The Final Gospel From The Beginning

By Tammy Lacock

“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.” (Romans 16:25 KJV)

This week, Warren Litzman focuses on Romans 16:25 to demonstrate the intimate relationship between Jesus and Paul. Where Christ left off, He commissioned Paul to pick up and give us a new gospel, the true and final gospel for believers today. Paul tells us his gospel, although new to us, was actually God’s original gospel kept hidden since the world began. Christ finally revealed this “mystery” gospel to Paul, and Paul shares it with us throughout his epistles.

“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” (Ephesians 1:4 KJV)

Paul’s gospel is this: Every single human being was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. As believers, by Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we too have died to our old lives—our sin natures passed down through Adam by the curse of Satan. We have also been buried, and we arose with Christ to a brand-new life in Him. Our new life is Christ now living in every believer, literally. We are joined to Him in our spirits (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are in Him and He in us, never to leave us nor forsake us.

Christ chose Paul to deliver this final gospel because He knew Paul was the only man who had what it takes to step into the religious, law-bound world and preach grace. The problem Paul dealt with during his time, and is still a problem today in the church, is that there was a commingling of gospels. He tells us in 2 Timothy 2:15 (and to Israel in Hebrews 4:12) that we must rightly divide the word of truth.

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV)

Here, Paul is saying we must rightly divide God’s Word by separating the gospels. The Kingdom gospel—salvation by law and works, preached by Christ while on earth and continued through the preaching of His disciples—is no longer the gospel. The first Pentecostal church received the Holy Spirit but retained Judaic law as its method of worship. They had no understanding of what really happened at the cross.

Christ, Himself, led Paul to go and preach a new gospel, that of salvation by God’s grace through His Son Jesus Christ. There was to be no commingling of grace and law. He makes it very clear that we are no longer saved by our works. We are saved by grace alone. Israel rejected this gospel, and so Christ told Paul to take it to the Gentiles—that is everyone else—where it was widely accepted. By just believing in Christ as our Savior we are saved.

The early church led by Peter and the disciples wrestled with Paul’s gospel because they knew Christ in the flesh, and they knew what He had told them to do, to go forward and preach that anyone who believes in Christ as their Savior is saved. Yet they commingled grace and law by preaching that one must obey the law to remain saved.

The relationship between Jesus and Paul is a glorious love affair, for which Paul gladly suffered unto death. Nothing and no one could stand in the way of his desire to spread the gospel of grace given to him by Christ Himself. He wanted nothing more than for everyone to know Christ and to fall in love with Him too.