“The very word or term “Gospel” has come to imply something less than “the whole counsel of God”, and to be applied almost exclusively to the beginnings of the Christian life.”

T. Austin Sparks (1954)

…for teachers and preachers today to share the gospel and salvation, and to make it exclusively about the beginnings of Christianity and heaven, is to neglect much of it. It produces a church obsessed with only the beginnings of Christianity and they struggle to mature and go beyond those beginnings. It also leaves the Christian in the dark about things such as, why God created, Jesus’ role in the present and future universe, the

We should understand ‘gospel’ to mean “the whole counsel of God” and if we have that gospel it should take months to preach and teach it all. Not 3 minutes conclusions at the end of random, entertaining topical sermons. There should be some accountability for those who claim to be ‘preaching the gospel.’

To Paul ‘salvation’ meant all the work that God has done to get us into his kingdom, and that includes all the work he intends for the church to do in the earth, here and now. Not only the future experience of heaven and resurrection.

Hebrews 2:1 Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2 For if the message spoken through angels proved to be so firm that every violation or disobedience received its just penalty, 3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, 

Whichever apostle wrote the book of Hebrews, perhaps Barnabas or Paul or maybe Silas. He warns here in Hebrews 2 to watch out for a drifting away from the gospel and neglecting it. So this is something they were already experiencing and concerned about in the first century. We have no right to dumb down the gospel, and to condense it so it will fit into our 45 minute sermon conclusion, is to strip it of much detail. Condensing it and stripping it also robs those who hear it of much insight into Jesus Christ, into our current dispensation. And understanding of the purpose of creation, Christianity itself, and the ministry/ calling of the church. The gospel preached produces the church. A partial or a dumbed down gospel, changes the church that embraces it. It hinders it, it turns it into something the Lord never intended it to be. A mere idle audience of hearers, being told elementary things repeatedly, who are often used as tithers in support of a salary or a building fund.

For more on this read T. Austin Sparks book The Gospel According to Paul

More content on the gospel from this blog. AdamCollier.com