What is the Gospel?

[asterisktom]

Only one Gospel, but more than one Gospel passage
1 Cor. 15:3-4 is most often cited as the Gospel verse. And understandably so. But it is not the only Gospel verse, just the most obvious and convenient one, seeing that it contains the very word and is relatively concise. But it assumes a certain understanding that some claimants to Christ and cultists are not willing to grant. Case in point is the phrase “died for our sins”. In the view of some charismatics (Kenneth Copeland) as well as Covenant Theology Full Preterists (Don Preston, William Bell) the dying for sin is twisted away from the Bible’s clear message. In the case of Preston, for instance, the moment of redemption would be before Christ physically died! But it does no good in this situation to cite I Cor. 15:3-4 against his erring notion because this passage does not explicitly state just when exactly He died for our sins. For that fuller truth we need to add other Gospel passages. This passage, by itself, can be innocently or deceptively cited by ones who do not really believe the entire truth behind it.

However, this passage in Corinthians is not the only one that is prone to misapplication. There is also the Galatians 3:1 - also helpful in understanding the Gospel – but also sometimes misapplied:

“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?”

Some pastors have taken this verse as a springboard to launch into a long sermon about the gory ordeal of crucifixion, “clearly portraying” the actual physical agony that Christ endured. But they overlook that, if this was the proper way of presenting our Lord dying on our behalf then, surely, the Gospel writers would have emphasized this. But they didn’t. Neither did Paul or the other Apostles.

(Continued below)

 

[asterisktom]

What is the Gospel? (Part 2)

Necessary Elements of the Gospel
Moving on from what the Gospel is not, it would be helpful to define what exactly the Gospel is. And coming up with a good description is surprisingly tricky. The Old Covenant, Paul writes, had its “elements” (στοιχεῖα - “rudiments”, “essentials”, or “ABC’s”). These were, he tells us, “weak and beggarly”, Gal. 4:9. That was the Old Covenant. But the New Covenant did – and will forever do – what the Old Covenant never did because it is “established on better promises”, Hebrews 8:6. That is the good news of the Gospel. And this Gospel has its own elements, essentials, spiritual and far superior.

But none of these essentials are in any one passage. Several of these essential aspects are so rich in comfort and promise that better men than I have written whole books on just single facets of this - if I may alter the phrase - Jewel of Great Price. These are not in order of importance or chronology. To do so, either way, would be a difficult task.

Also difficult is drawing the line between what the Gospel is and what it achieves in the life of the saint. Some aspects, in fact, belong in both categories: Christ gives us light and He is “the Light of the world”, John 8:12. He gives us hope and, dwelling in us, He is “the Hope of glory”, Col. 1:27.

There is also audience and time relevance to consider. A few of the Gospel elements had specific reference to that generation, but not to us in quite the same way. These include the special promise of rapture to that generation and the era-ending vindication against their particular enemies, the persecuting Jews. Their power was profoundly broken, Dan. 12:7, when their very means of observing the Old Covenant disappeared with the loss of their Temple in AD 70. However, most of the Gospel is for us the “Everlasting Gospel”, Rev. 14:6.

Essential Elements of the Gospel:
Fulfillment of Scripture: “according to the Scriptures”, I Cor. 15:3; “all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me.”, Luke 24:44.

Christ’s perfect life on Earth: “...by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”, Rom. 5:19.

Christ’s sinless death, burial, and resurrection: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”, 2 Cor. 5:21; “He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name”, Phil. 2:8-9; “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures”, 1 Cor. 15:3-4.

Voluntary death: “Let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as you will.”, Matt. 26:39, “I lay it down of my own accord.”, John 10:18.

The blood of Christ: “the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith”, Rom. 3:24-25; “we are now justified by his blood”, Rom. 5:9; “In him we have redemption through his blood”, Eph. 1:7; “You know that you were ransomed...with the precious blood of Christ”, 1 Pet. 1:18-19. 1

Substitution: Isaiah 53:4-6; “For our sake he made him to be sin… that we might become the righteousness of God.”, 2 Cor. 5:21. “For Christ has also once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust…”, 1 Peter 3:18.

Forgiveness for sin: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace ”, Eph. 1:7.

Atonement: “...our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”, Rom. 5:11.

Christ’s everliving intercession in Heaven: “much more… shall we be saved by his life”, Rom. 5:10 , “Because I live, you shall live also.”, John 14:19 , “He ever lives to make intercession” for us, Heb. 7:25.

Deliverance: “… who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age”, Gal. 1:4

God’s work, not man’s: “who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”, John 1:12.

Faith: “...that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”, John 3:16.

Union with Christ: “Christ in you, the Hope of glory” Col. 1:27. (Also Rom. 6:3-5)

New Creation: “...if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation…”, 2 Cor. 5:17.

Vindication: “And will not God vindicate his elect…? He will vindicate them speedily”, Luke 18:7 8; “since indeed God deems it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you”, 2 Thess. 1:6.

Eternal presence with the Lord: “we shall always be with the Lord.”, 1 Thess. 4.17.

Atonement-Reconciliation: “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”, 2 Cor. 5:18-20.

“For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. ... we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”, Rom. 5: 10-11.

However, the King James Bible words this differently. Romans 5:11 is the only verse in that version of the New Testament that translates the reconciliation word as "atonement":

“And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” 2

Obviously there is no one passage that sufficiently draws out these different aspects of the Gospel. They must be considered together. That shows the need for wide-spectrum, context-aware Bible study. As in the case with any other important doctrine, a clearer picture of the Gospel is fixed in our hearts and minds the more we study the Bible as a whole. And when we get this clarity we are so much better equipped to discern the false from the true. Also, anchoring our various points of doctrine on more than one verse is better protection against the perversion of any one verse. “It is written” is further corroborated by “It is also written”, Matt. 4:7.

Paul admonished the believing Jews, some who were wavering and less than astute, that they needed to be taught again “the first principles (‘στοιχεῖα’ - stoicheia) of the oracles of God”, Heb. 5:12. We can modify this to fit the needs of many Preterists today: We need to learn again the first principles, the essential elements, of the Gospel once for all delivered to the saints.

This is the best way to counter the counterfeit, not primarily by being experts on their errors, but being well-versed in our Truth. As we study, meditate on, and present the Gospel we have the promise of God’s blessing. He will much more readily bless His Word than our clever arguments against their words.





NOTES

1. Paul and Peter, in these verses show just what kind of death was needed for our sakes in the Gospel, what is meant by Christ dying. Not a separation, but a sacrificial death that required His actual blood. It is sad that we even need to add "actual", but Don K. Preston, William Bell, Mike Sullivan and associates erroneously insist on the existence of Christ’s "spiritual blood" to go along with His supposed "spiritual death".

-70-​

2. It may seem unusual that such an important topic as the Atonement, out of 70 occurrences in the King James Version, should have only one occurrence of the word in the New Testament. The Old Testament usage usually points to generic atonement, the sacrifices themselves, but in the New Testament the saints’ atonement at Calvary is most often referred to, also more richly revealed, under different terms: reconciliation, redemption, purchase, release, etc.

For this reason a word study of “atonement” would be more difficult, albeit very worthwhile. It would be all too easy for such a study to become either artificially constricted, limited only to the word and cognates, or unmanageably wide, since the concept is expressed with other words and circumlocutions.

 

[MMDAN]

In a nutshell, the gospel is the "good news" of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes.. (Romans 1:16) and to "believe" the gospel is to trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of our salvation.

 

[asterisktom]

In a nutshell, the gospel is the "good news" of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes.. (Romans 1:16) and to "believe" the gospel is to trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of our salvation.

What you say is true, but my point is that our gospel is more than what is in those two "nutshell" verses. Many of the writers, in Reformation times for instance, had no problem dwelling long and richly on what we have in this "good news".

 

[Van]

Here is a popular view of the gospel:

to "believe" the gospel is to trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of our salvation.​

What if our belief in Christ's death, burial and resurrection is NOT sufficient for our salvation? What if God must credit our faith as righteousness.
What if God must decide if we have faith like Abraham's whose actions reflected a complete trust in God's promises!

 

[MMDAN]

What you say is true, but my point is that our gospel is more than what is in those two "nutshell" verses. Many of the writers, in Reformation times for instance, had no problem dwelling long and richly on what we have in this "good news".

Here is more good news. Ephesians 3:1 - For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— 2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel.

This new revelation is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise. Such equality, Jew and Gentile united together in one body was previously unknown. The distinctive message of the church today is that Jew and Gentile alike may believe the gospel and be united together into one body. (1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:13; Galatians 1:11-12)

 

[MMDAN]

Here is a popular view of the gospel:

​

to "believe" the gospel is to trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of our salvation.​

What if our belief in Christ's death, burial and resurrection is NOT sufficient for our salvation?

Christ's finished work of redemption is sufficient and complete to save believers. (Romans 3:24-28)

What if God must credit our faith as righteousness.

God does credit our faith as righteousness. (Romans 4:5-6; Philippians 3:9) Our faith is only as good as the OBJECT that we place it in.

What if God must decide if we have faith like Abraham's whose actions reflected a complete trust in God's promises!

Either we are trusting in the in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of our salvation or else we are not, and God knows our heart. If we are then our actions will reflect our complete trust in that promise of the gospel just as Abraham's actions reflected his complete trust in God's promise in Genesis 15:5.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

Either we are trusting in the in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of our salvation or else we are not, and God knows our heart.

Amen! "Don't be afraid; only believe!" (Mark 5:36).

 

[Tenchi]

What you say is true, but my point is that our gospel is more than what is in those two "nutshell" verses. Many of the writers, in Reformation times for instance, had no problem dwelling long and richly on what we have in this "good news".

I'm very much opposed to a severely-redacted version of the Gospel, the Gospel-in-thirty-seconds type stuff so often promoted in North American evangelical churches.

I read once of a lady who was a missionary to the Philippines in the early 1950s, who settled in a village where fierce and frequent tribal warfare and cannibalism went on. In many conversations that usually extended over several hours, she shared the Gospel with the village leaders, answering their questions about God and His nature, the Person of Christ, his work on the cross, and the relationship of Man to his Maker. She spoke to them of sin, salvation, and eternal life; she told them of holiness, divine love, forgiveness and fellowship with God; she explained the life and work of the Holy Spirit to them. After a while, all of the questions of the leaders had been answered but they continued to arrive at her hut to ask her the same questions, listening carefully to her answers. When this had happened repeatedly for a number of months, she finally said to them, "Why do you keep asking me, over and over, questions to which you already have answers?" The leaders were silent for a few moments and then the Chief said, "We want to be sure of what you've told us. We wanted to see if your answers would change, if the story you've told us about God and salvation would vary from telling to telling. If we accept as true what you've told us, our lives must alter completely, we must follow a whole new way of living, giving up most of what we've been doing all our lives. If your answers had not always been the same, we would not have believed you." Some time later, the leaders came to the missionary and declared that they, and the entire village with them, would receive Christ as their Saviour and Lord.

Why do I share this story? Because it highlights the value of a full declaration of the Gospel - a Gospel which, as the tribal leaders recognized, would radically and fundamentally alter their conception of reality and the nature of their living. I think this effect of the Gospel is trivialized - dangerously - when the Gospel is compacted into a sort of sound-byte version of what it actually is. Many are those who've prayed "a sinner's prayer" who, when they began to understand the full scope of the import of that prayer to their living, have abandoned the faith, feeling not a little like they'd been deceived about the Good News of salvation.

 

[TheOneWhoLives]

What if God must decide if we have faith like Abraham's whose actions reflected a complete trust in God's promises!

Is our faith credited as righteousness the very moment we come to faith or do we must first prove our faith by our actions?

 

[Martin Marprelate]

Is our faith credited as righteousness the very moment we come to faith or do we must first prove our faith by our actions?

Hello T.O.W.L.! Welcome to the Board!
Gen. 15:6. 'And [Abraham] believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.' The promises followed immediately after that (v.7ff). He did not have to wait until he had proved his faith. We do not have to prove anything to God; He knows us through and through. We do not obey in order to be saved, but because we are saved, and are under the leading of the Holy Spirit. If we do not obey, it is because we were never saved in the first place (1 John 2:19).

 

[Van]

Christ's finished work of redemption is sufficient and complete to save believers. (Romans 3:24-28)

God does credit our faith as righteousness. (Romans 4:5-6; Philippians 3:9) Our faith is only as good as the OBJECT that we place it in.

Either we are trusting in the in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of our salvation or else we are not, and God knows our heart. If we are then our actions will reflect our complete trust in that promise of the gospel just as Abraham's actions reflected his complete trust in God's promise in Genesis 15:5.

I disagree.

You seem to be saying if we place the correct object in our faith, that will save us. God will be forced to save us because we have placed the right object in our faith.

Philippians 3:9 is not talking about God crediting our faith as righteousness, it is talking about the saved person's righteousness that comes on the basis of faith if credited by God. In Romans 4:6, Abraham's faith is credited to him as righteousness, this in no way made him righteous. The lost are chosen for salvation on the basis of God crediting their faith as righteousness.

 

[JesusFan]

I disagree.

You seem to be saying if we place the correct object in our faith, that will save us. God will be forced to save us because we have placed the right object in our faith.

Philippians 3:9 is not talking about God crediting our faith as righteousness, it is talking about the saved person's righteousness that comes on the basis of faith if credited by God. In Romans 4:6, Abraham's faith is credited to him as righteousness, this in no way made him righteous. The lost are chosen for salvation on the basis of God crediting their faith as righteousness.

So God will grant as merit to having saving faith being excised by us, even though that faith was granted to us before we could exercise it by us?

 

[Van]

Is our faith credited as righteousness the very moment we come to faith or do we must first prove our faith by our actions?

No, we do not need to prove to God what He knows because He knows our mind, our heart, our soul, He knows all about those of His choosing.

My point is His choice is not based solely on what we believe, but also on His recognition of our commitment and devotion to Christ, making Christ the overriding priority of our lives. So even if our understanding is flawed, just as perhaps a child might have a flawed (or limited) understanding, but has given his or her all to Christ, then God might credit that faith as righteousness, and transfer that youth into Christ.

 

[kyredneck]

my point is that our gospel is more than what is in those two "nutshell" verses.

Amen! It's 'sheep food', good news that comforts and strengthens by causing our hearts to rejoice.

27 And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
32...Was not our heart burning within us, while he spake to us in the way, while he opened to us the scriptures? Lu 24

10 .....the joy of Jehovah is your strength. Neh 8

 

[asterisktom]

Amen! It's 'sheep food', good news that comforts and strengthens by causing our hearts to rejoice.

27 And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
32...Was not our heart burning within us, while he spake to us in the way, while he opened to us the scriptures? Lu 24

10 .....the joy of Jehovah is your strength. Neh 8

And you can bet that there was more than a nutshell worth in what the Lord told those two disciples. The more you read the Old Testament the you see passages that He might have referred to.

Some of the Reformed writers really drew out a lot of those riches.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

No, we do not need to prove to God what He knows because He knows our mind, our heart, our soul, He knows all about those of His choosing.

My point is His choice is not based solely on what we believe, but also on His recognition of our commitment and devotion to Christ, making Christ the overriding priority of our lives. So even if our understanding is flawed, just as perhaps a child might have a flawed (or limited) understanding, but has given his or her all to Christ, then God might credit that faith as righteousness, and transfer that youth into Christ.

So our faith might be "flawed" but that's OK because our works will save us? I don't think so.
God saves us first, and the works follow.

 

[TheOneWhoLives]

No, we do not need to prove to God what He knows because He knows our mind, our heart, our soul, He knows all about those of His choosing.

And how does God know what He knows? Does He look into the future and see that a person's faith will endure to the end and be fruitful?

 

[asterisktom]

And how does God know what He knows? Does He look into the future and see that a person's faith will endure to the end and be fruitful?

Yes, He does. It is called omniscience. And He also is the one who gave the faith to begin with, Phil. 1:29, John 1:12-13.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

No, we do not need to prove to God what He knows because He knows our mind, our heart, our soul, He knows all about those of His choosing.

My point is His choice is not based solely on what we believe, but also on His recognition of our commitment and devotion to Christ, making Christ the overriding priority of our lives. So even if our understanding is flawed, just as perhaps a child might have a flawed (or limited) understanding, but has given his or her all to Christ, then God might credit that faith as righteousness, and transfer that youth into Christ.

I think I need to say a bit more about this.
God justifies the ungodly (Romans 5:6). He takes the very worst of people and changes them through the Holy Spirit.
'This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners [c.f. Matt. 9:13] of whom I am the chief' (1 Tim. 1:15).
'For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit [John 3:5], Whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, that having been justified by His grace [not by "commitment" or "devotion"] we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life' (Titus 3:3-6; c.f. Titus 1:2).

ALL of grace; nothing of us.