What is the gospel?

The gospel is the good news of God about His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, for a sinner such as you, that for you, even for such as you, God has forgiveness, peace, glory, a place with Christ where Christ is now. It is His joy to give, to receive; His delight to make you a child of day, and of light. Christ has died, has risen again, is now in glory, the author of eternal salvation to every poor soul that looks to Him. W. T. T.

The gospel tells you who Jesus is and what He has done, and if you believe its message in your heart, and confess Him with your mouth, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).

What, then, is the gospel? In presenting it the Apostle Paul wrote, “I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ DIED for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3). It is the meaning and the results of the death of Christ that constitute the gospel.

(Vv. 1, 2). As this denial of resurrection undermines the gospel, the Apostle first reminds these believers of the gospel which he had preached, which they had received, wherein they had their standing in blessing before God, and by which they were saved. But he adds the words, “unless ye have believed in vain”, for if there is no resurrection they had evidently believed in a myth. However, the Apostle shows in a parenthetical remark that the reality of their faith would be proved by holding fast the word that he had announced to them in the glad tidings.

(Vv. 3, 4). Immediately he sums up the glad tidings under three heads. First, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures”. This brings before us the great propitiatory work of Christ for all the world, foretold in all the Scriptures, for the law sets it forth in figure, the Psalms present it experimentally, and the prophets announce it prophetically. Secondly, Christ was buried, the complete evidence of His death and the solemn fact that all His links with man after the flesh are severed. Thirdly, “He was raised the third day, according to the Scriptures”, the everlasting witness that the power of death is broken, the devil defeated, and God is glorified.

Now note, if there be no resurrection of the dead, then, says Paul, "Christ is not raised"; and he argues immediately that if Christ be not raised, our preaching is vain, and, more than that, we have been telling lies about God, for we said that God had raised Him. "And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins." But what is the converse? If Christ be raised, for every person who trusts Him, then you are not in your sins. That is the Gospel. That is the Gospel I believe in. Thank God, I know my sins are forgiven. Moreover, this forgiveness, this salvation, has been bought for us by the dying agonies of the Son of God; and I love to speak of that blessed Saviour who has gone into death — into the very dominion of death. And what has He done? He has met the claims of God in righteousness, He has glorified His nature about sin, He has defeated Satan, and broken his power, annulled death, and risen from the dead. Christ has won a victory, that sets every soul that clings to Him free, and brings that soul into the enjoyment of the spoils of the victory which Jesus has wrought for us. What demonstrates the power and the fulness of the Gospel? That the One who died for us is raised from among the dead. If Christ be not raised, ye are yet in your sins; but if He be raised, what then? The two consequences of sin — death and judgment — the blessed Saviour took on the cross, and the result is this, that the veil is rent, the way right up into God's presence is laid open, and there is the blood of atonement that give? you title to draw near to God.

God’s gospel concerns His Son Jesus Christ our Lord [1] . In Him, an eternal salvation is offered by grace. The gospel of Christ is the power of God; it is presented to all men, in the irremediable state in which they all are, without exception. The gospel reveals also God’s righteousness, on the principle of faith to faith because: ‘The just shall live by faith.’ [2]

But God has raised Him from the dead. He was delivered for our offences, and has been raised again for our justification. Righteousness and life are in Him for all men. He is last Adam in resurrection, His death has enabled Hun to take this place, and in Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses. In the gospel this is made known. He is preached as glad tidings to the whole human race. He can now take man out of death. It was, as I have been saying, to this end that He made propitiation, and now life is available to man, and we are in life by His Spirit. We are not free from death in the life of flesh, but we are free from it in the life of Christ.

Death lies upon man on account of sin. He needs righteousness. Where is it to be found? In vain I look for it in myself, my neighbour, or in the world. I hearken to the glad tidings. The testimony of God directs me to Christ. Sin came in by Adam, righteousness has come in by Christ. He died for our sins, was buried, and rose again. He is preached as righteousness for all. Forgiveness of sins is declared to every creature in His name, and in Him all who believe are justified. He is become unto the believer righteousness. Jesus Christ the righteous is the believer’s justification in the presence of God.

Now, faith, as we have seen, is always conjoined with repentance; and while repentance is toward God, faith is toward the Lord Jesus Christ. The explanation of this is very simple. It is against God we have sinned, and it is He who has passed judgment upon our sins; so that, when we are convicted of our guilt, it is to Him we turn with confession and self-judgment. In this state our one need is to learn the way of salvation, just as when the jailer, conscience-smitten, rushed into the presence of Paul and Silas, and cried, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Their answer was the presentation of Christ. "Believe," they said, "on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." (Acts 16:30-31.) This, as the reader may perceive, is a summary of what was said; for we read in the next verse that they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. But the fact of the term — the Lord Jesus Christ — being used, shows that it was a full gospel they preached — the gospel concerning His person, His death and resurrection, and His present exaltation as Lord at the right hand of God. The jailer received, through grace, the testimony thus delivered, and there was therefore in his soul faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. He believed God's testimony to the finished work of Christ on the cross, to the value of that work before God as having made full and perfect atonement for sin, and also to the testimony to His resurrection; so that he could then say, "He was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification."

And it is with faith, as so exercised, that remission of sins is always connected. This will be at once understood, if the reader will turn to the passage already cited from Luke 24, where repentance and remission of sins are linked together, both to be preached in the name of the risen Christ. For the moment there is the reception of God's testimony concerning the death and resurrection of Christ, forgiveness of sins is enjoyed. Repentance brings into a right state of soul before God; faith identifies the soul with all the value of the work of Christ. Both therefore are absolutely necessary for salvation.

"Preach Jesus and the resurrection;" proclaim a risen, triumphant Christ. Tell the people that God has put His seal upon the great work of Calvary by raising the Workman from the dead; tell them that the price is paid and is enough, that Satan's power has been annulled, that death has been defeated. If you leave this out of your preaching it will be weak and ineffectual, "If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain: you are yet in your sins" (1 Cor. 15), but now is Christ raised from the dead, and He was raised for our justification. Tell the whole truth of the gospel, for sinners need it all. Think of that solemn statement of Holy Scripture, "By one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, and death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Rom. 5:12). Every man lies under the sentence of death — it is a risen, living Saviour that all need. Would you not be glad to carry to a man lying under the sentence of death in the condemned cell the news that another had suffered the full penalty of the law in his stead? And if you could tell him that this one whose love for him was so great was alive again and was waiting to open his prison door and set him righteously free, and wanting hence forward to be his friend and companion, would you not rejoice and make haste to tell him the good news? Such a thing could never be; but that which is impossible with men is God's gospel, and His gospel is much more than that, for those who are delivered from the power of death that lies upon them are set in Christ before God, for ever clear of all condemnation; they stand instead in everlasting favour, accepted in the Beloved.