What did Apostle Paul preach ?

The twelve preached the gospel they were commissioned by Christ to preach (Mt. 28:19-20; Mk. 16:15).

Paul was given His gospel by Christ as well:

Gal. 1:11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Now, you are faced with a dilemma! Either the twelve preached the same gospel as Paul or Paul calls them "accursed" for preaching another Gospel than what Paul preached:

Gal. 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

 

James and Peter did not preach the Mosaic Law in Acts 15. They preached the gospel. The fact that they did not require the Gentiles to be circumcised proves this all by itself. Couple that with the fact that Peter says "we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we (Jews) shall be saved, even as they (Gentiles)." That is not the Mosaic Law.

 

Good job! I overlooked his final statement. The apostles never preached the law as the gospel nor did Paul.

 

I doubt it. All it means that some believers thought the Law of Moses was still in effect. That does not mean that it was.

 

Whether it was still in effect or not does not matter, as salvation was NEVER by the Law of God in any way shape or form. Paul makes this crystal clear in Galatains 3:18-27.

The Law was never designed by God to give spiritual "life" but it was given to reveal, expose and condemn sin and to lead sinners to Christ for justification by faith (Rom. 3:25). The same provision by faith given to the Old Testament saints (Rom. 3:25; Acts 10:43; Heb. 4:2; Acts 26:22-23) is the same provision given to us as there has never been more than one way of salvation before the cross (Mt. 7:13-14; Jn. 14:6; Jn. 3;16,36) or after the cross (Acts 4:12; 26:22-23).

The gospel previous to the cross began in a summarized seed form (Gen. 3:15) and progressively expanded from Genesis to the four accounts of the same gospel until it was fulfilled by Christ at the cross and it is that fulfilled revelation that is preached by the Lord's churches today.

Absolute proof of the above position is simply to ask this question - "Is there salvation for ANYONE that is OUTSIDE of Christ"?

 

And who was the they that wanted to command them to keep the Law of Moses? The bible says it was certain of the sect of the Pharisees. It wasn't the apostles, it wasn't the church leadership, it was beleivers among the Pharisees. At this point Peter and James set them straight. Peter said, "Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they." It's clear, Peter said the Jews weren't able to keep the law and asked why then they (the certain of the Pharisees) wanted to make the Gentiles do it. He clearly states that salvation is by grace and the true way to live is by faith, not by the works of the law. Sounds a lot like Paul, doesn't it?

James then says, "Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, that doeth all these things. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day." Notice what James said. James said God always planned things this way. He said we do not need to trouble the Gentiles by putting them under the law. But, we will tell them to abstain from a few things. Why? Because in the same city where they live there is a synagogue where Jews are reading from and following Mosaic Law. In order to avoid troubles, in order to avoid offending the Jews, he tells them to abstain from these few things. He did not put them under the law. He did not say that he was under the law or following the law. But one must understand that many of the Jews at this time still were. In order to possibly bring some of them into the gospel church, and in order to avoid problems and offenses, some things were abstained from. Paul said the same thing. He said, "all things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not." He also said, "give not offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved." Paul and James are on the same page. Sounds like they preached the same thing.

 

It does not matter whether the Law of Moses is still in effect after the cross?

It most certainly does matter.

I agree with you that the Law of Moses never justifies (or saves anyone).

But it is very important to understand that, as of the cross, the Law of Moses came to an end. If this is not recoginized, people will still labour under the false belief that there is some kind of real distinction between Jewish Christians and Gentile ones. And there is, in fact, no such distinction.

If the Law of Moses, which is only for Jews, were still in effect, there would indeed be "two families" in the church, not one. And Paul is centrally concerned with arguing that there are indeed no such divisions. One of the ways he does this is to argue that the Law of Moses, which separated Jew from Gentile, has been abolished:

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)— 12remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. 14For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace,....

 

There is nothing in these verses that say the Apostles preached the law. You must be reading something into them that is not there. Acts 15 clearly states the Pharisees tried to place them under law yet salvation is through Grace (Acts 15:11)

Acts 21:20 simply says they were zealous of the law. It in no way implies that this is how it was to be. I simply read it as the people had a knowledge of God's law, when they were saved they wanted to keep it, since that was how they had know God and been taught. Much like a woman today who was taught that a woman should not wear pants. Once they become Christains they will not wear pants. Not because the bible teaches it but because they were taught that and they want to please God.

 

?????????????????????
What does the existence of the Temple have to do with it? Where did the Apostles preach the law? Please give me a verse to show that.

 

Paul was still thorougly a Jew, and an unregenerate one I might add, after the stoning of Stephen. It wasn't until God regenerated him on the road to Damascus that he became anything else.