Thought for Thursday
For He that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the Same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles. Galatians 2:8
Did the Jews and Gentiles receive different Gospel messages? Some people take today’s text as their ‘proof’ that the messages were different. They claim the message to the Jews was one of works while the one to the Gentiles was of grace. Their claim is nonsense, of course, because our text says nothing about a different message, only of a different audience. Peter preached primarily (but not exclusively) to Jewish people. Paul preached primarily (but not exclusively) to the Gentiles. But their messages were identical. How did Peter describe his message? ‘For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit’ (1 Peter 3:18). How is that different from what Paul preached? ‘ For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures’ (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). And there are plenty more examples to prove the message was the same. But like Paul and Peter, we need to be aware that audiences are often very different.
The people in this world fall into many different categories, every one of them a sinner in need of a Saviour. The message to children must be simple enough for them to grasp, even as we realize that every person must come to Christ as a child (Matthew 18:3). The message to teenagers must be relevant to them because these dear ones often feel they are out of step with the rest of the world. The message to young adults must impress upon them the need for their lives as well as their souls to be saved for God. The message to older adults must present the urgency of the message as life slips away. The Gospel is as plain as the simple can understand, and as profound as the wise can grasp. Salvation offers comfort for the troubled, adventure for the daring, a challenge for the ambitious, and a commitment for the caring. All within the glorious truth that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15).
Our text identifies Someone as the Same. This of course is the Holy Spirit. Empowered at Pentecost, Peter and the other apostles began the task of spreading the Gospel, which Paul joined when as Saul of Tarsus he was miraculously arrested on the road to Damascus. These men all knew the working of the Holy Spirit as He gave them power to be effective witnesses and preachers. It is the same Spirit Who is available to us today to enable us to be faithful in our responsibilities in the Gospel.
Although we may need to change our approach to presenting it, we never need to change the message of the Gospel. And we never need to be concerned about whether we can deliver the message, because the same One Who enabled Peter to witness to the Jews and Paul to the Gentiles is with us today. – Jim MacIntosh