But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed (Galatians 1:8, NASB).
What struck me then was the question, "so what is the Gospel?" If getting it wrong is worthy of anathema, I should be very careful to know what it is, right?
And it took me not long at all to realize that all the adults I knew had an answer, but basically none of them had a verse. So, for example, my Sunday School teachers had taught me that John 3:16 is "the Gospel in a nutshell." Well, John 3:16 is absolutely the Word of God. But when Scripture says "the Gospel," is it referring to John 3:16? What does the Scripture say?
As far as I have been able to tell, Scripture tells us what the Gospel is exactly once. There are two passages laying out "the Gospel" explicitly: 1 Corinthians 15:1–8 defines "the gospel which I preached to you" (cf. Galatians 1:8), and Revelation 14:6 gives us the "everlasting gospel." The "everlasting gospel" is worth considering, but for now let's just focus on "the gospel which I preached to you":
Now I make known to you, brothers and sisters, the gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, in which you also stand, 2 by which you also are saved, if you hold firmly to the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
3 For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. (1 Corinthians 15:1–11, NASB).
This is the only time that Paul explicitly tells us what "the gospel" is. We would do well to commit to these verses to memory.
Let's make the assumption that "the gospel which I preached to you" in 1 Corinthians 15:1 is the same thing as "[the gospel] we have preached to you" in Galatians 1:8. I think it's warranted in the text.
There is absolutely no question that the one who hears Christ's words and believes on Him who sent Him [Christ] has eternal life (John 5:24)... but the Scripture doesn't label that "the Gospel."
There is absolutely no question that the one who believes on Jesus Christ shall be saved (Acts 16:31)... but the Scripture doesn't label that "the Gospel."
What Scripture calls "the Gospel" is that Christ has died for Our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas and the Twelve. That's it, that's the only time the epistles say, "this is the gospel."
I don't bring this up to be contentious. I bring this up, because when I look to see how the Word of God defines the Gospel, I don't find "Four Spiritual Laws" or "The Romans Road" or even John 3:16. What I find is four propositions about the death, burial, resurrection, and witnesses of Christ.
Let's be quick to say that God loves to forgive (Micah 7:18–19). There can be no doubt that someone who believes God is justified freely. There can be no doubt that many, many people have heard a not-quite-right Gospel, and God has justified them freely when they believe. Not because they got the Gospel right, but because they believed on Him who justifies the ungodly. Remember, God justifies the one who does not work, but believes (Romans 4:5), and every one of us – if we are honest – finds our belief is mixed up in all sorts of unbelief (Mark 9:24). No one who comes to Christ will be turned away (John 6:37), even if they later realize they could have come "better."
In other words, the Gospel isn't some sort of arcane test we need to pass in order to get to Christ. God forgives freely with the slightest provocation. Galatians 1:6–9 isn't a rule to exclude hearers from forgiveness, it's a condemnation against those who preach something else as Gospel.
I've asked this before, but I think it's worth asking again. Have we heard "gospel messages" that miss out on those four things? Have we heard "gospel messages" that don't talk about Christ being seen by Cephas and the Twelve? Have we heard "gospel messages" that don't mention that Christ was buried? Have we heard "gospel messages" that don't mention the Resurrection? I have heard all of those things.
These so-called Gospel messages reveal our hearts, perhaps more completely than we want to admit.
Paul preached the Gospel as something to be believed. We prefer to preach a Gospel that's something to do. The Gospel that Paul preached, that the Corinthians received, that they believed, by which they were saved – that Gospel has no call to action. That Gospel is the story of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. It's not some proscribed action we give to sinners so they can be saved.
None of us wants to admit the central fact of Romans 4:1–5. God justifies the one who does not work, but believes. We just can't quite accept that, and so we add subtle "to-do" items to what Scripture calls the Gospel.
"Here's the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, repeat this prayer after me." That's literally adding something to the Gospel.
We just can't resist adding something for the sinner to do.
It reveals, too, that we're not seeing everything through the lens of "Christ and Him crucified." If we were seeing everything through that lens, it wouldn't be hard for us to give the Gospel Paul gave and stop there. It's because we see "Christ and Him crucified" as not enough that we keep trying to add something to that.
I'm not saying that God doesn't command all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30–31). Of course He does! But we sure have an easy time folding all sorts of things into that word "repent." And I can't help but notice that our friends who stress repentance seem to lose "Christ and Him crucified" in the process. Somehow the focus becomes "repent" and "Christ and Him crucified" seems to slip off to the side, away from center stage.
Maybe repentance is something to talk about another time. It deserves its own post.
But the point I'm trying to make is that our life as Christians is supposed to be all about Christ. And when we give a "Gospel" that is more about the sinner than about Christ, then we reveal that we're not determined to see everything through the lens of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
And maybe this is the biggest single problem we have. We manage to find so many things to put at the center, where Christ should be, and then we act surprised that our lives aren't Christ-centered. Well... what did we think would happen? Jesus Christ and Him crucified, that's the center we should have.
And make no mistake, I'm at least as guilty of this as anyone else. I'm not accusing all those sinners out there, I'm saying "we" because I mean "we."
4 comments:
This reminds me of something JN Darby wrote:
“There is what I have called a teaching gospel, say, like Hebrews 9 and half 10, 2 Cor. 3, and other places. The facts are generally known, and much gospel preaching must be on the worth and bearing of facts, and that on heart and conscience, but the more the facts are insisted on, the more power I believe there will be. Christ, and what He has done. Dwelling exclusively on meeting the sinner's need, though true, and revealing God's love, always sweet to the soul, lays a narrow basis for after-growth.”
In other words, a clear preaching / teaching of the gospel as objective, historical facts, lays the best basis for a fruitful Christian life afterward, because it is based on something outside of the Christian: Christ Himself, and His work.
Totally agree with Rodger's closing:
"In other words, a clear preaching / teaching of the gospel as objective, historical facts, lays the best basis for a fruitful Christian life afterward, because it is based on something outside of the Christian: Christ Himself, and His work."
We tend to wax "philosophical" and look in the Word for "profound ideas" to "ponder". And the Word is indeed more profound than any of us can begin to fully grasp. But when it comes to the GOSPEL BY WHICH WE ARE SAVED, we are presented with a set of hardcore, objective, EVENTS which took place in a particular time and place in HISTORY. One either believes that these HISTORICAL EVENTS did indeed take place, and is thereby saved, or one does not. When I believe these EVENTS, I by default believe that Christ died for MY sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and He was seen by MANY who were alive at that time, and HE LIVES...
I couldn't agree more.
When I was a teenager, I also was concerned about preaching a gospel that is not a gospel. And around the same time I was also impressed with Peter’s words about offering spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God. There is a gospel that is not acceptable as there is worship that is unacceptable. The answer to both dilemmas is, as you say, Christ.
The words of Paul in Philippians 1:18 are often misquoted as ‘notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, The gospel is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice’.
The word ‘gospel’ covers a multitude of sins in our day. But Paul was very careful to say he rejoiced when ‘Christ is preached’. That takes gospel preaching to the same level as worship. I cannot worship God while speaking about myself. And I cannot preach the gospel and speak about myself. John the Baptist had the high aspiration that ‘He must increase; I must decrease’. Paul took this to I higher level still in Galatians 2: 20 ‘yet not I but Christ’.
That small phrase, ‘not I’, searches all our hearts when it comes to worship and service. If most of the current gospel preachers took themselves out of their messages, they would have little to say. We seem to have reached a stage in the testimony when men believe it is their role to get the audience on their side. They are more like car salesmen than preachers. Sharp suits, big smiles, soothing words, all covey to the audience the message; here is a nice man with a mortgage, a wife and family, and a college degree who struggles with life just as you do. Yet he has been smart enough to believe this message, so why don’t you?
A brother who greatly helped me when I was younger once said, ‘go into a room and begin to tell the Father all that you know about His Son. Don’t say a word about yourself, your blessings or your needs. Speak only about Christ and when you can say no more, look at how long it has taken you. That length of time is where you really are in your soul’.
Christ enjoyed in the soul is the number one requirement for the gospel preacher. Five minutes hearing about Christ from a man like that will do the sinner more good than listening to the jumbled up, out of context, self promoting messages that passes for the gospel today.
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