From the New Testament.
From the New Testament.
§ 10. In the New Testament there are more and clearer descriptions of the Gospel, as, for instance, that it is the doctrine about the Son of God born in the fullness of time of the Virgin Mary, who is Jesus and “Savior, because He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). It is the most joyful message to the poor, that is, that which is to be preached to the poor in spirit because of whom the Son of God came into the world to call them to repentance (Matt. 9:13; Mark 2:17; Matt. 11:5; Luke 5:32; 7:22). It is the very sweet word of Christ by which He benevolently invites to Himself “all who labor and are heavy laden” and promises “rest for their souls” (Matt. 11:28–29). It is the preaching of the suffering, death, and burial of Christ which is to be declared throughout the world (Matt. 26:13; Mark 14:9). It is the message “to be announced to every creature, and whoever believes it will be saved” (Mark 16:[15–]16). It is the very joyful news about Christ, the Savior, born for us, a message which pertains to all people (Luke 2:10–11).
It is the teaching revealed through the Son from the bosom of the heavenly Father, a teaching which shows us “the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world, who is full of grace and truth, from whose fullness we all receive grace for grace, because of which we receive the adoption of sons, namely, we who believe on His name” (John 1:12, 14, 16, 18, 29, 36). It is the salutary declaration of Christ that “whoever believes in Him will have eternal life and will not come into condemnation but has passed from death into life” (John 5:24). It is the manifestation of the divine will by which eternal life and resurrection to life are promised to all who believe in Christ (John 6:40). It is the word of Christ such that “whoever keeps it will not see death” (John 8:51). It is the preaching about Christ, who is “the resurrection and the life, and whoever believes in Him, though he were dead, shall live, and everyone who lives and believes in Him will never die” (John 11:25–26). It is the promise of eternal life which must be obtained through the true knowledge of the heavenly Father and of His Son, Jesus Christ (John 17:3). It is the preaching of the apostles put into writing for this purpose: that we “may believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that believing we may have life in His name” (John 20:31).
§ 11. In the sermons and writings of the apostles stand the following definitions of the Gospel. It is the message of the “kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 8:12). It is the news which “God sent to the children of Israel, declaring peace by Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all, to whom all the prophets bear witness that whoever believes in Him will receive the forgiveness of sins through His name” (Acts 10:36, 43). It is the good news of the fulfillment of the promise made to the fathers through the revealed and raised Jesus Christ, and the good news of the remission of sins, freedom from the curse of the Law of Moses, and life eternal to be attained through faith in Him (Acts 13:32–33, 38, 46).
It is the “doctrine of God handed down by the prophets in the Scriptures and promised beforehand concerning the Son of God, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness through His resurrection from the dead; which doctrine is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe” (Rom. 1:2–4, 16). It is the “law” or the doctrine “of faith in which the righteousness of God is manifested apart from the Law and is attested by the witness of the prophets; I say, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all and upon all who believe” (Rom. 3:21–22, [26]). It is the “word of faith, the call published into all the earth about Christ, who is the end of the Law to the righteousness of everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:4, 8, 18). It is the news of “Jesus Christ and the unfolding of the mystery kept silent for long ages but now disclosed at the time of the apostles and through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the mandate of the eternal God, to the obedience of faith revealed in all nations” (Rom. 16:25–26).
It is the “testimony to Christ, the word of the cross, the foolish preaching of Christ crucified who has been made by God to be our wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption, who saves all who believe and who excludes all boasting of the flesh” (1 Cor. 1:6, 18, 21, 29–30). It is the “testimony of God preaching not in the plausible words of human wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery, that hidden wisdom which God decreed before the ages in regard to Jesus Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1–2, 4, 7). It is the joyful news about Christ, “who died for our sins according to Scripture, who was buried and rose again on the third day according to Scripture”—the good news that provides salvation to him who accepts it in true faith and perseveres in it (1 Cor. 15:1–4).
It is the preaching of the apostles about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, “in whom all the divine promises are Yes and Amen to the glory of God” (2 Cor. 1:19–20). It is the “fragrance of the knowledge of God revealed by the apostles in every place, the fragrance of life unto the life and salvation of those who believe, but the fragrance of death unto death for those who do not believe” (2 Cor. 2:14–16). It is the “ministry of the new testament, not of the letter that kills, but of the life-giving Spirit and of righteousness in glory, through which ministry the glory of the Lord is revealed as if in a mirror with face veiled, so that we are transformed into the same likeness from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 2:6, 9, 18). It is the preaching of Christ Jesus bringing light to hearts, “to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:5–6). It is the “ministry or word of reconciliation” which the apostles declare as they carry out their mission in the name of Christ, that through the death of Christ the world has been reconciled to God; and as they ask that, for Christ’s sake, we be reconciled to God, that is, that by faith we accept the benefits that are offered in the Gospel (2 Cor. 5:18–20).
It is the “doctrine preached by the apostles among the nations, a doctrine revealed to them through the revelation of Jesus Christ, that Christ gave Himself for our sins that He might remove us from this present evil time according to God’s will” (Gal. 1:4, 11–12, 16). It is the “truth”; that is, it is the sure and true doctrine whose sum is that “man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ, who loved us and gave Himself for us” (Gal. 2:14, 16, 20). It is the message of faith in regard to “Abraham’s Seed, in whom all nations are blessed”; that is, it is about Christ, who “redeemed us from the curse of the Law by having become a curse for us” (Gal. 3:2, 8, 13).
It is the “manifestation of the mystery of the will of God according to His good-pleasure, which He set forth in Himself. It is the word of truth which reveals the decree of the divine will that God has chosen us in Christ before the foundations of the world were laid and predestined us unto adoption through Christ” (Eph. 1:4–5, 9, 11, 13). It is the “message of peace brought through Christ, through whom we have access to the Father, as we have been made fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God” (Eph. 2:17–19). It is the “revelation of the mystery of Christ given to His apostles and prophets through His Spirit, the declaration of the unsearchable riches of Christ, through which the manifold wisdom of God has become known in the church” (Eph. 3:4–5, 8, 10).
It is the “true message of hope set in heaven for us by the heavenly Father, who has made us fit to share in the lot of the saints in light, who has brought us out of the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, through whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:5, 12–14).
It is “the sure and worthy message which we by all means embrace, a message whose sum is that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15).
It is the “testimony of Christ” or the doctrine of the “grace of God given us through Christ before time began, which has been published through the appearance of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light” (2 Tim. 1:8–10).
It is the “message committed to the apostles in the New Testament, according to the command of God, our Savior, a message about the hope of eternal life which God, who never lies, promised before time began” (Titus 1:2–3). It is the teaching of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who “gave Himself for us to redeem us from every iniquity and to purify for Himself a people of His own, a pursuer of good works” (Titus 2:14). It is the “undoubted message of God’s goodness and love of mankind whereby He saved us through Christ, by whose grace we were justified and are made heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4–8).
It is the “good word of God through which we taste the heavenly gift and the virtues of the ages to come and are made partakers of the Holy Spirit” (Heb. 6:4–5).
It is the “word preached by the apostles through the Holy Spirit, the word sent down from heaven which declares to those who believe the end goal of faith: the salvation of their souls for Christ’s sake” (1 Pet. 1:8–9, 12).
It is the doctrine preached by the apostles about the promise of eternal life for Christ’s sake, “who is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:2, 24–25). It is the “commandment of God that we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, so that whoever keeps that commandment remains in God and God in him” (1 John 3:23–24). It is the testimony of the apostle about the Son of God, “whom the Father has sent as the Savior of the world; whoever confesses that He is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God” (1 John 4:14–15). It is the “testimony of God which He testified about His Son, namely, that God has given us eternal life and that this life is in His Son so that, if someone has the Son, he has life and so that whoever believes in the name of the Son knows that he has eternal life” (1 John 5:9, 11–13).
It is the “message of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ: that He has loved us and has washed us clean of our sins with His blood and has made us kings and priests to God and His Father” (Rev. 1:2, 5–6).