Rom. 1:1-6; 1 Cor. 15:3-8, Our Objective: Evangelism (1)

It is not an oversimplification for us to say that the message of the gospel is “Jesus.”  Peter and John told the Sanhedrin that there was no other name but “the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth” by which men could be saved (Ac. 4:10-12).  They did not cease “preaching and teaching Jesus the Christ” (Ac. 5:42).  Phillip “preached Christ” to the people of Samaria (Ac. 8:5) and he “preached Jesus” to the Ethiopian eunuch (Ac. 8:35).  Saul/Paul immediately after his conversion “preached Jesus” in the synagogues of Damascus (Ac. 9:20).  The “good news” is Jesus.

Why is this?  It is because Jesus is the personification of the grace of God.  This is what Paul meant when he wrote, For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men (Titus 2:11).  Paul is talking about Jesus:  He is the One who appeared to all men to bring salvation.  He is the grace of God.

The problem with God’s “grace” is that for God to grant forgiveness of sin to man, God must take account of that sin to satisfy His holiness and justice.  He cannot simply declare people free of sin and righteous so as to be reconciled to Him.  He must satisfy His justice that says, the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23).  The good news is that He has done this, through the work of His Son. 

The most succinct passage describing this, I believe, is Rom. 3:21-26.  Additionally, there are two NT passages that specifically say what the gospel “is.”

·       Romans 1:1-4: The gospel is WHO Christ is.  The “gospel of God” (v1), which was promised through the OT prophets (v2), concerns His Son (v3).  What specifically about “His Son”?  First, that He was of the seed of David “according to the flesh”.  This stresses His true humanity as well as His fulfillment of the Messianic promises.  Second, the gospel is concerned with His deity, so that through the resurrection there was a powerful declaration of this fact.  Note: the resurrection did not make Jesus the Son of God; He already was “His Son.” 

·       1 Corinthians 15:1-4: Paul’s subject is “the gospel” which he preached to them and in which they believed.  What is that gospel? It is good news concerning WHAT Christ did.  He died for our sins; He rose the third day.  As in the Romans passage, so here: this gospel was first revealed in the OT, the Scriptures. It is in His death that Christ paid the price of redemption that our sins might be forgiven.  In His resurrection we see that the Father received the payment of death in full and was satisfied.  When one believes the gospel, believes in His Son, that persons sins are forgiven and they receive eternal life.

When we speak of the need to declare the “complete gospel” I believe we must not only declare what Jesus did; we must declare who He is.  When you read Acts, I believe you will see the Apostolic preaching did this (e.g. Acts 2:36; 17:3).