You Are In Complete Error On The "Two Gospels" Theory!

Acts 28:28

Be it known therefore unto you,
that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles,
and that they will hear it.

Jerry wrote:

You are in complete error on the "two gospels" theory. Phillip preached the same message to the Gentiles as was delivered to the Jews in Jerusalem. Acts 8:5: Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. Acts 8:6: And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. Acts 8:12: But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

Peter delivered the same message to Cornelius and his household as he delivered to the Jews at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Acts 10:28 And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or come unto one of another nation, but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Acts 10:34 Then Peter opened [his] mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: Acts 10:35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. Acts 10:36 The word which [God] sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) Acts 10:37 That word, [I say], ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; Acts 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

Acts 10:44: While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. Acts 10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 10:46: For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,
Acts 10:47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? Acts 10:48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

Paul preached the same gospel to the Gentiles as Peter had preached to Cornelius (an Italian) and the Jews in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

Acts 19:1: And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, Acts 19:2; He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. Acts 19:3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Acts 19:4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

Acts 19:5: When they heard [this], they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Acts 19:6: And when Paul had laid [his] hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.

This is the only plan of Salvation that has been in force since the day of Pentecost. It is for whoever will, and that means you and me, as well as the Jews. Same plan, the same way, the plan is Acts 2:38: Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Acts 2:39: For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, [even] as many as the Lord our God shall call.

Dear Jerry,
It sounds like you are telling us, not asking us a question, and with much of what you say, we agree and believe. Jesus Christ has always been The Way of Salvation, and that never changes under any dispensation. In That Light, there is but One Gospel, for they knew Him and believed on Him as Jehovah in the Old Testament, for He is The Only True God.

What you are failing to see from His Word is The Dispensation we currently enjoy and its Gospel, even after sending you so much Scriptural proof. Certainly, you must see that God was reaching out to Israel first during the time of the Book of Acts, and when they refused to believe, He began using the Gentiles to provoke them into jealousy (Rom. 11:11-14). They still did not heed God's warning, so since Acts 28:28, salvation is no longer of the Jews but is sent to the Gentiles so "whosoever" can believe. The reality is Israel is blind, and the only nation we know of that totally rejects Jesus Christ, for all others see Him as at least a good man, but to them, He is a false prophet and false Messiah. Blindness had happened to Israel in PART according to Romans 11:25, but now and for the two days of Hosea (2000 years), Israel is Lo-Ammi according to Scripture. Let's look at Acts 28:28 closely with honest attention to the detail God gives us.

ACTS 28. The Dispensational Boundary

The structure of Acts 28 and the commentary on this section are intended to prove that Acts 28 is indeed of the utmost dispensational importance to the believer today. It marks a frontier.

Acts 28:23-31 The Dispensational Landmark

     Isa. 6:10. Hearts understand.
     Be converted.
     I should heal them.

C                                  h   Acts 28:28. The salvation of God.
                                          i   Acts 28:28. SENT unto the Gentiles.

 j   Acts 28:28. They will hear it. 

B                                   g   Acts 28:29. The Jews departed. 

   f   Acts 28:29. Great reasoning among themselves.

A    a   Acts 28:30. All come to Paul's hired house.

b   Acts 28:31. Paul "preaches" the kingdom of God.

c   Acts 28:31. "Teaches" concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.

d   Acts 28:31. With all confidence. No reference to O.T.

e   Acts 28:31. Unhindered.

The Dispensational Boundary 

The ministry of Paul to the Elders of Israel in Rome, as recorded in Acts 28, is an echo of the ministry of the Lord during His forty days on earth, as recorded in Acts 1.

Speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3).

He expounded and testified the kingdom of God (Acts 28:23).

The record given in Acts 1:3 is a summary of what is written at large in Luke 24, where "Moses and the Prophets" are "expounded" by the Lord "concerning Himself." In Acts 28, Paul persuaded the Jews "concerning Jesus" both out of the law of "Moses" and out of the "Prophets." The parallel is intentional.

The THEME in both is "concerning Himself"; and "concerning Jesus."
The THEME includes the "hope" of Israel. "We trusted" (Luke 24:21) translates elpizo "we hoped". The "hope" of Israel (Acts 28:20) translates elpis.
The BASIS of this ministry in both passages is the O.T. Scriptures, Luke 24:25, Luke 24:27, Luke 24:45, and Acts 28:23.
The METHOD is Exposition, Luke 24:27, Luke 24:32, Acts 28:23.
The OBJECT is Persuasion, Luke 24:25, Luke 24:32, Luke 24:45, Acts 28:26.

In addition, we have such parallels as the use of the word bradus "slow" (Luke 24:25) and "dull" bareos (Acts 28:27). While the eyes of the two in Luke 24 were "opened," the eyes of Israel were "closed" (Acts 28:27).

In neither Luke 24, Acts 1, nor Acts 28 have we yet discovered the slightest allusion to the high calling of The Church of The Mystery. We are on the verge of its revelation, but not until Israel became Lo-ammi "not My people" could that calling of the Gentiles that goes back to its inception to "before the foundation of the world" be made known.

The testimony of the Apostle on that memorable day was twofold. It concerned "the kingdom of God" and "concerning Jesus," and it was found entirely in the testimony of the Old Testament. There is a great difference between "the kingdom of God," "the kingdom of Heaven," and "The Church which is His Body".

It is evident that "the restoration of the kingdom to Israel" (Acts 1:6). arose as a direct result of the Lord's testimony "pertaining to the kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3), and Paul, in Acts 26:22, declared that up to that point, he had declared "none other than Moses and the Prophets did say should come." So, here, in his testimony to the Elders of the Jews, the teaching of the O.T. Scriptures that impinged on "the hope of Israel" set the limits to his message. When one remembers the scrupulous care with which the Apostle speaks of his Lord in his Epistles, rarely calling Him "Jesus" but nearly always giving Him His title "Lord" or "Jesus (the) Christ," it is a matter of importance to observe that to the Jews he spoke "concerning Jesus."

When the dismissal of the Jew was over, and the Salvation of God was sent to the Gentile, a change was observed. He now speaks "concerning the Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 28:31). Not only so, the omission of any reference to the O.T. scriptures is eloquent.

In his early Epistles, Paul makes a constant appeal to the Old Testament. The Gospel which he preached had been "promised afore in the holy scriptures" (Rom. 1:2); the doctrine of Justification by Faith is confirmed by the words "as it is written" (Rom. 1:17); indeed "What saith the Scriptures?" (Rom. 4:3) might well be cited as typical of Paul's attitude during his early ministry. In 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul makes it clear that to the very end, he unhesitatingly believed that "All scripture was given by inspiration of God" - and yet the moment we cross the boundary line of Acts 28 into his "Prison Epistles" that moment we come into the light of a new revelation, something that had been hid in God from the ages, and something not found in the O.T. writings, something indeed that was a Mystery, or a Secret as the word means. "It is written" occurs some forty times in Paul's early Epistles. The phrase is never again employed by him after Acts 28. Not one quotation of Scripture meets us in Ephesians 1 until we come to the reference to Psalm 8 in Ephesians 1:21-23.

We read on through Chapters 2 and 3 right into the practical section, Chapter 4, before we meet the next reference to the O.T., namely Ephesians 4:8. There is no direct quotation of O.T. Scripture in Philippians or Colossians and but one in 2 Timothy 2:9, an allusion to Numbers 16:5 and Num. 16:26.

In the seven later Epistles, there are not more than eight references to the O.T., and of this number, not one can be said to teach the peculiar doctrine that was entrusted to Paul to make known. We have already reminded the reader that the word "depart" apoluo (Acts 28:25) indicates Israel's "divorcement," and the words "they agreed not" (assumphonos) are used of the marriage relationship also (1 Cor. 7:5).

The failure of Israel and the consequent blessing of the Gentile was foreshadowed in Paul's opening ministry, as recorded in Acts 13. The doom there threatened now falls. Here is the de facto execution of the sentence that was pronounced de jure in Matthew 23:38, "Your house is left unto you desolate." Since the call of Abraham, the Scriptures contain no record of a Gentile being saved independently of Israel. "Salvation is of the Jews" was the testimony of the Lord Himself to the woman of Samaria.

Acts 28 ends with the Apostle dwelling for two years in his own hired house, preaching and teaching "no man forbidding him". During Paul's early ministry, the Jew had consistently opposed the preaching of The Gospel to the Gentiles, and this, said the Apostle, was their climax sin.

They "killed the Lord Jesus," but forgiveness was given, and a new opportunity to believe and repent was granted. They had earlier "killed their own prophets" and had more recently "persecuted" the Apostle and his helpers, "forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved," reaching, however, a climax "To Fill Up their sins always for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost" (1 Thess. 2:15-16).

"To the bitter end," reads Moffatt. "In its severest form," reads Weymouth. This same word, "forbidding," found in 1 Thessalonians 2:16, is the word used by Paul, "No man forbidding him" - Israel, the opposer, had gone. They had filled up their measure of sin to the brim, and the very Gentiles that they had "forbidden" now entered into blessings hitherto unrevealed.

All God's Blessings,
The Believers