Jesus announced the gospel of the kingdom. In chapter 6 we saw how Jesus went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God (Luke 8:1), and saying that the salvation promised by God through His prophets had come: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand (Mark 1:15). In this chapter we are going to see what is that gospel and, something equally important, how the gospel is not just a proclamation, but a message that the believer should appropriate for himself through faith, in order that it might produce its fruit in him, salvation.
Meaning of the word gospel. The word gospel comes from the Greek word euangelion, which means "good news," as well as the Greek verb euangelizo meaning to proclaim, to give good news. The gospel is, simply, good news for mankind, the best news man could receive, namely: God is giving salvation: take it everyone and make it your own. As we can see, the gospel is a message from God, Father of all, carried by Jesus to mankind and telling them: you have now the opportunity to be saved.
Use of the word gospel. The word euangelion is 76 times in the New Testament; of that, 56 times is in Paul's letters; Matthew has it 4 times and Mark 8, and it is not found in the gospel of Luke nor in John's writings. A few times it is called the gospel of the kingdom, or the gospel of God or the gospel of His Son (Romans 1:1, 9). The verb euangelizo is 54 times in the New Testament, almost half of them in Acts and Paul's writings.
The gospel, synonym of the salvific power of God. Gospel is the word most comprehensive of the plan of salvation; to say gospel is like saying: "God is saving mankind." Gospel is a synonym for the salvific power of God, as Paul says to Romans: The gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). God saves through the gospel; whoever hears, believes and accepts the gospel, he does make the salvific power of God be a reality in him, by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The salvation of God is already present. As we said in chapter 6 about the kingdom of God, when Jesus said: The kingdom of God has come upon you (Matthew 12:28; Luke 10:9), what He was saying was that the promises of salvation made by God in the Old Testament, were already fulfilling. That is why, when He read the Isaiah prophecy, He said: Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing (Luke 4:21), which was like saying: the promise of salvation that Isaiah made and that He just read, was being fulfilled right there.
The life of Jesus is gospel. When Mark begins writing the life of Jesus, he called it the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Mark 1:1), because the events that he narrates there, —His last week with His passion, death and resurrection occupy most of his gospel,— were the events that brought salvation to mankind. Salvation comes to men through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. To preach the gospel is then to announce salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
The hearing of the gospel alone does not save. Salvation is not present just by the hearing of the gospel; it is necessary that the hearer believes with a faith of conversion, with a faith that changes his life, and not with an intellectual faith. After Jesus gave the Great Commission to His disciples, saying: Go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15), He added: He who believes and is baptized will be saved (Mark 16:16). To be saved, there is a fundamental requisite: to believe in the gospel, to obey the gospel, to do what the gospel commands. And, whoever believes must demonstrate by a sign that he has accepted the gospel: this is baptism. So, whoever believes and puts the sign of his faith, is saved. That is the gospel; that was the good news that Jesus preached.
The Scriptures announced the gospel. The Scriptures announced that mankind would receive the good news of salvation, when they announced that God will send them a Savior Messiah; they are the same. For that reason Paul was able to say that his gospel was the gospel of God, which He promised in the Scriptures (Romans 1:1, 2), because the gospel of salvation he was preaching was the one that God had promised.
The whole New Testament is gospel. It can be said, too, that the whole New Testament is gospel, in the sense that all its books explain something that the Jews hadn't managed to discover: how the Savior Messiah promised by God would be, and what kind of salvation He would bring to mankind. The whole New Testament proclaims with one voice the fulfillment of God's promises in Christ, by His death and resurrection, something that the Jews never understood, nor even the apostles themselves comprehended until after the resurrection. That was when the expiatory value of the death of Christ and the salvation arising from the cross was revealed to them.
The gospel is Jesus Christ. We may add also that the gospel is a person, Jesus Christ, because it was in Him and by Him that the work of salvation was carried through. Paul affirms this when he says that he has been separated to the gospel of God, and that this gospel is concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power... by the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:1 to 4). Paul considers that his election to be apostle of the gospel was nothing other than to have been chosen to proclaim Jesus Christ, son of David according to the flesh, and declared Son of God by His resurrection. For him the gospel is Jesus Christ.
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The gospel becomes reality through faith. Although we have said that the gospel is the proclamation of the good news of salvation, the fact is that the announcement alone does not produce salvation; it is necessary that the hearer believe in the message and accept in his life the doctrine and the person of Jesus Christ. If there is no faith, the message would be only words and would not produce its saving effect. The message must be "embodied" in the believer to produce salvation. Let us explain.
One attains faith through a process. One reaches faith through a process, which might be a sudden act, almost instantaneous, although other times it can be a slow, sometimes painful process. In this process is included repentance and conversion, which are the sign and signal of a true faith; the believer then receives justice and salvation, which is also called justification, thanks to this faith. This process is known as the "finding or encounter with the Jesus of the gospel," because found is the word used by the gospels to talk about those who encountered Jesus and believed in Him.
Examples of encounters with Jesus. In the gospel of John we read that Andrew, touched because he had just met Jesus, told his brother Peter: We have found the Messiah! (John 1:41). And later Philip, who had had the same experience of finding Jesus, told Nathanael: We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote, Jesus of Nazareth! (John 1:45). Matthew and the rest of the apostles left everything when they found Jesus (Matthew 9:9; 10:27; Mark 10:28).
Other examples of finding Jesus. Among other examples that could be quoted, there is first of all Paul's encounter with the Lord on the way to Damascus (Acts 9:4-6), that of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:2-10), that of the eunuch of queen Candace (Acts 8:26-40), that of Cornelius the pagan (Acts 10), the prison guard of Paul and Silas, at Phillipi (Acts 16:30-33), and all those who found Jesus as Savior at their first encounter or notice of Him. Isaiah speaks also about the finding of God when he says: I was sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek me (Isaiah 65:1).
The encounter of the Jesus of the gospel. It is important to emphasize that, in order for faith to be effective, the Jesus of the gospel must be found. We say this, not because there would be other "Jesus's," but because sometimes people follow after another "Jesus" who does not correspond to the Jesus of the gospel.
Paul experienced a problem like that. Paul experienced a similar situation at his time, when he had to reprehend Galatians because they have turned away so soon from Him who called them in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another —Paul says,— but there are some... who want to pervert the gospel of Christ (Galatians 1:6-7). It wasn't because there was another gospel, but because some announced other gospel to you than what we have preached to you (Galatians 1:8); and when an altered gospel is preached, the image of its protagonist, Jesus Christ, is also altered. When Paul saw that even Peter, with Barnabas, were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel (Galatians 2:14), he had to confront and reprehend them, because of their simulation and hypocrisy. Even in our days the gospel is altered and consequently so is the image of Jesus.
A personal experience. The author wants to share his personal experience with the readers. I also believed for many years that I had found the Jesus of the gospel; however it wasn't so. I, as at Paul's time, was indoctrinated in a different gospel from the true gospel. I didn't learn that Jesus had completed my salvation for me, if I'd accept Him with all my heart in my life; what I learned was that I had to "earn" my salvation with my works, and to "pay" for my sins. But looking at myself as such a great sinner, I never was able to be at ease and sure of my own salvation. It was only after much anguish and uncertainty, a lot of prayer, and the constant study and meditation on the Scripture, that I found the true Jesus. Then, I had great peace, and the certainty that I was saved. I realized then that I hadn't found the Jesus of the gospel, but a misshapen and incomplete Jesus.
Positive signs of having found Jesus. Whoever finds Jesus as His Savior and surrenders his life without taking it back, realizes that, by faith, his/her sins do not count any more, and that he or she can be sure of his/her own salvation. He or she knows that he/she does not need his/her own works, nor of the saints, much less of other men to obtain forgiveness and salvation. He realizes that, no matter how great a sinner he has been, his sins do not count, and he does not fear any more. He is certain and sure of all this, and hence peace and gladness overflow his soul.
Negative signs of the non-encounter with Jesus. Let us point out at least three negative signs of an evangelical faith. The first sign of not having found the Jesus of the gospel is being still afraid of his/her sins, or having doubts or distrust of his/her salvation. Whoever doubts is not saved, because the justifying faith is without doubts or hesitation. Another sign of not having found the true Jesus is when one thinks that salvation can be merited, obtained or increased with personal deeds. Finally, another sign of not having found the Jesus of the gospel, is to think that the mediation of other men, or rites, or saints are required, to be justified. Those who put their hope to be justified in something different than Jesus, have become estranged from Christ, Paul said (Galatians 5:2, 4). They are changing the gospel of salvation in Jesus, for a different gospel.
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Faith is a gift, a present or call from God. Let us start this Step saying that faith is a gift or present of God. Nobody has faith because he wants to have faith; only one whom God calls is able to believe. Paul said, talking about his calling to faith: When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace (Galatians 1:15). We may ask God to give us faith, as the father of the ill child did, when he said to Jesus: Lord, I believe; help my unbelief! (Mark 9:24). We know also that Peter's faith, when he said that Jesus was the Son of God, didn't come from his own insight, but by revelation of the Father: My Father who is in heaven revealed this to you, —the Lord said (Matthew 16:17). And Paul counts faith among the fruits from the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Faith is a free gift from God that can not be merited through deeds.
How faith is received. Paul teaches that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17), which means that faith is received when the well disposed hearer listens to the word of God and receives it in his heart. Whoever hears or reads the word of God indifferently or as a human word, does not receive faith; it is essential to see a call and invitation from God to man, in the word of God.
Faith is founded in the word of God. Faith is born from the word of God, as we just said, and is founded on that word, not on signs or miracles. In the parable of the wealthy man and Lazarus, Jesus said: If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead (Luke 16:31). One believes, not through signs, but by the authority of the speaking God.
Time required to obtain faith. We can not talk about a precise time or period to receive faith. As we said in the previous Step, at the time of the apostles (and now too), many people believed in Jesus, suddenly, almost instantly, just in one second, as did Paul, when he met the risen Jesus. But these are exceptional cases; most people receive faith gradually, at the same time as they are growing within a Christian home and hear about Jesus; and other people in so many other ways.
Repentance and Conversion. Repentance and conversion are the initial and fundamental steps of faith. Jesus began preaching and saying: The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:15). Let us notice that Jesus' call was for repentance and faith. The initial step to enter the kingdom of God is to repent, to convert,
What does it mean to repent. There are two Greek words meaning repentance: one is metanoia, which means to turn back, change direction, to convert, repent himself; the other one is epistrophe, which has almost the same meaning of turning around, converting himself. The latter is found 36 times in the New Testament, and is the word that Luke prefers (14 times), although it is used by Matthew and Mark also; John does not use it. Regarding metanoia, the proper word for repentance, it is found several times in each of the synoptics (Luke 11 times), not in John's literature. It is also infrequent in Paul's letters.
Meaning of metanoia. The meaning of this word is to turn around or to turn back, to repent. This is the first step of conversion and it stands for leaving sin and turning to God. John Baptist preached metanoia, as a preparation for the gospel of Jesus (Mark 1:4; Matthew 3:2; Luke 3:3), and Jesus did the same calling: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:15).
Jesus commands the apostles to preach repentance. When Jesus commits the Great commission to the apostles said that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations (Luke 24:46, 47). The apostles, following Jesus' command, preached repentance; that was Peter's call when he said: Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out (Acts 3:19); and Paul testified, saying: You know in what manner I always lived among you... testifying repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:18, 21). Nobody can be a Christian without conversion, but this should be an attitude which extends through the whole life of the Christian.
Metanoia is a total change. The call to conversion, metanoia, means a total change; it is to leave everything behind and turn around; it is a radical change, of attitude and mind; it is a change which affects the whole person. Paul expresses the same idea of total change with different words: death and life, death and resurrection; he does that very often, as when he says: We were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead... so we also should walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4); or this one: Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11). The idea is the same: conversion is necessary in order to have God, and this is to die to sin and turn to God.
Conversion is a personal act. Conversion is a personal act; the person is the one who makes the decision; nobody can substitute this personal and voluntary act of the one who turns to God, to Christ; nobody can be intermediary in this relation between God and the sinner who converts; there is no rite substituting the personal act of conversion. It is the sinner who presents himself before God to tell Him that he is repented, that he leaves everything and turns around to Him. That was Paul's exhortation everywhere, saying: that they should repent and turn to God (Acts 26:20).
Conversion is a gift of God. We said at the beginning of the Step that faith is a gift of God; conversion being the germ of faith and its initial step, it follows that conversion is, also, a free gift of God. God is the one who calls, and the movement to accept His calling with a free act of the will, comes from God too. We can be sure, however, that God does not deny anybody His grace, because He desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). The grace of conversion is not denied to anybody sincerely searching for God.
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The noun faith and the verb believe in the New Testament. The noun faith, in English, does not have the same root as the corresponding verb which is to believe. That does not happen in Greek, where the verb pisteuo, to believe, and the noun pistis, faith, have the same root. If we consider that these two words are each found 243 times in the New Testament (486 total; others say they are 500), we can get the idea that we are dealing with one of the fundamental concepts of the Christian revelation.
Relationship between believing and being a Christian. Faith and Christians are correlative, that is, there is an indissoluble union between believing and being a Christian. As the Messiah was not what the Jews had expected there was no other alternative than to believe that Jesus was the Messiah; that is why from the beginning Christians were called simply, pisteuontes, those who believe (Acts 2:44). John, who does not use the noun faith in his gospel, does however use the verb pisteuo, to believe, 98 times; to believe, to have faith, is the favorite theme of his gospel.
Meaning of faith. Faith means to believe, to trust, to abandon and rest in somebody else's hands. Faith is a very comprehensive word which expresses man's response to God's call, and integrates all aspects of the relationship between the believer and God. When the Scriptures talk about the faith of God, as in Romans 3:3, the meaning is the faithfulness of God. John speaks about receiving Christ as a synonym of believing in Him, when he says that as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, that is, whoever believes (John 1:12).
Object of faith. A Christian should believe and accept everything that Jesus taught; however, what makes him a Christian, is to believe in Jesus Himself: that He is the Son of God, that He is Savior of all mankind, that His death was a ransom for our sins, and that His resurrection is the guarantee of our faith and of our own resurrection. Peter's confession is the essence of the Christian faith itself (Matthew 16:16).
Faith includes knowledge. We have to know to believe; knowledge and faith come together. Peter said: We have come to believe and to know that You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God (John 6:69).
What is not faith and what faith includes. When we say that faith is to believe, we are not talking about an intellectual assent alone; that wouldn't be faith, unless it comes accompanied by a change of life and a dynamic attitude, action oriented. Christian faith includes, as we said before, conversion, repentance, change of life, surrender and total submission to Jesus Christ. Hence, it is not enough to believe, but the believer must act according to that which he believes. There must be a balance between that which is believed and that which is done, because, —as Paul said,— not the hearers of the law are just... but the doers of the law will be justified (Romans 2:13).
Faith is also called obedience. In the New Testament obedience to the faith is mentioned (Romans 1:5), because faith is an act and habit of obedience to the Lord. If I believe that Jesus is the Lord, then I should obey Him and act as He has taught. If I believe that He is the true Son of God, then I should give Him my life without reservation. If I believe that He is my Savior, then I should follow Him and I should put all my trust in Him, without doubts or fear. Finally, if I believe that He is my Teacher, I will follow all His teachings, and if I believe that He will come to judge me, then I should try not to offend Him.
Faith according to the letter to Hebrews. The letter to Hebrews has a definition of faith saying that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). In this definition is included certainty in hope —things hoped for,— and the evidence or conviction of things that we don't see.
Faith, unconditional surrender to Jesus Christ. True faith is, therefore, an unconditional surrender and submission to Jesus Christ; is obedience to the doctrine and commands of the Lord; is a change of life which makes the believer a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17), who lives a new life (Romans 6:4).
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Salvation is through faith. According to the synoptics, the only condition set by Jesus to enter the kingdom of God was to repent and believe in the gospel; that is, to believe and accept that in Him, the good news was real for all mankind. That is, also, the message of the whole gospel of John: that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). We already have explained which is the evangelical faith, which is the saving faith. Works are the consequence or fruit of a living faith, and not the cause producing salvation. There is no salvation by deeds but by faith.
Meaning of the word justification. The word justification is, in Greek, dikaiosyne, and in Latin justification; from this comes the English word justification. To justify means literally "to declare somebody just," particularly in court. Paul, the one who uses this word the most in the New Testament (57 times from a total of 91), used justification to explain the condition of the believer who has accepted Jesus Christ and believes in Him: he was righteous or declared just before God.
Justification through faith. The question of how a human being becomes just before God, was an issue raised very early for converted Jews. According to the Pharisees, defenders of the law, man became just by obedience to the law; Paul refutes and condemns them with the Scripture that says: The just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17). These words were written by the prophet Habakkuk for the first time (2:4), and Paul quotes them in Romans, and also in Galatians 3:11. We find them also in Hebrew 10:38.
"God justifies the ungodly." According to Paul, man finds himself before God, not as a just man, but as a sinner who fully depends on His mercy, grace and goodness. Justification is produced by a gratuitous movement from God who makes the sinner just, as we read in Romans: To him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5). This "movement" from God to justify the believer was due to Jesus who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification (Romans 4:25).
Justification is gratuitous. We could add that justification is given gratuitously to men, but God does receive the ransom or "payment" for the rescue, which is the expiatory sacrifice of Jesus Christ. (See Step 61, meaning of ransom.) Paul says: Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24).
The Reform of the XVI century. In the XVI century a movement arose, headed by Martin Luther (1483-1546), which has been known as the Reformation. One milestone of the Reformation is the doctrine about justification. There were abuses then which made it seem that salvation (the indulgences) could be bought with money; at least, that was the appearance. In such a situation Luther "rediscovered" Paul's' doctrine about justification, and affirmed that this is by faith, not by deeds. According to Luther, the Scripture teaches that Abraham believe in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6). This means that Abraham was justified, not by his deeds, but by his faith. Paul on his part repeats and elaborates this doctrine in Romans 4:3 and Galatians 3:6. (Look also to James 2:23.)
Catholics and Protestants agree. The Catholic and Protestant doctrine correctly understood, basically agree. In the book Dictionary of Fundamental Theology, edited by René Latourelle, from the Gregorian University of Rome (Crossroad, 1994, page 309), we read: "Faith, which is the first requirement set by Jesus, is the sufficient condition for salvation according to the Synoptics; in Acts, no more than this is required for the purification of hearts and the reception of salvation."
The conclusion is that nobody is just by his/her own deeds. Far be it from us, then, to look for justification by our own works, as good as they seem. There is no other way to have the righteousness of God than to believe and accept the gospel, that is, to believe and accept Jesus Christ. Whoever wants to be found just before God has only one means, one option: faith in Jesus Christ. He is there to save whoever believes and comes to Him with faith.
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