How did the first Christians declare the gospel? What words and phrases did they use? And crucially, how does their gospel compare with the gospel we hear in present day churches? Are they exactly the same, or are there important differences? We couldn’t possibly answer these vital questions without examining the apostle Paul, a towering figure in the early church. Paul of course wrote much of our New Testament, and most of the book of Acts focuses on his ministry. So let’s explore the gospel according to Paul. We’ll begin by looking at the book of Acts and then consider Paul’s letters.
Paul is introduced in Acts 8, where he is giving approval to the death of Stephen – the first Christian martyr. (Initially, Paul is referred to as Saul – his Hebrew name. When Paul begins travelling throughout the wider Greco-Roman world, he uses his Greek name Paul.) Luke, the writer of Acts, tells us that on the day of Stephen’s death, “a great persecution broke out against the church.” Saul zealously led this persecution: “Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.” Philip was one of those driven out of Jerusalem by this early persecution. He ends up bringing the gospel message to the city of Samaria. Philip’s message is succinctly summarized: he “proclaimed the Messiah there.” We’re going to see this theme over and over. The primary content of the gospel is the royal announcement that Jesus has been enthroned as the Messiah. The resurrection (although not explicitly mentioned here) is the dramatic event which marks out Jesus as the Messiah.
Fast forward to Acts 9, following Saul’s unexpected conversion on the road to Damascus. “At once [Saul] began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.” (Acts 9:20) We remind ourselves that the term “Son of God” is a title for the Messiah. Only later was the phrase used to denote Jesus’ divine nature. This is confirmed several versus later: “Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.” (Acts 9:22)
Paul’s first recorded missionary sermon occurs in the Jewish synagogue in the city of Antioch in Asia Minor. This sermon covers a lot of ground, including the exodus from Egypt, God’s covenant with Israel, the kings of Israel (especially David) and John the Baptist’s announcement of the coming Messiah. In other words, Paul is declaring the gospel as the climax of the long story of God and Israel, just as we’ve emphasized throughout this blog. Paul eventually does arrive at Jesus’ death and resurrection, “they took him down from the tree [the cross] and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people. We tell you the good news: what God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father.'” (Acts 13:29-33) Paul clearly here links the resurrection with the announcement of Jesus as Messiah, using the same Messianic “Son of God” language we’ve already studied in Psalm 2. For Paul, this is quite explicitly the core content of the “good news.”
Let’s next touch down with Paul and Silas in Thessalonica. Here’s how Luke summarizes Paul’s gospel there: “As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. ‘This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.'” (Acts 17:2-3) This might sound like a broken record by now! Once again, the most compact statement of the gospel for Paul is “Jesus is the Messiah.” As was often the case, Paul’s gospel announcement caused an uproar in the city. Opponents form a mob and begin rioting. Some of the Christians are dragged before city officials, where they are accused of “defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.”
Two very interesting things about this short passage. First, Paul’s opponents were not confused. They understood perfectly well that Paul was indeed claiming Jesus was the Messiah – the world’s true king – thereby implying that Caesar was not. We cannot make the point too often: When Paul proclaimed the gospel, his primary message was the royal announcement that Jesus was the world’s true king. The second thing to notice is that the preaching of the gospel in Thessalonica (like many of the places Paul went) caused serious disturbances. This should make us ask ourselves, “Why such a dramatic response?” If Paul was announcing a “gospel” which simply involved Jesus dying for people’s sins so that they could be forgiven and go to heaven when they died, then why would anyone want to riot over that? But if, on the other hand, your gospel demanded that people give their allegiance to “another king,” well, that’s a horse of a different color. It’s a direct threat to the powers that be – particularly Caesar and his Roman empire. No wonder Paul got into so much trouble. Paul’s gospel was not just a spiritual message, it had political ramifications. In the same way, if our gospel isn’t a kingdom announcement that threatens the dark powers of this world, then we’re missing the mark.
Later in Acts 17, Paul finds himself explaining his gospel message to the people of Athens. Here’s the climax of Paul’s sermon: “[God] has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31) One of the fascinating things about this passage is how Paul adapts the gospel message to his audience. He’s no longer speaking to Jews at the synagogue who would be familiar with the scriptures. The Athenians would not have understood the Jewish concept of the Messiah. Paul seamlessly describes the Messiah in terms a non-Jewish audience would understand. For the Jews, the Messiah is the great king who would “judge” the world. In other words, he would defeat the forces of evil and chaos and bring God’s order and justice. So in slightly different language, the core content of Paul’s gospel is the same: the resurrection marks out Jesus as the Messiah.
Paul moves from Athens to nearby Corinth, where Paul carries the same gospel: “Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.” The book of Acts soon introduces us to a new character, a man named Apollos. Apollos was a Jew, originally from the north African city of Alexandria, who made his way to Corinth. Here’s how Luke describes Apollos’ ministry in Corinth: “On arriving, [Apollos] was a great help to those who by grace had believed. For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.” (Acts 18:28) Like Philip in Samaria, this passage is helpful because it gives us another glimpse into the early declaration of the gospel by someone other than the dominant figures of Peter and Paul. Yet it’s still the exact same core message.
We’re going to change tack now and look into several passages from Paul’s letters. We’ll begin with Paul’s greatest letter to the church in Rome. Paul opens the letter by introducing himself and the gospel message he announces: “Paul, a slave of Jesus the Messiah, called to be an apostle, set apart for God’s good news, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the sacred writings – the good news about his son, who was descended from David’s seed in terms of flesh, and who was marked out powerfully as God’s son in terms of the spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead: Jesus, the Messiah, our Lord!” (Romans 1:1-4) Paul had not yet been to Rome when he wrote these words. He introduces himself as an apostle. The word “apostle” is derived from a Greek word which means “someone who is sent.” It often was used in a more limited way to refer to Jesus 12 inner disciples. However, the term could and was applied more broadly to anyone who was sent out with the Christian gospel. Paul next sets out the basic content of this gospel in very much the same terms we’ve noted all along. First, Jesus is a physical descendant of Israel’s greatest king, David. As we’ve seen, this is thoroughly consistent with Jewish expectations for the Messiah. Second, Paul affirms that Jesus was powerfully confirmed as the Messiah (God’s son) when God raised him from the dead. In this particular passage, Paul attributes God’s life giving power more specifically to the activity of the Holy Spirit, or “spirit of holiness.” So again we see the same theme: the core content of the good news is the simple claim that Jesus is the Messiah.
The book of II Timothy may perhaps be the last letter Paul wrote. He penned these words near the end of his life from prison. Paul was Timothy’s spiritual “father” or mentor. He had appointed Timothy as a leader in the church at Ephesus. Paul says to Timothy: “Remember Jesus the Messiah, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal.” Here again we have another amazing example of the heart of Paul’s gospel, thoroughly consistent with our previous studies. Jesus is the Messiah, the long expected descendant of King David, and we know this because he was raised from the dead.
Let’s look at one final spectacular piece of Paul’s writing – I Corinthians 15. “Now brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you…For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that the Messiah died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” (I Corinthians 15:1,3-4) The gospel message again involves a statement about the Messiah and his resurrection, this time coupled with an explicit statement about his sacrificial death. Furthermore, this is all “according to the Scriptures”; in other words, Jesus is again seen as the climax of the long story of God and Israel.
Paul then confronts some of the Corinthians who are claiming that there is no such thing as the resurrection of the dead. You can easily imagine Paul’s face turning red and his blood pressure rising! “But if it is preached that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” (v12) Paul is apoplectic. He’s risked his life preaching the gospel based upon the Messiah’s resurrection. Yet there are some in Corinth who are denying that anyone can be raised from the dead! The denial of the resurrection is completely inimical to Paul’s gospel message. “If the Messiah has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” (v14) Paul acknowledges that if there is no resurrection, then his entire gospel projects crashes to the ground.
Thankfully, Paul can be certain that Jesus has in fact been raised from the dead. (After all, Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus.) He writes, “But the Messiah has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (v20) The fact that Jesus was raised from the dead means that his people will be given new life as well. Jesus is the firstfruits – the advanced sign that one day the full harvest will be brought in. On that day, all of Jesus’ people will be raised from the dead.
This gospel passage culminates with the central concept that Jesus – the crucified and risen Messiah – has now established the kingdom of God and one day will bring this project to completion. When the future, final resurrection occurs, that will be the full consummation of the kingdom. Paul describes it this way: “Then the end will come, when [Jesus] hands over the kingdom to God the father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority, and power.” (v24) Then, “God will be all in all.” (v28) The resurrection of Jesus shows that his reign has begun. Between the Easter morning and the future day of resurrection, Jesus is destroying “all dominion, authority and power.” In other words, King Jesus (through his church!) is confronting and overthrowing all the dark forces of evil which have seized power over God’s world. Everything that opposes the rule and reign of Jesus will ultimately be destroyed.
Here’s the main point I want us to draw from this passage and this entire blog: the gospel is first and foremost a message about the king and his kingdom. It’s an announcement about Jesus’ royal enthronement which declares that God is rescuing, not just individuals, but the entire creation. Presentations of “the gospel” which don’t say anything about Jesus as the Messiah – the world’s true king – would have been unrecognizable to Paul and the first Christians. Jesus has been raised from the dead – therefore, he is the Messiah! That’s the heart of the gospel.
