What is and is not part of
the Gospel; 1 Cor. 15:1, 2
1 Corinthians 15:1 NASB
“ Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which
also you received, in which also you stand, [2] by which also you are
saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed
in vain.” That last part of the second verse sounds like you can believe and
not be saved, that you can believe but it is in vain; but that is not what the
Greek says.
In Acts 8 these Samaritans
were prepared believer. They were familiar with the Old Testament, though they
were ostracized by the Jews. So when Philip goes to Samaria they are not hearing anything new. He comes to them
and he is preaching who Jesus is, that He is the Messiah,
and the response is faith. The second example in that chapter starts in verse
26 NASB “But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, ‘Get up
and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ (This is a desert {road.}) [27] So he got up and
went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of
the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to
Jerusalem to worship, [28] and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and
was reading the prophet Isaiah.” He is also a prepared unbeliever. [29] “Then
the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go up and join this chariot’. [30] Philip ran up
and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, ‘Do you understand what you
are reading?’ [31] And he said, ‘Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?’
And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.” So he has some knowledge of
Old Testament prophecy. That means he knows who the Messiah is. When we are
presenting the gospel today we have to understand if the person has any concept
of who God is and who Jesus is. Otherwise if you jump right in with you have to
trust in Jesus to be saved they don’t know who Jesus is, they don’t know what
they are being saved from, they don’t even have the
right idea of God yet. It must be recognized that each that in each witnessing
situation the circumstances are different, you can’t
have a canned approach.
Acst 8:32
NASB “Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: “HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER; AND AS A LAMB
BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT, SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH. [33]
IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY; WHO WILL RELATE HIS GENERATION? FOR
HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH.” This
is a passage taken from Isaiah 53:7, 8. Isaiah 53 is one of the most precise
passages in the Old Testament related to the suffering of the Messiah. Philip
is using this passage to show that Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophecies of
Isaiah 53. At the conclusion the Ethiopian eunuch believes the gospel.
Acts 8:40 NASB “But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the
gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.” So he is going through the area explaining the gospel. This was how
the early church grew, through people explaining the gospel and who
witnessed.
Kerusso [khrussw] which is a synonym of euangelizo [e)uaggelizw] is used of Paul in Acts 9:20 NASB “and
immediately he {began} to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the
Son of God’.” This right after Paul’s salvation and after he
had recovered his eyesight. So there he is preaching that Jesus is the
Son of God, but the focus there is not simply on the gospel but on His Messiahship. These were Jewish unbelievers but they were
prepared because they have an Old Testament context.
The next use is in Acts
10, the episode where Peter takes the gospel to Cornelius. Cornelius is a
prepared Gentile, a proselyte to Judaism. He has an Old Testament background,
he understands who God is, he understands the Old Testament teaching on sin and
the promise of a Messiah and a saviour and he is looking for that saviour, he
has positive volition. Peter is brought to Cornelius by God the Holy Spirit and
begins to witness to him.
Acts 10:34 NASB
“Opening his mouth, Peter said: ‘I most certainly understand {now}
that God is not one to show partiality, [35] but in every nation the man who fears Him and does
what is right is welcome to Him. [36] The word which He sent to
the sons of Israel, preaching [e)uaggelizw, present middle participle] peace through Jesus
Christ (He is Lord of all)—[37] you yourselves know the thing which took place
throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed [khrussw]. [38] {You know of} Jesus of Nazareth,
how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and {how} He went
about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was
with Him….”
Acts 10:42 NASB “And He ordered us to preach to the
people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by
God as Judge of the living and the dead. [43] Of Him all the prophets bear
witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness
of sins.” So verse 43 gives us the content of the gospel. It is to believe in
Him and you will be given forgiveness of sin. So evangelism is announcing the
good news that through Jesus Christ you have forgiveness of sins. [45] “All the
circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the
Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.”
Acts 11:19, another indication of evangelism, but here it is not
the word euangelizo, it is another
synonym. NASB “So then those who were scattered because of the
persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking [lalew: speak or communicate] the word
to no one except to Jews alone. [20] But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and {began} speaking to the Greeks also, preaching
the Lord Jesus. [21] And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number
who believed turned to the Lord.” So what is the response to the gospel
message? It is believing. What it means to turn to the
Lord isn’t the idea of repentance in the sense of shame or in the sense of
trying to impress God by your sorrow and remorse, it is the idea of at one
point you have not accepted Christ as saviour and so you turn to Him and trust
in Him as your saviour. That had to do primarily with prepared Jews at this
time.
There is another example
of prepared Jewish believers in Acts 13. In v. 32 we have the verb euangelizo: “And we preach to you the
good news of the promise made to the fathers.” To understand what the content
of the good tidings was we have to go back to verse 16 where Paul begins to
give the gospel to those in Antioch
in Pisidia, a region up in central Turkey. Acts 13:29
“When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him
down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. [30] But God raised
Him from the dead.” So here he introduces resurrection as part of his gospel
presentation. The question is: Is it part of the gospel or is it just part of
his gospel presentation? [31] “and for many days He
appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the
people. [32] And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the
fathers, [33] that God has fulfilled this {promise} to our
children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm,
‘YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN
YOU.’ [34] {As for the fact}
that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has
spoken in this way: ‘I WILL GIVE YOU THE
HOLY {and} SURE {blessings} OF DAVID.’
[35] Therefore He also says in another {Psalm,} ‘YOU WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.’
… [38] Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness
of sins is proclaimed [katangalizo]
to you, [39] and through Him everyone who believes is freed from
all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.”
So here we get a little
more clarification. In the proclamation of the gospel the point is forgiveness
of sins and this deals with the subject of
justification. Justification recognises that the issue in salvation has to do
with the justice of God. God is absolute justice and perfect righteousness.
These two different concepts in English, justice and righteousness, both derive
from the basic Greek word and Hebrew word. The Greek word has to do with
righteousness: dikaiosune [dikaiosnunh], from the root dikh. It’s application is
justice. Righteousness has to do with the standard and justice has to do with
the application of the standard. The same is true for the Hebrew word tzaddak. In
English we use two different words to describe this one concept but in both
Hebrew thought and in Greek thought they were seen as inseparable. When you
have a value system you apply that value system. But the righteousness of God
is His standard, and no human being meets the standard of God because we are
all sinners. We still have a problem because somehow in order to have a
relationship with God His justice which is the application of the standard
needs to be satisfied. So at salvation all of our sins were poured out on the
cross, so that on the cross Jesus Christ paid for all of our sins and we are
told that He who knew no sin was made sin for us. So even though He is perfect
righteousness all of our sins are imputed to Him judicially. He doesn’t become a
sinner but He bares in His body on the cross our sins.
Therefore at salvation His perfect righteousness is imputed or credited or
reckoned to our account so that we receive His perfect righteousness. It is not
that our –R is turned into +R, it is that our –R
is covered with His +R. So that the perfect righteousness of God now
looks down on us and sees perfect divine righteousness which is our possession.
Because the standard is met the justice of God is now free to approve us or to
bless us. This is what is called the doctrine of justification by faith alone. When
we put our faith in Jesus Christ at that instant His perfect righteousness is
credited to our account, God’s righteousness sees our possession of divine righteousness, grants it approval, the justice of God then
blesses us and we are justified by faith alone. All of our sins have been paid
for by Christ on the cross.
Acts 13 describes how the
gospel is presented to prepared Jews who are familiar
with the Old Testament. In Acts 14 we see how the gospel is presented to
unprepared Gentiles in Yystra. This is what we will
run into a lot in our day. Acts 14:8 NASB “At Lystra a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet,
lame from his mother’s womb, who had never walked.
[9] This man was listening to Paul as he spoke, who, when he had fixed his gaze
on him and had seen that he had faith to be made well, [10] said
with a loud voice, ‘Stand upright on your feet.’ And he leaped up and {began}
to walk. [11] When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice,
saying in the Lycaonian language, ‘The gods have
become like men and have come down to us’.” They are attributing deity to Paul
and Barnabas, so immediately there is a communication problem. [12] “And they
{began} calling Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief
speaker. [13] The priest of Zeus, whose {temple} was just outside the city,
brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and wanted to offer sacrifice with the
crowds. [14] But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it,
they tore their robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out
[15] and saying, ‘Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the
same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from
these vain things to a living God, WHO
MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM’.” What is going on here? Where is the cross? Think
about it. Where is Jesus being raised from the dead here? He didn’t even get to
the cross, he never even mentions Jesus at this point. He will,
we can infer that from the text, but before he gets to Jesus he has to make sure
they understand who the God is that they are talking about. The starting point
is getting their theology proper straight. Once he has them understanding who
God is as the creator of the universe, then he can communicate why the creature
needs to be saved. He doesn’t just jump into the cross,
he starts with God as creator. The response to the gospel message was belief. The
point is that when you witness to certain unprepared Gentiles you don’t start
with some common knowledge of who Jesus is and then men are sinners, you have
to go back and start with who God is.
Acts 16:10, Paul’s overall
mission is stated. NASB “When he had seen the vision, immediately we
sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach [e)uaggelizw] the
gospel to them.” Then we have an example of how he does that. He is thrown into
prison in Philippi, and in 16:30
after the gates had been opened the guard is about to commit suicide. He thinks
he is going to die all of a sudden. His preparation didn’t have to do with
getting facts straight about the Old Testament, his preparation is that he
knows that he is going to die and he wants to go to heaven. So the response from
Paul and Silas is given in v. 31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you
will be saved, and your household.” “Your household”
is applying the principle of believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to him as an
individual and the household, it is not talking about household faith, that he
should believe and all his family would be saved. But the point to be
emphasized once again is that preaching the gospel is explained briefly and
succinctly in v. 31. What is the condition for salvation? It is faith alone in
Christ alone. There is a situation where Paul doesn’t go through a lot of
discourse in establishing a frame of reference.
But we do have another
example of where he does that in chapter seventeen when he goes to Athens. He comes to Mars Hill in Athens and enters into a dialogue with the Epicurean and
Stoic philosophers. This is a different kind of a person. The Philippians
jailor was probably an unlearned man who doesn’t have a lot of intellectual
baggage to bring as objections to whatever it is he is going to hear. At the
other end of the socio-economic spectrum are the philosopher leaders in Athens.
Acts 17:18 NASB “And also some of the Epicurean and
Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some were saying, ‘What would this
idle babbler wish to say?’ Others, ‘He seems to be a proclaimer of strange
deities,’ — because he was preaching [e)uaggelizw] Jesus and the resurrection.” So here he is clearly
explaining the resurrection along with the gospel related to what Christ did. When
we see his detailed encounter with them in the next few verses he begins not at
the cross but with who God is.
Acts 17:22 NASB “So Paul stood in the midst
of the Areopagus and said, ‘Men of Athens, I observe that you are very
religious in all respects. [23] For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your
worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’
Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. [24]
The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and
earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands [25] nor is He served by human
hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all {people}
life and breath and all things; [26] and He made from one {man}
every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined
{their} appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation.” The point is,
he gets to the gospel but he has to spend time setting the stage so that they
understand who God is.
Summary
When we ask the question, What is the gospel? And we go back and look at the various
accounts in Acts—none of which are trying to define for us everything there is
to say about the gospel, they are simply historical accounts of what happened—we
can derive from them certain basic conclusions. One is that the good news that
there was forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ. Secondly, that the response was
to simply believe in Jesus Christ, and that alone. We also see that the process
of evangelism or witnessing is not a type of cookie cutter event, it involves
something different for each person and you have to decide through interaction
and communication with people how much they understand and what their frame of
reference is. Do they know who God is? Is this God some sort of personal force
or is it the personal, holy, righteous God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. If they
don’t understand who God is then when you communicate the gospel message that
Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins that is going to lose a lot of its
force and context because they don’t understand the background. So you have to
take some time to go back and teach them who God is before you can ever get to
the point of fully explaining the gospel. Some of that has to do with just
where the individual lives. The Philippians jailer on one hand is just a simple
thinker and it doesn’t take a whole lot to convince him. On the other hand you
have some folk who because of their educational background and training have
just built up a whole wall of intellectual defence against gospel and you have
to approach them in a different manner. So what that calls upon us to do as
believers is to work on our preparation. The most important factor is doing it.
We are all going to make mistakes but we learn by them. Our job is to make the
gospel as clear as we can and God the Holy Spirit is the one who drives it home
and enables the unbeliever to understand what the real issues are.