So much that we have come to hear as to what the Gospel is “not what the Gospel is”.
When Paul the apostle wrote in [1 Corinthians 15:1], “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you ‘the gospel’ which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand”, he wanted to make an emphatic point.
The phrase ‘the Gospel’ lays the emphasis that there is only one Gospel, whereas ‘a gospel’ would suggest more than one.
These ‘other gospels’ have been very subtly perverted to look divinely truthful, but are really far from Biblical truth.
They have marred and scarred the true face of Christianity and the Christian faith.
Designed to be both manipulative and coercive and for personal gain, they have been subtly twisted.
Paul the apostle was facing the same problem in his days.
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the Grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel” [Galatians 1:6]
“Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ”. [Galatians 1:7]
A well known preacher could not have said it better than this, “You can’t show a counterfeit, if you do not know what the genuine is”.
“I believe with all my heart, that Jesus Christ died for my sins, was buried and rose again for my justification” [1 Corinthians 15:1-4] and [Romans 4:25].
This, and this alone is the Gospel of Grace that has the “POWER TO SAVE” anyone and everyone who believes. God will accept “nothing else”, because He sent His Son to die on the cross, to give us ‘this Gospel’.
So anything even remotely outside of this, no matter how good, holy or divine it may sound, IS NOT THE GOSPEL OF GRACE.
Some of the things we might hear today
“Just invite Jesus into your heart” –
“ Just receive Jesus as your Lord and Saviour” –
“Give your Heart to Jesus”-
“Just surrender your life to Jesus” –
“Make Jesus the Lord of your life” –
There is nothing wrong with any of these, but none of them would be possible unless God saves you “FIRST”, through believing in the True Gospel. After that, all the above points will be a process over a period of time. It could well even take a lifetime.
The Righteousness Of God Revealed
The Scripture tells us that Jesus Christ, “was delivered for our offences, and was raised for our justification” [Romans 4:25]. This happened so that God could put us in right standing with him, ‘just as we had never sinned’.
Jesus told the Jews of His days, that unless they had to have a ‘righteousness’ that was higher than the one that the Jewish religious leaders displayed.
For without it they ‘could not’ inherit the Kingdom of God. [Matthew 5:20]
Jesus being “Raised for our justification”, enables God to impute (put on us) His ‘Higher’ Righteousness to us, which He was talking about.
This is a free gift from God. We cannot work for it.
It’s called “The Gift Of Righteousness.
Our own self-righteousness counts for ‘nothing’ when it comes to our Eternal Salvation.
We can’t earn it, so we can boast of nothing. This is all totally God’s doing. We have no role to play in this whatsoever.
We Just Believe + Nothing Else.
SALVATION = FAITH + NOTHING
“Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again”.
This is ‘the Gospel’ and our confession of saving faith.
This has mightily helped me to understand what the gospel is NOT, thereby ascertaining what the gospel IS !!!!!! Absolutely fantastic to see just how scripture explains scripture !!!! IT’s like the Word of God explaining the Word of God !!
Praise God. Do keep me in prayer as I seek to proclaim the Truth of God’s Word simply & effectively.