If Paul had not insisted with such determination and without compromise that the true gospel of Christ must focus on all nations and all peoples rather than continuing to center on Israelite peoples, this concrete expression of unity among all believers never would have happened…In the past, the pious commitment of religiously dedicated Judeans to their temple in Jerusalem had served only to set them apart from other nationalities. But now they had become the special objects of love and devotion to Christians all around the Mediterranean basin. How amazing is the power of the Christian gospel!

Paul’s Gospel: For the Nations

In his second journey to Jerusalem, Paul set before the prominent leaders of the church in Jerusalem “the gospel which I preach to the nations,” a fascinating phrase in itself (Gal. 2:1–2). Is this gospel “to the nations” different from the gospel to Israelites? No, there is no difference. Instead, the gospel that the apostle preached to the nations enlightens the gospel that must be preached to Israel.

But most dramatically, Paul’s gospel is the gospel to the nations! All through previous ages, the gospel had been directed quite specifically toward Israel. Indeed, much material in Israel’s Prophets anticipated the preaching of the gospel to all the nations of the world.[i] Yet it was always through Israel that the gospel would be filtered to the nations. But now the gospel is more specifically and more directly pointed to all the various nations of the world. This affirmation of Paul represents a dramatic change in the history of redemption.

This same perspective takes center stage when Paul speaks of his calling into the gospel ministry. The purpose of God’s revealing his Son to Paul was “in order that I might preach him among the nations” (Gal. 1:16a). From the very beginning of Paul’s life in Christ, the apostle’s calling involved a unique purpose. He was to be the Apostle to the Nations. The core of his proclamation to the nations is defined simply as to “preach him” (v. 16a). This calling was for Paul indeed the Great Divide that set him apart from other proclaimers of the new covenant. No other apostle would be given this designation or this specific task. While God set aside twelve apostles primarily for taking the gospel to the Israelites, Paul alone would have this unique commission, which for all his life would set him apart as unique among the history of humanity.

Paul’s second “going up to Jerusalem,” he insists, was on the basis of revelation (Gal. 2:2). You might think it would not be necessary for the apostle to have a special revelation from God to decide to go up to Jerusalem. That would seem to be a natural thing for him to do. But this going up to Jerusalem, particularly to meet with those who were recognized as leaders of the newly forming Christian community, represented a significant turning point in the proclamation as well as the definition of the gospel. Paul made his presentation in Jerusalem to establish once and for all that in his distinctive ministry among the nations, he was not running or had not run in vain (v. 2b). This statement does not mean that he expected his gospel to be redefined by the prominent church leaders in Jerusalem. Instead, he was anticipating their stamp of approval on his ministry, confirming its legitimacy as the true gospel. The fact that he made this excursion to Jerusalem by divine revelation indicates that God himself intended to have Paul’s gospel officially confirmed.

As Paul will clearly indicate, his gospel in its essence was the same as that which had been proclaimed of old, dating back to the time of Abraham. But its expansion to directly embrace all the nations alongside Israel without their going through Israel represented a dramatic redirection of the gospel. Here in the outworking of redemptive history is the gospel according to the new covenant as formally fixed through revelation by Paul. To underscore this universalistic aspect of his gospel, Paul rehearses events that eventually led him to go up to Jerusalem “by revelation” (Gal. 2:2).

In his letter to the Romans, Paul will speak quite specifically of “my gospel” by which God will judge the secrets of all humanity on the “Day” (Rom. 2:16). How audacious! None of the other apostles presumes to speak about “my” gospel. But Paul does.[ii] As he concludes his magisterial letter to the then capital of the world, he refers to God, who will establish his readers by “my gospel.” This gospel has come through the revelation of “the mystery” (16:25). But what is this “mystery” that has been revealed in Paul’s gospel? He specifically includes in the “mystery” “the obedience of faith” that has been made known “to all the nations” (v. 26). He has also spoken of the “churches of the nations” (v. 4), a very distinctive concept.

This focus on the nations is critical to the definition of the gospel Paul preached. Rather than being a gospel with special directives regarding Israel, it is the nations that serve as the focus of his gospel.

The unique rendering of the Greek term ethnoi (“nations”) in English Bible translations as “Gentiles” rather than “nations” has disoriented a significant number of the Christian community so that it has not fully appreciated a major focus of Paul’s gospel.[iii] When he speaks of “my gospel,” Paul refers particularly to his distinctive perspective on the good news as being directed equally to all the nations of the world as well as to Israel. Later in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul will elaborate extensively on this point (cf. Eph. 2:11–3:9).

Paul’s Great Divide

Once more, Paul is establishing the Great Divide between the gospel as it had been proclaimed up to this point in redemptive history and the gospel as it would be proclaimed from this day forward. The apostle Peter’s vision involving his eating “unclean animals” that led to the inclusion of the household of the Roman soldier Cornelius coordinated perfectly with Paul’s gospel (Acts 10:1–48; 15:7–11). Yet it did not go all the way in its inclusion of the nations of the world, as Paul’s specific ministry would do. Peter will allow that the nations should be included among God’s people. That fact he could hardly deny—even though at Antioch he subsequently dramatized that very denial by separating himself from non-Israelite believers (Gal. 2:11–14).

In his later journey to Jerusalem by revelation, Paul’s distinctive gospel with its focus on the nations was not modified or rejected by any of those individuals recognized as leaders in Jerusalem. Not even Titus the Greek, his traveling companion, was required to be circumcised (Gal. 2:3). Because these leaders in Jerusalem accepted Titus as a legitimate minister of the gospel alongside Paul, a new phase in the dissemination of the gospel had come to the fore. The acceptance of uncircumcised Titus as Paul’s companion in ministry represented a critical step. Whatever the distinctiveness of Paul’s ministry, it would now be carried forward in the generations to come without any need for credentials such as circumcision that would indicate appropriate participation in the religion of Israel.[iv]

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