Welcome to A Better Bible Study Podcast . You are watching the 13^th study of in this Bible study series called The Gospel and Spiritual Growth. In this episode, we review the important definitions that we have learned in this online Bible study series. A couple definitions that we revisit include  “what is the gospel?†and “what is the messiah?â€.

Our Bible study teacher is Rudy Kantu. We are a group of friends that meet online via Skype to conduct an in-depth adult bible study. We are sharing these studies  with you in the hopes that you will find it useful in your own spiritual journey.

DEFINITIONS

What Is the Gospel?

The gospel is the story or report of an event and the implications of that event. It is the story or report of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the implications thereof. We have looked into the subcomponents of the components of the gospel. We realize that it is the story of an event. What is that event? The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15: 1-11, will give us this event. Verses 1-4 lays it out directly. This is the definition. Paul assembles the components of the gospel. We deduce that he is talking about the gospel because he says;

1 “Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand,

2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,â€

We started by analyzing verses 1-11, especially 1-4 . That is where we have been anchored.

We then took a look at other passages of the New Testament that talks of the relevance and the importance of the gospel.

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• Romans 1:16 – The passage talks of the gospel as it pertains to salvation. It is the singular power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes it. Whether Jew or gentile, it is the path, the door, and the power of God unto salvation.
  

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• Romans 10:17-  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of about Christ. We learned that this is not auditory hearing. Hearing happens can happen when we are confronted with the logic that proves Jesus to be the Christ. We come to the impasse. We must admit to ourselves that Jesus rose from the dead. We have to accept that the Gospel is true.
  

The hearing that Paul talks about in this passage is not hearing with our senses. We see that people who depend on the wisdom of the world will see the gospel as foolishness. For them, preaching the gospel is foolishness. The people who use the wisdom of the world cannot understand or comprehend the truth as revealed by God to those who believe.

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• We looked at passages in the New Testament that tell us how the gospel works. We read what  the New Testament says regarding what the gospel does. Furthermore, we saw that the gospel has to be obeyed. Also, the gospel is the good news.
  

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• The gospel is a narrative, a story, a report. It is not a command. However, in the letters of Paul to the Church of  Christ in Thessalonica, we see that the Gospel calls us (2 Thessalonians 2:14), it must be obeyed  ( 2 Thessalonians 1:8).
  

2Thessalonians 1:8 “…dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. “

We cannot obey that which is not a command. The gospel is not a command. However, we know from the Bible that we must obey the gospel. The gospel is a story. But we know that the Bible says what it means and means what it says. So then, we need to understand the connection or relationship between this story and our obedience.

What is the Christ or Messiah?

The messiah is translated as the Christ or anointed one. When Paul uses Christ, he means the anointed one. Only three kinds of people (prophets, priest and kings) were anointed in the Old Testament.

The Christ is spoken of by Paul in the New Testament, “Kristos†Greek, refers to the anointed one in the Old Testament. We see in the Old Testament how the prophets are anointed by God as prophets, priests as priests and kings as kings.

We have discussed the roles of these three types of people. In the New Testament we saw that Jesus is the last prophet, last priest and he is king of kings. He is above all authority.

1 Corinthians 15 prompted the investigation of these things.

      

        The event of the Gospel

 

1 Corinthians 15 also prompted the investigation as to what Paul said was the event of the gospel. The first part being that Christ died. He died :

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2. for our sins
   

and he did not just died for our sins, but that is was;

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3. according to the scriptures
   

The passages in Isaiah tell us of messianic prophesies. For Christ to be the Christ, he has to be human being, a man (1), and he has to die at our hands (2), he has to be buried.  Also in Isaiah, the Christ was to be buried (3), he will be raised on the 3^rd day (4)

In 1 Corinthians 15:4, Jesus was raised on the 3^rd day exactly according to the scriptures. This is one of the most compelling evidence that Jesus is the Christ. It is a compelling fulfillment of the messianic prophesies.

Jesus fulfilled a number of prophesies .Here we cover the prophesies that pertain to the specific parts of the gospel. These are that Christ died, was buried, and then raised on  the third day. All of this in  accordance with the scriptures. Christ brought evidence of this when He appeared to Peter and the apostles and 500 other people and lastly to Paul.

When we talk about the gospel, all of this should be a composite in our mind. This is important because the gospel is the singular power of God to salvation. When we speak with people that we care about, the gospel is the most important thing we can share. From an academic point of view, we need to understand these things. It is supremely important to our lives.

In a nutshell

                When we talk about the gospel, it is a story of an event. The event is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the implications of these events.

 

                When we talk about the messiah, the messiah is the anointed one. Those anointed were the prophet, priest and kings in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, we see that Jesus is all of these. He was the last of each and the most significant of each.

 

An important thing that Paul says is that Christ dies under the definition or constraints of the scripture. These events take place according to the scripture. This is the premise. The scripture is the Old Testament. The death, burial, and resurrection happen in the same way the scripture predicts.

Paul then says that Christ appeared to a number people. This is to prove to his hearers that the events took place. Those who witnessed it, observed it. Those who were paying attention and have a memory are reminded of the events and recall the scripture and what the prophets said.

Other Important Points

The passages prove that Jesus was the Christ. However, we are funny creatures. We have short memories. We don’t pay attention and don’t believe. Assume most people are  like that. WE continue on to verse 6, 7, 8, 9.

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• Verse 11: People to whom Paul was writing believed it.
  
• Verse 12 and the rest of the chapter bring into the picture the implications of such.
  
• Verse 20: Christ has been raised from the dead and so part of the implication of that is that we too can be raised by God.
  

Denominations approach this trying to find a way to prove automatic salvation. If these passages are only studied in passing, it cannot be understood. Many Christians do not know or understand these implications. For the past weeks ,we have  looked at the implications in components.

The Implications of the Gospel

We covered the implications associated with the components:

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• Argumentative:  Paul’s presentation of the gospel comprises the argumentative implications.
  
• Instructive : The gospel instructs. It leads us to the knowledge that we find only by going to the scriptures
  

So now we know the gospel in an outline form. We also know what Christ means in Hebrew. We know at least one scripture in the New Testament that shows us that Christ met the definition of prophet, priest and king. We also know a passage that tells us that the gospel calls us out.

Other Definitions

Church: come from the Greek word “ekklesia†which means in New Testament application,  a called out assembly, a called out body, the church of Christ. The Church of Christ is a group of people, an assembly of people who were called out from one thing and called into another thing by the gospel.

Paul says that we are called out of one thing and into another thing through the gospel.  In 2 Thessalonians 2:14, the only way we have been called out of one thing into the kingdom is through the gospel.

We all had to be called out of something, whether from unbelief, false belief or disbelief. No one is born into the church. We all have to be called. We are called into Christ through the gospel. This emphasizes how important the message of the gospel is.

No message is more important than the gospel

NEXT WEEK

Review some important concepts: “Pistisâ€, “evangelionâ€, “the gospel must be obeyed (1 Thessalonians 1:8)â€

This has been A Better Bible Study podcast episode 13. If you wish to see more episodes and notes on the episode, please visit our website www.abetterbiblestudy.org. We hope that you find this material useful in your daily walk to understanding the gospel and spiritual growth. Until next week!