Why Paul's Gospel to Gentiles Is Different From Peter's

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, good to have everybody back again. And we're going to come right back where we left off in Galatians, because we're dealing with Saul's conversion in Acts chapter 9. And we're kind of picking up his own account as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit, of course, to write the letter to the Galatians concerning that tremendous turnaround from being a zealous Jew, practicing Judaism, probably a man quite high in the religious hierarchy. And yet as a result of God's grace and saving him on the road to Damascus, we're going to see he becomes then the apostle of the Gentiles. So while you're looking up Galatians chapter 1 here in the studio, again we like to let our television audience know that all the past programs are available on 6-hour videotape. That means there's 12 programs on a tape, and we now have 18 completed. And we also have 14 of those transcribed into booklet form, and we've just got a good supply of books. Someone was kind enough to give us a good contribution just for the book ministry, and so we haven't had the delay getting them printed as fast as the printer can get them ready while we're bringing them out. So if you're interested in the reading side of all this, why don't you call us or write to us, and we'll try and get them out to you as quickly as possible. All right, Saul of Tarsus, the apostle Paul. I've said more than once, other than Christ Himself, I think he and Moses are the two greatest human beings that have ever lived. Moses, of course, on the front side, and Saul, or Paul as we now know him, on this side. And if you'll come in with me again at Galatians chapter 1, as he's been explaining his past, and how that God called him by His grace, brought him out of Damascus, and then took him down into Arabia, as we explained in our last program, probably to Mount Sinai, and then verse 18 of Galatians 1, then after three years. So we feel he was in Arabia, or the area of Mount Sinai, for three years. Now that's a long time when you're alone. And God was just pouring out all of the things that now will come from the apostles' pen in these epistles, all except, of course, the prison epistles, which we feel are also a further revelation, probably while he was in prison at Caesarea. But now he says in verse 18, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. That's two weeks. But other of the apostles saw I none. In other words, he still doesn't have a big confab with the twelve, or with the leaders of Judaism, except, of course, James, the Lord's brother, who, of course, is going to take the role of moderator by the time we get to Acts chapter 15. Verse 20. Now Paul writes, The things which I write unto you, behold, before God I lie not. Now it's rather interesting, I think, that throughout Paul's epistles he has to constantly defend his apostleship. And if Paul were alive today, he would still have to be doing it. Because, you see, there are so many, even amongst rather conservative Christianity, that won't give Paul the time of day. And they're so remiss in treating it that way, because, oh, turn back with me to Romans. Romans 11. And this is a verse, again, that has opened so many eyes of people that have come into my classes, that never knew this verse was in their Bible. And yet it's so plain. Romans 11. And, of course, Romans is the letter of Paul to the Gentile congregation at Rome. And look what he says. Romans 11. For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles. Now he doesn't share his apostleship with anyone else. When it came to going to the Gentiles, he was the apostle. And he wasn't one of the twelve, because they went to Israel. And so here he qualifies it. I am the apostle of the Gentiles. He says, I magnify, or he's going to make the most of his office. And indeed he did. Alright, now with that as a backdrop, flip back with me again to Galatians, if you will. And so he's defending his apostleship, and he says, I lie not. And over and over he's going to say, I guarantee that what I say unto you has come from the Ascended Lord. Alright, verse 21. Galatians 1. Afterwards, after that three years of what I call isolated seminary training at Sinai, afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. Now as I've left the map on the board purposely, after he has his time in Sinai, it seems from one verse that he might have gone back to Damascus for a short time. But we want to pick him up primarily here at Jerusalem, and he meets with Peter for two weeks, also meets James, the Lord's half-brother, and then he is taken on up to Caesarea, again because the Jews are out to kill him, and from Caesarea he's going to go up to Cilicia, which is that river valley in which his hometown of Tarsus is located. Now then let's pick it up. Verse 21. After his meeting with Peter at Jerusalem, I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. Now that would be Antioch and Tarsus. Verse 22. I was unknown by face to the churches, or again the assemblies of Judea, to the Jewish believers, which were in Christ. Of course, all believers are going to be in Christ. Verse 23. But they had heard only that He who persecuted us in times past now preaches the faith which once He destroyed. And of course that would be that Christ was who He said He was. But Paul now in his New Revelations, which he refers to over and over as the Mysteries, is going to reveal that not only was he the Christ, but he died for the sins of the world. He arose from the dead in power, and able to justify all them that believe. And then verse 24. And they, even those Jewish believers, came to the place where they glorified God in me. Now then, Galatians chapter 2. I'm not going to go too far into it, but when we get to Acts chapter 15, those two chapters, Acts 15 and Galatians 2, are parallels. They both record the same event, and that is the council in Jerusalem. And we'll come to that in a future study. I'm not going to take time for it in this one. But I do want you to look at Galatians 2. Where he says, I went up, that is from Antioch to Jerusalem. Now remember Antioch is where they are dealing with Gentiles, and the Jews didn't like it. And so they call Him on the carpet, and the Lord instructs Him to go. And so verse 2 of Galatians 2. I went up by revelation and communicated. Now that's more than just talking about something. When you communicate something, you get things across. And this is what He's maintaining. I got some things across to those people at Jerusalem. I communicated unto them. Now watch the language. That gospel, which I preach among the Gentiles. Now do you see what that says? There would be no need for language like that if He was preaching the same thing that Peter did. But He's not preaching the same thing that Peter did. He's enlarging on it. And so He says, that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles. And this is where you see that great separation now from Peter and Paul. And then if you want to come down a little bit, oh, verse 5. I'm just going to sort of skip through this. We're going to take it in detail in a future lesson. But now in verse 5, Paul writes to his Galatian converts, to those Galatian Gentile believers, to whom, that is the leaders at Jerusalem, the twelve and probably some of the other elders, to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour. Now you know what that means? When Paul was under subjection, what's he talking about? They were still trying to refute everything that he was saying. And they were still trying to tell him that he was wrong. And they were subjecting him to that kind of pressure. But he said, I didn't give in. Not for a minute. For an hour in the King James, but we'd say, boy, I didn't give in for a minute, wouldn't we? Alright, read on. Why? That the truth of the Gospel might continue with you, that is those Gentiles. Now we talked about it in our class last night. You know what Paul is really saying? That if these Jewish believers at Jerusalem would have succeeded in putting Paul down and stopping his ministry among the Gentiles, which is what they really wanted to do, what would have happened to our chances for salvation? We wouldn't have any. And that's exactly what he's saying. He withstood all this pressure that the Gentiles might continue to receive this Gospel of grace. And so every one of us ought to thank the Lord that the Apostle Paul was true to his commission of taking the Gospel to our Gentile forefathers as well as to us. Alright, then just read on here for just a little bit. Verse 6. But of these who seemed to be somewhat, that is the twelve in particular, but you see, they didn't realize that their program was slipping through the cracks. God was now turning to the Gentile, and Israel is going to, in just a few years, lose the Temple, lose the priesthood, lose their city, lose their nation, and they're going to be dispersed into every nation on earth. But the twelve as yet were unaware of that. And so Paul says they seemed to be somewhat. They thought they were still in control of the situation. But he said, "...whatsoever they were, maketh no matter to me. God accepteth no man's person, for they who seem to be somewhat in conference." When they got adding two and two, they couldn't add anything to what Paul knew. They didn't have near the revelations that he now had. So he said, "...in conference they added nothing to me." But oh, I love that next verse. But contrarywise, on the other hand, what could he do for them? Oh, he had so much to tell them that they had never heard of. But he says, "...contrarywise when they saw," and it took a while, "...when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision," that's Gentiles, "...when they saw that the gospel of the Gentile was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision," or for the Jew, "...was committed unto Peter." See that? Oh, and they all understood that these were two separate entities. And then verse 8, "...for he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision," to the Jew, that same God. See God never changes. That same God was mighty in me, Paul says, to what people? The Gentiles. See how plain that is? And then verse 9, "...and so when James, and Peter, and John," who seemed to be pillars, see Paul won't let us forget that, "...perceived the grace that was given unto me, when they finally saw that," yes, God was doing something special through this Jew, Paul, "...they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship." They shook hands on the deal. They agreed. And what was the agreement? And look at this. This is so plain. How can people miss it? Here's what they agreed on. That we, he's including Barnabas, that Paul and Barnabas should go to the heathen, the Gentiles, and they, Peter, James, and John, would go where? See how plain that is? It was a gentleman's agreement. They all agreed, this is the way God intends. We are to stay with the Jew, and you go to the Gentiles. And they shook hands, and they went on under those circumstances. And then verse 10. Paul says, "...they only put one requirement on Barnabas and I, and that was that we were to remember the poor, the same which I was forward to do." Now, that brings up another point. Remember back in Acts chapter 2 and 3, what did all those Jewish believers do with their material goods? Put them all into the common kitty. Remember? They had everything common. And remember I pointed out the reason they did that with such exuberance? Because they thought the Kingdom was just over the horizon, and who would need houses and lands when the Kingdom would come in? Because there would be no poverty, there would be no poor, there would be no need for personal wealth. Everybody would enjoy the wealth of the Kingdom, so they did it gladly. But, Israel didn't respond. The Kingdom didn't come in. And what happened to their kitty? It ran dry. Now listen, once you have relieved yourself of all your material wealth, and it's gone, it's pretty hard to start over, isn't it? And it was back then. And so what did they become? Poor. But, God was gracious enough recognizing that those people had done it all under good intentions, so He's going to take care of them for the rest of their physical lives with the offerings now from Paul's converts among the Gentiles. And so that's why during Paul's missionary journeys he's always taking up offerings for the poor saints in Jerusalem. And this is where he had it started, that Peter, James, and John recognizing that Paul now was going to be going out and having probably a great ministry among the Gentiles, which would mean a possibility of wealth and so forth. And they said, Well, don't forget these poor Jews in Jerusalem. And Paul says, We never did. And we know he didn't. Alright, now then in the moment or two that we have left, let's come back to chapter 9 in Acts, and we'll come back to Paul and his Galatians account. Like I said, when we study Acts 15, and in the meantime I always beg people just read those two chapters. Read Acts 15. Read it carefully. Look at what it says. Read Galatians chapter 2 just as carefully, and then begin to compare. And oh, they just dovetail so beautifully because they're the same event. Alright, now then back to Acts chapter 9. Verse 26 again. So after that three years has gone by, and he's come up, as he said in Galatians, to visit with Peter. He was come to Jerusalem, verse 26. He assayed, or he intended, to join himself to the disciples, that is the Jewish believers there at Jerusalem. But they were all afraid of him. Can you blame them? And they believed not that he was a disciple. They thought I guess he was going underground, and was trying to become a mole, I guess they call it today. But Barnabas took him, see good old Barnabas. Remember we were introduced to him back in Acts chapter 3. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, that is Peter, James, and John, and the rest of them, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, how Saul had. And how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. Of course he did. Verse 28, And he was with them, coming in and going out at Jerusalem. And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians. Now these are not Gentiles, remember. Remember your terminology? A Grecian was a non-Palestine Jew. They were Jews who were citizens of other nations, not Palestine. And so he disputed against the Grecians. But they went about to do what? To kill him. Oh, you know they couldn't stand anybody doing anything against Judaism. And so as I said several weeks ago, there is nothing that preempts murderous attitudes faster than religion. And even Judaism. If they had opposition to it, the best way to get rid of the opposition was to kill them. And so that's what they attempted to do with Saul. Now verse 30, Which when the brethren knew, in other words Barnabas, and probably some of the other Jews there in Jerusalem, when they found out that the unbelieving Jews were about to kill him, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Tarsus. Now I've got to go back to my map again. He has come back from his three years at Sinai, he has stopped at Jerusalem for those two weeks with Peter, and now they send him up to Caesarea, which of course was a seaport town, from whence he went up to the area of his home city of Tarsus, and begins his ministry. Yes, I think Paul always went first to the synagogue of the Jew, but then when they would reject him, he would go to the Gentile. And it's amazing now, we're going to leave Saul for a little while, and we're going to go back to Peter in chapter 10, but when we pick Paul up in chapter 11, that's when it gets real interesting again. As soon as the church at Antioch is beginning to show signs of Gentile interest, then good old Barnabas, I think led sovereignly again by the Holy Spirit, will go up to Cilicia, into the area of Tarsus, and he's going to look for Saul. Look for him, the Scripture says. Now that means he had a purpose. And when he had found him, he succeeded. What does he do? Brings him back to Antioch, and that's where Gentile Christianity begins to flower. And it was at Antioch, the Scripture says, that the believers were first called Christians. Never! You know I said it several weeks ago, never do you see the Bible call these Jewish believers at Jerusalem Christians. Mine doesn't, and I don't think yours does. They were first called Christians amongst the Gentile believers up at Antioch. Well, anyway. Come back into chapter 9 of Acts. Now verse 31. And so then had the assemblies, or the churches, these Jewish believers, rest throughout all Judea, because the chief persecutor now is a saved believer. And they had rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and they were edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit were multiplied. Now archeology is supporting that. That there were thousands of Jews who became adherents of that Jesus was the Messiah. They embraced that. And of course they were under constant pressure from the Judaizing Jews, but nevertheless we know that a lot of Jews became believers that Jesus was indeed their Messiah. He was the Christ. Now then in verse 32, and we can probably do this in the 5 minutes that are left, so we'll be ready for chapter 10 in our next program, and that will be our next taping as well. Now we come back to Peter. We're going to leave Paul. He has had his seminary experience. He's already back up into the hometown of Tarsus. He's going to begin his ministry among Gentiles. Now the Scripture brings us back to Peter at Jerusalem. Well, Lydda, which is right there on the seacoast opposite Joppa, I think. Verse 32, "...and it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down to the saints which dwelt at Lydda, and there he found a certain man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy. And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, and Jesus Christ make thee whole, arise, make thy bed. And he arose immediately." What are we back to? Well, the same thing. Peter is again right back in the same position, ministering to Jews, performing miracles. Then there comes another one. Verse 36, to the end of the chapter. You all know the account of Tabitha down at Joppa, who was by interpretation called Dorcas. Verse 36, "...and this woman was full of good works, and all the deeds which she did. And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and she died. Whom when they had washed, they laid her in upper chamber, and ready for burial of course. And for as much as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples were heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them. And then Peter arose, and went with him. And when he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber. All the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and the garments, which Dorcas had made while she was with him." And now look at verse 40. Peter is still going to do something that was a carry over from Christ's earthly ministry. "...Then Peter put them all forth, kneeled down, and prayed. And turning himself to the body, he said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up." Now that's a miracle. She was dead. They had already prepared her for burial. This isn't just an unconscious state. She was dead. And Peter had the power at this time as yet to raise her from the dead. A miracle. "...And when he had called the saints and the widows, he presented her alive. And it was known throughout all Joppa." Now Joppa is right on the Mediterranean Sea coast. It still is. Just right next door to Tel Aviv. "...And many believed in the Lord." Now these are all Jews. There are no Gentiles in this group. These are Jewish believers. Verse 43. "...And it came to pass that he tarried many days in Joppa with Simon a tanner." Oh boy. Now the Sovereign God is setting the stage for the next great event in the Book of Acts. And again, it's going to be so evident that God is not just looking at the near term, but He's looking at the long term. Because I always like to point out, this experience in the house of Cornelius doesn't really have an impact on Christianity. That is, the Gospel going to the Gentiles until we get to Acts chapter 15, which will be 12 years later. I haven't got time to get started on this chapter, so I'm just going to give you a little preview. When Peter goes up to the house of Cornelius and witnesses the salvation of that Gentile household, he goes back to Jerusalem. No indication that now he's had his eyes open that he goes to Gentiles. But 12 years later, in Acts 15, when Paul is now called on the carpet by the Jewish leadership for going to Gentiles, finally, after a lot of disputation and arguing that Paul was wrong and that he was a heretic, Peter comes to his defense. And what does Peter say? Brethren, you know that a long while ago, God, by my mouth, took the Gospel to the Gentiles. And that is what spared Paul's ministry. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. 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