30 Days - an Overview of the Bible in Just Thirty Daysნიმუში

What is the Gospel?

The poet and writer Rabindranath Tagore once said: ‘A violin string is free to move in any direction I like. If I twist one end, it responds. It’s free. But it’s not free to sing. So I take it and I fix it in my violin. I bind it. And when it’s bound, it’s free, for the first time, to sing.’

1 Corinthians 15:1–11

True freedom comes when we bind ourselves to Jesus and fix our eyes on him. As the violin string comes alive when bound into the violin, we come alive in Christ. Jesus is the great liberator. He sets us free. At the heart of Christianity is a relationship with Jesus. Jesus died for you. He was raised to life and he’s alive today. You can’t see him, physically, but you can see him with the eyes of faith. The writer of Hebrews says: ‘We see Jesus. Let us fix our eyes on him, the author and perfector of our faith. (12:2)

What was the church saying about Jesus three years after he died? The book of Corinthians is an early Christian document. It was written in about ad 54 (around twenty years after the events described). However, the apostle Paul here appears to be referring to an even earlier record. He speaks of having ‘received’ and ‘passed on’ (v.3) the gospel. He chooses technical words in the original Greek language for receiving and handing on an authorised tradition. We know from elsewhere in the New Testament that he himself received this tradition within three years of the crucifixion. This may well be the earliest creed of the church. What is the message?

Paul says he wants to remind his readers about the gospel (v.1). The word ‘gospel’ means ‘good news’. It is a message that brings great joy. It is good news about a person. The Corinthians received this news. They took their stand on it (v.1) and by it they were ‘saved’ (v.2). The modern way of putting that would be to say that they found freedom. What is the message of the gospel?

1. Jesus died for you (vv.3–4)

• The person

The person who died was the ‘Christ’ (v.3) – the Messiah –literally the ‘anointed one’. He was fully human but he was more than just another person. He was and is the Son of God.

• The plan

It was no mistake. He died ‘according to the Scriptures’ (vv.3–4). Jesus is unique in the history of humankind as his life and death were both described up to hundreds of years beforehand.

• The purpose

His death was ‘for our sins’ (v.3). The good news is that Jesus’ death on the cross has made possible the forgiveness of our sins. The weight of our guilt has been removed because he has broken the power of sin, freeing us from every addiction. Every enemy has been defeated. He has disarmed the principalities and powers of evil, defeating every possible enemy. We have nothing to fear.

2. Jesus was raised for you (vv.4–8)

• ‘He was buried’ (v.4)

Dying and being buried does not distinguish him from others. Buddha, Mohammed, Marx and even Elvis died and were buried. But…

• ‘He was raised’ (v.4)

This is the earliest historical reference to the empty tomb. The Greek word for ‘raised’ refers to something that happened in the past but whose effect remains in force. Having been raised by God, Jesus is alive today.

No one else in the history of the world has been ‘raised’ and is still alive.

• ‘He appeared’ (vv.5–8)

Paul does not give an exhaustive list of the appearances but enough to show they were well-attested. ‘He appeared to Peter’ (Luke 24:34), ‘to the twelve’ apostles and ‘to over five hundred’ others, then ‘to James’, the brother of Jesus and ‘then to all the apostles’ (more than the Twelve). Finally, ‘he appeared’ to Paul, who is writing here his own first-hand account (v.8).

One day Paul was at the stoning of Stephen, hungry for the blood of Christians, approving his death, destroying the church, dragging Christians off to prison and breathing out murderous threats against them. Within a few days he was preaching that Jesus was the Son of God (Acts 7:54 – 9:22).He had encountered the risen Jesus and his life was turned around.

The resurrection is rooted in history, grounded in Scripture and confirmed by experience.

The great news is that your past has been dealt with. Jesus died for our sins, thereby removing our guilt. The resurrection means the cross was effective in defeating sin and death. The resurrection wasn’t a reversal of a defeat, but the manifestation of a victory.

Second, your future is secure. The resurrection of Jesus shows us that death is not the end. This is the certainty of your hope for the future. Jesus died and was buried. One day, you will die and be buried. Jesus was raised from the dead. One day, you will also be raised from the dead to full and eternal life. In the rest of 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Paul assures his readers that one day they too will have a resurrection body.

Third, your present takes on a new dimension. Jesus is alive. You can know him. This is the heart of Christianity: a relationship with a living person who gives meaning and purpose to life. What are you to do? Paul’s answer here is that you should receive this news, believe it, hold firmly to it and pass it on.

Paul received this good news. He passed it on to the Corinthians, they believed it and passed it on. It has since been passed on to us down the centuries. Now it is your turn and my turn. We have been entrusted with the message. Our task is to pass it on to our generation in a language that they can understand.

Father, thank you that Jesus died for me. Thank you that you raised him from the dead so that I could be totally forgiven, set free and, one day, be raised with Christ. Help me, like Paul, not only to receive and believe this message but to hold to it firmly and pass it on as of ‘first importance’.

References

© Nicky Gumbel, 2024

This reading plan is adapted from the book 30 Days by Nicky Gumbel. It is published by Hodder and Stoughton in the UK, and by HarperCollins Christian Publishing in the USA.