Monday, August 27, 2012

Thoughts on the Gospel

“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 in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures...” --1 Corinthians 15:1-4 ESV

I have been reading a lot of Michael Horton lately. I highly recommend his books: “Christless Christianity” and “The Gospel Driven Life”.  

In them, he emphasizes that the substance of the true Gospel is not what we do, but what has been done for us. The Gospel is not a “to do list”. It is not a list of rules and regulations. That is the law. And, according to Paul, we have “died to the law through the body of Christ...” (Romans 7:4 ESV)

It is the fact that Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried and was raised from the dead. The fact that He lived the righteous life that we are unable to live. The fact that His righteousness is imputed to us.

A lot of people today are trying to “live the Gospel”. This is a concept foreign to the Bible.  

We can’t live the Gospel, we can only proclaim the Gospel. Of course, Jesus Christ is our example. However, the Gospel is not “What Would Jesus Do?”. It is what Jesus did for all of us if we will only trust in Him.

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