Why was Paul's gospel to the Gentiles incomprehensible to the Jerusalem believers?
Paul's message announced that God would now go to the Gentile, pagan, idolatrous world and bring those people to reconciliation with Himself outside of Judaism. This was an advance on what the Jerusalem believers knew, yet it was still totally different and incomprehensible to them.
Les explains that Paul went up to Jerusalem by revelation, a supernatural trip God instructed and led. Paul communicated the gospel he preached among the Gentiles to Peter, the eleven, and other leaders of the Jerusalem believers. Les teaches that this gospel was something totally different than what the Jews in Jerusalem knew. It was an advance on it, of course, but they still could not comprehend that God was now going to the Gentile, pagan, idolatrous world and bring those people to reconciliation with Himself outside of Judaism. That was incomprehensible.
And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.
More Questions
Why did Paul specify that the gospel he communicated was the one he preached among the Gentiles?
The Holy Spirit inspired the stipulation about which gospel Paul preached because Paul's gospel to the Gentiles was totally different from what Peter and the eleven preached to the Jews.
What gospel did Paul present to the Jewish believers at Jerusalem?
At the Jerusalem visit Paul communicated to the Jewish believers the gospel he preaches among the Gentiles, not a different law-based gospel.