Chris,
If what you say were true, considering Paul's epistles, in the order in which they were written (the epistle to the Galatians was the first), Paul would not have been preaching the Gospel of the Grace of God, as opposed to the Gospel of the Kingdom, and Jewish doctrine, when he spoke to the Galatians. This is not what Paul tells the people there. In verses 11 and 12, he plainly tells the Galatians that the gospel that he was teaching and preaching was not taught to him by any man, but was revealed to him by the risen Christ. This IS the Gospel of the Grace of God.
What changed after Paul's imprisonment was the fading out of the spiritual gifts that accompanied the Kingdom program, and the dwindling away of that program, as the Grace program began its growth.
Nowhere does Paul say that he preached the Gospel of the Kingdom. In fact, Paul tells us IN this FIRST epistle that he wrote, in verse 7, that "When they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was to Peter", that was when they (James, Cephas, and John) extended the right hands of fellowship to Paul. This gospel of the uncircumcision that he is speaking of here IS the Gospel of the Grace of God.
Darryl |
