AppReasons

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?

This is the first of two articles and you are encouraged to read both, but this one first. The gospel is at the very center of Christianity and our personal salvation. It is an announcement of something God has done for us. The word gospel means ‘good news’ and indeed better news is not possible!

In perhaps the simplest form, the gospel is the deity, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the offer of salvation to those who trust in Him. Our salvation depends on our response to this good news with repentance and faith (trust).

God is loving, holy and just. Many people misunderstand the nature of God by believing that He is only love. But God clearly states that He is holy and expects His people to be holy (Leviticus 19:2). He also clearly states that the result of sin is death (Ezekiel 18:4). God’s absolute holiness demands that there be no sin in His presence, and His absolute justice requires the death penalty for sin. The cross of Christ is where God’s love and God’s justice meet. Jesus Christ endured the penalty that we deserve.

It is interesting to hear non-Christians opine how they could not appreciate, much less worship, a God that punishes their own sin. But, how their story changes when some horrific evil is perpetrated upon them. Then they want, even demand, a God of justice to set things right. Indeed, God has promised that He will hand out final justice for all wrongs.

The Gospel in Romans
One of the best places to find a basic explanation of the gospel is Paul’s letter to the Romans. Perhaps more clearly than any other book of the Bible, Romans contains a deliberate, step-by-step expression of what Paul understood to be the good news.[1]

Four questions and four answers:
Who made us, and to whom are we accountable?

  1. We were made by and are accountable to God (Romans 3:19).

    What is our problem?

  2. Our problem is our sin against Him – and this is a universal problem (Romans 3:23) leading to death (Romans 6:23a).

    What is God’s solution to our problem?

  3. God’s solution is salvation through Jesus Christ (Romans 3:24-26; Romans 6:23b).

    How can I be included in his solution?

  4. We come to be included in this salvation by repentance and faith (trust) in Jesus (Romans 10:9-10).

 The death of Jesus Christ answers the apparent contradiction found within Exodus 34:6-7.

“The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (ESV)

Jesus’ punishment and death was for our benefit. He took the punishment we deserve at the cross so that we can stand before God and be declared righteous (sinless). The resurrection of Jesus is proof that God accepted the payment for our sin. By placing our trust in Jesus, our sins are covered by His righteousness. Very simply, that is the ‘Good News’ of the Gospel.

Thank you Lord Jesus!

Additional Resources:

1 Corinthians 15:3-8 is a Christian creed, one of the earliest Gospel accounts, created so that it could be easily remembered. In Greek it has a natural cadence. Gary Habermas (world’s foremost authority on the resurrection, dates this creed to at least two (2) years following resurrection. It is an error to say that that the Gospel was developed much later.

“3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” (ESV)

Additional Resources:
Gospel YouTube videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1Ex2FpwqvI (10-minutes…quite good.)
What is the Gospel, by Greg Gilbert
(A concise, 7-page, tract found in your Lending Library -100 copies
Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus.
     (This excellent book is in your Lending Library -10 copies)
[1] Greg Gilbert, What is the Gospel? (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010)

WHAT THE GOSPEL IS….NOT!

WHAT THE GOSPEL IS….NOT!

This is the second of two articles on the Gospel. Please read this article after you read the first.

Today, as in the past, it is quite common to attempt to ‘improve upon’ the true gospel of Jesus Christ. This can take several forms, but generally it becomes the gospel plus some other activity or requirement. Perhaps adding a ‘works’ requirement in order to complete the gospel. Somehow the forgiveness of sin through Christ’s death is not sufficient. Adding something to the gospel is not only incorrect, it is quite dangerous. (Galatians 1:8-9)

“Since the very beginning of time, people have been trying to save themselves in ways that make sense to them, rather than listening and submitting to God. They have tried to figure out how to get salvation to work-how to get the gospel to work apart from the cross of Jesus Christ.”[1]

Is a bigger and better gospel possible? Of course not but that does not stop people from adding to the work of Christ on the cross. These attempts to relegate the cross to a secondary position can be found in countless books as well as in many local churches.

What follows are three attempts to find a bigger, and wrong, gospel.

  1. The first one has taken many forms over the last 2,000 years, and today seems again to be growing in popularity. This is the lie that the cross plus something else, is the gospel. The “something else” can be, for example, following legalistic requirements of behavior, working to transform the culture, attempting to increase social justice, etc. Again, adding any other focus or activity to Christ’s finished work on the cross is not the gospel. It seems that all the efforts to accomplish these other activities replace the true gospel as the center of our joy and salvation.

  1. A common substitute for the gospel is a simple proclamation that ‘Jesus is Lord’. While it is certainly true that confession of Jesus as Lord (Romans 10:9) is essential to the gospel, it is not the whole gospel message. The full meaning of Jesus’ lordship is that this Lord has been crucified, buried, and resurrected, and it also means that His death and resurrection, above all, has accomplished the “forgiveness of sins” for those who would repent and believe in him.”[2]

  2. It is also common to hear Christians explain the gospel as a brief recap of the Bible. This takes the form of a ‘Creation-Fall-Redemption-Consummation’. As stated, this is the Bible’s over-arching storyline, but it is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. This summation places the emphasis on God’s promise to renew the world, but it does not explain how a person is redeemed and gets to be included in this renewal.

Perhaps you have heard it repeated, “The gospel plus nothing equals everything.” This means that we can do absolutely nothing to save ourselves. It is not possible to add anything to the gospel and not diminish what Christ has done for us. With what He has done we are safe and secure forever!

Thank you Lord Jesus!

Additional Resources:

Gospel YouTube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1Ex2FpwqvIWhat is the Gospel, by Greg Gilbert

A concise, 7-page, tract found in your Lending Library (100 copies)

Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus. This excellent book is in your Lending Library (10 copies)

[1] Greg Gilbert, What is the Gospel? (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 102.

[2] Ibid., 104-105.