For Your Edification and Encouragement

The Bible is a book of divine progressive revelation, unfolding God’s plan of redemption step by step. One of the most crucial distinctions in rightly dividing the Word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15) is between the gospel Peter preached according to prophecy and the gospel Paul preached by revelation of a mystery.

These were not the same gospel, nor were they in conflict. They were part of God’s sovereign and unfolding plan.

Peter’s Gospel: According to Prophecy

Peter, as one of the Twelve, preached what had been spoken “by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21). His message was to Israel, proclaiming that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah who arrived to fulfill Old Testament promises. Romans 15:8 makes it so clear:

‘Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, ‘

🔹 Prophetic Roots

• Acts 2:16 – “But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel…”
• Acts 3:24 – “All the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow…have also foretold these days.”

Peter’s message was clear: the crucified Jesus was raised and exalted—and now the nation must believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, repent, be baptized, and receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). If they would, God would send Jesus back to establish the promised kingdom (Acts 3:18-21). 

Read the following verses slowly and carefully. Look at what Peter is saying, remember this is many days after Pentecost. God is still ready to fulfill His promises to His chosen people if they would just repent of killing their Messiah. This is all covenant ground, not church language, nothing to do with the body of Christ. The Church, which is His body hasn’t even been revealed yet.

‘But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,’

Acts 3:18-19

🔹 Kingdom Offer to Israel

• Acts 2:30-31 – Peter affirms that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to David.
• Acts 3:25-26 – “To you first, God…sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”

This gospel was national, prophetic, and earthly in scope—the restoration of the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6).

Paul’s Gospel: According to Revelation of the Mystery

In stark contrast, Paul was entrusted with a new message, previously unknown, revealed directly by the risen Christ. His gospel was not according to prophecy—it was according to “the revelation of the mystery” (Romans 16:25).

🔹 A Hidden Message, Now Revealed

• Ephesians 3:3-5 – “…by revelation He made known to me the mystery…which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men.”
• Colossians 1:26 – “The mystery which has been hidden from ages and generations, but now has been revealed…”
• Romans 16:25 – “…the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began.”

Paul’s gospel revealed that salvation is now offered to all people—Jew and Gentile alike—by grace through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9), not through the covenants, or by keeping the law, or works.

🔹 The Gospel that Saves Today

Paul defines the gospel that saves in 1 Corinthians 15:1–4:

“…that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day…”

This gospel is how God is saving people today—not through water baptism, repentance for the kingdom, or law-keeping, but through faith alone in Christ’s finished work on the cross.

Prophecy vs. Mystery: A Clear Distinction

🔔 Only One Gospel Saves Today

It’s important to make this absolutely clear: there are not two gospels today. Some critics accuse us of teaching two ways of salvation in the present—but that is a strawman.

There is only one gospel by which mankind are saved today: Paul’s gospel of grace (Romans 2:16; Galatians 1:6-9). Peter’s kingdom gospel served its purpose in God’s prophetic timeline. But that offer has been postponed (Romans 11:25), and today, salvation is offered to all through the cross alone.

📖 God Reveals Truth on His Terms

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
— Deuteronomy 29:29

God is sovereign. He reveals what He wants, when He wants, and to whom He wants. Peter preached what had been revealed through prophecy. Paul revealed a new message that had been hidden from the beginning of the world.

And when God reveals something—we are to believe Him.

🧭 Final Thought

Peter’s gospel was rooted in Old Testament prophecy and the covenants God made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David. It looked forward to Israel’s promised King and His earthly kingdom.

Paul’s gospel, by contrast, was a mystery (mustérion: secret)—hidden in the mind of God and never revealed by the prophets or spoken by Jesus or the Twelve during His earthly ministry. It was the good news of salvation by grace to both Jew and Gentile apart from the Mosaic law, temple worship and works appropriated by faith alone in the finished work of the cross. 

Both were ordained by God. But only one is operative today:

Paul’s gospel of the grace of God.

“In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.” —Romans 2:16