Gospel Basics – Part 2

I know it is impossible to try to reduce the Bible, or more precisely the Gospel, down to a pamphlet or a single sheet of paper listing all the basics. But I think Christians who finally get the revelation of God’s grace towards them, can simply rest in the fact that they finally know and believe that the wonderful gifts of righteousness, redemption, remission and reconciliation are already bestowed upon them.

I think most educated people know that the Bible is split in two halves: The Old Testament and the New Testament. These Testaments are covenants: agreements made between man and God through the shedding of the blood of an innocent animal. The New Covenant was made through the blood of Christ, which is why He is known as the Lamb of God. The Old Covenant, which includes the Ten Commandments and all the Jewish laws, was actually never meant to be kept! It was a forerunner, a shadow of the new and better covenant that was to come. The Bible actually calls the Old Covenant the ministry of death (2 Cor. 3:7).

It might actually surprise a lot of people, even Christians, to learn that the Four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), are actually not really part of the Gospel, the New Covenant at all! The New Covenant was not forged until Christ rose from the grave. It is actually in what are known as the Pauline Epistles, the letters to the church from Apostle Paul, that we learn of the true significance of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. We should not be surprised, therefore, to learn that Jesus’ earthly ministry was a preparation for the true Gospel. If you read the Four Gospels, you will see that Jesus actually spends a lot of time provoking the Pharisees, the religious Jewish elite of the day. These Pharisees took pride in their rule-keeping, up-over-and-beyond the really important things, such as showing kindness and mercy to others.

²³ "Yes, woe upon you, Pharisees, and you other religious leaders--hypocrites! For you tithe down to the last mint leaf in your garden, but ignore the important things--justice and mercy and faith. Yes, you should tithe, but you shouldn't leave the more important things undone.

Matthew 23:23 TLB

A tithe is a “tenth”, by the way: it is an offering of a tenth of your income or produce.

Once a Christian gets to that place whereby knowing the love of God and living in that freedom, is more important that keeping rules and maintaining religious pride, the actual Gospel message becomes a short message.

Yes, we can derive some useful information from other books of the Bible; but to a great extent, I think that a Christian can really make the most progress by just reading the Epistles. I would even dare to go further than that and say that the book of Romans probably contains most of what a Christian really needs to know. If I was to condense things even further, I would say that Romans Chapter 6, especially in a paraphrased version such as The Living Bible or The Message, goes a long way to convey the core essentials of the Gospel.