Christ to SIT ON HIS THRONE (Acts 2: 30). Peter's testimony speaks of Christ, raised

in relation to David's throne, and is "according to the flesh"; Paul's quotations from the

Psalms, and his remarks concerning David, are very similar to those of Peter

(Acts 13: 36), but where Peter goes on to speak of David's throne, Paul goes straight on

to preach forgiveness and justification, a doctrine entirely absent from Peter's messages.

Thus, when in Rom. 1: Paul would speak of his apostleship and gospel, he uses a strong,

and an unusual expression concerning himself. He says, "separated unto the gospel of

God"; this is the word used in the parable of the net where it speaks of "severing" the

wicked from the righteous (Matt. 13: 49), and in Matt. 25: 32, the "separating" as

between sheep and goats. The same word is used in Acts 13: 2 when the Holy Ghost

said, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul". There is a distinct contrast also intended, not

only as between the ministry of the uncircumcision - Paul, and that of the circumcision ­

Peter (Gal. 2: 7), but between the condition of Saul the Pharisee, and Paul the Apostle;

this is not evident to the English reader without a little help.

The word "separated" is from the verb aphorizõ, and this is similar in meaning and in

sound to the word Pharisee, which also meant a separated one. The one-time Pharisee is

now, may we say, "phariseed" unto the gospel; this has reference to Paul himself. When

speaking of the distinct presentation of the gospel which was his special ministry, he uses

a cognate word.  In speaking of Christ according to the flesh (which was Peter's

presentation in Acts 2: 30), Christ was of the seed of David, but was "marked off" Son

of God in power, according to the spirit of holiness, by resurrection out from the dead

(Rom. 1: 3, 4); the word we have translated "marked off" is horizõ, which is merely

aphorizõ without the prefix apo. A sharp line of demarcation is drawn between Christ

"according to the flesh", and Christ "according to the spirit". There came a time early in

the ministry of Paul when he could say, "Yea, though we have known Christ after the

flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more".

Whether it be the gospel preached before unto Abraham, whether it be the gospel of

the kingdom, or whether it be the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, Christ is its

theme, its foundation, its dynamic, its goal, and its glory. He is the promised "seed" of

Abraham's faith, He, the long looked-for Son of David, He, the glorious Head of the

Church of the One Body. Christ is the gospel, and without Christ preaching is vain, and

the good news a mockery to dying men.

Such, to come back to our primary thought, is the emphatic place accorded to Christ in

the gospel. We may well pray that our every presentation of God's good news may be as

full of the risen Christ as was the testimony of Paul, his separated servant.