It Is Impossible to Renew Them Again to Repentance

Excerpt From Newsletter

The Truth is, “the Gospel” was the message that John the Baptist, Jesus, and the twelve disciples delivered to “the people.” But Matthew and Luke make a fairly clear distinction between “the Gospel” which Jesus “proclaimed,” or “preached,” to everyone and the rest of The Teaching which He “taught” only to the Jews. In two of the instances where Matthew mentions both activities, he says Jesus was “proclaiming” (“preaching”) the Gospel openly to everyone and “teaching” only in the synagogues:

And {Jesus} was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.
(Matthew 4:23)

And Jesus was going about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.
(Matthew 9:35)

It is important to make a clear distinction between the Gospel and The Teaching for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the separation one needs to keep between the office of the Evangelist, who is charged with “preaching” the Gospel to those outside the Church, and that of the Teacher, who “teaches” The Teaching to those inside. (See “What’s Left of the Right That Stayed Down When He Went Up?” The Voice of Elijah^® Update, September 1995.) But perhaps the most important reason for not confusing the two has to do with understanding the meaning and significance of some of the parabolic pantomimes that Jesus conducted. As John records what Jesus slyly said to the high priest, He “spoke” (the Gospel) openly anywhere and everywhere to the crowds (“the world”) that followed Him, but He “taught” (The Teaching) only in the synagogues and the Temple (to the Jews):

The high priest therefore questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching. Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues, and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret.”
(John 18:19–20)

In that exchange, Jesus is using a fine distinction between “speaking” and “teaching” to mock the ignorance of the high priest in regard to things explained in the Gospel and The Teaching.

“It Is Impossible to Renew Them Again to Repentance,” The Voice of Elijah^®, July 2002, p. 2

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