As believers in Christ we need to enter into the contents and essence of the Gospel; we need to know what the gospel is, and through such an entering in, we would receive a commission to preach the gospel. Many people know that there are four gospels, but not many know that Paul has a gospel too.
The book of Romans is Paul’s gospel; Paul was a top gospel preacher, having four main gospel trips during which he preached the gospel throughout the Mediterranean region. We need to know what is Paul’s gospel, receive Paul’s burden and commission, and have the same spirit as Paul to preach the complete gospel.
First of all, the gospel is not “believe in the Lord Jesus and everything will be fine, you will be rich and prosper”. The gospel has nothing to do with earthly things or outward prosperity. The gospel is not “now that you believe in Jesus, you need to be a good man, do many good things, and reach a certain standard of behavior”. The gospel is glad tidings, great news of joy.
The Gospel of God is concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. The gospel is nothing else but the living person of Jesus Christ: this One is the gospel! The gospel is not Christ plus good behavior, keeping the law, having a good conduct etc – the gospel is a Person, jesus Christ, and all the blessings, goodness, and glad tidings are in this Person!
The first four books of the New Testament reveal to us different aspects of this wonderful Person: He is the King-Savior (Matthew), the Slave Savior (Mark), the Man Savior (Luke), and the God-savior (John).
When we are joined to Christ by believing into Him, there’s a change taking place in us; we enter into the kingdom of God, we become the citizens of the kingdom of the heavens, we receive forgiveness of sins, we become a new creation, and we are regenerated to be the children of God and the organism of the Triune God.
Hallelujah for such a wonderful person, Jesus Christ, who is the gospel and who causes a great change in our being through our believing into Him!
Having a Clear View of Paul’s Gospel – the Gospel according to Paul in Romans
In his writings Paul speaks of the gospel quite a lot, and there are many elements that he speaks of concerning the gospel that are not found in the first four books of the New Testament.
Paul was entrusted by God with the work of completing the word of God, and the gospel he preached – as see in his writings, especially in the book of Romans which he calls, My Gospel – was a complete gospel (Rom. 16:25).
The Christ Paul preached is different from the Christ in the four Gospels: in the Gospels Christ was among the believers in the flesh, but the Christ Paul preached was after His resurrection, when He is the Spirit and He lives in us. In the Gospels Christ is in the flesh walking among men, but in Paul’s gospel Christ is in us as the hope of glory, He lives in us, He is formed in us, He makes His home in our hearts, and He indwells us to be everything to us.
In portions of John and in Matthew we see some things concerning the Triune God, but in his gospel Paul shows us that the Triune God went through a process and has been consummated as the Spirit, and He now lives in us to dispense Himself into every part of our tripartite being.
Paul shows us in Rom. 8 that the whole Triune God is in our being to dispense Himself as life into our spirit, soul, and body, to fill us with life and make our spirit, soul, and body life, filled with God! This is Paul’s gospel, and this is the essence of the gospel.
In his gospel, Paul shows us the Son of God who is not merely the only begotten Son of God (as He was in the Gospels) but the firstborn Son of God. In eternity past Christ was the only begotten Son of God, and in His incarnation up to His death He was still the only begotten Son of God.
Through His resurrection, Christ brought His humanity into the divine sonship, and He was begotten as the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 1:3-4), and we all as His believers were regenerated to be the many sons of God (Rom. 8:29). This is seen only in Paul’s gospel, which mainly is the book of Romans.
The book of Romans is the Gospel of God, which is to make sinners sons of God to constitute the Body of Christ, which is expressed as the local churches.
We were sinners sentenced to death, but through His judicial redemption we are justified and reconciled to God, and now through His organic salvation we are saved in His life to be regenerated, sanctified, renewed, transformed, conformed, and glorified to be mature sons of God.
As such ones, we are being constituted and built together to be the Body of Christ, and this one Body is expressed in every locality on earth as the many local churches.
This is what Paul speaks about in his gospel in Romans: judicial redemption, organic salvation, the Body of Christ, and the local churches. Paul’s gospel is the complete gospel, from redemption and salvation to being built up in the Body of Christ, God’s corporate expression. We need to have a clear view of Paul’s gospel, the gospel according to Paul, and we need to preach such a complete gospel!
Lord Jesus, grant us a clear view of Paul’s gospel – the gospel according to Paul. May we realize, appreciate, and minister the rich Christ as the indwelling One who saves us much more in His life to make us members of the Body of Christ for God’s corporate expression. Lord, thank You for Your judicial redemption as the procedure for us to be organically saved in Your life so that we may be built up with the saints into the organic Body of Christ! May we know the complete gospel of God and preach this gospel to those around us!
The Gospel Paul Received through the Revelation of Christ is the Center of the Bible
Concerning the gospel he received and preached, Paul testified that he didn’t receive it from man or according to man, neither was he taught it; rather, he received the gospel through a revelation by Jesus Christ (Gal. 1:11-12).
This means that Paul was not taught the gospel by others but he received it through Jesus Christ appearing to him, and the veils were removed for him to see the revealed Jesus Christ as the gospel.
When Paul saw Jesus Christ, he preached this One as the gospel, and the gospel that Paul received through the revelation of Christ is the center of God’s revelation in the New Testament (see Rom. 1:1, 9).
Paul received a marvelous revelation of the gospel directly from the Lord Himself, and we in the Lord’s recovery need to have a clear view of Paul’s gospel, the gospel according to Paul.
Christ, a living person, is the focus of Paul’s gospel. Hence, the book of Galatians is emphatically Christ-centered. Christ was crucified to redeem us out of the curse of the law and rescue us out of the present evil religious course of the world (3:1, 13; 1:4, 15-16). Christ was resurrected from the dead that He might live in us (v. 1; 2:20). We were baptized into Christ, being identified with Him, and we have put on Christ, clothing ourselves with Him; thus, we are in Christ and have become of Him (3:27-29; 5:24). Christ has been revealed in us, He is now living in us, and He will be formed in us (1:16; 2:20; 4:19). To Christ the law has conducted us, and in Christ we are all sons of God (3:24, 26). In Christ we inherit God’s promised blessing and enjoy the all-inclusive Spirit (v. 14). In Christ we all are one (v. 28). We should not be deprived of all profit from Christ and thus be separated, severed, from Him (5:4). We need Christ to supply us with grace in our spirit that we may live Him (6:18). God’s desire is that His chosen people receive His Son into them; this is the gospel (1:15-16; 2:20; 4:19). (Witness Lee, The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3258-3259)
Paul’s gospel is a revelation of the Triune God processed to become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit (see 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17; Gal. 3:2, 5, 14). Only Paul speaks concerning how the Triune God was processed to become the life-giving Spirit in His resurrection; now the Lord is the Spirit, and this Spirit is the reality of the blessing God promised to Abraham – the real blessing is the Spirit!
Paul’s gospel is centered on the Triune God being our life in order to be one with us so that we may be the Body of Christ to express Him corporately (Rom. 8:11; 12;4-5; Eph. 1:22-23). The center of Paul’s gospel is how the Triune God wants to become our life so that we may be one with Him and we would become and build up the Body of Christ as His corporate expression.
Only in Paul’s writings can we find the principle of God being one with us, we being one spirit with the Lord, and we being the Body of Christ through which God can be expressed in a corporate way.
The focal point of Paul’s gospel is God Himself in His Trinity becoming the processed all-inclusive Spirit to be our life and everything for our enjoyment, so that we and He may be ONE to express Him for eternity (Gal. 4:4, 6; 3:13-14, 26-28; 6:15); this is the focal point of the entire Bible.
Paul’s gospel is complete and perfect, encompassing everything from God’s purpose, His choosing in eternity past, to our justification, reconciliation, regeneration, renewing, transformation, and glorification, and to us becoming the Body of Christ to express Him corporately. What a complete gospel!
We need to spend much time to be filled with such a gospel and speak to others the high and complete gospel of Paul, which is the gospel of God – to make sinners sons of God to constitute the Body of Christ, which is expressed as the local churches.
Lord, may we see the focal point of Paul’s gospel and of the entire Bible: God becoming the all-inclusive Spirit to be life and everything to us for our enjoyment so that He and we may be one to express Him for eternity. Thank You God for being processed and consummated as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit so that You may come into us and organically save us and build us up in Your corporate expression on earth, the Body of Christ expressed in the many local churches! Hallelujah!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message for this week, and The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3258-3259 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Gospel (2016 International Chinese-speaking Conference), week 4 / msg. 4, Paul’s Gospel — the Gospel of Completion.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic:
# An uplifted gospel have we, / One we’re not ashamed to proclaim. / Our gospel’s the highest of all, / For it is God’s goal and God’s aim. / No longer so lowly and poor, / We’ve found that we’re God’s holy sons. / No more will we preach as before; / Now each man on earth can be won. (Hymns #1292)
# Mysterious Christ, marvelous! / God is manifest among us. / God infinite, in eternity, / Yet man in time, finite to be; / O Christ, mysterious, God in flesh, / Wond’rous news—God mingled with man! / As God yet man, He’d enter in, / Your blessed rich portion within. (Hymns #1403)
# Now to Him Who is able, / Able to establish you according to my gospel; / The proclamation of Jesus Christ / According to the revelation of the mystery; / To the only wise God through Jesus Christ, / The only wise God, To Him be the glory forever, / Forever and ever. Amen. Amen. (Scripture song)
About aGodMan
We in the Lord’s recovery need to have a clear view of the gospel according to Paul. The focal point of Paul’s gospel is that the Son of God, God’s anointed One, has entered into our being to be our life today and our glory in the future so that we may be the members of His Body….In Paul’s gospel there are many mysterious matters that are not covered by Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. In the four Gospels we are not told that Christ is the mystery of God (Col. 2:2) or that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily (Col. 2:9). In fact, the four Gospels do not even give us a clear word concerning justification by faith. It is in Romans and Galatians that justification by faith is covered in a clear way.
The focal point of the gospel is not God’s administration; it is God Himself in His Trinity becoming the processed all-inclusive Spirit to be life and everything to us for our enjoyment, so that He and we may be one to express Him for eternity. Such a profound thought cannot be found in the four Gospels. (Witness Lee, Life-study of Galatians, pp. 18, 16-17)
The focal point of Paul’s gospel is that the Son of God, God’s anointed One, has entered into our being to be our life today and our glory in the future so that we may be the members of His Body. Amen!
Amen … “the gospel is a (wonderful) Person, Jesus Christ, and all the blessings, goodness and glad tidings are in this Person.” When we call upon His name, saying, O Lord Jesus, we receive all that He is to us and all that He has done towards us, as the Gospel of God to us. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! O glory be to God! Amen. … Thank You Father for sending us Your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank You Lord Jesus, for the process if incarnation, perfect human living, death, resurrection and glorious ascension, all to become the all-inclusive and life-giving Spirit, regenerating our spirit, making us alive unto God, to make Your abode within our heart and soul, building us together as the church, the home You are longing for as a corporate expression of Yourself, fulfilling Your heart’s desire, for God to be one with redeemed and regenerated man, and he, to become, one with God, the Triune God. …. O Lord Jesus. Send us out Lord, with a clear vision of the full Gospel of God, as Paul saw it. Amen.