Faith without religion.
The Expansion of the Gospel: From Jews to Gentiles
Matthew, Gentiles, Paul
In the latest episode of “Dylan Dodd Talk Doctrine,” Dell and his father, Shawn, delve into the intricacies of the New Testament, focusing on the transition of the gospel from Jewish to Gentile audiences. Dell, who is reading the Bible for the first time, poses insightful questions about the purpose of the New Testament books beyond the Gospels. Shawn explains that while the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were initially directed at Jews to affirm Jesus as the Messiah, the subsequent books, particularly those written by Paul, were aimed at spreading the gospel to Gentiles.
Shawn elaborates on how Acts chapter 10 marks a pivotal moment when Peter, guided by a vision, begins sharing the gospel with non-Jews, a significant shift from the previous decade when the message was exclusive to Jews. Paul, a former Pharisee, becomes a key figure in this outreach, writing letters to churches composed of both Jews and Gentiles, addressing the challenges of integrating these diverse groups.
The discussion also touches on the role of the Holy Spirit in guiding the apostles to write the Gospels and the arduous process of disseminating these texts in a time when oral tradition was predominant. Shawn clarifies that while his interpretation of the New Testament might be considered heretical by some, the notion that Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles and that the Gospels serve as a bridge from the Old Testament is widely accepted.
As the episode concludes, Dell and Shawn prepare to dive deeper into the Book of Matthew, inviting listeners to continue exploring these theological themes with them.
Podcast Transcript:
all right welcome to Dylan Dodd talk
Doctrine I’m Dell I’ve been in religion
my whole life it’s Dad I’ve never read
the Bible asking cult leader dad
questions as I read the Bible for the
first time yeah um
if you have any questions email info at
Colt level answer you directly
all right this is episode number four
hopefully the end the last one of
discussing the Book of Matthew at large
and the last question I was just about
to ask in the last one was um
so Matthew Mark Luke John and Luke in
the beginning of Acts all wrote the
gospels to those Jews that knew Jesus at
that time to basically just say this is
the Messiah this is the person that
fulfilled the to knock stuff
but so then the rest of the books of the
New Testament were not for that what
were they for there to other people that
didn’t know Jesus or what what were the
rest of the books for fantastic question
I’m gonna try to summarize in the
easiest way possible in Acts chapter 10
Peter takes the gospel to Gentiles
okay and Jews that was just see the
Christian Church up to that time was
only to Jews Jesus said I only come to
the house of Israel right so but in Acts
chapter 10 the Jews had had access to
the good news for about 10 years and
then Peter was the whole story goes on
that he was led by God to now give this
good news to Gentiles non-jews 10 years
post-jesus yeah oh yeah so for that
whole time Jesus original Apostles that
he gathered when he was on the earth
Jews they were all Jews were reaching
out to Jews okay but then Peter he is he
receives a vision and he shares the
gospel with non-jews and he opens the
door for this news to go to non-jews
okay
that’s wild yeah and a Jew who is not an
apostle called that was trained as a
Pharisee and knew the law and everything
else was called by God to take the
gospel that Peter introduced
to the Gentiles of that area his name
was Paul so Paul wrote letters to
churches that were established in
different areas and he was an apostle to
the Gentiles
he would go first to the synagogue of
Jews and he would share and they would
reject him and so then he would go and
he would share it with gentiles
all of that was prophesied in the Tanakh
that this good news was going to go to
Gentiles too and that was the
Fulfillment of it okay now just to
answer your question yeah there are some
letters in the apostolic record called
the New Testament that are written
specifically still to Jews okay and many
of the letters that like what Paul
writes to are written to the the
churches that are composed of Jews and
Gentiles okay and so the letters are all
about getting along and not fighting
with each other because there is all
kinds of ideas about how to do this the
letter written to the Hebrews was a
letter written to Jews who had converted
to Christ to teach them again so it
wasn’t every letter in the after acts it
was most of them from Paul are written
and and perhaps from John Peter wrote
primarily to Jews as well so it’s not a
clear thing but anything Paul wrote was
typically to churches that were composed
of both Jews and Gentiles but now we
have the good news going out to the
world right well I have several
questions first
do the go I why am I under the
impression that the gospels definitely
speak about Gentiles they speak about
them but they Jesus says in those don’t
go to the Gentiles don’t go he tells his
Apostles that he called who were all
Jews that’s not what I’m here for I’m
here for the lost sheep of the House of
Israel and we forget that we ignore that
completely
the principles he teaches spiritually to
those Jews is true they’re true for us
today and then then but it he was not
reaching to them they were literally
just for the Jew there was no okay and
also how were their churches of Jews and
Gentiles then what is that they were
first probably established by Jewish
converts because the gospel only went to
Jews for the first 10 years so they
because there were some that caught back
yeah caught it converted started a
church they might have even been
replicated as little synagogues okay
okay just like a Jewish thing many of
them still went to the temple they were
still doing what Jews did of the Old
Testament
but then Peter brings the gospel into
Cornelius and his family who are
gentiles and then Paul comes in and Paul
is bringing you know and then the
Gentile Believers start coming in with
the Jews and there’s this big war
because the Jews are you have to be
circumcised you can’t eat that meat you
can’t do that you have to go to the
temple you have to obey a Sabbath day
and and Paul was there because he
understood the law how to bridge what
was going on and essentially what he
introduces is a form of the Gospel that
was different to Gentiles than it than
what Jesus gave to the Jews
no that’s pretty well known most
Scholars know that yeah when you that’s
why when you read Paul’s letters
Jesus came with his Apostles and they
were telling the Jews to do what repent
repent before the great grateful day of
the Lord Paul comes and he’ll say repent
but he what he means by that is because
you have faith Paul’s thing was to just
believe you see because the Gentile
world had nothing to repent of why they
didn’t have the law the Jews had the Ten
Commandments given them and they weren’t
following them so they had to repent as
Jews they were God’s covenant people but
the Gentiles had nothing they were just
Barbara Barbara barbarians yeah
so he’s writing to Gentiles or a mix of
Jews and Gentiles for what like that’s
technically us and most evangelicals
yeah and and we are getting from him
principles but to them they were
didactic
demonstrative commands on what they
needed to do and how they needed to live
why because Jesus promised to come back
and take his bride who had to be pure
and holy and she would be composed of
Jewish Believers and gentiles
so the letters they were to them
literally but they are to us principally
in how to walk in faith and everything
else that comes with it okay to getting
too complex no you with me all right
yeah I’m just I’m thinking I don’t often
respond with she’s a thinker she’s a
deep thinker
um okay
okay we still have Matthew overview
Matthew overview just finishing it out
now
Matthew’s writing to Jews
to convince them of the Messiah okay
and
how do you know how they were that was
disseminated to the Jews of that time
how Matthew spoke to them like couldn’t
he have just spoken to those Jews the
way that Jesus did it’s great and it’s a
great question because Jesus never
commands those men who followed him to
write right he told them to go and
preach it was word of mouth but he also
says there would come a time later when
the Holy Spirit fell that all things
would be brought to their remembrance so
whether they wrote in real time 10 years
after or 50 years after which is debated
the Christian belief is that the holy
spirit is what guided them to write what
they wrote and to recall the things that
were necessary according to their
respective Mission Matthews was to get
the Jews to read
the the prospect of copying Matthew’s
singular first original thing was
arduous you know they’ve had to get the
the Papyrus or whatever it was and they
had to do the ink and then they had to
test to see that the copies were
consistent with the original and uh and
so that was an arduous process so word
of mouth was the primary way things went
until the the process of copying was
kind of uh centralized and perfected and
that was after not these times no it was
probably before it was part of their
culture because the Jews had scribes and
they in the Tanakh were the guys
dedicated to super careful writing how
and how well accepted is what everything
that you’re saying right is this like
it’s everything I’m saying no no no this
isn’t on The heretical Avenge uh my uh
interpretation of the New Testament is
heretical uh yeah and uh and and
different things but that Paul went to
the Gentiles and that Matthew Mark Luke
and John is really part of the Old
Testament because Jesus is is fulfilling
what he came to do all that is pretty
well accepted okay yeah all right well
we should wrap up okay 17 seconds left
all right of Matthew we’re on to Matthew
chapter one in the next cold thought
love ask questions
hahaha
