"…so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ."–Rom. 15:19

There were constantly two points of contention wherever the apostle Paul preached the Gospel. First, was the Gospel he preached. Second, was how he preached it.

Paul’s Gospel was none other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified, I Cor. 2:2. He did not merely preach that Jesus was the Christ, or that He died on a cross. He certainly never said, "Now if you’ll just believe on Him, he’ll be your Savior," somehow making man the deciding factor in salvation.

To preach Christ and Him crucified is to preach not only who it was that died on the cross that day, but why He died, what His death accomplished, and for whom He died.

1). Who’s blood was shed?– The very blood of God Himself. Acts 20:28– "…the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood."

2). Why did Jesus Christ die?- To satisfy all the righteous requirements of God the Father, and redeem, justify, and sanctify, every one that He gave to His Son from all eternity. The Lord Jesus satisfied the Law in every jot and tittle, that God the Father might be just and justify the ungodly, unworthy sinners whom He has chosen in love to save. Romans 3:25,26– "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins…to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

3). For whom did the Lord Jesus die? As many as God the Father gave Him, John 17:2,9. Sinners from out of every tribe, nation, and tongue, whom the Father chose in love and mercy to redeem because of the Lord Jesus Christ’s redeeming life and death as their substitute and representative, Revelation 5:9,

How did Paul preach this Gospel? "Fully!" With full assurance that it is the only Gospel; Liberally, without shame, inhibition or restraint, to both Gentile and Jew, from Jerusalem to Illyricum (in modern day Slavonia); with the full supply of God’s riches, grace and mercy. He did not merely preach it as his view of the Gospel. It is the only Gospel, God blesses to the salvation of sinners.

Will it be any less true of a faithful Gospel preacher today?