Did Peter & Paul Preach Two Different Gospels? A Short Refutation Of Mid-Acts or Hyper-Dispensationalism

                                                          By Joel Sexton

In a nutshell, Mid-Acts (for short) broke off from the Classic Dispensationalism of Scofield in the 19th century. One early proponent was E. W. Bullinger.

There seem to be two basic premises of the Hyper, Mid Acts, or Ultra Dispensationalism.

1] The the church did not start in Acts 2 at Pentecost despite what previous Dispensational teachers and scholars had taught. But the "Jewish Church" began at Act 2, but the "Gentile Church" began with Paul in Acts 9; 13 or even Acts 28 per E. W. Bullinger. So what ends up happening is that many Mid-Acts believers reject all of the Bible with the exception of Paul's epistles! That's right. The gospels and Heb-Rev are not for us in the "body of Christ." A LOT go as far as stating that only Paul's prison epistles are for us today. So even Paul is cut down to seven letters!

2] That "Peter and the boys" as they word it taught a gospel of works, while Paul taught a gospel of grace. The Jewish believers get all the commands and demands while for the Hyper-Dispy, you can wallow in your sin all day, never produce a good work and you're on your way to glory!

Below we will touch very briefly on point number two. The Gospel Wars!

Below are three Pauline passages, ALL of which are Mid-Acts Dispensationalism or Hyper Dispensational favorite proof texts. But I discovered that these favorite's of the Hyper Dispy actually demolishes their whole main premise. That Peter and Paul taught two entirely different gospels. If you can go to a system's main passages and demonstrate that they actually teach the opposite, that should cause one to pause.

1] 1 Cor 15:3-11 Paul defines the gospel as the "death burial & resurrection" of Christ. He says whether I, or THEY (Cephas and the 12) preach and you believe

2] Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ; but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.” And they were glorifying God because of me. [Gal 1:21-24}

Notice two things about this passage:

1) Paul says the churches in Judea were "in Christ" before Him! This means when Paul speaks about being "in Christ" (salvific) probably 100 x in his letters he is preaching the same Gospel as those that believed before Him

2)Those in Syria etc. were "glorifying God" because Paul who "who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy"

3] Also Gal 2:11f Paul is shocked to learn Peter who was a Jew but didn't live kosher, or according to the Torah could play the hypocrite. Why is Paul surprised that Peter was denying justification by faith alone if it was understood all this time there were two gospel's floating around?

Paul had a certain writing style and phraseology. Romans, for instance, was written in a particular historical and political context It is Paul's systematic presentation of the Gospel. Galatians, his vigorous defense. He wanted to make sure the Gentiles were firm in the gospel