The Gospel, Stated Plainly

Reference Page • The Gospel

Every answer I give on this site comes back to one message. Here it is, stated plainly from three passages of Scripture.

This teaching comes from the King James Bible, and every verse I quote is from the KJV. These are my own convictions from the Word of God, shared through The Prevailing Word of God ministry, and they do not speak for any local church.

I. Why One Plain Statement of the Gospel Matters

Galatians 1:6-7

Paul marvelled that the Galatians were so soon removed “unto another gospel: Which is not another” (Galatians 1:6-7). Some were troubling them and trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. Every false teaching I answer on this site does the same thing. It either adds something to the gospel or takes something away from it.

That is why I keep this page. Paul did not leave the gospel undefined, so I let Scripture define it in its own words (1 Corinthians 15:1). Three passages give us the whole message. First Corinthians 15:1-4 tells us what the gospel is, and Romans 1:16 tells us what it does. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us how a sinner receives it.

II. What the Gospel Is

1 Corinthians 15:1-4

Paul preached this gospel, the Corinthians received it, and they stood in it (1 Corinthians 15:1). This gospel saves those who believe it and keep it in memory (1 Corinthians 15:2). Then Paul states its content. Christ died for our sins, Christ was buried, and Christ rose again the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

Twice Paul adds the words “according to the scriptures.” God promised this gospel long before Paul ever preached it (Romans 1:1-2). Isaiah foretold that the Messiah would be “wounded for our transgressions” (Isaiah 53:5-6). David wrote that God would not suffer His Holy One to see corruption (Psalm 16:10), and Peter applied that promise to the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:27-31).

Notice what is missing from the content. Water baptism is not part of the gospel Paul defined. In the same letter he wrote, “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel” (1 Corinthians 1:17). Baptism matters because Jesus Christ commanded it, yet it has no place in the content of the gospel.

III. What the Gospel Does

Romans 1:16

The gospel itself carries the saving power of God (Romans 1:16). To them that perish, the preaching of the cross is foolishness, “but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

That power reaches “every one that believeth,” so believing in Jesus Christ is the only condition this verse names. When the Philippian jailer asked what he must do to be saved, Paul answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

The same gospel goes “to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” That leaves no room for one gospel for Israel and another for the Gentiles. “For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him” (Romans 10:12). Because the gospel carries God’s own power, I have no reason to be ashamed of it (2 Timothy 1:12).

IV. How the Gospel Is Received

Ephesians 2:8-9

Grace is the source of salvation. God gives the sinner what he could never earn, for we are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).

Faith in Jesus Christ is the means, because the sinner simply receives what God freely gives. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

Salvation is “the gift of God,” and a gift paid for by works is no longer a gift. Romans 11:6 says it plainly: “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.” Works are shut out completely, “lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:9). Paul says boasting “is excluded” (Romans 3:27).

Good works still have their place. The very next verse says we are “created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Ephesians 2:10). Those works follow salvation as its fruit (Titus 3:5, 8).

V. The Gospel in One Sentence

1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Ephesians 2:8-9

Put the three passages together, and the whole message fits in a few words. Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day. Every sinner who believes in Jesus Christ is saved by grace alone, apart from works (1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Acts 16:31; Ephesians 2:8-9).

Grace saves, and nothing we do can add to it (Titus 3:5).

My Statement of Faith says the same thing in two sentences:

VI. What the Gospel Is Not

Galatians 1:6-9

Each line below answers a different error I meet again and again. Each one also links to the fuller teaching on this site.

• It is not the gospel plus water. Cornelius and his house received the Holy Ghost before they were baptized (Acts 10:43-47). Read The Blood, Not the Water: Does Baptism Save? and The Ten Baptism Texts Answered.
• It is not the gospel plus the law. “A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2:16). Read Children of Abraham: Sons of God by Faith.
• It is not another Jesus or another gospel. Paul warned against “another Jesus” (2 Corinthians 11:4) and pronounced a curse on any who preach another gospel (Galatians 1:8-9). Read Oneness Doctrine: A False Gospel and Jesus Is God, but He Is Not the Father.
• It is not one gospel for Israel and another for the church. The same gospel goes to the Jew and to the Greek (Romans 1:16), and the Gentiles are “fellowheirs, and of the same body” (Ephesians 3:6). Read The Gospel of God, the Gospel of Christ.

VII. Responding to the Gospel

Mark 1:15

Read these three passages again. The work of salvation belongs to Jesus Christ from first to last, for Jesus Christ is “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).

If you have never trusted Jesus Christ, turn from trusting yourself and believe the gospel. Jesus Christ commanded, “repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Paul preached “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21).

If you are already saved, stand in this gospel and hold it fast, as Paul told the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 15:1-2). “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith” (1 Corinthians 16:13).

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Related Teaching

Salvation in Jesus Christ: Introduction to the 12-Part Series

What Really Saves You

Romans 1:1-17, The Gospel of God: Promised, Proclaimed, and Powerful

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