The Gospel!! What is it?

[Ritajanice]

When it comes to the moral aspect of the law, you cannot dissect good works/works of faith etc.. from the law and teach that we are saved by "these" works (good works/works of faith) but just not "those" works (works of the law). In James 2:15-16, the example of a "work" that James gives is: "If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?" To give a brother or sister these things needed for the body would certainly be a good works/work of faith under the new law of Christ yet to neglect such a brother or sister and not give them the things needed for the body is to break the second great commandment "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39) as found written in the law of Moses. (Leviticus 19:18)

In Matthew 22:37-40, we read: Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. Now please explain to me which good works could a Christian accomplish which are "completely detached" from these two great commandments which are found in the law of Moses? (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18) *NOWHERE does the Bible teach we are saved by grace through faith plus works of any kind.

The apostle Paul does not merely limit "works" only to specific works of the law, but includes works in general. In Titus 3:5, we read that it is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.. and in 2 Timothy 1:9, we read that God saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works..

Love your posts Brother....so full of God’s Living words.....Praise His Holy Name!

 

[mailmandan]

The permanent fix is found in Acts 2 and I do not see where any scripture says that he is still planning on changing that or has if you show me point blank where Acts 2 is obsolete with the scripture that says that as was with the temporary fix then I can get on board but no one has done that yet.the word is still telling me that the baptism in the name of Jesus Christ is where God has chosen to remit sin and give the spirit

Try not to get too fixated on one verse. What happened to baptism in Luke 24:47; John 3:15,16,18; Acts 3:19; 4:4; 5:14; 5:31; 10:43-47; 11:17,18; 15:7-9; 16:31; 26:18? The only logical conclusion when properly harmonizing scripture with scripture is that faith in Jesus Christ "implied in genuine repentance" (rather than water baptism) brings the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

 

[Lambano]

1 Corinthians 15:1-8 KJV
1) Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2) By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3) For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4) And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

Beat me to it.

But I think the gospel Jesus Himself preached was:

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Good News.” (Mark 1:15)

But that just begs the question, what is the Kingdom of God, and how is it at hand? Wait, that's two questions.

 

[Godslittleservant]

Yes, the idea is that since Jesus, the future King, has arrived on earth, his Kingdom is the next big step in history. And its tension consists of placing every person on notice that what they do in their lives will be judged by that King's standards.

The kingdom has come it is a spiritual kingdom not an earthly kingdom Christ is already ruling his kingdom from his throne

 

[Godslittleservant]

If your not baptized by the HS, Your not saved. Plain and simple

No human can baptize you into Christ, his death, or spiritually circumcise you with the baptism of God.

If you read scripture you can not help but see that the spirit is given through the baptism in the name of Jesus Christ Acts 19 makes that clear so please tell me how you understand Acts 19:1-5 Please tell me your understanding so that I can see.

 

[Randy Kluth]

The kingdom has come it is a spiritual kingdom not an earthly kingdom Christ is already ruling his kingdom from his throne

That is where we disagree, not that I disagree the Kingdom is presently spiritual, but that there is coming a Kingdom on earth that is not here yet. The Kingdom was said to be "near." As I understand it, it is still "near." It is not yet *here.*

The book of Revelation looks forward to the coming Kingdom. It portrays the Kingdom as coming only as a prophecy, but not yet as a reality on earth. It is a prolepsis, using the literary term for a future event appearing as if it is happening now.

Clearly, Jesus saw the Kingdom is "near," and not yet here. Nevertheless, he did indicate that somehow, in some way, the Kingdom was already in Israel's midst when he was here among them. We would agree that the Kingdom is presently in some way a spiritual presence on earth. But we do not agree that it is already here.

 

[Eternally Grateful]

If you read scripture you can not help but see that the spirit is given through the baptism in the name of Jesus Christ Acts 19 makes that clear so please tell me how you understand Acts 19:1-5 Please tell me your understanding so that I can see.

No,

While it happened a few times, it did nto happen all the time

I was baptized INTO Christ, and his death (romans 6) I was then baptized into his Body (the church 1 cor 12) and I was baptized into Christ (gal 3)

this was not done by my pastor or any Human, it was Done By God himself..

I was baptized in water a year later..

 

[Godslittleservant]

The gospel is the "good news" of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that BELIEVES.. (Romans 1:16) To "believe" the gospel is to trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of our salvation.

The gospel is a message of grace that is to be received through faith. (Acts 15:7-9; 20:24; 26:18) The gospel is not a set of rituals to perform, a code of laws to be obeyed or a check list of good works (including water baptism) to accomplish as a prerequisite for salvation.

Before his death, Jesus told the twelve that he had to die and that he would rise on the third day. Looking back upon this passage we see this as Jesus speaking of an event that would change everything! However, it is unquestionable that the disciples were ignorant of its meaning at that time.

“Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem...And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken. – Luke 18:31-34. hmm... Through progressive revelation, the further content of the gospel that came through a revelation of Jesus Christ to Paul (Galatians 1:11-12) at that same time was still a mystery.

After his crucifixion, instead of anxiously waiting his resurrection, the apostles were still ignorant, disheartened at the death of their redeemer, and did not even at first believe the testimony of his resurrection. (Mark 16:14, Luke 24:19-24) It was not until after his resurrection that Jesus appeared to the apostles and opened their understanding. (Luke 24:44-47)

Through progressive revelation, there is a more distinct element to the content of the gospel which Paul received from Christ and is called "the mystery of the gospel." (see Ephesians 6:19 and compare with Colossians 1:26-27; 4:3) This new revelation is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise. (Ephesians 3:6) Such equality, Jew and Gentile united together in one body was previously unknown. The distinctive message of the church is that Jew and Gentile alike may believe the gospel and be united together into one body. (Ephesians 1:13; 1 Corinthians 12:13)

That is a good start but not complete You left out the baptism in the nae of Jesus Christ is is part of the cross if you believe Peter and Paul you can not close your eyes to it you must understand what they are telling you about it is is as much Gods grace as believing repenting and confessing.

 

[Godslittleservant]

Try not to get too fixated on one verse. What happened to baptism in Luke 24:47; John 3:15,16,18; Acts 3:19; 4:4; 5:14; 5:31; 10:43-47; 11:17,18; 15:7-9; 16:31; 26:18? The only logical conclusion when properly harmonizing scripture with scripture is that faith in Jesus Christ "implied in genuine repentance" (rather than water baptism) brings the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

I am not too fixated on one verse I have given you scripture after scripture to prove that the one verse means what it says but you have refused to show me why it does not. You are trying to nullify the meaning of those because it does not fit your belief but you have to go back and deal with the contradiction in your teaching.

The only logical conclusion when properly harmonizing scripture with scripture is that faith in Jesus Christ "implied in genuine repentance" (rather than water baptism) brings the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Paul has answered this for you being you cannot believe Peter knew what he was talking about in Acts 2:38 Paul tells you that yes it is in the baptism in the name of Jesus Christ that the spirit is given so if that part was true then it stands to reason that the sins are remitted as told also.

Now tell me why Paul and Peter both are wrong and you are right???

 

[Godslittleservant]

Beat me to it.

But I think the gospel Jesus Himself preached was:

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Good News.” (Mark 1:15)

But that just begs the question, what is the Kingdom of God, and how is it at hand? Wait, that's two questions.

It is the church and it is now here no longer at hand but has come

 

[Godslittleservant]

That is where we disagree, not that I disagree the Kingdom is presently spiritual, but that there is coming a Kingdom on earth that is not here yet. The Kingdom was said to be "near." As I understand it, it is still "near." It is not yet *here.*

The book of Revelation looks forward to the coming Kingdom. It portrays the Kingdom as coming only as a prophecy, but not yet as a reality on earth. It is a prolepsis, using the literary term for a future event appearing as if it is happening now.

Clearly, Jesus saw the Kingdom is "near," and not yet here. Nevertheless, he did indicate that somehow, in some way, the Kingdom was already in Israel's midst when he was here among them. We would agree that the Kingdom is presently in some way a spiritual presence on earth. But we do not agree that it is already here.

Matthew 16:28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
Tell me who these men are so I can go ask them a lot of questions if the kingdom has not come them they would still be here ore someone lied.

 

[Godslittleservant]

No,

While it happened a few times, it did nto happen all the time

I was baptized INTO Christ, and his death (romans 6) I was then baptized into his Body (the church 1 cor 12) and I was baptized into Christ (gal 3)

this was not done by my pastor or any Human, it was Done By God himself..

I was baptized in water a year later..

And that my friend is contrary to scripture for there is only one baptism so you have to rethink your line of thinking and also you got that backward according to Acts 19:1-5 did you even go read it before you responded?
Go read it and come and tell me what it says and we will then discuss it.

 

[Randy Kluth]

Matthew 16:28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
Tell me who these men are so I can go ask them a lot of questions if the kingdom has not come them they would still be here ore someone lied.

There are a few different ideas put forward as to what Jesus was actually meaning by this statement. Some, including myself, believe he was referring to the Transfiguration experience by which Peter, James, and John were actually able to have confirmed to them that Jesus was bringing a Kingdom to earth in the future. Some feel that the Disciples would see Jesus resurrected, and in that sense, be bringing the Kingdom.

Amillennialists appear to believe that Jesus succeeded in establishing his Kingdom on earth through the resurrection and through the establishment of his Church on earth. We do contain the Kingdom reality in a sense, but I do not think this represents a "coming of the Kingdom" personally.

 

[Eternally Grateful]

And that my friend is contrary to scripture for there is only one baptism so you have to rethink your line of thinking and also you got that backward according to Acts 19:1-5 did you even go read it before you responded?
Go read it and come and tell me what it says and we will then discuss it.

There is only one baptism that saves.

there are many baptisms.

there was the baptism of John, The baptism of the disciples. The baptism of the spirit. the baptism of fire. the baptism into moses..

the ceremonial baptisms of the temple and all of its utensils.

I can go on and on and on

 

[Godslittleservant]

There are a few different ideas put forward as to what Jesus was actually meaning by this statement. Some, including myself, believe he was referring to the Transfiguration experience by which Peter, James, and John were actually able to have confirmed to them that Jesus was bringing a Kingdom to earth in the future. Some feel that the Disciples would see Jesus resurrected, and in that sense, be bringing the Kingdom.

Amillennialists appear to believe that Jesus succeeded in establishing his Kingdom on earth through the resurrection and through the establishment of his Church on earth. We do contain the Kingdom reality in a sense, but I do not think this represents a "coming of the Kingdom" personally.

But we have to search the scriptures to find the truth if it is there we cannot let out thinking control the scriptural definition we tried that on baptism and look what that has caused.

 

[Godslittleservant]

There is only one baptism that saves.

there are many baptisms.

there was the baptism of John, The baptism of the disciples. The baptism of the spirit. the baptism of fire. the baptism into moses..

the ceremonial baptisms of the temple and all of its utensils.

I can go on and on and on

Yes only one that saves and we have to let the bible tell us Now did you read Acts 19:1-6 and ready to give me your take on that?

 

[Godslittleservant]

Yes only one that saves and we have to let the bible tell us Now did you read Acts 19:1-6 and ready to give me your take on that?

Acts 19:1-6
1 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples
2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.
4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.

There you go I posted it for you so read this and tell me how the spirit is given and notice it discredits your thought of holy spirit baptism what you call that is actually given by laying on of hand and not directly from Jesus and is after the baptism in the name of Jesus Christ where the spirit is given unless Paul is lying to them.

 

[Eternally Grateful]

Yes only one that saves and we have to let the bible tell us Now did you read Acts 19:1-6 and ready to give me your take on that?

I did let the bible tell me

John the baptist told me
Jesus told me
Paul told me

what more do i need?

Acts 19 does not prove your point. Stop trying to go to a few select passages and look at scripture as a whole

again, I was baptized into Christ. Only God can do that. No one else can

if you think they can, That is blasphemy..

 

[1stCenturyLady]

I'm not sure I understand? I personally believe we still, living in our mortal flesh, have within it a Sin Nature. We are weak to sin's compulsions. We regularly display levels of impatience, wants, excessive emotional reactions, etc. But we can mitigate this by the presence of Christ's life within us through our Born Again experience.

Are you saying we have sin excised from our flesh, or are you just saying that we have a pure nature from Christ existing within our sin-infected mortal bodies?

Both. The born again of God have a new nature as Adam was created with, but also the gospel which is the power of God living inside of us.


The Apostle John is calling sin breaking the "law."

1 John 3:4-5
4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.

Lawlessness was put in Adam's human nature by Satan to corrupt mankind. Thus we see Cain murdering his brother. It was in his nature.

Jesus came to take away lawlessness back out of our nature, and to dwell within us, empowering us. By His crucifixion and resurrection , Jesus took back what had been lost to Satan. See the result:

1 John 3:8-9
8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

There are two types of sin. Sins unto death, and sins not unto death. John is addressing sins unto death in this chapter of the Bible. The context is verse 4 above. This is also why the New Covenant is putting the laws of God in our heart which is our conscience. This is also why Paul writes the last verse of Romans 3:31 "Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law." With our newly cleansed nature and filled with the Spirit of Christ we are naturally righteous.

1 John 3:7
7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning.

Righteousness is not a covering over our sins as many, many denominations teach because of the teaching we will always have a "sin nature." John refutes that doctrine of demons. They don't realize that this is being said by John while we live in a body of flesh. That is because many church fathers used human reasoning, rather than spiritual reasoning from the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:9-16. We have the mind of Christ. Paul called our flesh, the old man. He was speaking of our nature. That is what was crucified and resurrected with Christ, Romans 6:5-7. That is what was born again of the Spirit, not our body which still must die. Think of our body as a lifeless puppet. Our nature is the puppetmaster that brings our puppet body to life, either doing righteousness, or things deserving death. We must abide in Jesus. How? 1 John 3:24. It is not hard as all you have to do is obey your own heart where the commandments are already written and are now a part of us.

24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

Romans 6:5-7
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.

We are now sinless of lawlessness, but not perfect. Your question about our emotions is about the fruit of the Spirit. Note in John 15:1-4 the immature fruit of the Spirit you were asking about does not affect our sinlessness from lawlessness - we are still clean. John and Peter address the maturing of fruit of the Spirit in John 15 and 2 Peter 1:5-7.

John 15:1-4
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

2 Peter 1:4-7
4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

Adding the mature fruit of the Spirit to our sinlessness/righteousness makes us perfect/holy. Revelation 22:11 shows we must be one or both. Jesus is coming within this decade. He is coming for a Bride without Spot or Wrinkle. Abiding in Jesus is the answer for Him to Finish us to perfection as His Bride.

 

[1stCenturyLady]

The only way we can abide in the Spirit, is through the working of the Holy Spirit in us....”YOU” cannot abide in the Spirit. In your own strength....only the Holy Spirit can keep us abiding in HIM....

It’s called the sanctification process...we are being made into the image of Jesus.

Therefore God gets all the Glory/ Praise....your FLESH just exalts it self...

Let the flesh die so you can live in the Spirit...

That's a given. Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith.