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?
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God
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.
*** :applause:
I believe the Gospel is of Salvation and the Kingdom of Heaven...don't believe you can have one with out the other...just like you cant have the Old Testament with out the New...just like you cant dismiss the Jew because some are Christian...
Yhashua says...
Jhn 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Jhn 17:13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
[37]�Then Pilate said to him, �So you are a king?� Jesus answered, �You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world�to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.�
[38]�Pilate said to him, �What is truth?�
After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, �I find no guilt in him.
(John 18:37-38 ESV)
So what is the Truth, Why was it Jesus' purpose to be born and bear witness to the Truth?
No Sojourner, I think it goes here just fine. Without Truth there is no Gospel. I think Jesus is saying that the things he says are either Truth or testify of the Truth of God. One of those Truths is that the Kingdom of God is at hand, right here in front of you and this is how it works. "Rise and walk." BAM! Kingdom, Truth! Gospel!!
To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
Jesus Christ fulfilled the law and fulfilled prophecy. To the law (Torah) and to the testimony ( Prophets) - he was the Truth of both. He testified to the Truth of the Scriptures.
(Heb 10:7 [KJB:PCE])
Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
And what Jesus preached was that he was there to fulfill the promise of a Messiah to pay the price for sin. You can't have the Kingdom without Salvation.
There are a variety of ways to present the Gospel message, depending on the audience and the circumstances. God works brought the preacher and witnesses to help them discern how to reach those they encounter.
The apostles had their style of presenting the gospel just like each of us does. The objective is to preach and teach the Word of God.
I like your answer Teach. I was in a discussion about this topic and some of the participants were not Christians. They all hate fire and brimstone, hell and damnation preaching. It doesn't make sense to them. I suggested it might be because what they were hearing is not the whole story. When I took the time to explain the part of the Gospel of the Kingdom and didn't focus on the cross until later when it made sense to talk about it they became curious about it. They had never heard it like that before. No body jumped on the Good News band wagon that night but they had a different perspective. You're right that the Gospel can be presented in different ways. I just wish it was always presented in a whole way.
