(LR) THE Gospel Message (2011 03 14)

 In studying my New Testament textbook, specifically the apostle Paul, I came across a paragraph entitled "Paul's Gospel".  It laid out the Christian gospel message with biblical references.  I thought it would make for such a good Bible study and would strengthen people's evangelization and witnessing skills that I wanted to post it here for whomever wanted to use it.

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Paul's gospel indicted all humanity for the crime of rejecting God and His rightful authority.  Suffering the consequences of Adam's sin, mankind plunged into the depths of depravity so that they were utterly unable to fulfill the righteous demands of God (Romans 1:18-32; 3:9-20; 9:12-19) and deserved only the wrath of God (Romans 1:18; 2:5-16).  The sinner was alienated from God and at enmity with Him (Romans 5:10; Colossians 1:21).  Consequently, the sinner's only hope was the gospel that embodied God's power to save those who had faith in Christ (Romans 1:16).   The focus of Paul's gospel was clearly Jesus Christ (Romans 1:3-4).  Paul affirmed Jesus' humanity and his deity.  Christ was a physical descendant from the line of David (Romans 1:2), came in the likeness of sinful man (Romns 8:3), assuming the form of a humble, obedient servant (Philippians 2:7-8).  Yet He was the visible form of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), all the fullness of deity living in Him in bodily form (Colossians 2:9), in very nature God (Philippians 1:6), and possessed the title "Lord" (Greek title for the God of the Old Testament), the name above all names (Philippians 2:9-11).  Paul believed that by virtue of His sinlessness, Jesus was qualified to be the sacrifice that made sinners right with God (2 Corinthians 5:21).  In His death on the cross, Jesus had become the curse for sin (Galatians 3:10-14), and the righteous had died for the unrighteous (Romans 5:6-8).   Salvation is a free gift granted to believers and grounded solely in God's grace.  Salvation is not dependent on human merit, activity, or effort but only on God's undeserved love (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-10).  Those who trust Jesus for their salvation, confess Him as Lord, and believe that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9) will be saved from God's wrath, become righteous in God's sight (Romans 5:9), are adopted as God's children (Romans 8:15-17; Ephesians 1:5), and are transformed by the Spirit's power (Galatians 5:22-24).  At the coming of Christ believers will be resurrected (1 Corinthians 15:12-57), partake fully of the Son's righteous character (Philippians 3:20-21), and live forever with their Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:17).   By their union with Christ through faith, believers participate spiritually in Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension (Romans 6:1-7; Ephesians 2:4-5; Colossians 3:1-4).  Consequently, the believer has been liberated from the power of sin, death, and the law.  He is a new, though imperfect, creation that is continually being made more like Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17; Colossians 3:9-10).  Although the believer is no longer under the authority of the written law, the Holy Spirit functions as a new internal law leading him naturally and spontaneously to fulfill the law's righteous demands (Romans 8:1-4).  As a result, the law-free gospel does not encourage unrighteous behavior in believers.  Such behavior is contrary to their new identity in Christ.   The union of believers with Christ brings them into union with other believers in the body of Christ, the church.  Believers exercise their spiritual gifts in order to help each other mature, to serve Christ and glorify Him, the church's highest purpose (Ephesians 3:21; Ephesians 4:11-13).  Christ now rules over the church as it's Head, it's highest authority (Ephesians 1:22).  When Christ comes again, His reign over the world will be consummated and all that exists will be placed under His absolute authority (Ephesians 1:10; Philippians 4:20).  He will raise the dead, unbelievers for judgment and punishment, believers for glorification and reward (2 Thessalonians 1:5-10).