Did Peter and Paul agree on salvation terms? Could they possibly have taught differently on such an important matter? If they did, wouldn’t that prove there is discrepancy in Scripture? Could there be more than one way to be saved? Could one of them have been slightly wrong? If they did indeed teach the same thing, how do some people get confused?
🔴 The Great Commission governs all Christian evangelism.
Peter and Paul taught the same thing! There is no doubt about that. Paul expressed in his Galatian letter that he differed nothing in theology from Peter (and the other Christian leaders) (Galatians 1:18; 2:1-9). They believed and preached the same salvation message. They had to. They were both governed by the same Great Commission, as are all of us. That commission asserted the tenets of salvation that Peter announced to the world on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:38-39).
🔴 Acts reveals that Peter and Paul both believed, received, and taught Acts 2:38.
They are both covered adequately in Acts to prove this.
🔹Peter in Acts
In Acts 2:38-39, Peter revealed the plan of salvation for the Church age.
About ten years later, in Acts 10:44-48, Peter opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. The tenets of salvation had not changed due to time, not to class of people (Acts 11:15). Cornelius, his kinsmen, and near friends received the Acts 2:38 salvation experience.
🔹Paul in Acts
Paul’s conversion is recorded in Acts 9. He even recounts it in Acts 22 and 26. He repented before Christ on the Damascus Road and followed His directive to go into the city to receive further instruction (Acts 9:1-6). It is clear that the man who attended Paul’s conversion, Ananias, insisted on the tenets of Acts 2:38 (Acts 9:17-18; 22:16). This shows that Paul himself experienced what Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost.
In Acts 19:1-6, we see Paul in ministry practice. This is where he superintended the conversion of the Ephesians. They were already believers in Christ at this time (v. 2), which means they had previously surrendered to Christ. But they were not aware of Jesus’ name baptism or of the infilling of the Holy Ghost. When Paul informed them, they received both, fulfilling the terms of salvation preached on the Day of Pentecost.
Thus, Paul is clearly seen in Acts to have received Acts 2:38 and to have preached it to others.
🔴 Paul in the Epistles
But why does Paul say in his epistles that we’re justified by faith? Did he change his mind about salvation terms? Did Paul disagree with himself in Acts? The question becomes, Did Paul teach differently in his epistles than what he received and preached in Acts? Of course, the answer is: No, he did not. He was consistent with himself.
🔴 The nature of the Epistles
Theologizing is different than evangelizing. Paul evangelized in Acts. There, he received and presented the tenets of the Gospel. That’s why we can see him confer with the Acts 2:38 message Peter preached. But he theologized in his epistles. He wasn’t presenting the Gospel in his letters; he was contrasting its principle of faith in Christ with the principle of works prescribed in the Law of Moses. Of course, he did make references to salvation tenets. For example, he spoke of baptism in Romans 6, and of the necessity of the Holy Ghost in Romans 8. He spoke of both tenets in Titus 3:5-7 and other places. But his main doctrinal focus in his letters was to contrast faith in Christ versus the Law of Moses. Baptism was never compared to the works of the Law.
The principle of salvation is certainly faith in Christ alone, plus or minus nothing. Any addition to Christ dismisses a person from Christ. That is clear from Paul in Galatians (5:1-4). But the means to obtain salvation in Christ includes the tenets He prescribed.
🔴 Paul was a theologian.
Paul was trained from youth in theology. He knew how to consolidate theological concepts into concise bits of verbiage. Probably no New Testament writer was as concise in his expression as Paul. He often used theological shorthand. He could present theological knowledge with amazing economy of words. Here are some examples:
Ephesians 4:5 is the tersest description of Christianity.
Ephesians 2:8-9 is a theological summary of the Acts 2:38 experience upon which he personally founded the Ephesian Church (Acts 19:1-6).
Colossians 1:15 is a clear and precise declaration of the Godhead stated in the fewest words possible.
Other similar concise Pauline expressions of the Godhead follow:
Colossians 2:9-10
1Timothy 3:16
Acts 24:14
Romans 9:5
Because of Paul’s prior training, the role of theologizing the grace of God fell to him more than to any other Apostle precisely because he was best fit to do so. He was expert in theology. He had a theologian’s mind. He had been a student of Scripture all his life. Therefore, he was called upon to expound the Christian faith in his many epistles. No other writer touched upon so many doctrinal issues as Paul.
It is this very theology— the matter of dealing with salvation doctrine in concise terms— that confuses some people. For instance, Paul summarized the salvation experience as faith in Christ, which indeed it is. And those to whom he wrote had previously experienced Acts 2:38, so they knew what he meant perfectly. But those who read Paul’s epistles now and have not received the Acts 2:38 experience will fail to see this connection. And because people miss this simple fact, they misinterpret Paul to teach that salvation in Christ is by mere faith, apart from the tenets Christ enjoined, which it is not. The true theological meaning of faith in Christ in Paul’s epistles is faith that adheres to Christ and to His terms of redemption. As Paul said in Romans, we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24). That redemption was set forth by Christ in His Great Commission and was clearly presented on the Day of Pentecost, where thousands of people received it (Acts 2).
🔴 Conclusion
If Peter and Paul preached the same salvation message, how do people get confused and not recognize it?
I believe the answer is threefold, as I have endeavored to show in this post:
1/ They don’t realize that the Great Commission prevents discrepancy in preaching among the Apostles.
2/ They fail to regard what the book of Acts reveals about Paul’s conversion and preaching.
3/ They don’t understand the theological nature of the Epistles. The difference people perceive between Acts and the Epistles is due to the difference between presenting salvation and theologizing about it.