The Simple Gospel

THE DAILY WORD
By Jim Seekamp

Wednesday February 4, 2009

Paul made it clear that there are people preaching other "gospels" than the one he preached, and that those "gospels" were false:

Galatians 1:6-12 (NIV)
6. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- 7. which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!
9. As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! 10. Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
11. I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. 12. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

Paul received the Gospel he preached "by revelation from Jesus Christ"!
Paul was "caught up to third heaven" at one point in his life; so that is most likely when he received this revelation he mentioned in Galatians:

2 Corinthians 12:1-4 (NIV)
1. I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know-- God knows.
3. And I know that this man-- whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows-- 4. was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.

Bible scholars agree that Paul was talking about himself in the above verses; that it was he himself who was caught up to paradise, because he considered it "boasting" to tell about it.

Paul was so confident of the Gospel he received that he immediately began preaching it, without consulting Peter or any of the other apostles in Jerusalem:

Galatians 1:15-17 (NIV)
15. But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased 16. to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, 17. nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.

So what was this Gospel that Paul taught, that he received directly from Jesus Christ? Well, Paul wrote many of the New Testament books, and he outlines the Gospel very plainly:

Romans 3:21-24 (NIV)
21. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24. and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Romans 10:9,10 (NIV)
9. That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

The Gospel that Paul received, and the way to receive salvation through that Gospel, are crystal clear. But it is such a simple message that many have tried to complicate it over the years. The Gospel comes across as "foolishness" to many, because there is no way to earn it!

1 Corinthians 1:18-23 (NIV)
18. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
20. Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21. For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
22. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23. but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles

The message of salvation is simple: believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, and confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord", and you will be saved. Period.

PRAYER
Thank You Father for Your Word, that tells of Your plan of salvation. Help me to communicate the true Gospel in love; not ashamed of it's simplicity.
In Jesus' Name, Amen

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