A Stirring Gospel – Thoughts on Gospel and Faith

I typically take a few hours on Saturday morning to rapidly scroll through emails, messages, and social feeds to see if I catch anything I need to see. This morning I noticed a common thread relating to the nature of what constitutes what we call a “Gospel” proclamation. Several messages related to my views on the matter seem to be stirring. I guess sharing tidbits from my preparation to preach this week has brought out some dissenting opinions. Without writing fifty pages, let me give a brief overview of the matter. For those who want a clearer answer, feel free to listen to the teaching from October 16, 2022, below.

Gospel is a new word transliterated from an Old English variant of Godspell, which in summary, means Good Story literally. There is no other meaning of this word and it has nothing to do with anything but the narrative proclamation of something that is good. So, any good story or news in relation to the meaning of this is gospel. Not the point, though, so I digress.

At the beginning of Genesis, we see the promise of the seed of the woman to undo and restore life unto a special people created by God for intimacy with Him. This is the first three chapters of Genesis clearly summarized that God is the only One who can create, and order life unto Himself for His purposes. This seed is Jesus, the Anointed one of God, born of a virgin and promised over and over again through the historical narrative of the writings of the prophets and judges.

The promise of this new man who will restore all things unto God the Father is carried over in every small detail throughout the Old Testament. What our fleshly minds consider to be historical, our spiritual minds will see the theological. We understand that the good story of God is that in spite of man’s inability, even when desirous, God will make the way through His Son, the seed of the woman who through her giving life, the Savior will also give life.

Then we see the promise come to pop culture in the Gospel accounts where the messenger of God tells of the conception and coming of the forerunner and Christ. We see the narrative according to the power of God, recorded in the four Gospel accounts. That is the four letters written down to record the Good Report of Jesus Christ. These gospel accounts reveal several ways in which the good story is told with different audiences and different focused intentions depending on the divine purpose of each letter. Remember that in first-century Palestine, all the Jewish people were longing to see Messiah/Christ come to help them escape their bondage from Rome and restore their version of worship to God. They were “THINKING” wrongly.

So, we know the story, then we see Luke also write an account of the work of God through His apostles to organize and mobilize the followers of Jesus. This is called the Book of Acts of the Apostles. Here we see another “Eden” type miracle where God uses a zealot named Paul to become the bringer of the good story of Jesus to the Gentiles.

When you study the biblical uses of preaching and teaching, you will discover very quickly that these two things are synonymous. So, there is no difference between the teaching of the Apostles and the preaching of the same group. The same is true for early elders of the congregations. Scripture flips these two ideas and word usage back and forth as the same method of relaying the good story of Jesus.

Now to the point of what I see as a slippery slope regarding gospel and grace. Scripture only talks of the good story as being the person and work of Jesus Christ, period. There are no responses, preaching methods, calls to faith, or the like that are considered part of the Gospel. One can read the first chapter of John or the fourth chapter of John in a public mall and God will convert as He wishes just in the hearing. There is no outward call to respond that the outward teaching of Christ doesn’t do supernaturally, logically, and perfectly. These ideas that one must call someone to believe are remnants of Pelagian error bred into our culture by the likes of Charles Finney and his historical progeny.

The good story is enough to produce the effects of God’s purposes in salvation, particularly to convert a person from death to life by granting them a clear trusting hope (faith) in the message, that Jesus has indeed settled justice against sin and imputed righteousness to His people. How do we know? First, the bible tells us so, and second, the Spirit gives us faith. That experience is called repentance. Which literally means a change of disposition.

Faith and repentance are not part of the good story. As a matter of fact, the Bible doesn’t even utilize the terms except in several narratives where Jesus and the Apostles are telling the masses to “change what you think and trust in what I say concerning this good story of Jesus.” It is not trusting that saves, it is the one who saves whom we trust. The prior is a false gospel and anyone who considered themselves born again because of their faith is not understanding the grace of God according to the bible. It’s easy to be deceived in our culture. We just have to be patient. Those who get angry over this idea have a long way to go. One cannot have a faith in the fact that they have faith. Faith looks to Jesus. It’s that simple.

Let me give an example. I can stand on a box in Times Square, read the first chapter of John’s gospel, get down and go home and God can, as He wishes, cause the conversion of His people in the hearing. To reject this notion is to reject the very nature of that letter and its intention by God to be written. Those to whom God gives spiritual ears are not “tuned in” in order to be changed to make some motion of faith or change their mind, those who are tuned in have been changed already. God the Spirit doesn’t rearrange a sinner’s mind in order for the sinner to make the right choice, God gives the sinner a new mind that believes all at once. Regeneration always precedes faith and faith is the work of change (repentance) in the heart of the believer. Once a person has been born of God evidenced by faith in the work of Jesus, this man is taught, drawn, and changed in his mind to seek out the things of God for his joy and understanding. This is what it means simply to know the One True God and the Son that He has sent.

Another example. If I were to come up to you in the grocery store and see that you have milk in your cart and say, “Did you know that there is milk that never spoils?” You would immediately be confronted with the idea and it would cause dissonance in your mind. You would think, “I’ve never heard of this. This must be new. This can’t be real. I don’t believe this. Where can I get this milk? Who is the man telling me of this? What must I do to get this milk?” and so forth. We are not empty boxes but full minds in that when we hear things we are thinking about them and confronted with our own ideas in comparison. I don’t then have to say to you, “Well, what are you going to do about it?” Because if I do, then I am putting the burden upon your ability to have all knowledge or worse, trust in me to get the milk for you. At the minimum to show you the way.

To put this on a gospel trajectory, Jesus would have said, “I am the milk.” So, my response would be to any inquiry, “The Milk is the Milk.” If you believe me, then your mind is changed because you trust in my words. That is not something that the human condition permits without divine restoration, like the creation of the world.

Repentance doesn’t mean what people think it means and the term should really never be used outside of a well-taught and grounded congregation. We don’t “DO” initial repentance, it is a condition that is done to us evidenced only by trusting in Christ and nothing else. There are different ways in which the repentant (changed) mind of the new believer will be revealed in life, affection, obedience, and maturity, but these things are not measurable on a scale, and not every believer will be afforded the same journey. Thus, our assurance is tied only to Christ’s finished work, not our faith or spiritual growth. Faith, also misunderstood at times, is granted, given in the countenance of the person, settled in the conscience to simply know that the story of Jesus is true and effectual. This trusting, resting, faith is a divine work and should not be thought of as God making man ready as in prevenient grace preparing a man to act.

Romans 1:1–6 gives us a little outline into the whole of Paul’s explanation of the gospel in contrast with gospel fruits or evidence.

[1] Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, [2] which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, [3] concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh [4] and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, [5] through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, [6] including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, 

Paul was set apart for the GOSPEL OF GOD v1, CONCERNING HIS SON v3, according to His promise beforehand v2.

The good story is not about believing. It is not good for me to just tell you to believe something. That is not even required. To tell people they must believe is good and profitable, but the story in itself commands that burden. Sure, call folks to hear and believe the message, but understand that it is not a requirement for eternal life. It’s just a rhetorical device used in transmitting the necessity at times.

Trainslitaterated language and terms are a menace to right thinking if they are not understood from the source. So often believers spend time outside the scriptures defending their positions on matters that are wholly unbiblical, divisive, and thus destructive. When we die on the hill of ignorance, we are not serving the Lord and don’t have God’s Love in us in those actions.

Faith and repentance are not part of the substance of the gospel of Jesus, they are results of the gospel of Jesus and are not necessary to explain or enforce. They are necessary conditions of a born-again person just like a heartbeat is a necessary condition of a living person. We cannot confuse the two and we who are spiritual surely will not assert such.

Rest in the promise of Life in Jesus Christ, beloved. Put away childish debates and live a life worth living for the glory of God. It is always good to call others to believe in the gospel just be sure to mention the gospel if you do.