In Matt 28 we find what is commonly called the “great commission”. It reads:

Matt 28:19
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (KJV)

This passage is often referred to as if the Lord Jesus was telling His disciples to go and teach all people that eternal life is given to those who believe that Christ died for their sins. However, it seems clear that the disciples did not understand His words in that way. The disciples would most certainly have understood Jesus as saying that they should go everywhere and teach people about the fact that Jesus Christ was the promised messiah of the Jewish religion. This message would have been delivered for the most part to the Jews who had been scattered into all nations. This is obvious from the fact that Peter was so reluctant even in Acts 10 to go and talk to Cornelius simply because Cornelius was an uncircumcised Gentile.

Furthermore, when Peter spoke on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, as he addressed the “men of Israel”, he spoke to them about the fact that Jesus Christ had been raised from the dead and that if they would believe, Christ would return from heaven to set up His kingdom on the earth. This certainly is not the message we preach today.

Today, we preach that when Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary, His blood was shed for the sins of the whole world and that those who believe are given eternal life. This concept was not really articulated until Paul wrote to the believers at Thessalonica. In 1Thes 5:9-10 Paul said,

9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. (KJV)

Paul was more specific in 1 Cor 15:3 where he said,

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (KJV)

But Paul really spelled out the details in Rom 3:24-25 where he said,

24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood . . . (KJV)

Therefore, the truth of the gospel, as we know it today, was kept secret until God revealed it to the Apostle Paul. It was Paul who taught us that all who believe Christ died for their sins will receive eternal life regardless of their race or religious background.

Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com

Other church links:
http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/
http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/
http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/