & 3:19, and Galatians 2:20, we see a gospel of union with Christ, of our being made like Jesus, of Christ revealed through us, His Body.
But there are many things Paul wrote that do not agree with such an understanding of our reality in the new creation. Paul wrote, “Now, all things are of God.” But then he wrote as if many things in the Christian experience were not “of God.” The biggest problems are found in the Thessalonian (written first) and Timothy letters. We could conclude that Paul’s understanding of his gospel had matured when he wrote Ephesians. But Timothy, written last, seems to me to present in-part a gospel contrary to what I am calling “Paul’s gospel.”
The Bottom Line. The only conclusion we are left with is the second part of our problem, that Paul himself did not understand his gospel. And that conclusion does make sense. God gives us words that are out from Himself, words we know are true. But the full meaning of those words remains hidden, especially in an active whirlwind of a ministry such as Paul experienced.
What is the bottom line for me? Let me be forthright and clear in the motive that drives me in my rendition of “Paul’s gospel.” I cannot please God. I am incapable of “obeying” Him or of lining my life up with His requirements. I cannot be a “mature son of God” or an extension of “Christ.” I NEED a Savior, Jesus, carrying Himself in me all that I am.
A Desperate Man. You are reading a man who is utterly lost without Jesus, not only here and now, not only filling me with all of His Person, but also having become me, having taken upon Himself all of my stumbling failure and stupid mistakes. You could line up ten thousand preachers of “Paul’s gospel,” and I would be the last one among them whom you would pick by all outward indications. I am a desperate man, incapable of being a “man of God” AND incapable of surviving without Jesus. I cannot have a someday Jesus. I am a vagabond and a pirate. I have stolen in where I do not belong and seized hold of a prize I have not earned, for I will not be found anywhere else than inside of Jesus right now.
Two Trees. It is clear to me that God has set two trees, two gospels, even, all through the Bible, a tree of mental knowledge and of outward appearance versus a tree of life hidden to all except those who cannot live without Life. I suspect that the same offering of God holds true even through Paul’s writing.
Yet we do not despise anything God uses to speak to those who are seeking for Him. A sister shared with me her first knowledge of God-with-her that came to her as a little girl through a picture of a suffering Jesus. Some would then have idolized the outward form God used, but those who connect with Him in Person know only the closeness of their Father.
My Present View. Yes, there is a gospel available for those who cannot believe the word of Christ our only life, an outer form that holds them facing in the right direction for now.
Yet the word of God-with-us is also there, scattered throughout the picture of the outward form of a Jesus “coming someday.” And it is that Word of God-with-me, of Christ my only life, found in Paul’s letters, that I seize hold of with all of my might. And as I speak that Word, making it my own, it grows and grows in my understanding until it seems to me that the Bible teaches nothing else. Of truth, I am doing exactly the same as everyone else. I am picking a handful of verses and using them to rule over all other verses that oppose.
Let me give you now my present view of what those core words Paul wrote have become in my own heart.