The Gospel message is not complicated. Understanding it, believing it, and living by it, makes the difference between spiritual life and death. The word gospel itself denotes ‘good message’ or ‘good news.’
The Bible teaches us that we are dead in our sin and the Gospel of Christ brings life. Sin occurs when we violate the law of God. All of us have violated God’s law for the Bible declares, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Putting our faith in the work of Jesus Christ transforms us from being spiritually dead, and makes us alive as new creatures in Him.
The Message
The Apostle Paul spells out the Gospel message in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8:
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as it were to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.”
A person receives the message, believes it, holds fast to it, and is saved. As we see in the Corinthians passage above, the message states:
- Christ died for our sins;
- He was buried;
- He raised from the dead on the 3rd day;
- He appeared to many people -alive from the dead.
The Rev. Joseph Benson comments,
“Here we see the apostle delivered to the Corinthians, from the Lord himself, not only that he died for our sins, and rose again the third day after his death, but that these things had happened according to the prophecies of the Scriptures concerning the Christ, because by that circumstance, as well as by his resurrection, our Lord was demonstrated to be the Christ.”1
According to the Scriptures
Twice in the Corinthian passage, Paul says, “according to the Scriptures.” It is very important to understand that the Gospel message was foretold. God’s plan for redeeming mankind is in place because God always knew it was needed.
As one of my pastors likes to say, “This is not plan ‘B’.” The Gospel is not a backup plan but the original plan.
Sprinkled throughout the Old Testament (OT) are prophecies of the Messiah. Below are just a few that speak of His payment for our sin and His death, burial, and resurrection. These are possibly the Scriptures that Paul is referencing.
Isaiah 53:5-6
“But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
“All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.”
Isaiah 53:12
“Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.”
Psalm 16:10
“For Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Sheol;
Neither wilt Thou allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay.”
The Apostle Peter also makes reference to the Psalm 16 text in his first sermon in Acts 2:31. Peter says,
“he [King David] looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER ABANDONED TO HADES, NOR DID His flesh SUFFER DECAY.”2
Jonah 1:17
“And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.”
The Lord Himself affirmed Jonah 1:17 to be a prophecy of His three days in the heart of the earth, and of His subsequent resurrection. Jesus speaks of this sign of His yet future resurrection in Matthew 12:39-40.
Matthew 12:39-40
“”But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign shall be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.””
Believe
We can also see the simplicity of the message in a couple of examples. The first is from the book of Acts.
Acts 16
Early in the life of the church, Paul and Silas were imprisoned wrongly for preaching the Gospel. They were thrown into the inner prison and their feet were fastened in the stocks. Picking up the story in Acts 16, verse 25, Luke records,
“But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened. And when the jailer had been roused out of sleep and had seen the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here!”
And he called for lights and rushed in and, trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said,
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household.”And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.”3
Romans 10
In the book of Romans, chapter 10:8-13, Paul is explaining the message of faith in Christ.
Originally, the Jews were God’s people and had a special covenant with Him. All other people were referred to as Greeks and were not part of that covenant. Paul makes it clear in this passage that the Gospel is for everyone, both Jew and Greek. And, that the result of believing the Biblical message of faith, is righteousness.
Paul explains:
“But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him; for “WHOEVER WILL CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.””
Conclusion
The message is to believe. To respond with faith to the Gospel brings transformation. We demonstrate that we believe by turning from our ungodly way of life to live for our Creator.
The Gospel depends upon Jesus’ resurrection. The OT Scriptures foretold of the event, and Jesus added more information prior to His crucifixion explaining what was to take place. It all happened according to God’s plan.
All that is left is for you to believe the Gospel.
Appendix
I have given more extensive evidence for Christ in my post, The Case for Christ.
1 Benson Commentary
2 All caps in the New Testament indicate an Old Testament quote.
3 Luke 16:25-34