What is the Gospel?

God created heaven and earth bringing about order in chaos (Genesis 1:1-2). The pinnacle of God’s creation was man, a being in his own image (Genesis 1:27). Being in God’s image, man was given the right to rule over the earth (Genesis 1:26) and having the capacity for free will he chose to give up his authority to Satan (Ephesians 2:1-2). He listened to the deceiver, rebelling against God (Genesis 3:4-6) Sin entered man to his very nature (Ephesians 2:3). Sin is missing the mark, being out of alignment with how God has ordered creation to be. Man did not align himself with God. (Romans 3:19-20)

Because man had forfeited his claim to rule over the earth he was cast out of the garden, protected from the tree of life which would enable his earthly body, tainted by sin, to endure forever - trapping him without salvation (Romans 6:5-10) as the unrighteous angels - demons - are (Hebrews 2:14-16); Because man had sinned God removed him from His presence (Isaiah 59:2). Man’s adversaries, the devil (spiritual) and death (physical), were made to rule over the earth (Genesis 3:24). And yet, even from the beginning Man’s victory over the adversary was foretold (Genesis 3:15). God’s purposes cannot be denied, for he is the author, the creator and sustainer of all things (Job 42:2, Psalm 115:3, 2 Corinthians 1:20). He made man to rule so naturally he would promise that it would come to pass once more (1 Peter 2:9, Revelation 20:4-6). The devil now rules over the earth; however, he is no equal to God and cannot oppose him (Job 2:1-7, Revelation 20:1-3).

Despite the promise of victory over Satan, sin and death, throughout the scriptures man continues to demonstrate an inability to rule as God commanded, falling into sin (Genesis 4:5-8) and therefore death (Romans 6:23a). It was man’s very nature (Romans 5:12). All the while God continued to declare, and men to hope in, his promises on earth (Hebrews 11): personally to the patriarchs, for a chosen nation through the law, for a region through the prophets, and to the world by his son - spread by the apostles (Hebrews 1:1-2). Yet even with the promise of salvation from his adversaries (Satan, sin and death), still no man had victory (Romans 3:23). Until one man did: Jesus.

Jesus lived a life free from sin and took the wrath of God for the sin of all mankind, if they are willing to accept his sacrifice as their own. Jesus’s death was foretold by the prophets and the law emphasizes the need of innocent blood by death as a payment of sin, modeled for generations before Jesus’s 1st coming (Exodus 12:21-27, Leviticus 16, Isaiah 53). Who could be this perfect sacrifice? The lamb of God? (John 1:29-34) Jesus is the only man who could live a sinless life, innocent because he is God (Romans 8:3). For while man gave up his authority to the devil, the devil is no equal to God and cannot oppose him; therefore, only a God-Man could succeed. Thus, Jesus’s sacrifice was satisfactory before God because of his innocence, his innocence can only be attributed to his divine power and his was divinity was made manifest in his resurrection on the third day after his death. (Without the resurrection faith in Jesus is void. (1 Corinthians 15:14)) He is the conqueror of sin and death, and so it is by this authority he offers a gift, that we do not deserve, to be free from sin and death - full of eternal life (2 Corinthians 5:16-17). Acceptance of God’s free gift of grace by his work on the cross is the only prerequisite for salvation. Those who confess with their mouths and believe in their hearts will be saved (Romans 10:9).

Beliefs dictate actions. Therefore, those who truly believe in their hearts will not only confess with their mouths (1 John 3:9), as through the sacrament of baptism, but also bear fruit. Bearing fruit, the bountiful production of goods from healthy roots, is an analogy God used to describe those who produce good works because they abide in him by the truth of his word (Psalm 1:1-3), his salvation - his unfathomable character and deeds towards us. Christian’s foster new life, by living on every word that comes from the mouth of the Father (Duet 8:3). Therefore, they dwell (Romans 8;5) and delight on the scriptures night and day (Psalm 1:2) enamored with the perfection (Psalm 19:7-8), consistency (Psalm 19:8b), and admonishment (Psalm 8:9-10) it offers them. They observe the natural world and here too are enamored and convicted.

This is what Jesus means by “born again” in John 3: A person who accepts and whose daily choices and attitudes are evidenced by new life - a rebirth. For we were dead - I speak not of physical death but of spiritual death - the inability to fulfill one’s purpose. Man’s purpose is to rule and only he who has the right to rule over the earth - he who conquered its current ruler - has the right to delegate such authority. While death has not yet become manifest in our mortal bodies, death results from sin and therefore those who have freedom from death have freedom from sin. The life is a new thing, a change - a transformation.

For this purpose, God gives to believers the Holy Spirit for all eternity (John 14:15-17) to equip the believer to be able to engage with all things for life in godliness. The resurrection of man from spiritual death to spiritual life, evidenced by his fruit, is a sign of things to come. For while Jesus has defeated sin and spiritual death and makes victory against these things available to all who believe, Satan (Rev 13:7a) and physical death still have their way with mankind. Yet it will not be so forever, for the same prophets (Jeremiah 28:9) who prophesied Jesus’s coming, death, burial, and resurrection, also speak of Jesus’s victory over these as well. As for Satan, the ruler of the earth and accuser of man, his rule will be usurped for a millennium and then he will be judged guilty thrown into the lake of fire. As for physical death, Jesus has withheld his authority over it but will exercise his right over death to rapture his church and to resurrect all of mankind that each might be judged (Hebrews 9:27) having an eternity with the fullness of their spiritual condition: life or death (Hebrews 9:28).

GOD & MAN: In the beginning, God made everything in its place, and called it good. Man was made on the sixth day as the pinnacle of creation; made in God’s image, blessed to rule earth.

SIN: Man rebelled against God’s rule through disobedience in the garden and continues to do so – generation to generation – every day, this is called sin. Sin, when fully grown, brings spiritual and physical death.

SALVATION: Seeing us dejected, desolate and without a way of escaping sin and death, God came down himself as a man, Jesus, to live how he intentioned us to live – in obedience. He was perfect. Because he was perfect and divine, he could die on our behalf to pay the penalty for our rebellion, which he did on the cross to satisfy God’s wrath against unrighteousness and the grave could not hold him - he was victorious over sin and death and invites us to share in his victory.

BELIEF: If anyone confesses with their mouth and believes in their heart that Jesus was raised from the dead, then they will be saved from sin and God’s just judgment concerning it – eternal spiritual death. True salvation is professed, practiced, and persevered in by God’s grace (by the person of the Holy Spirit who is) received in faith of the person and work of God’s son: Jesus. 

LIFE: Because a believer is free from sin and therefore death they have new life, this transformation is easily observable in their actions and attitudes every day, which move further from sin day by day through the power of the Holy Spirit. Although everyone will succumb to physical death, a believer will remain spiritually alive. In the end, God will resurrect all people eternally freeing them from physical death to judge them as either righteous or unrighteous. The unrighteous will have eternal suffering as only those with Jesus’s righteousness will be able to stand in the judgment and made to share in the heritage of mankind, claimed by Jesus alone, to rule the (new) earth with him as high king.