The sayings of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of John, as well as the teachings rooted in Jesus and expressed in John’s epistles, contain a profound gospel message. But they also leave one element unstated—an element that Jesus reserved for later revelation through Paul.
During His earthly ministry, Jesus spoke within a Jewish contextand primarily to Jews. Nothing He said ever implied that His promises applied only to Jews; Jesus nowhere restricts His gospel to Israel. Yet the way His teaching is framed—delivered in Jewish settings, to Jewish hearers, assuming familiarity with the Law—left room for some to conclude that His promises might apply specificallyor exclusively to Torah-keeping Jews.
That is, Jesus:
- did not say that His words were only for Jews,
- but He also did not explicitly say that Gentiles were equal recipients of His gospel promises apart from the Law of Moses.
Because of this lack of explicit clarification, the earliest disciples did not immediately understand that Gentiles could enter the blessings of Christ without first becoming Jews.
Therefore, Jesus commissioned Paul with a further revelation—a clarification especially vital for the Gentile world. Paul insists that the gospel he preached came “through a revelation of Jesus Christ”(Gal. 1:12). Central to that revealed gospel was this truth:
Gentiles who believe in Christ are full heirs of the promises and are not required to keep the Law of Moses or undergo circumcision.
This is the key clarification Jesus entrusted to Paul.
Through this revelation, it becomes unmistakably clear that the gospel promises announced by Jesus—including those in John—apply to Gentiles without the covenantal requirements of Judaism. So when Jesus says in John 8 that:
- those who believe in Him,
- and who hold to His teaching,
- “are truly my disciples,”
- and “the truth will set you free,”
we now know—through Paul’s revealed apostolic gospel—that these promises apply equally and directly to Gentiles who have never kept the Law of Moses.
Paul teaches that any “other gospel” contradicting this revelation is accursed (Gal. 1:8–9). Only the gospel as revealed to Paul—the gospel of Jew and Gentile equality in Christ apart from the Law—is the blessed and authentic gospel of Jesus.
In this light, Paul’s teaching does not contradict Jesus or the other apostles. Rather:
- Paul clarifies the universal scope that Jesus intended but did not yet articulate,
- the other apostles ultimately affirm Paul’s gospel (Acts 15; 2 Pet. 3:15–16),
- and the promises and teachings of Jesus recorded by John are recognized as applying fully to Gentiles without Torah obligations.
Thus Jesus’ gospel, once clarified through Paul’s revelation, is seen to extend freely to all nations—Jews and Gentiles alike—with salvation offered apart from the Law of Moses.
By Stephen D Green. Wording improved by AI.
