What the Gospel is – Part 3

The Gospel is Christ Centered.

Mark starts off writing in Gospel according to Mark, that it is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:1).

Paul in his letter to Thessalonians tells them about the Judgement at Christ's coming by telling them the truth of who do not obey the gospel of Lord Jesus. (2 Thessalonians 18) and many other places in the Bible specifically mentions about to whom the Gospel belongs to ( Romans 15:19, 1 Cor 9:12, 2 Cor 2:12, 2 Cor 9:13, 2 Cor 10:14, Galatians 1:7, etc) In all the places where they teach, preach, exhort, warn it exalts Lord Jesus Christ. He is the center of all of this. It is certainly not HumanCentric. Martin Luther summarized it best: “Gospel is and should be nothing else than a discourse or story about Christ.”

The Gospel is Cross-Centered.

There is no gospel without shedding of blood, there is no gospel without a sacrifice, there is no gospel without the payment. There is no gospel without the exchange. There is no gospel without the cross.

Paul could remind the church at Galatia, “It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified” (Gal. 3:1). And it’s why he could say to the church at Corinth, Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Cor. 1:22–24)

Gospel is and should be nothing else than a discourse or story about Christ

Later in the same letter, Paul adds this: And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (1 Cor. 2:1–2)

Baucham Jr., Voddie. Family Shepherds (By the author of Family Driven Faith): Calling and Equipping Men to Lead Their Homes (pp. 56-57). Crossway. Kindle Edition.

The Gospel is Grace Centered.

Scriptures repeatedly talk about to whom gospel belongs and its nature (goodness). One of the reason it's necessarily good because it's free and it doesn't depend on us. Therefore, the Gospel is Grace Centered.

Because the gospel is something outside us, it’s necessarily grace-centered. The work of the gospel is applied to those who believe—not because of anything in them, but in spite of the fact that there’s nothing anyone can do to deserve it. The gospel is good news precisely because it is grace-centered.

What a glorious privilege it is to “testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24)!

4But1 God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9dnot a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:4-10 ESV)