The Gospel is Jesus

What is the gospel?

The gospel is not our denomination. It isn’t Evangelicalism. It isn’t Catholicism. It isn’t “do it your self-ism”. The gospel isn’t being Baptist, Methodist, or Lutheran. The gospel isn’t even being part of The Evangelical Free Church in America.

The gospel is not what we do. It is not reading the Bible every day. It is not praying The Daily Office. It is not memorizing scripture. It is not doing church activities. It is not even helping the poor and fighting for justice.

The gospel is not Young-Earth Creationism. The gospel is not Theistic Evolutionism.

The gospel is not complementarianism. The gospel is not patriarchy. The gospel is not even egalitarianism.

The gospel is Jesus.

The gospel is the good, old-fashioned, soterian gospel of “asking Jesus into your heart” that I grew up with in the Southern Baptist churches of my childhood. It’s going to heaven after death.

The gospel is more than that, though. The gospel is Jesus, all the time. The gospel is the kingdom of God, ushered in by Jesus. We are living out the gospel every day that we walk with Jesus.

The gospel isn’t our denomination, but our denomination gives us a place to live out the gospel with other believers.

The gospel isn’t what we do, but we act the way we do because we walk with Jesus.

The gospel isn’t what we believe about origins, but our faith in Jesus allows us to discuss our theology with others without rancor.

The gospel isn’t what we believe about hierarchical or egalitarian relationships, but it informs all of our relationships.

The gospel is Jesus. Jesus is the gospel.