For I am not
ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to
everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For
in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as
it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Romans 1:16-17
What is the gospel? Now
there is the question. If it is, as the
great Apostle Paul claims, the power of God for salvation for everyone who
believes, the answer to the question is of vital importance. To have the wrong
answer is to put a person in eternal jeopardy.
Sounding like the beginning
of a joke, imagine a Mormon, a Jehovah’s Witness and a Roman Catholic walked
into a bar and you asked them to explain the gospel, what would they say?
Let us begin with the
Mormon.
The gospel is our Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness. The central
doctrine of the gospel is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The Prophet Joseph
Smith said, “The first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first,
Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion
for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy
Ghost” (Articles of Faith 1:4).
In its fulness, the gospel includes all the doctrines, principles,
laws, ordinances, and covenants necessary for us to be exalted in the celestial
kingdom. The Savior has promised that if we endure to the end, faithfully
living the gospel, He will hold us guiltless before the Father at the Final
Judgment (see 3 Nephi 27:16).
The
fulness of the gospel has been preached in all ages when God’s children have
been prepared to receive it. In the latter days, or the dispensation of the
fulness of times, the gospel has been restored through the Prophet Joseph
Smith.[1]
Now let’s ask the Jehovah’s
Witness:
"Let the
honest-hearted person compare the kind of preaching of the gospel of the Kingdom
done by the religious systems of Christendom during all the centuries with that
done by Jehovah's Witnesses since the end of World War I in 1918. They are not
one and the same kind. That of Jehovah's Witnesses is really
"gospel," or "good news," as of God's heavenly kingdom that
was established by the enthronement of his Son Jesus Christ at the end of the
Gentile Times in 1914."[2]
And finally, how
would the Roman Catholic explain the gospel?
The
Council of Trent teaches that the Ten Commandments are obligatory for
Christians and that the justified man is still bound to keep them; the Second
Vatican Council confirms: "The bishops, successors of the apostles,
receive from the Lord . . . the mission of teaching all peoples, and
of preaching the Gospel to every creature, so that all men may attain salvation
through faith, Baptism and the observance of the Commandments."[3]
Now here we have three
different answers to the question: what is the gospel? Which, if any, is the
gospel that Paul spoke of? Do any of their answers align themselves with the
gospel he preached? How can we know?
We
can know by being like the Berean Jews[4],
who were commended for checking out what they were being taught against
Scripture.
How
does the Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness and Roman Catholic ‘gospel’ compare to the
Biblical gospel? This is what Paul said to the Church at Corinth:
‘Now I would remind you, brothers,
of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which
you stand, and by which you
are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless
you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…’
1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Here Paul mentions that which is of first importance, that which
he declares is the gospel. The essence of Paul’s gospel is that Christ died and
rose again in accordance with the Scriptures.
Now the Mormons, the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Roman Catholics
would not deny that Jesus died and rose again, but this would not be their ‘go
to’ answer when asked what the gospel is. For these groups, much more is needed
to be made right with God.
The Mormons claim that the gospel is Heavenly Father’s Plan of
Happiness; Jesus died and rose again so that you can follow the laws and
ordinances of the LDS gospel. You must work hard, follow the rules and one day
you may become a god! Is this the gospel Paul preached?
The Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that Jesus died and rose again, but this
is not the gospel. The gospel is the good news of the Kingdom. This is that
Jesus took his place on the throne in heaven in 1914. By believing this,
working hard, and being baptised into their organisation, you may attain to
eternal life, most probably on a paradise earth. Is this the gospel that Paul
preached?
The Roman Catholic would claim that Jesus died and rose again, but
the real gospel is the doctrine taught by the Church. This would include being
baptised into that Church, the taking of sacraments, acceptance of apostolic
succession, purgatory, prayer to saints and the keeping of the commandments,
amongst numerous other things.
Friends, when tested against Scripture we find that none of these
groups are preaching the gospel of which Paul spoke. Each one of them add, take
away or completely change the gospel that the Apostle declared was the power
of God for salvation for everyone who believes.
They all add that our effort
(works) is necessary to be saved. They all take away that we are saved by grace
alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. They all replace the simplicity of
the gospel and offer a different gospel, that is in fact no gospel at all.
The gospel is the good news concerning Christ and the way of salvation. The gospel concerns the way a person can be forgiven of sin and brought into a right relationship with God; and Paul teaches that this happens by faith.
Elsewhere Scripture teaches:
For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Romans 3:28
And to the one
who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his
faith is counted as righteousness. Romans 4:5
yet we know
that a person is not justified by works of the law but through
faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be
justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works
of the law no one will be justified.
Galatians 2:16
You
are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the
law; you have fallen away from grace. Galatians 5:4
…he saved
us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according
to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the
Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this
is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of
works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
It
is faith in Christ alone that truly saves. This is the gospel that Paul preached,
and it really is good news!
[1] https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/gospel
[2] The Watchtower 5/1/81, p.17
[3]
Catechism of the Catholic Church (Second Edition) 2068
[4]
Acts 17:11
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