In the last post, we considered the gospel on Judgment Day.  Only people who succeed in contradicting, renouncing, and despising the gospel will experience a resurrection to judgment. Such people not only opposed God in time but also in eternity, body and soul. Consider the rich man who wouldn’t even give the beggar scraps from … Continue reading What is the Gospel? Part 10–A Peculiar Way of Understanding Law and Gospel?

But what happens to us on Judgment Day? Even if all the blessings of the gospel considered so far were true, what if we are still condemned at the end of the world? According to Jesus, such a shocking reversal of the gospel is not possible. For everyone generated by and living in His Word, … Continue reading What is the Gospel? Part 9–Judgment Day

All of God’s good news for us and good work for us moves through us as goodness toward others, in word and deed. In Matthew 7, Jesus explained that “a good tree bears good fruit . . . it cannot bear bad fruit.” Fruit can’t make the tree that bears it. Neither can our good works make us good. God’s … Continue reading What is the Gospel? Part 8–Good Works

While our soul is regenerated by God’s inspired Word and, therefore, fully convinced of truth and grace, the corruption in our human nature always contradicts that.  Doubt is an inescapable and relentless characteristic of the corruption in us that opposes God. Therefore, God gives confirmation (physical evidence) of His grace toward us through the sacraments. … Continue reading What is the Gospel? Part 7–Dependability

Now we know of four aspects of the gospel: three of them taking care of the contrary nature of our body (forgiveness, atonement, imputation of righteousness) and one that re-creates our soul in the image of Christ. Next, consider how God feeds, energizes, and animates that regenerate soul with His inspired Word. Just as God’s … Continue reading What is the Gospel? Part 6–Inspiration

The gospel, as we have considered so far, includes three elements: forgiveness, atonement, and imputed perfection. Next, consider that God actually regenerates our soul. He makes it new, recreating our essence in the image of His own Son, Jesus.  Consider the following Bible passages: “Unless a person is generated from above, he cannot enter the … Continue reading What is the Gospel? Part 5–Regeneration

So far, we’ve gone over how the gospel includes a universe of forgiveness in which we live AND the atonement of Jesus under which we exist. Next, the Bible explains that the perfect life that Jesus lived is imputed, or applied, to our account as a gift of God’s love and grace. God makes an … Continue reading What is the Gospel? Part 4–God’s Great Exchange

The gospel or “good news” of Jesus Christ confirms that all has been forgiven for Jesus’ sake, as last week’s post discussed. The gospel also teaches us about ATONEMENT. Atonement is a covering that brings satisfaction. In the Old Testament, the cover for the Ark of the Covenant was called the “mercy seat” (“hilastarion” Exodus 25:17ff). … Continue reading What is the Gospel? Part 3–Atonement

Gospel means “good message” but just how good is this good message? In my experience, the language we use to describe it does not fully encompass what the Bible teaches.  We hear a lot of talk of the idea of gospel being confined to God forgiving sins (sometimes including a reason = “because Jesus died … Continue reading What is the Gospel? Part 2–Forgiveness

The word "Gospel" is used often by many people. When asked what it means, people generally reply, "The good news!" When I ask students to tell me about that good news, the news is not so good. The news I hear is that people can be saved (potential) if they believe (condition) and have their … Continue reading What is the Gospel? Part 1