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I'll be serializing the whole book from now until Christmas Day - so stay tuned, share this on Facebook, and tell your friends so they can learn more about Christ this Christmas.
Dear Reader;
The pages you are about to read set forth, from the Bible, the most controversial statement in the history of mankind; a truth for which many have died, some in protecting it, others in suppressing it. There is nothing else in the Bible which has been the occasion of such great strife and resistance. Because of this, it is something conveniently left out, easily neglected – but to do so to the exception of this central message is to miss out on the one unifying theme which connects the text from beginning to end; which is to say, the person and the work of Jesus Christ in the Salvation of mankind.
Before we get to the subject at hand, let us first take heed of its importance, lest we think on a weighty matter without knowing its gravity – and so foolishly skim through it as if it were a gossip column or whimsical fairy tale. Many a man will largely ignore his doctor when asked to exercise more; yet if he retains this attitude when the same doctor asks him to take medication in treatment of a life-threatening disease, then it is to his great peril. It is not then the importance of the medium which should be weighed, nor even the importance of the messenger, but rather the importance of the message itself.
On this latter count, consider the words Paul1 writes to the Corinthians on this topic:
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received.
1 Corinthians 15:1-3a
Notice that Paul, quite openly, states that it is by “the Gospel” that the Corinthian Christians are being saved; provided that they hold fast to it. Again, read how he rebukes the Christians in Galatia:
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— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the Gospel of Christ.
Galatians 1:6-7
This Gospel then, is but one; there is no other Gospel. We cannot correctly talk about a liberation Gospel, a prosperity Gospel, a reformed Gospel, a liberal Gospel, or indeed any other Gospel; for there are no other Gospels, only distortions. Paul will go on to say that “if anyone is preaching to you a Gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed2”.
As it becomes clear that there is just one Gospel, but yet there are distorted pretenders to the gospel, so it becomes all the more important to know what this one gospel is – lest we tragically find on the last day that we have clung to cleverly designed lies rather than the truth of God.
An etymologist will tell you that the word ‘gospel’ is made up of two Old English words: god meaning ‘good’ and ‘spel’ meaning ‘message’; which is itself a literal translation of the original Greek term evangelion (εὐαγγέλιον) which means ‘good news’.
So, in this short book we will explore just what it is that the Bible means by this good news – the Gospel – and in so doing understand what it means for us. Fortuitously, we don’t have to waste time guessing at what the Gospel might be, because the same Bible which gives us the word also sets it out in great clarity.
One of the places we find it set out is in the next part of the passage earlier quoted from the first letter to the Corinthians (page 4):
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain:
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins
1 Corinthians 15:1-3
This book will look in detail at the Gospel using a structure based on discussing this statement “that Christ died for our sins”, for if this is, as the Apostle Paul writes, the matter of first importance, then we must not by any means shrink from ensuring that it is a matter most firmly known and fully settled in our hearts. This being a matter of life and death, how much more attention should we pay to it than to other matters, which whilst doubtless of significance, neither provide life nor avert death?
It is no exaggeration to say that if you were to only understand one teaching of the Christian faith, this message of the Gospel must be it, for in this is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes3. Likewise, it must be insisted at all costs that there is much else of great importance in the Bible; only that this must come first and be foremost.
May the grace of our most merciful God enter your heart and mind to receive the Gospel of Christ with understanding and faith, to the salvation of your soul, for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and to the Glory of God.
Amen
1 Paul, also known as Saul (before his conversion), was a persecutor of the church who became a Christian and Apostle after meeting the resurrected Jesus whilst travelling to continue his campaign of persecution. You can read his story in Acts 9:1-22 in which Jesus calls him to be “a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15). As an Apostle, he proves to be instrumental in carrying the Gospel to non-Jewish audiences.
2 Galatians 1:9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a Gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
3 Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
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