Different Gospels

I know that John the Baptist preached of "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world," when Christ came to him to be baptized. Now, can we separate the forgiveness of sins from Christ's death, burial and resurrection?

Absolutely not.

 

The gospel is the good news that God saves by grace and man does not save himself by works. The gospel was given in Eden and has been increasingly articulated over time, until full revelation in Jesus Christ.

Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."
Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed."

 

From the lips of Blackbird!

There are no "different" gospels in the Bible. There has been and always will be only one gospel--the death, buriel, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Old Testament Saints looked forward by faith in anticipation of His arrival. By faith they would say, "Messiah's coming! Yes, indeed! Messiah is going to die for me. Messiah is going to be buried! Messiah is going to get up out of that grave on the third day! Yes, indeed!"

The New Testament Saints look back in celebration of His arrival. By faith we say, "Jesus did come! Jesus was buried! Jesus got up out of that grave! Yes, indeed!"

That gospel hasn't changed "from the eons of eternity past!"

 

There is only ONE gospel! The death, burial, and reserection of Jesus, the precious Saviour. It can't be seperated. When He gave us the great commision, he meant for us to tell others the gospel. {notice it's singular.}
It is the same yesterday, now, and forever! Praise His name, He's alive!!
In Him, Abby

 

Blackbird,

Your middle paragraph really needs some work. And by this I mean you must put Scriptural backing to your care-free ideas.

Most O.T. saints were not that spiritual literate that they could believe that Jesus would come, die and be raised and glorified. Maybe some of the (professionals) like the priest and High Priests understood that a Messiah would eventually come, but they were not enlightened like we are in the church today. The laity were really in the dark about much of this truth that you and I take for granted.

 

preacher, could you give a verse of what you mena by differnt gospals in the bible? That might help clear up somethings.

 

Brother Berrian,

A quick glance over the first chapter of John should clear up the above misunderstanding. It is not a matter of literacy but a matter of belief as Isaiah 53:1 states, "Who hat believed our report? and to who is the arm of the Lord revealed?"

The Old Testament Saints in John's gospel, chapter 1 were living by faith in anticipation of Messias who would come. I am convinced that those ole Fishermen knew their scrolls like they knew the waters of Galilee. Otherwise, how would they know?

 

Chris gave a good answer to this question. Blackbird sounded religiously correct but will have a problem backing up some of the points others questioned him about.

I do a lot of teaching in the OT in evangelistic studies that start from Gen 1:1 and end up at the resurrection of Christ. The good news was not seen to those in the past in the same detail as we have the benefit to look back upon today. Gen 3:15 was good news, even though the nitty gritty details where not there. Matter of fact it is the only good news you'll find in that whole episode of mankind.

I fully believe that the good news entails the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and even then some but I don't get hung up on one set of words being the only way to define the gospel. Some would disagree, I'm sure, but the gospel can also be summed up in two words found in Eph 2:1-10 "But God" Yes I know this "But God" in verse 4 is talking about the full work of Christ because we can look back and see this. For many of the folks before Christ, "But God" (In other words, only by God's work) was their only hope of something good happening. Chris already gave two good references. Hope that helps.

Steve

 

I just looked over the first chapter of John and have to admit that your early comments have not seemed to clear up for me. Sorry. Don't see any mention about how Adam, Noah, Abe, Moses, and everyone else knew about Jesus, His death, His burial, and His three-day resurrection (those specific details). Maybe Ray got it. If Ray gets it before me maybe you guys can fill me in.

Steve

 

Has anyone noticed Galatians 3:8 which tells us that in the Old Testament--that God "preached before the gospel unto Abraham." And that the gospel of the death, buriel, and resurrection is seen in a figure set between Abraham and his only son, Isaac(see Hebrews 11: 17). And that Jesus Himself said in John 8: 56, "Your father, Abraham, rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad." If this ain't the gospel of the death, buriel, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ located in the Old Testament 2000 years before the real thing--I don't know what is!

 

Couldn't have said it better, the last five words that is.

Now that you have also included the name Jesus, can you find an OT example of someone knowing His name would be Jesus? Happy hunting.

Steve

 

Dear PackerBacker,

No, I won't find any mention of the name Jesus in the OT! But His gospel is there--weaved like a scarlet thread throughout the OT for those who would believe!

Luke's gospel does write though the account of the two disciples on the Emaeus road and their encounter with the risen Christ. They were convinced that the one crucified was to have been their Christ--Luke 24: 21, "But we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel."

And the Jesus steps in to the company and adds in Luke 24: 25-27, "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself."

In a gospel nutshell--Jesus preached the gospel of Himself to those disciples and notice what happened--they got a good case of spiritual heartburn--v. 32, "And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?"

Now, I'm simply saying that both the OT and NT "gospel" is Jesus!

 

The thing that both John the Baptist and Jesus came preaching was Repentance. The need to turn away from sin. Jesus came preaching that the Kingdom of God is at hand but this Kingdom of God would not be a physical kingdom but would be within man.

Jesus came to preach forgiveness, repentance and salvation to mankind but we do know for a fact that John's message was not enough according to the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts.

 

There were Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament. Yet if you study Jewish history you will find that the majority of Jews believed the Messiah was going to be some majestic warrior King not a suffering and bleeding and dying saviour. Even though the prophets prophesied the truth they chose to ignore this truth.

Abraham knew there was going to be a messiah. So did all the other Jews. David wrote things in the Psalms that pertained to experiences not only he was going through but that also prophesied incidences in Jesus life. Maybe David knew they were connected or maybe not. Yet they were at the best cryptic until the time of Isaiah and he prophesied about the dying Messiah. Other prophets afterwards followed suit. Yet when Jesus walked the earth a lot of people rejected him as the Messiah because they were looking forward to a person to overthrow Rome. Even a couple of the Apostles according to church history held to this belief.

Many knew what the scriptures said about a coming Messiah but to say the fishermen knew about the suffering Messiah goes against scripture because they all got upset when Jesus spoke about his death. Peter rebuked Jesus for even talking about dying. Look at the last supper scene. It did not seem like the apostles were very prepared for Jesus' death.

 

Both the OT and NT gospel(good news) is Jesus! Many of you will close your eyes in death and the first thing you'll say to yourself is, "Wow! Blackbird was right!"

The Apostles did get upset! True! But that does not dismiss the idea that they didn't know scripture! I believe they knew the OT like they knew the floor chart of Galilee Sea. They knew where the fish were in that sea--they knew where the scripture would point to coming Messiah. Zebedee's boys as well as Joni's were well versed in scripture. They were all early followers of John the Baptizer! And don't sit there in front of your computer screen and believe that they didn't have their own version of Henry Blackabys' "Experiencing God"! John writes that they came, saw, touched, and heard the gospel of the Kingdom! Folks, they EXPERIENCED GOD! Amen?!!

John the Baptist's disciples would get together(I'm convinced) and pour over scripture--looking for the Gospel Man! And about that time--what was written in the pages of OT Holy Writ--became flesh! OOOHHHH! Look at it now! They were looking for the Gospel Man in their time! And they narrowed the search down to one solitary man who lived among them! Scan over John 2: 45 which reads, "Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have FOUND(emphasis mine) Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." The Old Testament gospel is the good news of coming Messias! The New Testament's gospel simply tells us that the good news is Jesus!!

Of course, for the Sad Sacks out there who just can't seem to identify the OT Gospel with NT Jesus, there is a note from Isaiah's pen which says, "Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?"(Isaiah 53: 1)

 

There is only one gospel “the gospel of the grace of God”….
Acts 20:24

There is not another gospel… Gal. 1:6-7

 

He absolutely won’t have a hard time of backing that up….. Jesus’ appearance was foretold to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (a seed to bruise the head of the serpent) and passed down through the generations by faithful men and women….. Jesus was preached to Abraham, and to Isaac…. Moses preached that another prophet was to come, like him, and that they should hear him….

Pardon for being blunt… BUT…. Anyone that can teach the Old Testament without teaching Christ, or seeing Christ in those books, should not be teaching the Old Testament…