What Gospel is NOT
It is sometimes more helpful to know what a thing is not before we try to understand what it is..
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t is sometimes more helpful to know what a matter is not before we strain to understand what it is. When I selected an online class in hermeneutics, I was energized and wanted to know everything about it. I came with certain expectations. When my professor kicked off the class by telling us what the class is not about. It disappointed me a little. It turned out that some of my anticipations were incorrect. Knowing what it hasn’t given me a good sense of direction, mind, and attitude.
My understanding of the Gospel was immature. I had imitated the surrounding culture so much that I didn’t examine the scriptures myself and when I did; it opened by the heart of discernment of the Gospel and only freed me even to a greater extent.
THE GOSPEL IS NOT JUST HOW WE GET SAVED
While the gospel is how we come to know God, it’s not limited to knowing how to get saved. D. A. Carson has noted: For some Christians, “the gospel” is a narrow set of teachings about Jesus and his death and resurrection which, rightly believed, tip people into the kingdom. After that, real discipleship and personal transformation begin, but none of that is integrally related to “the gospel.”
If someone is to ask you what the Gospel is, would you give them bulleted points or a definition? Viewing the gospel as only the means to salvation amounts to minimizing the gospel and its greater significance. Tim Keller clarifies, the gospel is not just the minimum required doctrine necessary to enter the kingdom, but the way we wake all progress in the kingdom.
The gospel is not just the A-B-C's but the A to Z of Christianity.
THE GOSPEL IS NOT OBEYING GOD'S WORD
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” There is one problem, it’s not the problem with text, it’s a problem how we understand it. These commandments are fundamental to Christ’s life, message, and people, but they are not the gospel. It’s been the summary of the law! To love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength summarize the first four commandments, while loving our neighbor as ourselves is the total of the rest of the law (commandments five through ten). We obey the law because of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus, not forcing God to love us. Obedience is the response to the gospel, but not the gospel itself.
