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NASB | Romans 16:25 ¶ Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 16:25 ¶ Now to Him who is able to establish and strengthen you [in the faith] according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery [of the plan of salvation] which has been kept secret for long ages past, |
Subject: Three times Paul says his gospel was a m |
Bible Note: Hi Jalek! God to hear from you. You say: "In Ephesians 1:3-14 and 3:1-21, Paul talks about the mystery. In Ephesians 1:9, he calls it "the mystery of His (God the Father's) will". Later in Ephesians 3:4, he calls it the "Mystery of Christ". He's talking about redemption. Although redemption is certainly taught by Paul. Man’s redemption was known from the beginning so that was no mystery." Paul says the mystery of his gospel in this dispensation was: “that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel” (Eph. 3:6). And, that the Gentiles would be accepted in the same body of believers as co-equals of the Jews You say: “It was two people who changed the early church's mind on that. The first was Peter, who had a vision in Acts 10. In Acts 11, he uses the vision as a defense to uphold the position of teaching gentiles the Gospel.” Peter’s mission to Cornelius and use of the keys was to open the gates to the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 16:19) which he used in his first message in Acts 2-3 when he first preached Christ to the Jews. Other than Cornelius Peter never preached to the Gentiles or established a Gentile church. When Peter came to the house of Cornelius, one of the first things he said was, as a Jew he was not supposed to be in the company of a Gentile (Acts 10:28). Cornelius even had to explain to him why he was there (Acts 10: 29). After Cornelius explained his vision, Peter said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.” That sounds strange for someone who had supposedly just established a church to be made up of people without distinction from all nations on the Day of Pentecost. The apostle Paul speaking of the church said: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). If Peter started the present church on the Day of Pentecost and was the founder of any Gentile church as is universally taught, then how can the confrontation between Paul and Peter be explained? Paul said of Peter when he came to visit one of Paul’s churches: …when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to face to face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “if you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews” (Gal. 2:11-14). Here it is seen that Peter was even afraid to be caught eating with Gentile Christians. Does that sound like someone who was the founder and head of the Gentile churches? The Protestant churches have made the same mistake about the primacy of Peter in his founding of the present church. However, they did not make the abominable mistake of Peter having a successor with unlimited power to determine who would be admitted into heaven, or rejected. And how can it be explained why Peter as late as A.D. 38 was so afraid and astonished at the happenings when he was sent to Cornelius in Acts 10 if he started the present Jew and Gentile church on the Day of Pentecost? The apostle Paul speaking of the present church said: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). Nowhere did Peter ever establish a Gentile church and only wrote 2 epistles, and those were to Jews. Thanks Jalek for your note. In His grace movingon |