The Gospel

The Gospel of Jesus Christ

"Gospel" means Good News. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news that Jesus can save you and me. He can save everyone.

What does Jesus save us from? He saves us from our own errors. All of us make mistakes, but our problems are more than just blunders. There is something corrupt at our core and it repeatedly clouds our minds and motivates our actions. The Bible calls it a carnal mind and adds, “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom 8:6). If we remain hostile to God, we will die. The Bible also says, “To be carnally minded is death” (Rom 8:6). Jesus saves us from death.

How? Because we naturally oppose God, we act contrary to His will. The Bible calls those acts sin: “All have sinned” (Rom 3:23). We know this because we often hurt the people around us. That not only brings sorrow, but it can result in death. The Bible adds, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). Jesus saved us by paying the penalty for our sins. Having done no sin, He took our sins on Himself and died in our place. His voluntary death satisfied the demands of God’s justice. We can be held guiltless when we are judged after this life, not because we did no sin, but because Jesus’ crucifixion paid the penalty for our sins.

Jesus did more than suffer the consequences of our sins. He made a way to remove the corruption at the core of each person. People do not have to remain enemies of God. Jesus can transform us. He changed my nature and He can change yours. You can be transformed. You can be changed. How is that possible? The Bible teaches, “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom 8:11). The Bible reveals, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 10:38) and He will anoint Jesus’ disciples with the same Spirit. Jesus promised, “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever” (John 14:16). That Comforter is “the Holy Ghost” (John 14:26). The same Spirit that dwelt in Jesus will change you. Paul testified, “We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor 3:18).

On the day that the apostles first received the Holy Ghost, Peter preached about Jesus. Every person heard his words in their own language, for many had come to Jerusalem from distant places for the feast of Pentecost. When the people miraculously heard how Jesus suffered to save them, they believed and asked, “What shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). Peter answered, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38).

What is our response when we hear the gospel of Jesus Christ—when we hear “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day” (1 Cor 15:3-4)? Do we believe? Are we convicted by our sins, realizing that they contributed to the scars of Jesus’ crucifixion? Do we ask what we can do in response to hearing about His salvation? If the answer is “Yes”, we will be baptized for a remission of sins and the Father will give us the Holy Ghost. That Spirit will transform us until we become a new creature. The Bible teaches, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor 5:17).

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