Take up the Cross With the Bible
The 19th-century Princeton theologian Charles Hodge said, "The gospel is so simple that small children can understand it, and it is so profound that studies by the wisest theologians will never exhaust its riches." The gospel is absolutely fundamental to everything we believe, and it is at the very core of who we are as Christians. However, many professing Christians struggle to answer the simple question:
What is the gospel? When I teach, I am astounded by how many of my students are unable to provide a biblically accurate explanation of what the gospel is, and, what's more, what the gospel is not. If we don't know what the gospel is, we are of all people the most to be pitied. For, if we can't explain the gospel, then we can't proclaim the gospel in evangelism so that sinners might be saved, and we in fact may not be saved ourselves.
In our day, there are countless counterfeit gospels, both inside and outside the church. Much of what is on Christian television and on the shelves of Christian bookstores completely obscures the gospel, thereby making it another gospel, which is no gospel at all.
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Since Satan cannot destroy the gospel, as J.C. Ryle wrote, "he has too often neutralized its usefulness by addition, subtraction, or substitution." It is vital we understand that just because a preacher talks about Jesus, the cross, and heaven, that does not mean he is preaching the gospel. And just because there is a church building on every corner does not mean the gospel is preached on every corner.
Fundamentally, the gospel is news. It's good news—the good news about what our triune God has graciously accomplished for His people: The Father's sending the Son, Jesus Christ, God incarnate, to live perfectly, fulfill the law, and die sacrificially, atoning for our sins, satisfying God's wrath against us that we might not face an eternal hell, and raising Him from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit.
It is the victorious announcement that God saves sinners. And even though the call of Jesus to "take up your cross and follow me," "repent and believe," "deny yourself," and "keep my commandments" are necessary commands that directly follow the proclamation of the gospel, they are not in themselves the good news of what Jesus has accomplished.
The gospel is not a summons to work harder to reach God— it's the grand message of how God worked all things together for good to reach us. The gospel is good news, not good advice, just as J. Gresham Machen wrote: "What I need first of all is not exhortation, but a gospel, not directions for saving myself but knowledge of how God has saved me. Have you any good news? That is the question that I ask of you."
This article was originally published at Ligonier.org
Ligonier Ministries was founded by Dr. R.C. Sproul to help Christians know what they believe, why they believe it, how to live it, and how to share it. Visit Ligonier Ministries at http://www.ligonier.org to access more than 8,000 faith-building resources.
