Q-A: Common Gospel Questions

• Is John 3:16 the gospel?
  
  No. This verse depicts the Kingdom gospel and not the Grace gospel. The gospel is absent in this verse and therefore one cannot use this verse as a basis to present the gospel to someone. Why not? This verse lacks the information that one needs to know regarding the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and what that purpose is for us.
  
  John 3:16 is essentially the Kingdom gospel and had to do with the identity of Jesus Christ, and Jews [at the time of John's writing] had to acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah, (see John 20:31, Luke 12:8, Matthew 16:16, John 11:27).
  
  The Grace gospel today is not about the identity of Christ, but rather with the cross work of Jesus; not who He is, but what He has done. For examples of the grace gospel, see 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 4:25; 1 Thessalonians 4:14; Romans 14:9; 2 Corinthians 5:15.
   
  (Note, these scriptures above reference the cross work of Jesus, but it is advisable to provide more detailed explanations of these scripture to the intended person(s). Remember that you are communicating the message, but it is God's work, through the Holy Spirit that with bring the person to conviction. Conviction and salvation is between that person and God. You cannot force that person into a conviction. Just share the gospel and leave the rest to the Holy Spirit.).
  
  
  
• What is the gospel by which one is saved today?
  
  Redemption is not responding to an altar call after a prosperity message; it is not being scared into heaven by a hell-fire preacher; it's not reading a baseless gospel tract. When you try to argue someone into faith, they may concede to the strength of your argument, but faith was not produced. Please understand, God can use the above examples to get their attention and bring them to a "receptive" state, but without genuine faith men are blind.
  
  In order to be saved one needs to first hear (or have any means of reception of) the Gospel message of the cross-work of Christ and then recognize and respond by faith to the conviction that comes upon your heart. Read Romans 10:14-15; Romans 10:17. 
  
  
  
• What must one do to be saved?
  
  This is a common question and one worded out so typically from an uninformed mindset. As humans, we are programmed to pay (or do, or give) something in order to get something. So, asking the question, what must we do to be saved is a normal 'programmed' request. However, the more correct question should be, "What must we believe to be saved?"
  
  We must understand that we can do NOTHING to even come close to being saved. We are so far gone, so utterly contaminated by the sin nature that even the good we do is tainted and like filthy rags before the righteousness and holiness of God (Romans 3:10–12, Ephesians 2:1, Job 15:16, Isaiah 64:6). So, it's not what we can do, but what we must believe to be saved (Romans 1:16, Romans 4:5, Romans 10:14, Galatians 2:16, Ephesians 1:13, 1 Timothy 3:16). We must believe that Jesus Christ has done it all for us. We must understand that His innocent life was sacrificed for us to live. We must understand that His life was offered as a ransom to settle a payment for our guilt and sins. We must comprehend that He died in our place, as a substitute, so that our sins could be forgiven by the price of His blood and that we could be rewarded His life and innocence. We must believe that He was raise up again to life for our justification (Romans 4:25) and that His resurrection is the proof that we are raised to eternal life and a glorious inheritance in the heavens.
  
  Friends, there is nothing to do since the sin debt has already been paid! The only thing that remains is for you to respond to the grace that God offers and to believe in the cross work of God's Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus has done the doing, and all that's left is for you to trust in that and believe it.
  
  
  
• Why did Paul say his gospel was a new gospel?
  
  If one compares Paul's gospel with the Kingdom gospel, taught by John the Baptist, Jesus and the 12-Apostles, you will discover that the message and works-based* conditions of the gospel of the Kingdom was very different to the message and 'faith apart from works' gospel of grace. *See Faith and Works during the Law Program for details.
  
  Paul was called into apostleship by the risen Lord Jesus Christ and became the first member placed into a new grace program (1 Tim.1:16). This new program (or dispensation) required a completely new gospel and doctrine (Ephesian 3:2-9). Paul writes that a "dispensation of the gospel" was committed unto him (1 Cor.9:17) and that his gospel was not received by man, nor was it of man, but given to him first by the Lord (Gal.1:1; Gal.1:11).
  
  Paul's gospel message was entirely of Christ, and so Paul stands alone in calling it "the gospel of Christ" and "Christ’s gospel", but that he also calls it "my gospel" (Rom.2:16, Rom.16:25, 2 Tim.2:8) can only be explained by the fact that Christ gave it first to Paul exclusively. No one else in scripture could claim "my gospel", and the fact that Paul distinguishes it from the Kingdom gospel is proof that it was a new gospel and wholly different from it.