The Two Administrations of Jesus ChristPART 13
 Have Learned Whenever we see Israel, the house of Israel, the twelve tribes of Israel - or "the circucision" referenced in the New Testament - it is referring to either Orthodox Judaism or Jews who believe in Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ) as their Messiah, yet continue to practice obedience to the Old Testament Law of Moses as a requirment to obtain salvation. This is why the salvation of this group was obtained through works - as described in the Epistle of James. These are Jews who are making the transition from not knowing their Messiah ... to recognizing Yeshua HaMashiach as their Messiah. As we previously discovered, the existence of this group and its conditional law-based salvation was temporary ... where God was giving the entire nation of Israel time to repent for their sin of crucifying Christ. This is why Paul recognized the existence of two gospels; one of which was "the gospel to the circumcision" and its conditional law-based salvation ... which applied only to this group of Jews in transition. Paul then revealed that only Peter, James and John possessed apostolic authority to preach this gospel to their Jewish brethren. as "the twelve tribes of Israel" to whom James addressed his Epistle. The second gospel that Paul lists - "the gospel to the uncircumcision" - applies only to the Church and provides salvation as God's free gift given according to Grace. Paul states that He was the only one who possessed apostolic authority (as God's ordained "Apostle to the Gentiles" - See Romans 11:13-15) to preach this gospel to the uncircumcision ... now known as the Gentile Church and included, for the first time, all earthly races of people. Important Reminder: the word "uncircumcised" refers to the Gentiles - which is a previously rejected and cursed group that God now invites into the redemptive program of His Son - also known as "The New Covenant" (See Ephesians 2:11-22). The word "Gentile" is a term that encompasses all races on earth. It is only under the New Covenant of Christ that Gentiles are invited to participate in His redemptive program, which was first introduced through Peter's evangelistic message at the household of Cornelius in Acts chapter 10 (covered earlier in this study). Before that time, God's program was exclusively reserved for the Jews as "the circumcision". Paul is careful to list these two gospels separately in Galatians 2:7-9 It's right to preach "the gospel to the circumcision" and its works-based conditional salvation to Jews DURING THE TRANSITION ... but wrong to preach this same gospel to the Church under Grace. This is why the salutation at the beginning of the Epistle of James must be respected - where he addresses his writings exclusively to; "the twelve tribes of Israel" ... and not to the Church. However, some ministers of Paul's day crossed this forbidden line and preached the gospel designed for the circumcision (law-abiding Jews) ... to the newly established Gentile Church. One of the first victims of this practice was the Galatian Church established by the Apostle Paul. After Paul left the area, certain "Jewish evangelists" came in with their law-based gospel of works, which nearly destroyed the Grace-based "saving faith" of the congregation. In order to address the error, Paul wrote his "Epistle to the Galatians" which gives a stern warning to the entire congregation - and to all Christians living today: "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." (Galatians 1:6-8) is only one gospel designed for the Church ... the gospel of the Grace of Christ. However, the modern-day Christian Church is plagued by the same problem that nearly destroyed the Galatian congregation in the first century. A majority of Christian ministers (but thankfully not all) preach this forbidden law-based gospel of works - while thinking that it's the authentic "Gospel of Christ". Paul calls it "a perverted gospel". Some of these ministers are part of the more recent "Hebrew roots movement". But most are seminary-trained clergy, who were instructed under the tenants of Replacement theology. This is why many of them believe that salvation depends on our works - or a mixture of works plus grace. Unfortunately, this popular belief effectively cancels the Grace by which we are saved (See Romans 11:6 and Ephesians 2:8-9). Regardless of which position is taken, Paul still considers this modern works-based version of the gospel to be 'a perverted gospel' that causes a curse to fall on those who teach it to the Church (Galatians 1:6-8). Since the New Testament reveals that the Galatians were the first recorded victims of this false theology, modern-day Bible scholars often refer to it as "the Galatian error - or the Galatian heresy". But Paul warned that a 'perversion' takes place whenever the "gospel of the circumcision" (only designed for law-abiding Jews) is illegally taught to the Gentile Church that is now under "the gospel to the uncircumcision" (also known as the Gospel of Grace found within "The New Covenant"). All serious students of the Bible should understand that the existence of these two gospels only lasted during the transition from Old Testament Law - to New Covenant Grace (a little over 100 years). The New Testament Scriptures were written during this same time period ... which is why Paul specifically mentions both gospels in his Epistle to the Galatians (previously discussed). However, when the transition ends (thought to be twenty or thirty years after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple in A.D. 70), only "the gospel to the uncircumcision" (also known as Paul's Gospel of Grace) remains ... with the Epistles of Saint Paul now acting as God's official instructions concerning "The new and living way of Christ". This is the same message Jesus is now speaking from Heaven - since Paul is only repeating the words Jesus previously gave him during his trip to God's throne (or what theologians refer to as; the Pauline Revelation). Although there are many doctrines and teachings within Christendom that claim to be "the gospel"; Paul's Gospel (also referred to as; The Gospel of Christ) is the only one that God honors today - regardless of what the critics say. Although we previously quoted Paul's words - we will do so again because of their importance. "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." (Galatians 1:6-8) Return To Home Page |