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The Five Essentials of the Gospel of Salvation, the
Gospel of Christ
1. Who Jesus Is: Without proper knowledge of who Jesus was and is, the gospel would be meaningless. If Jesus died as an ordinary man, not as the Messiah, God in the flesh, the Gospel is meaningless, pointless. Jesus Christ himself thought it of such importance that he asked his disciples in Matthew 16:14, “Who do men say that I, the Son of man am?” Then after the disciples gave all their answers, he asked them in verse 15 more directly, “But who do you say that I am?”. Clearly he’s going a certain place with that question. Important question for anybody, everybody who has ever lived. You should be able to answer that, and by the grace of God, answer that correctly, and mean it in your heart. The answer that you would give to that question is so, so important in your life, and the life of anyone being drawn to Christ. What, who do you say Jesus is? You know, confession to that, the answer to that can determine even what is in your heart as far as salvation goes, are you really even saved, do you really know God? The answer to that, 1st John 4:15 says, “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” Peter as we see there in verse 16 of Matthew 16, says “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 1st John 5:5 says, “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” So first, as an essential part of the Gospel of Salvation, we have to understand that Jesus Christ is God, God the Son. Further proof from Jesus’ own mouth would not hurt. Jesus stated in John 8:56-58, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” Jesus just identified himself as “I am”. The Jews knew who “I am” was. And because Jesus referred to himself as the “I am” they took up stones to stone him, as the next verse shows. Why? Because to state you were God, if you were an ordinary person, was blasphemy. That is why they took up stones to stone him, as the next verse says, “Then they took up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.” Why did the Jews think Jesus had just stated that he was God? The Old Testament in Exodus identifies who “I am” is. Let’s look. Exodus 3:13-14, “And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” Jesus just identified himself in John 8 as the great “I AM”, the one whom the Israelites knew as Yahweh, the very one who led the Israelites out of Egypt, the God of the Old Testament. This very God of the Old Testament became God the Son, as stated in Jesus Christ’s own words out of his own mouth. So we see, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Great I AM came to earth as God the Son and would sacrifice himself for the sins of mankind, everybody. One man, greater than all the men who have ever lived, the Creator of the heavens and the earth and all physical matter, would become the sacrifice for sin, all sin. So it’s critical to understand and know who Jesus Christ is. [to read further proof of who Jesus Christ is see: http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/1stcoming.htm.]
2. We Are All Sinners, Lost In Our Sins: Also we saw, knowing you are a sinner, beyond hope for salvation on your own is critical to the knowledge of salvation. All these facts are fairly simple. Romans 3:9-12, “What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is not one that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” So if we’re all sinners, the Law of God has already condemned us to death, the 2nd death, without hope, as verse 20 states, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” So we all need a Savior to rescue us from the 2nd death, destruction in the Lake of Fire spoken of in Revelation 20:14-15.
3. Jesus Christ Died To Pay For The Sins Of Mankind: Next it is important to understand, that just as the Passover lambs died, Jesus had to die. The Bible states that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for our sins. As we see in 1st Corinthians 15:3, “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” Jesus’ sacrificial blood paid for the sins of mankind, all who believe. So belief in Jesus Christ and faith in his sacrificial death and blood, accepting Jesus into your life, asking for him to come into your life, and accepting his sacrifice for your sins is all part of the simple Gospel of Salvation. [see Matthew 26-27; John 19-20]
4. Jesus Christ Rose From The Dead: Also part of the Gospel of Salvation is that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Paul states the importance of this fact in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 12-14, “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures: and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures…Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.” Peter, in his first sermon in Acts chapter 2 preached the first Gospel sermon, and that ‘Gospel’ was about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Result, 3,000 were baptized that very same day and the Church was in essence born that day. [see also John 20, Luke 24.]
5. Jesus Christ Is Coming Back To Earth Again: This is often a part of the simple Gospel of Christ which is left out by some Christian denominations, and included by others. But it is included within all the Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah, describing who Jesus Christ is. It is also included in Luke quoting a short description of Peter preaching the Gospel before the Sanhedrin giving us an accurate synopsis of what was included in the Gospel of Christ, or Salvation, in Acts 3:18-21. “But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which was before preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his prophets since the world began.” For the prophecies showing the Messiah’s 2nd coming, log onto: http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming_2.htm and to view the Bible’s teaching about the soon-coming Millennial Kingdom of God Jesus will establish at his return, log onto: http://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/mkg1.htm.
What’s next? Confession and calling upon the name of the
Lord
And as John 14 and Acts 2 show us, when we recognize these simple things and ask Jesus into our lives, he and God the Father enter into us by placing the Holy Spirit into us, and we become born-again believers in Jesus Christ, Christians or Messianic Jewish believers in Yeshua haMeshiach. [Jesus explained this to Nicodemus in John 3:1-21.] So when one has come to see his true deplorable condition, and that Christ died to pay for his or her sins, and rose again (and will return again to this earth), the next step is for that individual to call out to the Lord, acknowledging him as the Lord of their life, and ask him to come into his or her life. Romans 10 shows this, and often Evangelicals use this in their altar calls. It is Biblical. Let’s read it. Romans 10:8-12, “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.”
Next step
One who truly believes Jesus Christ died to pay for their sins and rose again, and has called out to him, acknowledging him as their Savior and Lord, one who now believes this core message about Christ, now being indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit, will “repent”, that is change his or her mind about their dead works of sin in the past, and be baptized because of the remission of those sins. As we’ll see in Acts 2:38, this was the Biblical model. Acts 2:38, “And Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost [Holy Spirit].” Often these two steps, asking Jesus into one’s life, and baptism, in the early Christian Church, as seen throughout the Book of Acts, was an event that was all rolled up into one, happened more or less simultaneously. That is why some denominations, reading Acts, feel the Holy Spirit will not be given except upon baptism. It usually happened this way with the early Church, but not always, as seen in Acts 8-10 with Cornelius and his family. He was baptized after he received the Holy Spirit. So right within the Book of Acts, we see it can go both ways.
when people come to understand
these five simple points, what then?
When people have come to understand these five simple facts, recognizing who Jesus Christ is, God the Son, recognizing they are hopeless sinners, recognizing Jesus Christ came as their personal Savior and died to pay for their sins, and recognizing he rose to life and lives to continue to save us through his life, indwelling us through the Holy Spirit, they are ready for a radical change in their life. How? Often people become born-again believers in Jesus Christ by saying a simple prayer which we see outlined in Romans 10:8-12. It is called the sinners prayer in many Evangelical circles. It goes something like this. “Jesus I know that I have sinned and am a sinner. Please forgive me. And I ask you now Jesus to come into my life and live in me.” Knowing who Jesus Christ is, and that he died on the cross to pay for our sins, the sins of the world, accepting that sacrifice and asking Jesus Christ into one’s life is the simple Gospel of Salvation in action. Then if you read John 14, it will show you how Jesus Christ and God the Father come into a believer’s life, by the indwelling Holy Spirit. What we were not able to do concerning obedience to the Law of God becomes possible through the power of God’s Holy Spirit, who now indwells the believer. Then with Jesus acting within us through the Holy Spirit who indwells the new-believer, the believer is progressively brought more and more into harmony with God’s Law as he or she walks through life with Jesus and the Father (cf. Jeremiah 31:31-34). Even though the differing Christian denominations and groups can and do have different interpretations and definitions on the subject of law and grace, this simple result in the believer’s life is the same throughout all these Christian groups and denominations, which would indicate that all our human interpretations for what the Bible actually teaches on law and grace is somehow incorrect. (see http://www.unityinchrist.com/whatisgrace/whatisgraceintro.htm for more on this vital subject about what law & grace is.) Salvation is a free gift, and we now live changed and changing lives in Christ, and we live these lives by faith, a faith that comes into us by that same Holy Spirit. It’s that simple. That’s orthodoxy, the orthodox teaching of the Bible. The word orthodox simply means “right teaching.” Orthodox knowledge means proper knowledge.
There was a ‘Jewish’ gospel being
preached from the Maccabees until the time of Christ
But the Gospel of Salvation is quite simple. It is different than the gospel or good news of the coming Kingdom of God which Jesus will establish at his 2nd coming. It is how people enter into a living relationship with Jesus Christ and God the Father by having the Holy Spirit enter into them, once they have come to understand these four essential points listed above. There are some Sabbatarian Church of God denominations that teach a gospel about the coming Kingdom of God at the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ. This is not a wrong gospel, but merely an expanded Biblical view taken from all the Old and New Testament prophecies, to show how God intends to redeem the whole world at and after the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ, bringing the world into a clear understanding of the Gospel of Christ, the Gospel of Salvation as well. It is a Biblical view, and not a perversion of the gospel. But it is not the Gospel of Salvation or Christ. In reality, this ‘Jewish gospel’ is the Biblical exposition of the 5th point I gave in the simple Gospel of Salvation. So although the ‘gospel’ about the coming Kingdom of God that will be brought about through Jesus Christ’s 2nd coming is not “the Gospel of Salvation” it is an integral part of it, and not the other way around. The confusion comes when people think this ‘Jewish gospel’ is the Gospel preached by Paul and the others. It is not. You can take the 5th point within the simple Gospel of Salvation and expand upon it, coming up with the whole Biblical prophetic scenario about the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God physically on this earth, and in this way make the gospel of salvation include that teaching. It is not wrong as long as you include the other points. Point 5 is the way Salvation will be brought to the whole world after Jesus Christ’s return. But even then, those who come to salvation will still go through points 1 through 4. Point 1 (Who is Jesus Christ) can be expanded in a similar fashion, for we see point 1 would include all four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as any description of who Yahweh was in the Old Testament, for Yahweh was the pre-incarnate Christ. But we must be careful not to confuse any one point in the simple gospel of Salvation for the entire Gospel. You might say all the other information is merely the Biblical exposition of each point in the simple Gospel of Christ, the Gospel of Salvation. Point 2, “we are all sinners,” well, you could include most of the Bible to expound on and prove that point, as well as many secular history books. Do you get my point? Hope so. The Jews from the Maccabees onward to the time of Jesus Christ had a gospel, which taught to the best of their understanding the prophecies of the Coming Messiah and what they termed “the World to Come”, what we would understand as the prophecies about Jesus Christ’s 2nd coming and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth (I often call this “the Jewish Gospel”). The very active evangelistic preaching of the Jews throughout the Diaspora to the Gentiles brought many Gentiles during the Maccabean period into their synagogues to worship the One true God, Yahweh. This group became known as “the God-fearers”. (Many God-fearers became Christians under Paul’s evangelism, but that is another story, to be found at http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/index3.htm.) So, simple Gospel of Christ, Gospel of Salvation, preached by Paul and the apostles, some groups preach 4 points, some 5. Bible seems to include 5 simple points.
The Great Commission to the
Church
We must realize that the core message about Christ which makes up the simple Gospel of Christ, Gospel of Salvation, does not, in itself, contain any instructions about what we as new-believers must do. We must only believe and accept Christ into our lives. One who truly believes will call upon God, repent and be baptized. But all of these actions, and all of our other steps of obedience occur after and as a result of truly believing the core message of the simple Gospel. This is made clear in the order of events outlined by Jesus when he gave the apostles The Great Commission for the Church in Matthew 28:19-20. Let’s read it:
1,) “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,” 2) “baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost…” 3) “teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you…” (King James Version)
So we see Jesus’ command clearly envisions three separate steps, one of which has to do with non-believers and two of which have to do with believers and those who are becoming believers. 1), The first command involves evangelism, presenting the core message of the Gospel of Salvation to the whole world, composed of unbelievers, so that those God is calling can be led to believe it, change his or her mind, repent, and call on the name of the Lord. Paul shows this in the very next verses in Romans 10 after he defines what many call “the sinner’s prayer”. He says, Romans 10:14-15, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:
How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!’”
2), The second step is baptizing
those who have believed “baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost”. The altar-call, coming to Christ by
calling on him (ie, sinner’s prayer) followed by baptism (or all rolled up into
one) is the second essential step outlined in the Great Commission of Jesus to
the Church, leading people to this after their evangelistic efforts have
brought some people this far along. Step
2 in the Great Commission is the first baby-step of the new-believer. Encouraging baptism is definitely a part of
the process. 3), The third step, which
is essential for all babes in Christ, they need nourishment, like all babies
do. The Church is called “the mother of
us all”, and Jesus gave this essential third step in his Great Commission to
the Church, a command to spiritually nourish those who had just received Christ
and been baptized, “teaching them to
observe all things I commanded you.” This is the job of individual congregations whose evangelism has brought
new-believers into their congregations. This is also the first major job of this website, UNITYINCHRIST.COM, to
nourish all believers online---“teaching them to observe all things that I
commanded you.” This site also supports
worldwide international evangelism by promoting the $5.00 a week program, the
first step in Jesus’ Great Commission (see http://www.unityinchrist.com/missionstatement.htm.)
in summary
Those who believe the simple message of the Gospel of Salvation, Gospel of Christ---who Jesus is, that we are all sinners beyond hope, that Jesus died to pay for our sins, was buried, and that he rose again on the third day, and that he will come again---this all leads to a person to call out to God, asking Jesus into his or her life (the sinner’s prayer), which begins their having a direct relationship with God, receiving the Holy Spirit, repentance and baptism---and all this followed by spiritual growth (the lifetime sanctification process). I want to make this perfectly clear, attendance at church meetings and performance of any particular denominational church rituals are not an essential part of the message of the Gospel of Salvation. It is a message about Jesus Christ, who he was and is, what he did for us sinners who wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell without his sacrificial death, burial and resurrection, and our asking and acceptance of Jesus into our lives---and once he’s in our lives, he transforms us into his image.
Related links:
Who is Jesus Christ? Log onto:
http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/1stcoming.htm and read the Gospels, can start with http://www.unityinchrist.com/mathew/Matthew1-1-17.htm
Jesus Christ is coming to earth again and will set up his kingdom on
earth:
http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming.htm
http://www.unityinchrist.com/revelation/Revelation%2018-20.htm
http://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/mkg1.htm
Bible teachings on Law & Grace:
http://www.unityinchrist.com/whatisgrace/whatisgraceintro.htm
The spirit and meaning of the Great Commission:
http://www.unityinchrist.com/missionstatement.htm
The Early Christian Church:
http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/index3.htm
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