Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

“The gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter; For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision [Jews], the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles.”

(Gal. 2:7-8)

The expression (“Robbing Peter to pay Paul”) refers to times before the Reformation when Church taxes had to be paid from St. Paul's church in London and to St. Peter's church in Rome; originally it referred to neglecting the Peter tax in order to have money to pay the Paul tax. Simply put it means, taking from one merely to give to another; to discharge one debt by incurring another.

There are those (I use to be one) who would have us believe Paul and Peter’s gospels were different. But they were not! It only has to do with emphasis, not content. As my dear friend, Dr. John R. Rice, use to say when explaining the two, “When you preach at a youth camp you emphasize life as it relates to the gospel; at an old folks home its relation to death. Same gospel, different emphasis.

The New Testament doesn’t differentiate between the gospel of the Old Testament and that of the New. “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham,” (Gal. 3:8). “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it,” (Heb. 4:2).

Most certainly we New Testament saints have more light than those of the Old, but in both cases the light came from the same flashlight-not two separate sources. “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day,” (Prov. 4:18) One God, One Son, One Spirit, One Book, One People, and ONE GOSPEL!