The Southern Baptist Convention Faith and Message
For more information, please visit www.sbc.net.
The Gospel message;
The word gospel means "good news", which is the message of forgiveness for sin through the work of Jesus Christ. It is God's rescue plan for those who will trust in His divine Son, Jesus, to make our peace to a holy God. The content of this saving message is laid out in the Bible.
In the apostle Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, he lays out the gospel message, "now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you;
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15; 1-4).
We see three elements of the gospel.
First, the phrase "died for our sins". Romans 3; 23 tells us, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." The reality of sin needs to be acknowledged by all who approach God for salvation. We must acknowledge the hopelessness of our guilt before God in order for forgiveness to take place, and must understand that the "wages of sin is death" (Romans 6: 23). Without this truth, no gospel presentation is complete.
Second, the person and work of Christ are necessary components of the gospel. Jesus is both God (Colossians 2: 9) "in Jesus the fullness of God dwells bodily" and he is man (John 1: 14) " the Word of God became flesh and lived among us, we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth". Jesus lived the sinless life that we could never live (1 Peter 2: 22) "He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth", and because of that, He is the only one who could die a substitutionary death for the sinner. Sin against an infinite God requires an infinite sacrifice. Either man, who is finite, must pay the penalty for an infinite length of time in hell, or the infinite Christ must pay for it once. Jesus went to the cross to pay the debt we owe to God for our sin and those who are covered by His sacrifice will inherit the kingdom of God as sons of the king (John 1: 12) " to all who receive him, who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God".
Third, the resurrection of Christ is an essential element of the gospel. The resurrection is proof of the power of God. "Only He who created life can resurrect it after death, only He can reverse the hideousness that is death itself, and only He can remove the sting that is death and the victory that is the grave's." (1 Corinthians 15: 54-55) Unlike other religions, Christianity alone possesses a founder who over comes death and who promises that His followers will so the same. All other religions were founded by men and prophets whose end was the grave.
Finally, Christ offers His salvation as a free gift (Romans 5: 15; 6: 23) "the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." It can only be received by faith, apart from any works on our part (Ephesians 2: 8-9) "For by grace you have been saved through faith, not by your own good deeds it is the gift of God. Not a result of works, so no one can boast". The apostle Paul tells us, the gospel is "the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile" (Romans 1: 16). Paul also tells us, "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10: 9).
These are the essential elements of the gospel:
The sin of all men.
The death of Christ on the cross to pay for those sins.
The resurrection of Christ to provide life everlasting for those who follow Him.
The offer of the free gift of salvation to all.
For more information, please visit www.sbc.net.
The Gospel message;
The word gospel means "good news", which is the message of forgiveness for sin through the work of Jesus Christ. It is God's rescue plan for those who will trust in His divine Son, Jesus, to make our peace to a holy God. The content of this saving message is laid out in the Bible.
In the apostle Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, he lays out the gospel message, "now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you;
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15; 1-4).
We see three elements of the gospel.
First, the phrase "died for our sins". Romans 3; 23 tells us, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." The reality of sin needs to be acknowledged by all who approach God for salvation. We must acknowledge the hopelessness of our guilt before God in order for forgiveness to take place, and must understand that the "wages of sin is death" (Romans 6: 23). Without this truth, no gospel presentation is complete.
Second, the person and work of Christ are necessary components of the gospel. Jesus is both God (Colossians 2: 9) "in Jesus the fullness of God dwells bodily" and he is man (John 1: 14) " the Word of God became flesh and lived among us, we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth". Jesus lived the sinless life that we could never live (1 Peter 2: 22) "He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth", and because of that, He is the only one who could die a substitutionary death for the sinner. Sin against an infinite God requires an infinite sacrifice. Either man, who is finite, must pay the penalty for an infinite length of time in hell, or the infinite Christ must pay for it once. Jesus went to the cross to pay the debt we owe to God for our sin and those who are covered by His sacrifice will inherit the kingdom of God as sons of the king (John 1: 12) " to all who receive him, who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God".
Third, the resurrection of Christ is an essential element of the gospel. The resurrection is proof of the power of God. "Only He who created life can resurrect it after death, only He can reverse the hideousness that is death itself, and only He can remove the sting that is death and the victory that is the grave's." (1 Corinthians 15: 54-55) Unlike other religions, Christianity alone possesses a founder who over comes death and who promises that His followers will so the same. All other religions were founded by men and prophets whose end was the grave.
Finally, Christ offers His salvation as a free gift (Romans 5: 15; 6: 23) "the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." It can only be received by faith, apart from any works on our part (Ephesians 2: 8-9) "For by grace you have been saved through faith, not by your own good deeds it is the gift of God. Not a result of works, so no one can boast". The apostle Paul tells us, the gospel is "the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile" (Romans 1: 16). Paul also tells us, "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10: 9).
These are the essential elements of the gospel:
The sin of all men.
The death of Christ on the cross to pay for those sins.
The resurrection of Christ to provide life everlasting for those who follow Him.
The offer of the free gift of salvation to all.
