KERYGMA – Salvation Through Christ

Kerygma (noun): the apostolic proclamation of salvation through Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul’s kerygma (or gospel)

The prophesies are fulfilled, and the new Age is inaugurated by the coming of Christ. He was born of the seed of David. He died according to the scriptures, to deliver us out of this present evil Age. He was buried. He rose again on the third day according to the scriptures. He is exalted at the right hand of God, as Son of God and Lord of quick and dead. He will come again as Judge and Saviour of men.

Acts kerygma (or gospel)

The Age of fulfilment has dawned. This has taken place through the ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. In virtue of that resurrection Jesus has been exalted to the right hand of God, as Messianic head over the new Israel. The Holy Spirit in the church is the sign of Christ’s present power and glory. The Messianic age will shortly reach its climax in the return of Christ.[1]

Similarities and Differences

Both speak of the same gospel—the Gospel of Jesus Christ—but one (Paul’s) gets us casting back over the period from just after Jesus’ death back through all the ages previous—including mainly the prophesy of the Prophets of the Old Testament, as indicated “according to the scriptures.”

The other is the unabashed proclamation of the New Covenant reality. Such a proclamation was never complete without a call of “repentance, and offer of forgiveness and of the Holy Spirit.”

Both festoon the path to God—grace via repentance.

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A principle ever known through the Scriptures—that of appeasing God for sins—is transformed in the manifestation of grace.

Yet...

“The central theme of the Old Testament is redemption by grace. But incredibly, the Pharisees entirely missed it.”

~John F. MacArthur, Jr.,

The Gospel According to Jesus, 1988, p. 42.

One Gospel, old and new... always extant but made new, in and through Jesus.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

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[1] Michael Green, Thirty Years That Changed the World: A fresh look at the book of Acts (Leicester, England: InterVarsity Press, 2002), p. 90. (All quotations are from this author, quoting or commenting on Professor C.H. Dodd, The Apostolic Preaching and its Development.)