What’s the gospel? It’s the story of salvation which culminates in Jesus Christ.
That’s how I concluded last week’s blog post.
The story covers a lot of ground, too much for some people. To unpack the Bible’s narrative, we’d have to recount the beginning of the world, God’s purpose for creating human beings, their fall into sin, God’s eventual choice of Abraham and Sarah to birth a nation dedicated to Him, and the failure of Israel to fulfill the Lord’s calling.
Finally, we get to Jesus, the Lord and Savior! But that’s a lot of background to work through first.
And even the life of Jesus takes time to explore. After all, the Bible has four Gospels written by the apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each of them tells the story of Jesus from a different perspective.
And then we have the book of Acts which reports how the apostles understood and spread the gospel. And let’s not leave out the epistles, letters written by Paul, John, and others. These apply the gospel message to specific situations in specific churches.
Like I said, a lot of ground to cover!
Is there a way to simplify all this? Can we reduce the gospel to a succinct comment about how to get saved?
The book of Acts appears to offer two examples of this. Let’s delve into these and see what we discover.
The first one is in chapter 2. It describes how on the day of Pentecost, 120 of Christ’s disciples received the Holy Spirit. As a result, they began to declare God’s great deeds in languages they themselves didn’t even understand. This amazed the crowd who wanted an explanation. Peter obliged them by preaching a message about Jesus as the Messiah whom they had rejected.
Here’s what happened next.
“When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ 38Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off–for all whom the Lord our God will call.’ 40With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’” – Acts 2:37-40
It’s easy to conclude that in verse 38, Peter reduced the good news to a short answer to a guilt-motivated question. The Jews in Jerusalem, convicted they’d disowned their own Messiah, asked what they should do about this sin. Peter doesn’t let them wallow in shame; he offers them a way out. Turn from sin, get baptized in the name of the rejected One, and they’d receive the gift of God’s Spirit.
The gospel in one verse!
But verse 40 tells us that Peter didn’t stop there. The phrase “many other words” lets us know he had more to communicate. What did he discuss?
The Bible doesn’t spell it out, but consider this. The subject of faith features significantly in Paul’s letters. And the word “believe” occurs often in the gospel of John. Yet Peter doesn’t mention either one in verse 38. Is it possible that he taught the Jews how trusting in Jesus would save them? That would be consistent with the good news of salvation based on the story of Jesus’ life and work.
The second example provides another illustration.
Acts 16 chronicles some of the exploits Paul experienced on his second missionary journey. The apostle often encountered resistance to the gospel, and this trip was no exception. The magistrates of the city of Philippi arrested and jailed Paul and Silas for disrupting the peace. But in the middle of the night, God freed them by causing an earthquake which (by a miracle) opened the prison doors and loosened the chains.
Assuming the prisoners would flee, the jailer, responsible for their incarceration, was going to kill himself. But Paul stopped him in time.
Shaken and confused, the jailer wondered how to respond.
“He then brought them out and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ 31They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved–you and your household.’ 32Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.” – Acts 16:30-32
Again, we see the gospel scaled down to a single verse (31). If one believes in Jesus, one gets saved. An added benefit–God extends this opportunity to everyone; a whole family can come to Christ!
But verse 32 informs us that Paul wasn’t finished. He and Silas “spoke the word of the Lord” to the jailer and his family.
What did they talk about? As in Acts 2, the Bible doesn’t tell us. But we can speculate based on what verse 31 left out. Believing in Jesus is the heart of the gospel, yes, but who is Jesus? Why should anyone trust Him? The call to salvation makes little sense outside of the story of the gospel. It’s likely the apostles explained the story of Jesus so that the faith of the family would have a solid footing.
Peter and Paul knew how the gospel integrates story and salvation in Christ. Taking their cues from others, they crafted pithy replies and longer explanations. They listened, confident that the gospel could answer the deep questions people have.
Like the apostles, we can simplify the gospel to address the issues of others. But we also need to take time to explain to them the big picture. Those who are familiar with the storyline of the Scriptures need encouragement to put their trust in Christ alone. And those who are willing to believe in Jesus need to understand the plan of God expressed through Israel and fulfilled in the Lord Jesus.
We don’t have to choose between the simple and the intricate; the good news includes both. And as long as we seek to exalt Jesus, the Holy Spirit will help us to know Christ and share Christ.
But only if we’re listening!
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