The Apostle Paul and the Absence of the Gospels

Dec 9, 2023 | Posts

Many reading this will be surprised to learn that the Apostle Paul did not have the Four Gospels when he began his ministry following his encounter with Christ on the Road to Damascus around AD 35. The newly inaugurated Church did not have anything they utilized as a written text other than what we today refer to as the Old Testament, and even that text did not contain chapters and verses as our text does today.

Considering this, teaching and preaching would have been completely different than it is today. They could not stand before a congregation and say, “Let’s turn to Jeremiah chapter one and verse 22.” Instead, they often referenced Old Testament texts in a way that summarized key themes, occasionally quoting from memory certain texts from the Law, Prophets, and Writings. Notice how Peter does this, not by using a verse and chapter, but by quoting the author, David.

Acts 2:24–28 — 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him, ” ‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

English Standard Version (bold text mine)

Peter, quoting directly from the Writings of David, provides revelatory commentary that is woven into the events of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ to bring about an understanding to the unbelieving Jews who had rejected and crucified that same Christ. This is difficult for us to comprehend in our present-day culture because most of those we “preach” to already believe in Jesus Christ and have heard and accepted the Passion Narrative, even if many today are unfamiliar with Old Testament prophecies and texts. In contrast, Peter’s audience was very familiar with what we today label “the Old Testament,” and it was from this that Peter grounded his sermon as he worked through the redemptive work of Jesus.

WHY PREACHING LOOKS DIFFERENT TODAY

I believe that, in part, this is why preaching looks so different today than it did in the early centuries following the inauguration of the Church. The advancement of Christianity throughout the world over the centuries has shifted how the Gospel is advanced and delivered. In most cases, few need to preach Christ crucified in the context that the early Apostles did. Today, we are not overshadowed by the curse of those “hanged from a tree” (Deut. 21:23), nor are we faced with the stigma and folly of crucifixion that Paul faced in the first century.

The very first sermon focused on unveiling the identity and work of Jesus Christ, pulling strongly from the prophecies of Joel, who had promised that “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21). It was after revelation occurred that the convicted audience was given the remedy to rectify their rejection and murder of the Messiah and be saved: repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:38).

Anyone who would condemn certain aspects of modern preaching that incorporate extra-biblical things like illustrations, stories, or modern literature fails to grasp that, while truth remains the same, our approach to proclaiming it may adjust to the context of the audience. We see this in the Aeropagus when the Apostle Paul was invited to speak to an intrigued group of Grecians, including Stoics and Epicureans. Paul does not quote from the Hebrew Scriptures, seeing that most of the audience would not have known them. Instead, Paul draws from something understood within the context of the Grecian world they were a part. You will notice how Paul even quotes directly from one of their very own poets as a means to help them understand the identity of the One True God.

Paul’s Mars Hill Address

Acts 17:22–31 — 22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. 24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; 26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: 28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. 29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. 30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

King James Version

Understanding the world Paul ministered in helps us to comprehend and make sense of many of his epistles. More so, it provides us a unique understanding of a world seldom discussed today; the Apostle Paul did not have a New Testament or any of the four Gospels to draw from when launching his ministerial work.

Paul Before the Gospels

While dating is tricky for New Testament scholarship, a consensus of scholars date the composition of New Testament writings as follows.

  • Galatians (48 CE)
  • 1 Thessalonians (51 CE)
  • 2 Thessalonians (51 CE)
  • 1 Corinthians (53-57 CE)
  • Philippians (54-55 CE)
  • Philemon (54-55 CE)
  • 2 Corinthians (55-58 CE)
  • Romans (57-58 CE)
  • Jude (60-110 CE)
  • Colossians (62-70 CE)
  • Mark (65-73 CE)
  • James (65-85 CE)
  • 1 Peter (75-90 CE)
  • Matthew (80-90 CE)
  • Luke (80-90 CE)
  • Acts (80-90 CE)
  • Hebrews (80-90 CE)
  • Ephesians (80-90 CE)
  • John (90-110 CE)
  • 1 John (90-110 CE)
  • 2 John (90-110 CE)
  • 3 John (90-110 CE)
  • Revelation (95 CE)
  • 1 Timothy (100 CE)
  • 2 Timothy (100 CE)
  • Titus (100 CE)
  • 2 Peter (110 CE)

While deviations can occur, few scholars will move the first Gospel of Mark before the writing of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, though some move the letter of James first in the list and Galatians before the first letter to the Thessalonians. Regardless of these deviations, it is incredible that the Apostle Paul and the early Church navigated their early growth without the foundational books of the New Testament we know as the Four Gospels.

Try to imagine preaching and teaching Jesus Christ and the work of Salvation with only your Old Testament and, if you were in that early day of the Church, the remote eyewitnesses who had been present with Jesus while He had ministered on earth. Now you know why I promote the study of the Old Testament! It is critical to understanding and teaching the New Testament!

While I think it is possible that the Gospel of Mark could have been written not long after the Jerusalem Council, it still staggers me that the Apostle Paul and many of those who would follow navigated their ministry without the Gospels. I mean, how foundational to our New Testament are the Gospels? VERY! To some degree, this absence of writing easily accounts for men like Apollos who, when confronted by Paul, only knew the baptism of John.

Acts 18:24–25 — 24 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. 25 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.

King James Version (bold mine)

On “the way of the Lord,” one commentary writes:

This term recalls the ministry of John the Baptist (Lk. 1:76; 3:4; 7:27), though in Acts it refers specifically to ‘the way of salvation’ in Jesus the Messiah (9:2; 16:17; 18:25, 26; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22).

 Peterson, D. G. (2009). The Acts of the Apostles (p. 525). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

John the Baptist declared, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” It would appear that Apollos came to believe that Jesus was the Lamb of God and had embraced and understood some aspect of the identity and work of Jesus Christ. However, as we note when he meets Aquila and Priscilla, his knowledge of that Way was incomplete, seeing he only knew of the baptism of John, similar to that of the Ephesian disciples in Acts 19.

Acts 18:26–28 — 26 And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. 27 And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace: 28 For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.

King James Version

Consider how incredible the advancement of the Church was in the early days without a canonized Bible like we have and without a New Testament or the Four Gospels! It is no wonder that the Ephesian disciples claimed, “We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost!” (Acts 19:2).

Simply amazing. What are your thoughts? Leave them in the comments.