What an outstanding day to be an ambassador for Christ, ministering the word of reconciliation.
Received an email from a WTTR listener, David.
David sent us a recording of him debating a fellow who claims that Peter and Paul preach the same gospel.
So today, we thought we'd speak briefly.
This will by no means be exhaustive, but I'll briefly demonstrate a few of the many differences between Peter and Paul's gospel.
This may serve to help David or anyone else when confronted with someone making the false claim that the two gospels are the same.
Today we're faced with Twistianity scripture twisters, lordshippers in a grace disguise, and they would have us to believe that salvation is not a one-time event, but rather a process of conversion, a process of repentance, obedience in the flesh, and so forth.
In Ephesians 1:13, Paul gives us the words, The gospel of your salvation.
Now one would think that a student of the word would know that Peter never preached
the gospel of our salvation.
He preached the gospel of the circumcision.
And that means, hey, if we're playing tag, we're not it.
So let's just follow the logic here.
Peter and Paul, they taught differently concerning a sundry of subjects, circumcision, baptism, forgiveness, salvation, among many other things.
You've often heard us bring up Acts 3:19, where Peter tells his Jewish audience how
their sins will not be blotted out until they reunite with the Lord in the future times of their refreshing.
Now one would think that all by itself would be enough to convince any rational thinking person that, hey, Peter and Paul preached a different gospel.
But breaking through the shell of traditional thinking is not easy.
Paul faced the same obstacle in his day.
Peter never preached Jesus Christ according to the mystery, but rather according to prophecy, and is evidenced by how what he said in Acts 3:19 fits perfectly with the prophet Zechariah.
In Zechariah 13, verse 1, watch: In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanliness.
See that?
In that day.
The prophet here is prophesying of a future day, time future, when a fountain shall be opened to Israel for her to have her sins blotted out.
Ding, ding, ding, we have a match.
This is the Acts 3:19 times of refreshing Peter mentioned.
It's Peter's, quote, Gospel of the circumcision.
The one Peter preached to, quote, Ye men of Israel.
Their forgiveness is future, and it's why Peter instructed them to, 1 Peter 1:13, here goes Peter again.
This time he says, Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Neither was their forgiveness or their salvation a present possession, but was only to be brought unto them at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
They would get it only after they endured unto the end.
Hey, this is perfect, a perfect match.
All this is a perfect fit.
All the dots connect and the puzzle takes shape.
They had to gird up and wait until the return of Jesus, just hope to the end to receive his grace, and that fountain will open.
Their sins will get blotted out.
Paul says something altogether different than waiting on a fountain.
He says God's not even imputing sins.
So the question is, which non-imputed sin are we waiting to get blotted out?
No logic at all.
Something just don't jive.
And it won't.
It won't if you don't rightly divide the word of truth.
You see, much of what Peter and Paul taught are not in concert.
They're diametrically opposing, and that's okay because they're preaching in line with two separate administrations operating under two separate economies.
In this, the dispensation of grace, Israel is not a favored nation.
So it's not about their economy.
With the salvation of Paul came a change of administration.
And as Paul plainly said, quote, There are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
1 Corinthians 12:5.
You see, there are similarities between Peter and Paul, which makes it difficult for some to deal with and to see the differences.
They'd rather explain them away and make the two gospels into one.
They try to join what God has separated, hence the instruction to rightly divide the word of truth.
Peter was God's head man for Israel during their rise, but he disappeared after Acts
chapter 15.
Poof!
He's gone.
And with Paul came a new administration.
The process of running things changed, along with new rules that govern one's day-to-day activities, marching orders, management of affairs.
Under this current administration, Acts 2:38 don't work.
It's not our mail.
Most of Christendom are stuck in Peter, James, and John, and they've yet to open their email from Paul.
It's sort of tucked away in the spam folder.
And they'll bring it out.
They'll use it, but only when it's needed to advance their personal motive.
And they really don't believe 2 Corinthians 5:19.
God stopped imputing sins to the world.
Again, if sins are not being imputed, which non-imputed sin would you need remission of?
It makes no sense.
When they try to defend their position, the Peter and Paul preach the same gospel crowd make a big deal about Peter talking to Cornelius, a Gentile.
The Acts chapter 10 account.
Let's look at that.
Let's pick up here in verse 43.
Peter tells Cornelius, speaking of Jesus, he says, To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
Where to start?
There's so much wrong with this verse.
Not wrong if you let it lie in its proper place, but wrong for now, for our dispensation.
Okay, first, Peter is not speaking of forgiveness coming through the finished cross work.
No, he said forgiveness was by belief through his name.
It's important to see this.
Secondly, Peter's only speaking of remission of sins, past sins.
Big problem for anyone trying to connect Peter and Paul and say they preach the same gospel.
Doesn't work.
For many years, I've heard people teach Acts 2:38 as a salvation verse when there's nothing about salvation here.
The audience is ye men of Israel, and the verse says nothing about salvation.
It's about receiving remission of sins.
Just believe what you read.
The idea here is ye men of Israel need to repent.
Change your mind about this man you killed.
Change your mind.
He is our Messiah.
That's what Peter's saying.
No one here could be saved by their repentance, but they could get their sins remitted.
For salvation, they would still need to endure unto the end.
Don't forget that verse.
That's their program, Matthew chapter 24 verse 13.
Those who endure unto the end shall be saved.
Acts 2:38 is about a pork abstaining law-abiding circumcised on the eighth day Jew named Peter telling his Jewish audience what they must do to get their past sins placed in remission, namely the sin of murdering their Messiah.
It had nothing to do with their future sins, all sins being blotted out.
No, that's Paul's gospel, not Peter's.
Yet, we have those making false converts teaching lost people to obey Acts 2:38 to be saved.
There's no salvation there.
Probation perhaps, but not salvation.
Peter's gospel has no assurance of salvation for you, me, or anyone alive today.
Regardless of worldwide Twistianity, Peter and Paul are not two peas in a pod.
Two peas in a podcast.
Listen, Jesus gave Peter the keys of the kingdom, not Paul.
That's where Catholics get it from.
You've seen it, haven't you?
The Pope, he has hanging there from his belt, sort of a rope belt.
Look closely and you'll see keys.
The claim is that those keys have been passed down from Peter, the first Pope, so they say.
Passed down from him down through the ages to whomever the current Pope is.
They claim to have apostolic succession from Peter.
A lie, of course, but their claim nonetheless.
So now, there he is, the Pope, claiming to have the same keys of the kingdom Peter held in his possession.
Sort of kooky, you might say, but that's religion for you.
Full of all sorts of kooky ideas and superstitions.
Now along comes the Baptists.
They laugh at the Catholics, but they themselves claim to have apostolic succession from John.
John the Baptist, an Old Testament prophet, a man who never preached the finished cross work a day of his life.
He knew nothing of saved by grace through faith.
Knew nothing of the bloodshed that would allow God to stop imputing sins to the world.
Knew nothing of salvation as a free gift unto eternal life.
The doctrine of John, rightly divided and in its proper place, was outstanding.
Thank God for John.
But make no mistake, with his limited knowledge, old John couldn't preach a salvific gospel to anyone today.
He didn't know it.
Paul was never given Peter's keys to the kingdom or John's keys to the baptistry.
He was given the revelation of the mystery.
He was given the unsearchable riches that can't be found anywhere outside of his 13
epistles.
They were hid from ages past and only made manifest through Paul.
If his gospel is the same as Peter's, why were the Jews so bent on killing him?
They wanted him dead because it wasn't the same.
He taught contrary to what they taught.
He took away the need for Israel as a mediator.
He was going around heralding the good news that the door had opened to all nations.
The Jews didn't like that one bit.
Not being at the helm anymore, the head, the conduit that everyone else had to go through in order to get to God.
Paul's gospel took that away.
His revelation changed many things.
Water baptism disappeared, circumcision disappeared, justification apart from the law, salvation by grace through faith alone without works to evidence it, God stopped imputing sins to the world so there was no more need for forgiveness.
Israel didn't like that.
His gospel was totally contrary to the status quo of that day.
Paul's gospel of the uncircumcision offers us a heavenly destination.
Peter's gospel, the gospel of the circumcision, it offered a earthly destination.
But with all this, today we still have those who claim they preach the same gospel.
They're here among us and we're forced to endure the ignorance.
They have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge.
In Galatians chapter 2 verse 6, Paul speaking of James, Peter, and John, he wrote,
But of these who seem to be somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me.
God accepteth no man's person.
For they who seem to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me.
Whoa, don't miss this.
Paul said, hey, these apostles, whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me.
They added nothing to me.
What?
The leaders of Israel who walked with Jesus for over three years were not able to add
anything to you, Paul?
Was he being haughty, perhaps a bit pompous here?
Or does Paul have a different gospel?
We don't have to go far for the answer.
It's in the next verse, verse 7, watch, When they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter, ah, there it is, the dagger to the heart of the Peter and Paul one gospel debate.
Just as there's three baptism in Matthew chapter 3 verse 11, here we have two gospels in Galatians chapter 2 verse 7, the gospel of the uncircumcision and the gospel of the circumcision.
Now you'll recall in Acts 10 when Peter was being prepared for his encounter with Cornelius, he had a vision from the Lord.
Remember verse 13, here Luke says, And there came a voice to him, rise, Peter, kill and eat.
But Peter wasn't having it.
His response was interesting.
He said, not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.
And the voice spake unto him again the second time, what God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
This Acts 10 come to Jesus meeting prepared Peter for what Paul would reveal to him just five chapters later in Acts chapter 15, there at the Jerusalem conference.
And following that, following the meeting, what some fail to recognize is Peter's done.
Stick a fork in him.
He realizes the change in the program and disappears.
Only writing a couple of small letters to his little flock, the remnant of Israel.
Israel as a nation, singular, their kingdom begins to descend.
The Gentile nations, plural, begins to ascend.
Israel's fall, Gentiles rise.
When we take the head apostle of one nation, Peter, and compare him with the head apostle of all nations, Paul, the distinctions can't help but jump off the page and rock our theological boat.
Peter wrote to the holy nation and taught them about their priesthood.
Paul wrote to the unholy nations and never mentions anything about our priesthood.
We're members of a spiritual body and have no such priesthood.
Peter's little flock knew they would inherit the earth.
From Paul, we know that we inherit heavenly places.
Yet these Gospels are the same?
The diametric differences are obvious.
There's a judgment called the judgment seat of Christ, a future judgment coming for all believers of Paul's gospel.
This judgment is not to see if you've made it or not.
It's not heaven or hell.
That's already established, already decided.
It's not a judgment about your sins.
Those were put on Christ.
They're not being imputed.
No, this judgment will evaluate a saved person's works.
It's about what you do with what you knew, what you do with what you knew.
It's about your ambassadorship.
That's what will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ.
Peter's little flock won't be there.
This judgment has nothing to do with them.
This judgment is according to Paul's gospel.
He says as much in Romans chapter 2.
In verse 16, he said, In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
According to Peter's gospel?
No, my gospel.
Understanding that Peter and Paul did not preach the same gospel, it not only clears
up the salvation issue, but also sheds light on our day-to-day marching orders, who we are in Christ, our eternal reward, among other things.
You need to get this.
Paul's preaching was not according to prophecy, but according to mystery.
Romans 16:25, 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.
Paul's gospel was kept secret.
Noah didn't know it, Abraham didn't know it, Moses, Joseph, King David, they didn't know it.
Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Zechariah, they didn't know it.
John the Baptist didn't know it, Peter, James, and John didn't know it until Paul explained it to them, and they still never preached it because it wasn't theirs to preach.
In our Bible, there's an abundance of historical information concerning the nation Israel, along with some Gentiles who attach themselves to them.
But if you want your history, you best dig in and search out the writings of Paul.
You're absent from the rest of the Bible.
You're not there, and religion has failed you by not telling you this.
The only remedy is to rightly divide the Word of Truth.
Not doing so will result in mixing grace with performance.
An attempt to endure to the end, misapplied doctrine, false doctrine for today that only makes false converts.
As long as you mix grace with human performance, you've obviated grace.
Romans 11:6 is perhaps the clearest verse concerning this.
Paul said, If by grace, then is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace, otherwise work is no more work.
A very clear passage of Scripture that assures us of the mutual exclusiveness of grace and works—performance.
For salvation, according to Paul's gospel, grace and works don't mix.
According to Peter's gospel, grace and works do mix.
His gospel does not give anyone today assurance of their salvation.
When God dealt with the folks in the kingdom setting, grace plus personal performance was needed to evidence their faith.
With this one we're in, faith stands all by itself.
Faith plus nothing.
Faith alone.
We need no accompanied performance to demonstrate our faith in order to receive salvation.
We need works, yes we do, but not for salvation.
We're a part of a very unique situation on this side of Calvary's cross according to
the economic administration that was given to the Apostle Paul, the grace apostle.
If your salvation testimony has always included Matthew 19:16, keeping the commandments and selling your possessions, you're lost.
If your salvation testimony has always included Acts 2:38, baptism with water for the remission of sins, you're lost.
If it's 1 John 1:9, confessing your sins for forgiveness, you're lost.
The book of Matthew's enduring to the end, you're lost.
Paul did not write Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 just to take up space.
I keep the commandments, that's boasting.
I was water baptized, that's boasting.
I confessed my sins, that's boasting.
I, that one tiny little word, is the one drop of poison, and that's all the devil needs to pervert and dilute the gospel of grace.
He put up that one roadblock, some went the wrong way and missed the gospel of the grace of God, the only one that saves today.
Paul tells us in Colossians 2, verse 10 that we're complete in Christ.
Peter and the twelve and their little flock were not complete in Christ.
They would not understand that lingo.
They're believers who are still waiting, Acts 3:19, to get their sins blotted out.
So far, Peter and the little flock have only been purged from their old sins, 2 Peter 1:9.
They're not Colossians 2:10 complete in Christ.
Peter said that this little flock was purged from their old sins, but if sins are not being imputed, does it matter if they're old or new?
This Peter and Paul two gospel debate is really no debate at all.
It's riddled with weak and beggarly straw man arguments promoted by those who only know how to preach Jesus Christ according to prophecy, Acts 3:21, but know nothing of how to preach him according to the mystery, Romans 16:25.
God kept a secret that He would one day form a body of believers with no respect of Jew or Gentile, male or female, bond or free.
No more Jews over here, Gentiles over there, or a division of males and females, no.
But all morphed into one, into one body in Christ with no division.
Something never before done and something that if Satan would have known, if he would
have discovered this secret, he would never have crucified the Lord of glory.
First Corinthians 2:8.
The times of Gentiles needing to go through Israel for their blessings, as in Matthew
15:24, that's over.
That's when Israel was the head, not the tail, the lender and not the borrower.
As John points out, salvation was of them, the Jews, but it's not so for today.
If you would have asked Peter about the mystery, he would have said, go ask Paul.
The things he wrote are hard to understand, but he's the one to explain the mystery.
Things I'm not authorized to speak on, I was not given that authority.
Paul's gospel wasn't Peter's to preach.
The little flock had their own gospel.
Their good news of the earthly kingdom to come.
And when some of the little flockers would show up at one of the assemblies established by Paul, when one of Paul's letters were read, they would hear some things that were hard for them to understand.
One of those things was what the Lord revealed to Paul about the catching away of the church, the body of Christ.
Prior to Paul's revelation, Peter and the little flock, hey, they thought the Lord's return to them to give them their kingdom was the next thing on the calendar of events.
They'd been wondering about it since Acts chapter 1, verse 6.
But Paul set Peter straight on the matter, which meant a delay for the little flock to get their kingdom.
By Paul revealing this to Peter, well, that equipped him to share it with his audience.
And in his second epistle to the little flock, in chapter 3, Peter wrote, verse 3, Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lust and saying, where is the promise of his coming?
For since the father's fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.
See, there were scoffers, those who were making fun of them for believing the Lord was getting ready to return.
But after Peter, after he learned Paul's revelation, watch what he says, verse 15, And the count that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation.
See that?
Peter is saying, yes, we're looking for him.
But according to Paul, there's some long suffering involved.
Peter continues, Even as our beloved brother, Paul, also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you.
You see, Paul's revelation of this interruption that happened to Israel's prophetic program.
The delay of the Lord returning to give them their kingdom was something they knew nothing of until Paul told them.
That piece of news wasn't revealed in their prophecy, but only in Paul's mystery.
Peter and Paul did not preach the same gospel.
Think now, Peter tells his audience how to get their sins remitted.
Paul tells us there's no sins to remit.
You do the math.
Our salvation is present possession.
We already have it.
Peter's little flock is still waiting.
You do the math.
Our salvation is about spiritual baptism.
Theirs was about water baptism.
Our destination is heavenly.
They're awaiting their earthly Davidic kingdom.
God's destination for two groups, both them and us, has been in place from the beginning.
Genesis 1:1, In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
Two different places, two gospels, two groups, two destinations, two spaces to be occupied by two groups of people.
We get heavenly places, the meek shall inherit the earth.
Peter and Paul are not two peas in a pod.
While they both held the office of an apostle, they each had different instructions for different audiences.
Our plan of salvation was executed at the cross, but wasn't revealed until the apostle Paul.
Today, salvation is you rest in your faith in the finished work and the risen Savior.
Christ, Colossians 1:20, successfully made peace between God and humanity by the blood of His cross.
Paul says, "...having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile
all things unto Himself, by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven."
God's reconciling of the world is an accomplished thing.
He's done.
He was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, was.
He's already accomplished it.
Now, be ye reconciled to God.
Christ died for your sins, they're no longer being imputed.
He was buried but defeated the grave, and on the third day arose to give eternal life
to all that would believe the gospel.
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