[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by awareness

Finally InOmnibusCaritas gets it. We have to first define what the gospel is before we can determine if Lee brought a different Jesus and or gospel.

Good point Harold. But we are going to be using the Gospel according to the New Testament and not external sources or non-canonical writings, except where they may confirm or clarify what is presented to us in the NT. OBW is correct is pointing out that the Gospel is more than just "death, burial, and resurrection"...and I would point out that the Gospel is at least these items, or should I say nothing less than these items. Maybe we could start with coming up with what could be considered as "the irreducible Gospel", and then work our way out from there.

I was merely pointing out that 2 Cor. 11:4, the verse were we get "different Jesus, different gospel" from, reveals that Paul preached to the Corinthians sermons that didn't come down to us.

Sure they came down to us Harold. We have the 4 Gospels, we have Paul's other writings and we have the writings of Peter, John, James and Jude. Why must you speculate that there was some other major aspects of the Gospel or significant Christian doctrine that have been lost to us? There is no good reason for your speculation and it will take us down all sorts of rabbit holes. We have enough on our plate just defining the Gospel without all the what ifs.

This shouldn't be a surprise. Obviously there was way more preaching going on back then that didn't come down to us and that we don't have in our canon. The canon even attests to this, in the GOSPEL according to John:

Joh_21:25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

So, what's your point, and how does this affect our ability to establish the Gospel as it was related to us in the canon of the New Testament?

The gospel was, or is, the real Jesus, not a contrived Jesus.

Excellent! I knew you had it in you Harold! So let's dig into the Gospel that God has graciously and mercifully presented to us in his Holy Word!

What were these different Jesus's and gospels? And if they came along so early in primitive Christianity what are they today?

Good question, and the answer to these questions may very well help us sharpen up our understanding and comprehension of the genuine Gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't think we have to go very far from the original apostles and followers of Jesus (the New Testament era) to see that the battle for the genuine Gospel had already begun. Many, if not most, of the earliest writings of the earliest "Church fathers" were polemic and apologetic in nature because of the perversions of the Gospel that had already proliferated the Church. We may want to put off delving into these writings until we have established the basics first.