What ever happened to the Gospel

[Carbon]

What is the gospel?
"The word gospel literally. Means good news. So when you say the good news or the gospel of Jesus Christ you are saying the good news of Jesus."

The word itself comes from a Greek word euangelion, which literally means “good news.” In the New Testament, it refers to the announcement that Jesus has brought the reign of God to our world through his life, death, and resurrection from the dead.

The short answer is: The word “gospel” means“good news.” It's the good news message that mankind can be saved from the penalty of their sin and receive eternal life in Heaven with God through the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The word “gospel” means news. It is the news about who Jesus Christ is, what He has done, and how that changes everything. The gospel, or the good news about Jesus, is the best and most important news you will ever hear. It's the most life-changing news you could ever share with someone else.

According to most of the world, the gospel is just about good news.

 

[Carbon]

What is the gospel?
"The word gospel literally. Means good news. So when you say the good news or the gospel of Jesus Christ you are saying the good news of Jesus."

The word itself comes from a Greek word euangelion, which literally means “good news.” In the New Testament, it refers to the announcement that Jesus has brought the reign of God to our world through his life, death, and resurrection from the dead.

The short answer is: The word “gospel” means“good news.” It's the good news message that mankind can be saved from the penalty of their sin and receive eternal life in Heaven with God through the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The word “gospel” means news. It is the news about who Jesus Christ is, what He has done, and how that changes everything. The gospel, or the good news about Jesus, is the best and most important news you will ever hear. It's the most life-changing news you could ever share with someone else.

According top most of the world, the gospel is just about good news.

As far as I am concerned, the greatest issue facing the Christian church as we move into the 21st century is the character of God.
Unless we recommit ourselves to understand who God is and what He is like, nothing else in the bible will make sense. Apart from understanding God's justice, wrath, mercy, and holiness, there is no way we can understand the gospel. The cross will make no sense to us if we do not understand why God's character required it. But if you understand the character of God, then not only does the gospel make sense, but the doctrines of scripture, Christ, and everything else fall into place.
On the other hand, everything else can be correct apart from your doctrine of God and you are still a pagan. You are still an idolater. You may be an inerrantist, your eschatology might be right on target; you may never miss a quiet time or an opportunity to go to church. But if you do not worship and serve the right God, you worship and serve a false one. R. C. Sproul.

 

[Carbon]

Christians are called today as ever before to preach, teach, and believe the whole council of God. And any distortion of the character of God poisons the rest of our theology.
I think the ultimate form of idolatry is humanism, which regards man as the measure of all things.

We Christians must press on to know the Lord.

Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;
his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.” Hos 6:3.

 

[Carbon]

Man must know two things for sure. How radical of a fall it was. And how Holy God is.
Unless we know who we are and how far we have actually fallen and how Holy God is, we cannot understand the gospel.

To think modern evangelistic sermons of contemporary preachers so often take verses out of context or present a string of texts that do not belong together. Modern preachers, in quest of a simple gospel, favor a mere formula, a packaged presentation, instead of the whole council of God. They remove important words from their context like elect, or predestination, steering the context and sermon towards humanism. Seem's many preachers have a better understanding of Professional football and television programs than they do the teaching of the bible.

 

[TrevorL]

Greetings Carbon,

What is the gospel?
"The word gospel literally. Means good news. So when you say the good news or the gospel of Jesus Christ you are saying the good news of Jesus."

The word itself comes from a Greek word euangelion, which literally means “good news.” In the New Testament, it refers to the announcement that Jesus has brought the reign of God to our world through his life, death, and resurrection from the dead.

The short answer is: The word “gospel” means“good news.” It's the good news message that mankind can be saved from the penalty of their sin and receive eternal life in Heaven with God through the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

A good example of what is the Gospel, is given in the following summary:
Acts 8:5–6,12 (KJV): 5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. 6 And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. 12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

What constitutes "the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ" can be to some extent assessed by the the details of the Speeches by Peter in Acts 2 and 3, where both aspects of the Gospel are elaborated.

Kind regards
Trevor

 

[Ladodgers6]

What is the gospel?
"The word gospel literally. Means good news. So when you say the good news or the gospel of Jesus Christ you are saying the good news of Jesus."

The word itself comes from a Greek word euangelion, which literally means “good news.” In the New Testament, it refers to the announcement that Jesus has brought the reign of God to our world through his life, death, and resurrection from the dead.

The short answer is: The word “gospel” means“good news.” It's the good news message that mankind can be saved from the penalty of their sin and receive eternal life in Heaven with God through the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The word “gospel” means news. It is the news about who Jesus Christ is, what He has done, and how that changes everything. The gospel, or the good news about Jesus, is the best and most important news you will ever hear. It's the most life-changing news you could ever share with someone else.

According top most of the world, the gospel is just about good news.

The Law says Do! The Gospel says Done!

 

[Ladodgers6]

What is the gospel?
"The word gospel literally. Means good news. So when you say the good news or the gospel of Jesus Christ you are saying the good news of Jesus."

The word itself comes from a Greek word euangelion, which literally means “good news.” In the New Testament, it refers to the announcement that Jesus has brought the reign of God to our world through his life, death, and resurrection from the dead.

The short answer is: The word “gospel” means“good news.” It's the good news message that mankind can be saved from the penalty of their sin and receive eternal life in Heaven with God through the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The word “gospel” means news. It is the news about who Jesus Christ is, what He has done, and how that changes everything. The gospel, or the good news about Jesus, is the best and most important news you will ever hear. It's the most life-changing news you could ever share with someone else.

According top most of the world, the gospel is just about good news.

Excellent post my Brother! Gospel must be preached, heard, and shared everyday. This marvelous announcement of Good News for the ungodly is radically wonderful and full of Grace. It's a Free Gift with no strings attached to it. And the Freer it is the better it is.

To confuse it or turn this marvelous good news into exhortation; commands; or legalism, robs this Free Gift. Takes away the freeness of it; places the sinner back under the Law; trying to attempt to meet the Holy Standard of perfection; basically saying you don't trust or believe God that he can justify the ungodly through Faith Alone apart from the Law, and that sinners can fulfill the Law perfect obedience; is just absurd!

Understanding the distinction between Law & Gospel in relation to Justification by Faith Alone is key to understanding, how amazing God's Grace really is!​

 

[donadams]

Excellent post my Brother! Gospel must be preached, heard, and shared everyday. This marvelous announcement of Good News for the ungodly is radically wonderful and full of Grace. It's a Free Gift with no strings attached to it. And the Freer it is the better it is.

To confuse it or turn this marvelous good news into exhortation; commands; or legalism, robs this Free Gift. Takes away the freeness of it; places the sinner back under the Law; trying to attempt to meet the Holy Standard of perfection; basically saying you don't trust or believe God that he can justify the ungodly through Faith Alone apart from the Law, and that sinners can fulfill the Law perfect obedience; is just absurd!

Understanding the distinction between Law & Gospel in relation to Justification by Faith Alone is key to understanding, how amazing God's Grace really is!​

that sinners can fulfill the Law perfect obedience; is just absurd!

How was Noah just?

Gen 6:7 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

Zacharias and Elizabeth?

Lk 1:6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

 

[donadams]

Excellent post my Brother! Gospel must be preached, heard, and shared everyday. This marvelous announcement of Good News for the ungodly is radically wonderful and full of Grace. It's a Free Gift with no strings attached to it. And the Freer it is the better it is.

To confuse it or turn this marvelous good news into exhortation; commands; or legalism, robs this Free Gift. Takes away the freeness of it; places the sinner back under the Law; trying to attempt to meet the Holy Standard of perfection; basically saying you don't trust or believe God that he can justify the ungodly through Faith Alone apart from the Law, and that sinners can fulfill the Law perfect obedience; is just absurd!

Understanding the distinction between Law & Gospel in relation to Justification by Faith Alone is key to understanding, how amazing God's Grace really is!​

that sinners can fulfill the Law perfect obedience; is just absurd!

How was Noah just?

Zacharias and Elizabeth?

Lk 1:6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

 

[Josheb]

The word "gospel" is generally understood as "good news," but that is not quite correct. It's not quite correct because it is incomplete. The Greek word for "gospel" is "euangalion." An evangelion is a particular form of good news, not just any and/or all good news. The Greek word for "good" is "kalon," and the Greek word for "news" is "akoe." That means the ordinary Greek phrase for regular, commonly occurring news that is good is "akoe kalon," NOT "euangelion."

An evangelion was a specific kind of news. It was a term used in the Greek and Roman cultures, not a term used in Israel. It's not a Hebrew or Aramaic word. The Greeks and Romans would make a public proclamation anytime a noted leader accomplished a task deemed to be heroic. In Rome the practice of evangelions was reserved to announce great victories by Roman generals or the deification of a Caesar. In other words, when the writers of what we now call the New Testament used the word "gospel," or "euangelion," they were appropriating a pagan term! They were not just appropriating a pagan term; they were appropriating a pagan term used by their oppressors to subjugate the Jews. This use of the term "euangelion" would have been provocative to the Jewish audience, at best, and reprehensible to the Jewish hearer at worst. It was all the more controversial to the Gentile and especially the Roman hearer because of the Christian gospel's content. A stumbling block to the Jew and foolishness to the Gentile.

The gospel the apostles and New Testament era Christians preached was this: Jesus is the anointed one of God and he is God. Not only is he God, but he has done something that not even Caesar (in his faux divinity) can do: defeat death, come back from the grave, and sit with God on God's throne. Again: that a man could be God, and a man could defeat death, this was a huge stumbling block to the Jew and foolishness to the Gentile, especially when coupled with the arrogance of calling the crucified Jesus did what Caesar cannot. The Roman leaders lost their mind when they heard this. They arrested Christians, covered them in pitch, rammed a pole up inside them, and then - while they were still alive - lit them on fire to be used as city nightlights.

In Greek and Roman cultures humans and gods were completely different beings. A human could never become a god. Even when a god bred with a human the progeny was a demi-god, not a full-fledged god. Dei-gods died. They were not immortal. When a Roman general or Caesar was deified, it did not mean the man was literally turned into a god. Such a thing was rationally impossible. It would be like turning an apple into an orange, or an apple into a diamond. When a Caesar was deified, he was promoted to a position whereby he was no longer relegated to the realm of Pluto, the god of the underworld, where ordinary people went when they died. A deified person got to live in the Elysian Fields at the foot of Mount Olympus. He was still dead. He was still just an ordinary man, still subject to death, and there was nothing he could do about either condition.

Jesus, on the other hand is God, has defeated death, and he is seated with his Father God. As a consequence of his defeating death and resurrecting, something Caesar could not do, Jesus is now King of all kings, Lord of all lords, and the Savior by which anyone and everyone who believes can be saved from sin, death, and the wrath of God coming upon all who deny the Son (which would include Caesar). In other words..... Caesar had to bow to Jesus! Again, this drove the Roman leaders nuts. Just as the gospel had angered the Jewish leaders because they had to bow to Jesus, the Romans responded in kind. What was a stumbling block for the Jew was foolishness to the Roman because humans cannot literally be The God, and they cannot come back from the grave, and Caesar bows to no one.

The reason this is important is because any definition of the gospel that does not include Jesus being the Jesus' victory over the grave and his identity as resurrected King of all kings is a different gospel.

 

[Eleanor]

What is the gospel?
"The word gospel literally. Means good news. So when you say the good news or the gospel of Jesus Christ you are saying the good news of Jesus."

The word itself comes from a Greek word euangelion, which literally means “good news.” In the New Testament, it refers to the announcement that Jesus has brought the reign of God to our world through his life, death, and resurrection from the dead.

The short answer is: The word “gospel” means“good news.” It's the good news message that mankind can be saved from the penalty of their sin and receive eternal life in Heaven with God through the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The word “gospel” means news. It is the news about who Jesus Christ is, what He has done, and how that changes everything. The gospel, or the good news about Jesus, is the best and most important news you will ever hear. It's the most life-changing news you could ever share with someone else.

According top most of the world, the gospel is just about good news.

The gospel is the good news to the bad news:

"Whoever believes in the Son is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already." (Jn 3:18)

 

[Alive]

The Gospel does not have to be perfectly understood for God to do His Work in the Elect.
This is true from birth until falling asleep or raptured.
In my case, when a friend read in my hearing, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”, the Lord Himself spoke to me as tho audible and simply said, “I am the Truth”. In that moment, He provided the gift of saving faith and the inner response was, “yes”.
Of course this is not to say we shouldn’t continue to learn, however since the beginning simple minded saints the world over have done fine with a simple peasants understanding even without the riches of scripture we have today.

 

[Carbon]

Man must know two things for sure. How radical of a fall it was. And how Holy God is.
Unless we know who we are and how far we have actually fallen and how Holy God is, we cannot understand the gospel.

To think modern evangelistic sermons of contemporary preachers so often take verses out of context or present a string of texts that do not belong together. Modern preachers, in quest of a simple gospel, favor a mere formula, a packaged presentation, instead of the whole council of God. They remove important words from their context like elect, or predestination, steering the context and sermon towards humanism. Seem's many preachers have a better understanding of Professional football and television programs than they do the teaching of the bible.

Today, regeneration is confused with conversion. And we continue to sink deeper and deeper into the therapeutic universe. One thing of much importance the Church seems to be losing today is its understanding of why we have to be regenerated, divinely recreated in Christ, and raised to new life by the Holy Spirit.

In this therapeutic world, the more assured we are that we can master the self, the less reason we will have to seek from Christ and his death what we can find from ourselves. And the more confidence we place in business strategies and marketing techniques to "grow the church," the smaller will be the place in the life of the church for the work of the Holy Spirit.

Who agrees so far that this is what we are coming to? Maybe not so much in our own community church, but countrywide. Personally, I think its spread all over. The church has become very weak. It's a place to go, for a lot of people for therapy.

I believe Michael Horton hits the nail on the head when he wrote this:
Smith defines moralistic, therapeutic, deism as expressing this sort of working theology:

1. God created the world.
2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and most world religions.
3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
4. God does not need to be particulary involved in ones life except when needed to resolve a problem.
5. Good people go to heaven when they die.

Horton goes on to say,
the sense one gets from reading Smith's study corresponds with my own anecdotal experience of popular religion in America today. basically, the message is that God is nice and we are nice so we should all be nice.

Do young people raised in evangelical homes and churches really believe this? . . . . the tragic answer is yes.

Horton, Christless Christianity pgs 41-42.

 

[Alive]

The clearest key to an ongoing walk with the Lord is this...I must decrease, so that He may increase.
The weaker I become, the stronger is He in me.
A good visual for me has been the alabaster box--it is so true.
The Lord does not use unbroken men.
All thru scripture, we see this.

 

[Carbon]

The therapeutic nature of the church nowadays makes sin incomprehensible and Christ's work unnecessary. In our postmodern culture, which is TV-dominated, image-sensitive, and morally vacuous, personality is everything and character is increasingly irrelevant.

It's pretty apparent that these substitutions have intruded into the church as well.

The church is in a bad state, and if we do not remove these substitutions of the gospel, we will lose more sight and may not recover and see why the substitutionary death of Christ was necessary, and the doctrine of justification by which the Church stands or falls as Luther declared, will become redundant.

It is the truth of the gospel that the postmodern world needs to hear. And yet, it seems the church is so unwilling, or unable to proclaim.

Without a recovery, our culture will be left to its narcissistic and nihilistic confusion and the church will be left with nothing to say.

 

[Carbon]

The scriptures proclaim that without the supernatural work of the Spirit in regeneration, and His ongoing work in sanctification and preservation, there would be no Christian faith. Which of these can man achieve himself?


It would probably be safe to say, that what many people call "being born again" probably comes closer to conversion, in biblical terms, than to regeneration. In scripture, conversion is the act of turning away from sin and its self-deifying attitudes and turning toward Christ in trust. I have seen that many mix up or really do not understand the difference between regeneration and conversion in the church today.

Thoughts?

 

[Alive]

The scriptures proclaim that without the supernatural work of the Spirit in regeneration, and His ongoing work in sanctification and preservation, there would be no Christian faith. Which of these can man achieve himself?


It would probably be safe to say, that what many people call "being born again" probably comes closer to conversion, in biblical terms, than to regeneration. In scripture, conversion is the act of turning away from sin and its self-deifying attitudes and turning toward Christ in trust. I have seen that many mix up or really do not understand the difference between regeneration and conversion in the church today.

Thoughts?

Ya…my understanding is that ongoing sanctification aside, it all happens at once at the moment the Father places us into Christ and we share in the Cross, Resurrection and Ascension. Death to Life is instantaneous. No such thing as half dead or half alive. Simple.

 

[Carbon]

that sinners can fulfill the Law perfect obedience; is just absurd!

How was Noah just?

Gen 6:7 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

Zacharias and Elizabeth?

Lk 1:6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

So, they were saved by keeping the law?

 

[Eleanor]

The scriptures proclaim that without the supernatural work of the Spirit in regeneration, and His ongoing work in sanctification and preservation, there would be no Christian faith. Which of these can man achieve himself?
It would probably be safe to say, that what many people call "being born again" probably comes closer to conversion, in biblical terms, than to regeneration. In scripture, conversion is the act of turning away from sin and its self-deifying attitudes and turning toward Christ in trust. I have seen that many mix up or really do not understand the difference between regeneration and conversion in the church today.

Thoughts?

Regeneration (Jn 3:3-8) is the reversal of Ro 8:7-8, 1 Co 2:14, which regeneration results in faith to salvation.

 

[Carbon]

Regeneration (Jn 3:3-8) is the reversal of Ro 8:7-8, 1 Co 2:14, which regeneration results in faith to salvation.

I see, we are in agreement.