I imagine that if you ask this question of any Christian the most common response would be, �Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead so that we may have eternal life!� You might be one of those people yourself. I wonder how Jesus could have been preaching the that version of the Gospel when he had not yet died for anyone�s sins nor had he risen from the dead. Is it possible that the Gospel Jesus preached was different than the Gospel the disciples preached? Or were they the same and now so many of us have missed it because we're so focused on the death and resurrection of Jesus. What if there is more to it. Or what if we have it wrong all together?
Here are some verses from the New Testament (KJV) that are just a few examples:
Mat_4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
Mat_9:35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
Mat 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Mat_24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Mar_1:14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
Mar_1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Luk_4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised . . .
Act_8:25 And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.
Rom_1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Rom_10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Just for the sake of argument and discussion I would pose this view. The Gospel is not about salvation by the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is however the good news that the power of the Kingdom of God is now here with us. By the grace of God we are able to participate in and with the power of God in our own lives. This grace of God brings to us healing, freedom and peace. This power has been brought to us by the Spirit of Christ. That is it is the Gospel of Christ, as Paul puts it. Nowhere in the New Testament is the Gospel called the Gospel of Salvation. It is the Gospel of the Kingdom, the Gospel of Jesus or the Gospel of Christ. It is assumed, I suppose, that since people believe that salvation is the best good news this must be the Gospel of Jesus. I would say, �No�. The real Gospel is the good news that at the advent of Christ upon this earth, the Kingdom of God came from heaven to earth and as a result it is possible to rise above religious law unto a spiritual plane that transcends this world by the grace, that is the empowering presence, of God. Healing, freedom and peace and the God given ability to overcome the world is the Gospel of the Kingdom.
Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Mar 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Mar 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
There is no mention in the �Great Commission� verses of teaching that the death and resurrection of Jesus is the Gospel. In fact the command here is for the Disciples to teach what Jesus has taught them. This is a Rabbinical tradition. The disciples have spent three and a half years being taught by their rabbi, Jesus. It was traditional for students of Rabbis to stay with their teacher for three and a half years and at the end of that time they were given the commission to go and teach what they had learned from their Rabbi because they were now Rabbis. This is not a time when Jesus is telling his disciples to go spread the good news of Salvation.
So let me ask you this. If you were being preached to, which would you want to respond to?
�Repent!! Come now sinner to your knees for you are a wretched soul, lost and dying with no hope for eternity. Jesus came to die for your sins (whatever that means) and he will give you eternal life in heaven (wherever that is). All you have to do is ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and invite Him into your heart and He will save you!! (from what?, I�m not a bad person.) If you don�t accept Jesus as your personal savior you will spend eternity in hell!! Where will you spend eternity? Believe and be baptized for the salvation or your soul!!!�
Or: �You feel powerless sometimes don�t you? You think the government is taking over your life. You hate your job. Your boss is a slave driver. You have difficulty everywhere you go. You barely have enough money to live or maybe you don�t have enough money to live. Your divorce destroyed your life. You feel poor, broken and imprisoned, right? You keep thinking, �Is there no way out of this insanity?� How in the world are you supposed to succeed when there are so many things working against you? I have good news (Gospel). Your life doesn't have to be about living this way. You see, God has come to earth to be one of us and he struggled just like we do. But He brought His Kingdom with Him. I know, just hear me out ok? Jesus came to make it possible for you to have healing, freedom and power so that you can overcome all the things that come against you. All you have to do is believe in the Kingdom. Put your faith in God�s power to save you from this world and even from yourself. Let me tell you about the power of God�s salvation. Jesus came here just to prove God�s power. You see, Jesus put His faith in God too. Jesus died in order to bring us healing, freedom and peace but he had to do more than just die. He had to believe His Father�s promise to raise Him from the dead. And His father kept His promise and He raised Jesus from the dead. His resurrection proves that the Kingdom of God is here on the earth. He did it once for all of us. After he rose from the dead Jesus told us that He had all of the power in all of the heavens and the earth and He wants us to live by the things He taught his disciples. The best part is that Jesus promised to be with us until the end of the world. If you will believe and have faith that no matter what, God is with you all the time and you have access to the power of all the heavens and the earth you can live in the Kingdom of God right now! I can show you how.�
My disclaimer: I�m not saying which of these ideas I believe because I just want to put this up for discussion. I don�t want to get into arguments over what I believe. I want to know what you think about this.
Based on the verses above from the New Testament and any others you wish to provide, Which of these scenarios best describes what the Gospel really is?
Very good guestion, what is the Gospel. The very first words the father spoke over man is the Gospel and it has never changed. Genesis 1:28 and God blessed them saying.
In our rebellion we say my will be done in repentence we say Gods will be done.
Christs Athority over the sick, dead and lame. Christs Athority over sin and death and sepeartion from God.
Those who claim to have salvation are saved from what? What is the root of our sin?
Just as Jesus exampled in the garden.... and said netherless not my will be done but thine will be done. speaking to the Father.
The theif on the cross not calling Jesus saviour but Lord.
Salvation is a issue of Lordship and Athority.
When we take charge of our lives like Adam who was A dammed man. We seperate our lives from God and our desire for Athority seperates us from God. Jesus Athority reuinites to God and that is Good news.
The Kingdom of God has a King and the King has Athority. Are we subject to the King is the question? If not then your gospel is in vain.
I John 2:3-5: We know we have come to know Him {Jesus} **IF** we obey His commands. The man who says, "I know Him," but does not do what He commands is a liar and the truth is not in him. But **IF** anyone obeys His Word, God's love is truly made complete in him.
THE GREAT COMMISSION: Matthew 28:18-20: Jesus says, �All authority in heaven and on *EARTH has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of *ALL NATIONS*...teaching them to **OBEY EVERYTHING** I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very *END OF THE AGE*!�
Ephesians 4:11-16: It was He {Jesus} who gives some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.... Speakig the Truth in **LOVE**, we will in all things grow up into Him, who is the Head, that is Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament grows and builds itself up in **LOVE**, as each part does its work!
2 Timothy 3:16; 4:2: All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God my be thoroughly equipped for every good work...**PREACH THE WORD**; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.
Acts 17:11: Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and EXAMINED the SCRIPTURES *EVERY DAY*!!
James 1:22: Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. **DO WHAT IT SAYS*...But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, *BUT DOING IT*--he will be blessed in what he does!!
READ GOD'S WORD DAILY AND THEN DO WHAT IT SAYS!!
Psalm 119 has 176 verses praising the Word of God. The Old Testament had 613 laws and the New Covenant of Jesus and His love has about 400 commands of LOVE which Psalm 119 also applies to. Some of my favorite verses is Psalm 119 are:
119:105: Your Word is a Lamp to my feet and a Light for my path.
119:97: Oh how I love your law, I meditate on it all day long.
119:148: My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I meditate on your promises.
119:164: Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws.
119:169: Give me understanding according to your Word.
119:2: Blessed are those who keep His statues and seek Him with all your heart.
119:11: I have hidden your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You.
Deuteronomy 4:2: God says, "Do not *ADD* to what I command you and do not *SUBTRACT* from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you!!"
Deut 18:17-19: The Lord says, "I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put My words in His mouth, and He will tell them evereything I command Him. If anyone does not listen to My words that the Prophet speaks in My Name, I Myself will call Him to account."
John 14:23,24: Jesus says, "If anyone loves Me, He will obey My teaching. My Father will love Him, and we will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me will not obey My teaching.
Revelation 22:16,18,19: "I, Jesus. have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the Churches.... I warn everyone who hears the words of this prophecy of this Book: If anyone *ADDS* anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this Book {Including **ETERNAL HELL**} And if anyone **TAKES WORDS AWAY** from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the Tree of Life and in the Holy City {The New Jerusalem}, which are described in this book."
I Peter 1:23-25: You have been born again.. through the Living and Enduring Word of God. All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field, the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the **WORD OF THE LORD STANDS FOREVER**. And this is the Word that was preached to you.
If you were to try to sum it up in one word, you might use:
Reconciliation
Love
Mercy
Grace
........and so on
But, you could NOT use "Authority". That is NOT the essence or heart of the Gospel. God's authority is over all of creation regardless. That is precisely why we need the Gospel.
5For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? 6But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
28And say unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority to do these things? 29And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? answer me. 31And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him? 32But if we shall say, Of men; they feared the people: for all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed. 33And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.
