² which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,

Paul now indicated that we can find the gospel in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament.

² which [the gospel] He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,

The gospel was not something new in the first century. It was a revelation of the Old Testament as well. God promised the gospel in the Old Testament. He entrusted “prophets” as well as the New Testament apostles with the gospel. We find this in such passages as Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; 53:3-6; Psalms 16:10. The gospel was no afterthought.

Acts 13:32, And we declare to you glad tidings— that promise which was made to the fathers.

These men wrote (scribed) the gospel in the Word of God. The idea here is that Scripture is the Word of God. The method that God chose to communicate with man was by a written process. The prophets wrote down what God revealed. That is why “Scriptures” are “Holy” (set apart as unique).

Lu 24:27, And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

The Greek does not use the definite article “the” before “Holy Scriptures.” This indicates quality or character. God’s Word is in quality holy. The gospel message is unique and true only to Christianity.

The Old Testament is latent and the New Testament is patent; the New is revealed but the Old is concealed. The Old reveals Jesus in promises, types, and direct prophecies.

The New is in the Old concealed, the Old is in the New revealed.

The New is in the Old contained; the Old is in the New explained.

PRINCIPLE:

The written Word must take precedence over any experience we may have.

APPLICATION:

We live in a day when preachers de-emphasize the written Word of God in lieu of subjective experience. How can we value the gospel and deny or de-emphasize the words in which it is found? There are so-called evangelicals who look on Scripture as mummification of ideas. They see no relevance of the explicit statements of Scripture to their lives today. They view their subjective experience with God as priority.

The Lord Himself taught us to find roots of New Testament theology in the Old Testament:

Lu 24:25-27, ²⁵ Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” ²⁷ And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

We cannot operate as Christians without the written, historical facts of the Word of God. The resurrected Christ was seen by hundreds of witnesses. Biblical facts are the vulnerability of falsity. The historicity of the resurrection found in Scripture is a major problem to unbelief. There can be no gospel without historical facts.