| (Copyright) by David Antion (Pasadena, California) |
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| Most people read the Apostle Paul’s writings and are thrilled to understand his deeper views into Christ’s sacrifice, atonement, resurrection, and the meaning of all of this to us as those chosen by God to receive salvation. But most people don’t think about what is not in Paul’s writings. We might find this a little curious as to why he says nothing about Jesus’ preaching the Kingdom of God. This phrase (KOG) occurs 51 in the gospels, but only 8 times in all of Paul’s 14 letters. Paul never mentions that Jesus cast out demons, or that He healed the sick. He does not tell about Jesus’ conflicts with the Jewish authorities or religious leaders. Paul does not mention Mary, Joseph, Caiaphas, or Mary Magdalene. Pontus Pilate is mentioned once in 1 Timothy 6:13. When talking about the resurrection Paul states that Jesus “…appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.” (1 Corinthians 15:5-8 NAU). I have mentioned before that Paul does not mention the very first people who saw Jesus after He was resurrected — the women who came to the tomb. We can explain this as Paul was interested in countering a false doctrine spreading through the church at Corinth — that the resurrection had passed or that there was no such thing as a resurrection. So, he is using the most prominent of the apostles. But he also doesn’t mention Stephen, the first martyr who said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:56 NAU). Again, Stephen was not at that time a major church leader and Paul was using the authority of the apostles and Jesus’ appearing to them. Why doesn’t he mention anything about Christ’s earthly ministry? A couple of reasons: 1) The other Apostles who had been with Jesus before His resurrection were telling about Christ’s earthly life. 2) Paul never saw Jesus in the flesh but only when He appeared to him on the road to Damascus. 3) Paul focused on the spiritual life of the resurrected Christ and what the crucified and resurrected Christ means to us today. A passage of Scripture that may bear on this: “and He died for all so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. 16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, now we know Him in this way no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Cor. 5:15-17 NAU) Paul said that he knows about Christ’s earthly times on earth. But now Paul is not concerned mainly with that but with a new creature in Christ. He is not so much concerned about the Jew vs. Gentile conflict as he is with those who believe and accept Christ versus those who do not. Surely Paul is not saying that Christ’s life in the flesh was not important. But that the new creature in Christ is more important and that the new things have come. Now we can see where Paul’s focus was. Being with Jesus after the resurrection, Paul probably got instruction as to what Christ wanted him to preach. The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) were being written and all the stories about Jesus and His miracles, preaching, healings, and teachings would be presented. Several of Paul’s letters are the earliest N.T. books we have. In three different passages, Paul refers to “my gospel” — see Romans 2:16 & 16:25; and 2 Timothy 2:8. His gospel placed more emphasis on the risen Jesus than on the earthly Jesus. Again, Paul knew and saw Jesus only AFTER Jesus’ resurrection. To me, this explains why Paul doesn’t mention a lot of things contained in the four gospels. ————————————————————————— Reprinted with permission from: Guardian Ministries http://daveantion.com/ ————————————————————————— |
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