Our New Challenging Pauline Passage–Romans 2:16–A Seemingly Bold and Curt Statement From the Apostle. 

 

Our focus passage, or more precisely, our focus verse today is Romans 2:16. And we find when we read this verse a rather bold and seemingly curt statement from Paul. Knowing what we know about him, this what I call a seemingly bold and curt statement coming from the great apostle to the Gentiles, is not at all surprising nor mysterious. The phrase of interest in this verse is “…according to MY gospel.”

Indeed the man is renown for making what appears to our 21st century Western sensibilities to be arrogant and curt statements from time-to-time in his writings. Unfortunately, it tends to be somewhat difficult, at best, to ascertain whether or not Shaul was being arrogant, facetious, rude, angry, uncaring; exercising some form of tough-love; hard or harsh; or simply trying to get his point across on the issue at hand in a way that would grab his readers’ attention and prompt positive action on their part. And so trying to determine the why’s and what’s and wherefore’s of the apostle and his writings is the burden that we as students of the bible are forced to contend with on a frequent basis.

Consequently, this is, in great part, the reason for this Paul and Hebrew Roots Series.

And don’t worry, we’ll certainly proffer a likely reason for the apostle’s use of the phrase “according to MY gospel” as we contextually unpack this passage.

How Must We Take Shaul’s Statement “According to MY Gospel?”

Now, depending upon one’s personal disposition or understanding of Shaul the man and Apostle, his naming the “Gospel” as “my gospel” can be taken any one of a number of ways: 

1. The gospel that Shaul proclaimed and taught was specific to him and his commission as an apostle by Master Yahoshua. Thus the apostle took ownership of the good news that he was given by Yeshua HaMashiyach to preach and teach.  

2. Shaul’s gospel was different from the gospel that was proclaimed and taught by Yeshua, Yochanan (John) the Immerser and Yeshua’s inner-core of disciples turned apostles. 

3. The “Gospel” message was a monolith or a constant among all those who proclaimed it. However, that monolithic, constant “Gospel,” if you will, competed with or against other messages or gospels. And so the apostle was trying to articulate, in no uncertain terms, a separation of the Gospel that he and His Master taught from all the other gospels being peddled or surreptitiously infused into many of the Messianic Assemblies of the Greco-Roman world of Shaul’s day.  

4. Shaul was a complex soul whose personality often came across in his writings as someone who may have been arrogant and ambitious. Or maybe, this claiming of the gospel as “my gospel” on the part of the Apostle was simply his blunt way of asserting himself as his readers’ sanctioned overseer.

 We Can’t Always Tell What the Apostle Meant

We cannot be fully certain as to what the apostle meant by calling the gospel “my gospel.”  

As 21st century readers of the apostle’s letters, we are always at a significant disadvantage. We can, with somewhat ease, ascertain in most cases that Shaul was addressing or reacting to specific influential issues and events transpiring within and around the assemblies he oversaw. However, we 21st century western readers are often not privy to the specifics of those events and issues. Shaul knew his readers; his readers knew him; and both he and his readers knew of the particulars of those issues and events of which he was writing. Therefore, it would not be at all necessary, nor expected, that the apostle would waste valuable parchment space rehashing the particulars of those influential events and issues of which he was responding to in written form.

 Missing Information

So there’s a lot of relevant information that is left out of the apostle’s letters that would otherwise be most useful to our overall understanding of his writings and teachings.  

So this lack of important information that often stands in our way of having a clear understanding of what Shaul is writing about, especially in many of his hard to comprehend passages, is actually a good thing. It’s a good thing because it forces us to dig deeper into the apostle’s writings and even the whole of the bible in order that we may uncover some of those essential pearls of wisdom the apostle has become renown for.

 Why Are the Hard to Understand Pauline Passages Important For Us to Study? 

Why is it important or beneficial that we flesh out the meaning of such an obscure passage of the bible, especially after my making the statement that we may never be able to, with certainty, determine what the apostle meant  by such hard to understand phrase as the one we’re looking at today.

Next to Torah, the Gospel is the most important revelation of the Almighty to His human creation. For I contend that the Gospel was and is the framework by which the Torah was delivered to us in it’s fulfilled state through the example and teachings of our Master Yahoshua Messiah.

Yeshua’s Drop the Mic Statement

Of His ministry and of the Torah, Master gave the following “drop the mic” statement that the vast majority of self-professing orthodox, fundamental and evangelical Christians have tragically misrepresented and misunderstood for centuries:

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (Last time I looked out the window, heaven and earth seem to still be in existence: neither has passed away to date. Continuing: Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (If Torah is something that believers in Yeshua Messiah are not supposed to keep, and folks are out there teaching and preaching this as a mainstay of their religion/church/what have you, are they not insinuating that Yeshua is a liar? Continuing:)  For I say unto you, that except your righteousnesses shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mat. 5:17-20). 

Yeshua’s Commission to Proclaim the Gospel

Our Master had a number of commissions that His Father placed upon Him during His brief earthly ministry. And one of the least taught or talked about of those commissions was the Gospel: that is, the good news about His Father’s coming Kingdom here on earth. 

This gospel that Yeshua proclaimed and taught—this good news about the Kingdom of Heaven that was about to drop upon the doorstep of humanity—was in great part a fulfillment and a clarification of Torah. Among so many things, the Gospel revealed the nature and Person of our Father YHVH. It explained the workings of Yah’s government, especially as it pertained to Yah’s human creation. And it revealed Yah’s righteous judgments and condemnation that will come upon Yah’s disobedient human creation (I.e., Torah’s curses) and Yah’s glorious rewards and benefits to be lavished upon Yah’s called-out one: His elect (I.e., Torah’s blessings). 

So let’s now unpack our focus passage and allow scripture to interpret for us what Shaul meant by the phrase “my gospel?”

 The Focus Passage of Romans 2:16 in Context

 

But glory, honour, and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. For there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law…in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel (Romans 2:10-12, 16; KJV).

 

Contextual Analysis of Romans 2:16–Parenthetical Insertions 

Romans 2:13-15 is a parenthetical insertion into the body of Shaul’s letter to the Roman Assemblies.

 Parenthetical additions to the Greek texts of scripture were added to assist readers in their understanding of the previous verse(s) of that passage by long forgotten scribes and or translators. 

The problem I find with such parenthetical insertions is that they carry with them the potential of advancing the personal dogma of the translators. I personally see these parenthetical insertions as mini-commentaries that unnamed translators and or scribes added to bring a degree of clarity to the previous verse or verses. The form in which these clarifying comments or statements take are pretty much subjective. Interestingly, apart from just a very small number of English translations that are primarily headed by the KJV, the vast majority of English translations on the market have completely dropped the parentheses, making the statements and comments that were once enclosed in the parentheses appear as original portions of the passage. In other words, these inserted statements or comments have over the centuries, for the most part, are today viewed as inspired scripture by virtue of the various English translators and editors purposely leaving out the parentheses. 

There’s a ton of stuff going on in this content-rich chapter and the parenthetical statements of verses 13-15 only serve to muddy the waters of understanding. 

 Teasing Out the Elements of Romans 2:16 

So one of the things I often do when examining such challenging passages is to tease out the major elements of those passages. And we essentially find 2-primary elements to our focus passage: 

(A) A judgment that has already come or will come at some time in the future of the secrets of all people ; and 

(B) That judgment (whether it is a present judgment or a future judgment) is part and parcel of the gospel that Shaul names or identifies as “my gospel.” 

The Judgment Mentioned in 2:16 is Tied Contextually to the Previous 15-Verses 

Let’s first examine the “judgment” aspect of this verse. 

This judgment that Shaul writes about that is set to come upon humanity seems to be synonymous with the Day of Judgment that is described in Isaiah 13:5, 9; Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11, 31. 

Shaul makes mention of a “judging of the secret thoughts of people” (vs. 16). 

Now, I’ve made note throughout this series that Yah is a judge of hearts. In the Hebraic paradigm, the thoughts and or intentions of humans are directly linked to their hearts: that is, they are essentially synonymous. 

You see, when we bypass verses 13 through 15, and connect verse 12 to 16, we find the apostle does in fact make a cogent and complete statement on the issue of this impending judgment. If we add verses 13-15 (I.e., the parenthetical statements) to 12 and 16, the apostle’s line of thinking regarding this impending judgment is greatly diminished and muddied. 

The JFB (Jamieson-Faucett-Brown Commentary confirms my contention here by noting that “In the day” is the unfinished statement of Romans 2:12, the thought of which is resumed and then brought to a close. 

And what we ultimately have here in this verse is the apostle asserting that the gospel he preached and taught contains or addresses this judgment of the secret thoughts of all humanity.

God’s Coming Judgment was Part and Parcel of Paul’s Gospel

The issue of “judgment” is not the focus of our post here today. And the only reason we’re even discussing it is because the apostle made the emphatic statement that this impending judgment of the hearts of people is tied to his gospel. 

So we know at the outset of our examination of Shaul’s gospel that a big part or element of it is judgment.

 The Competing Gospels of Paul’s Day

Now, the thing we must not overlook here is that the gospel that was given to Shaul by the glorified Yeshua, competed with a number of pseudo-gospels that were being preached and taught (openly and in secret) by various and sundry entities: 

1. The burgeoning and nascent Gnostics and Jewish mysticism (early forerunners of Kabballah). (Recall that Shaul had run-ins with these folks and their false teachings during his time in Ephesus.) The Gnostics and Jewish mystics were renown for twisting the content of scripture and syncretizing it with Greek and Roman mythology. 

1. The orthodox Messianic Jews (popularly referred to in Christian circles as Judaizers) putting forth a gospel that required all who came in to the true Faith conform to Judaistic legalism and traditions (e.g., circumcision).

 Shaul’s Gospel in a number of respects is often referred to as the Gospel of Christ (otherwise referred to as the “Gospel about Christ (2 Cor. 10:14) [Christou as the objective genetive makes “with the gospel about Christ” a more accurate rendering]. According to Shaul, this Gospel about Christ (I.e., Messiah) was not known nor understood by the lost of this world because hasatan has blinded the minds of the unbelieving souls of this world (2 Cor. 4:1-5).  Nevertheless, as word of Yeshua and His teachings and sacrifice spread throughout the Roman Empire, his notoriety became infused into a number of competing belief systems that mixed a little bit of facts about our Master and His ministry, with a great deal more Greek and Roman-based philosophy and mythology. We see evidence of this today in the so-called Nag Hammadi scriptures or Gnostic Gospels that are believed to have formed the basis of Gnostic Christianity.

 The Competing Gnostic Gospel

Now, we previously addressed some of the false teachings and works of the gnostics in our series within a series that dealt with Shaul’s treatment and view of women in ministry. In that series, if you recall, we spent quite a bit of time discussing the influences the Gnostics and their gospels had on the Ephesian assemblies . And we learned that Shaul referred to those purveyors of such false teachings within the Ephesian assemblies as “those that trouble you and pervert the gospel of Christ” (Gal. 1:7); as well as “those that disturb you and seek to distort the gospel of Messiah” (Gal. 1:7).

 The Competing Legalistic Gospel

 The other prominent teaching that competed with Shaul’s gospel, which I’ve classified as “a gospel,” is that which was formed or created around Jewish legalism—the oral traditions and laws. This false gospel in many respects kept some of the truths about Yeshua and his earthly ministry intact, but added to it the requirement that any who sought entry into the Way Movement or the True Faith once delivered, were required to convert to Judaism and keep many of its oral traditions and laws. And the thought behind this false gospel goes right back to the erroneous belief that one’s Jewishness bought them salvation and entry into the Kingdom of God.

 Paul Versus the Perveyors of Competing Gospels

 In Shaul’s mind and in accordance with the gospel that he taught and preached, those who would enter the assemblies he oversaw and teach these contrary gospels to his readers, the apostle instructed that they be condemned—in the KJV, “accursed.” Recall also that we briefly touched upon the concept of curses—that biblically-based curses hold power that is aligned with YHVH’s direct intervention and judgment (Gal. 1:8; ). And it is within this context of competing gospels that Shaul reiterates that his gospel came to him via revelation from Yeshua HaMashiyach (Gal. 1:11-12) and that he had not received his gospel from any man. In other words, these erroneous, competing gospels were manmade gospels. And those that would attempt to bring these manmade teachings into the assemblies of Messiah would be condemned. The only Yah-sanctioned teaching or gospel was that which he had brought them. 

We’ll touch upon this a little more in just a moment. 

Comparing and Contrasting Yeshua’s Gospel with Paul’s Gospel 

Shaul uses the phrase “according to my gospel” in several other places in his writings that include Romans 16:25; 2 Timothy 2:8; cf. 2 Corinthians 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; 2 Thessalonians 2:14. 

Was Paul’s Gospel different from the Gospel that Yeshua, John the Immerser and the other 11 Apostles proclaimed and taught? 

The Gospel that Paul claimed as his own was essentially the same gospel that his Master Yeshua taught, but from a slightly different angle. (And I’ll talk more on this in my summary.) 

Shaul’s gospel was one that proclaimed salvation had come to humanity—all of humanity in fact. Not just to the Jew, although because of the covenant that YHVH had established with Avraham and his seed. The gospel would be offered to the Jew first—but salvation was available to all who would seek to have a true and substantive relationship with the Creator of the Universe and be grafted in to the commonwealth—the promises—given to Yisrael by the Eternal. 

Messianic Commentator Tim Hegg of torahresource.com points out that Shaul’s gospel features a singular salvation for both Jew and Gentile alike. There is no two-ways to Elohim as some have erroneously postulated over the centuries. Thus, Shaul’s gospel introduced a unified salvation as well as a unified judgment that will befall both classes of people. The standard by which this judgment will be based is Torah. And this was alluded to by the apostle earlier on in this same 2nd chapter when he wrote: 

“For all who have sinned without the Torah will also perish without the Torah; and all who have sinned under the Torah will be judged by the Torah” (2:12).

 Specifics of Paul’s Gospel Message

Scripturally speaking, what does Shaul’s Gospel consist of or what does it look like? Well, Shaul believed that he had been entrusted with this sacred thing—this gospel (1 Timothy 1:11) that he boldly named as “my gospel.” And clearly the apostle believed wholeheartedly that this gospel was not something created or made up by any human, but was something that was passed down to him by His Master Yeshua Messiah and he, Shaul, was specifically commissioned to deliver it to the nation-peoples of the 1st-century Greco-Roman world (Galatians 1:11-12; Acts 20:24; Romans 1:1). And Shaul was emphatic in the belief that Yeshua Himself passed down to him this gospel that formed the foundation of his evangelistic ministry. This central truth of the origin of his gospel coming from the glorified Yeshua Himself legitimized, not only his teachings and writings, but also his authority as a bonafide, Yeshua-commissioned apostle of the first order. 

Digging deeper, we find that Shaul’s gospel was one of God’s grace being made available to the whole of Yah’s human creation through the work of Yeshua Messiah, not just to those of Jewish descent (Acts 20:24b; Romans 1:9). 

We also learn from Shaul that his gospel reveals a central truth that the Creator of the Universe has appointed His risen and glorified Son, Yeshua Messiah, to be the righteous judge of the quick and the dead (Acts 10:42; 17:31). And every work and every secret thing, be it good or evil, will be revealed and judged accordingly by Him (Ecclessiastes 12:14; 2 Timothy 2:8). 

Shaul’s gospel asserts that Yeshua was raised from the dead. And His resurrection foreshadowed the resurrection that every true Child of Yah who falls asleep (that is, who enters into physical death) prior to Yeshua’s return, will experience (2 Timothy 2:8). Thus the resurrection of the dead in Messiah factors greatly into Shaul’s gospel. 

Despite Shaul being raised an orthodox Jew and having received extensive training as a Rabbi, we find that Jewish Legalism found no home in his gospel as it served only to diminish the intrinsic power of the gospel message, divide the body and detract from the grace that the Creator has lavished upon His human creation (Acts. 15). 

Most importantly, we find that Shaul’s gospel carried with it the power to save any who would believe in the atoning work and ministry of Yeshua Messiah (Romans 1:16; I Cor. 15:2). Thus, a highlight of Shaul’s gospel was the foundational truth that Yeshua Messiah died for sins the humanity. He was buried and resurrected by His Father 3-days later (1 Cor. 15:3-4). In like manner, the dead in Messiah will be resurrected when Yeshua returns (1 Cor. 15:13-23). 

Shaul’s gospel spanned the history of his people. For his gospel was founded upon Torah which he lamented, not all his people obeyed (Romans 10:16). The burden of teaching and preaching the gospel that Shaul received by virtue of his apostleship brought with it a spiritual fatherhood over his readers (1 Corinthians 4:15). Consequently, the administration of the gospel was Shaul’s full-time occupation. He believed, in accordance with Torah, it was more than fitting for a worker of the gospel to receive financial and or material support from the flock they served; reminiscent of the Levitical Priests of old who were not given an inheritance by YHVH, but received their sustenance and support from the tithes, offerings and gifts of the people (Num. 18:20-24; Deuteronomy 25:4; 1 Timothy 5:18; 1 Corinthians 9:9-14). 

Lastly, Shaul’s gospel was “gentile-focused” (in many respects) as well as it was “anti-legalistic” as we previously discussed (Gal. 2:1-7). The apostle shared the framework of his gospel ministry with the Jerusalem Council who–seeing the results of Shaul’s work bolstered by Kefa’s (Peter’s) testimony that the Gentiles were indeed being called into an obedience of Faith as evidenced by their receiving the gift of the Ruach HaKodesh upon those entering into covenant with YHVH through faith in Yeshua Messiah—the Council placed no restraints upon Shaul and his evangelitic team’s work. Ultimately, this favorable agreement between Shaul and the Jerusalem Council led to Shaul and his partner Barnabas receiving from the council the right-hand of fellowship and an official endorsement of their ministry to the Gentiles (I Cor. 15:6-14; Act. 15).

Yeshua’s Gospel Make-Up 

On the other hand, the Gospel that Yeshua brought and taught was quite simply that of His Father’s Kingdom was at hand—it was imminent—and in many respects, it was in their midst. Consequently it fell upon His Palestinian brethren to repent and believe this good news about the Kingdom of Yah. It was not a gospel of Himself, per se, although the gospel that He brought and taught was based in great part upon His role in the renewed covenant and the great work of redemption that would take place because of His ministry. But all in all, Yeshua’s gospel was that of the good news about the Kingdom of Yah coming to the earth. In His proclaiming and teaching of the gospel given to Him by His Father, Yeshua was essentially proclaiming and declaring that His Father was getting the band back together again. That which was once a foregone reality—such that the Kingdom of Yah that was once present in the Garden and then in much lesser form during the time the Tent of Meeting/Tabernacle and then the Temple were in operation, but because of the fall and then Yisrael’s transgressions and breaking of the covenant, these iterations of the Kingdom of Yah here on earth faded away—well, that which was once a foregone reality according to Yeshua’s gospel this time would not be halted nor stopped by humanity’s failures. The Kingdom of Yah that was imminently upon humanity could not be stopped. In fact, Yeshua’s gospel asserted that even the gates of hades would not be able to defend against it (Mat. 16:18). 

Yeshua prophesied that the gospel He preached and taught would be proclaimed to the entire world (that is, to all creatures) just before the end would come (Mat. 24:14; Mar. 13:10). Consequently, Yeshua’s gospel was a message that often ran afoul of the teachings and rulings of the Jewish leaders (I.e., the leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees) and the Herodian government (I.e., the leaven of Herod) of His day. It was a message of freedom and salvation that often got confused in the minds of Yeshua’s 1st century Palestinian audience who sought desperately to be freed from Rome’s brutal rule, which the Jewish conventional wisdom contended would be replaced by a Messianic government. Yeshua was seen by many early on during his proclaiming of the gospel as the one who would lead a successful revolt against Rome and install this Messianic Kingdom that would be headquartered in Yerushalayim. But to the disappointment of so many of Yeshua’s followers, their version of the Kingdom of God did not come to fruition. 

Indeed, the gospel of the Kingdom that Yeshua preached and taught did in fact include the establishment of a Messianic Kingdom that would consume, devour and replace all earthly kingdoms and free God’s people from the evil rule of men (Dan. 2:44; 7:14, 27; Rev. 11:15; 12:10). But the confusion surrounding the errant Jewish thinking of the coming Kingdom of Yah in Yeshua’s day seemed to be founded in its timing. The Kingdom depicted in Yeshua’s gospel was not that of this conquering Messianic Kingdom, but that which was not seen by the eyes of men; that dwelled within Yah’s people; that brought Yah’s people into covenant relationship with Himself through Torah-living. 

Indeed, the Kingdom of Yah that Yeshua’s gospel depicted, in every respect was spiritual and it had manifested in the midst of those who had eyes to see and ears to hear the good news. Consequently, this Gospel of the Kingdom  was accompanied by great power and miracles (Mat. 15:31; Luk. 7:22). It was a gospel  that provided the would-be citizen of Yah’s Kingdom freedom from the rule of religion and the evil in their lives, all in the here and now. It offered salvation from eternal damnation and a relationship with the Creator of the Universe. It offered healing and deliverance; light and Truth. It offered hope to the once lost and the forgotten of that ancient society. It was in all respects good news; joyous news. 

Indeed, Yeshua’s gospel can best be summed up by the Master Himself who, when called to read the Torah Portion/Reading for that particular Shabbat in which He had attended the synagogue in His childhood town of Nazareth, read only the first half of the Isaiah prophecy that foretold of Mashiyach and that which would form the basis of His Gospel (Luk. 4:18-21; Isaiah 61): 

18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. 

It should be mentioned, all that happened to Yeshua during His earthly ministry would be attached to the  Kingdom message in future tellings of the gospel message (Mat. 26:13; Mar. 14:9).

 A Personal Perspective on Paul’s Gospel in Comparison to Yeshua’s Gospel

So we have before us two versions of the Gospel: the Gospel that Yeshua preached and taught which was primarily the good news about the Kingdom of Yah; and the Gospel that Shaul preached and taught which was primarily the good news about Yeshua HaMashiyach. 

Here’s a way to look at Shaul’s gospel in light of Yeshua’s gospel:

It would appear that Shaul’s gospel was somewhat different from that of Yeshua’s gospel while at the same time, both gospels were one and the same. Yet when we look at both gospels side-by-side, we find each gospel to be somewhat nuanced and each served a unique purpose for a unique time to be delivered to a unique audience.

What do I mean? Well, starting with John the Immerser’s gospel, it served to prepare the pious Jews residing in Judea to receive Yeshua and the spiritual kingdom that would accompany Him. And the primary message was one of repentance for the Kingdom of Yah was at hand—to bring the people of the Land to a place of repentance whereby they’d be ready to shema their coming Messiah.

Then Yeshua’s gospel served to bring to the hearts and minds of the lost sheep of the House of Yisrael  to a place to receive, enter and live out the Kingdom of Yah that was in their midst, through the advent of the renewed covenant and Yah’s Plan of Salvation, Restoration and Redemption. Yeshua’s audience, being with rare exception, Jews who lived under the framework of Torah, would have known the rudimentary elements of living a life devoid of sin and walking in a covenant relationship with the Almighty. Granted, the vast majority of them may not have been walking in covenant with the Eternal at the time, but at the very least they had the basic knowledge of what walking in covenant with the Almighty should look like through Torah Living. The only thing that was missing from Yeshua’s audience was their coming in to a saving Faith in Yahoshua HaMashiyach and following Yeshua’s example of a fulfilled and clarified life of Torah-keeping, as opposed to living under the burden of the Oral Traditions and Laws of the Rabbis. Yeshua’s gospel involved  bringing Yah’s spiritual government and way of life to His people so that they would walk out Torah the way the Creator always intended His human creation to do so.

Shaul’s gospel served at least two purposes: (1) to wake the spiritually slumbering orthodox Jews from their life of dependency on their Jewishness (recall we discussed in the last 2-posts that the Jews of Shaul’s day placed their eternal destiny in their Jewishness which they believed provided them a free ticket to eternal life and entry into the Kingdom of Yah and the True Faith once delivered. And (2) to bring the Gentiles into an obedience of Faith through Yeshua Messiah. (Please refer to our discussion on what Shaul meant by the phrase “an obedience of Faith”–https://www.themessianictorahobserver.org/2020/06/24/obedience-versus-faith-paul-and-the-book-of-romans-series/). Shaul recognized right off the bat that any non-Jewish person coming to Faith would have little to no understanding of Torah and what walking in covenant with the Almighty looked like. And thus Shaul’s gospel was specifically tailored to both Jew and Goyim (I.e., Gentile) alike so that both would come to an obedience of Faith through Yeshua Messiah and the work of Ruach of HaKodesh operating within them. Regardless how you choose to view Shaul’s gospel, it involved a message and ministry that was specific to Shaul. And Shaul’s gospel in no way excluded nor contradicted the Gospel that Yeshua proclaimed and taught. They were in fact one and the same Gospel. It’s just that Shaul’s version of the gospel was nuanced in such a way as to address the unique station in life that the Goyim (I.e., the Gentiles) and the diaspora orthodox Jew of the apostle’s day found themselves as they entered into the True Faith once delivered.

Possible Reason For Paul’s Bluntness

So hopefully at this point, we are able to understand why Shaul was so blunt in his naming of the gospel: “my Gospel.” The apostle certainly took ownership of the gospel that was given to him by His Master Yeshua. And it goes without saying that the apostle had absolutely no patience for any who would come along and attempt to subvert it or displace it with a gospel that originated from the minds of mischievous men or from hasatan himself. His wording may come across as brash when filtered through our 21st century Western sensibilities, but it stands to reason that Shaul’s readers understood what the apostle meant by “my gospel” and they likely knew where he was coming from in making such a bold claim.

 What Paul Likely Meant by “According to MY Gospel” in Romans 2:16

So it stands to reason that Romans 2:16 is not indicative of Shaul being rude, conceited, arrogant or even drunk with power. It seems safe to conclude that the apostle was simply stating a critical fact to his Roman assembly readers that YHVH was going to judge the hearts of his human creation, be it they were of Jewish descent or Goyim (Gentile). All humanity would be judged justly. There was one standard for judgment for all. And just because some of his readers were Messianic Jews, they would not be immune to the coming judgment, in particular those who possessed Torah but refused to obey Torah. For Yah was no respecter of person. And this critical understanding of a coming judgment formed the basis of Shaul’s gospel message. His gospel message was different from the false manmande teachings and messages (or false gospels) that were being taught by unsavory men in some of the assemblies that he oversaw. For Shaul’s gospel came directly from His Master Yeshua Messiah. Thus, he and his ministry and his teachings were legitimate and endorsed by Yahoshua HaMashiyach. Shaul possessed ownership of the gospel he preached and taught because it was given to him personally by his Master, the glorified Yahoshua Messiah. 

So in every respect, Shaul could rightly name the Gospel and all that it contained: “According to my Gospel.”