11
A KEY TO HOLY SCRIPTURE
Chapter 10
ARE THERE SEVERAL GOSPELS?
The Meaning
The word `gospel' simply means God's good news, or glad tidings. Now God has `good news' about many
different things, and a careful examination of the Scriptural usage will show us that here, just as with the word
`church', we need great care.
The usage
Among the many messages of God, called `gospels', may be classed the following:
The gospel of the kingdom.
(Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 24:14)
The gospel of God.
(Rom. 1:1; 1 Thess. 2:2)
The gospel of the circumcision.
(Gal. 2:7)
The gospel of the uncircumcision.
(Gal. 2:7)
The gospel of the grace of God.
(Acts 20:24)
The gospel of the glory of Christ.
(2 Cor. 4:4)
The everlasting gospel.
(Rev. 14:6)
By way of drawing attention to some of the outstanding differences in these gospels, let us notice the Scriptural
definition given of the gospel of the kingdom in contrast with that preached by Paul.
The three points
Mark 1:14,15 clearly defines the gospel of the kingdom of God as:
(1) The time is fulfilled.
(2) The kingdom of God is at hand.
(3) Repent and believe the good news.
The three points of Paul's gospel as defined in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 are:
(1) Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
(2) He was buried.
(3) He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
It is not merely a superficial but a real difference that accounts for the fact that the atoning work of Christ figures
in one gospel and not in the other. Not one of the apostles knew that Christ was to die and rise again until told by
the Lord, as recorded in Matthew 16:21: `from that time forth began Jesus' - a new revelation.
`Be it far from Thee, Lord', shows that Peter faces this truth for the first time (v. 22).
The `preaching' of Matthew 10:7 clearly therefore was not that of the gospel as understood today, for who of us
would accept a gospel that knew not Christ (1) Who died, (2) Who was buried, and (3) Who rose again?
Chapter 11
THE KINGDOM
God's sovereignty inclusive
When seeking to draw attention to the difference between the `church' and the `kingdom', we are sometimes
confronted with the references to a kingdom which are found in the epistles of the one Body, viz., Ephesians,
Colossians and 2 Timothy. The kingdom or sovereignty of God includes every phase and sphere of redemption.
Within this widest of all spheres come the subdivisions. While the church of the one Body must be kept distinct