By Stanley Alday
The term “gospel” nowadays seem to be a mere word spoken with extreme carelessness and inconsideration. It is often uttered with no sense of value or importance. Spurgeon on the other hand, had a different attitude towards this, “Let us, therefore, put off our shoes from our feet, for the place whereon we stand is especially holy ground.”1 Referring to Isaiah 53, he continues, “This fifty-third chapter of Isaiah is a Bible miniature. It is the condensed essence of the gospel.”1 Can you see the esteem of one man towards the gospel? That is how we should be as His people when we encounter and speak of the gospel—that we speak with knowledge, honour, and obedience to Him.
The Understated Link
First of all, it is crucial for us to know the gospel of Christ. The gospel means good news for the message in it is, indeed, gloriously good. Paul, in 1 Corinthians, writes, "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ..."2 Typically, we think that the gospel is all about His death and resurrection. However, I believe that is not all of it - it is only two-thirds of the greatness of the gospel.
The one-third that completes the greatness of the gospel is the active obedience of Jesus. During Christ’s life on earth, He lived a righteous life and imparted it to His people. In addition to Jesus’ death and resurrection, is His perfect righteousness — which will save us from the wrath of God and into adoption, as the Father’s sons and daughters. Paul, to the Galatians, proclaimed, “But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”3 How did He redeem those who were under the law? By perfectly obeying the law (His active obedience) perfect righteousness to rescue His people.
Our righteousness, according to Martin Luther, is foreign righteousness—an alien righteousness.4 There was never righteousness within us. Read Isaiah’s account on this matter:
4 From of old no one has heard
or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
who acts for those who wait for him.
5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?
6 We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 There is no one who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.5
Isaiah 64:4-7
The gospel is all about Christ; not us. It is about His life, death and resurrection. The gospel is about the life of the anointed One sacrificed on behalf of His wretched sinning people. Paul, in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians, disseminates the truth boldly, "He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.6” Christ lived a righteous life and impart it to His people, His death to ransom His dying kinsmen from sin (1 Corinthians 5:2), and resurrection to give endless hope to the hopeless—that one day we will all be with Him in paradise. That is the entirety of the salvation of Christ, and this demands repentance and faith.
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1. Charles H. Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 63 vols. (London Passmore & Alabaster, 1893), 39: 22.
2. Paul (1 Corinthians 15:3-5). In this context, Paul explains the essence of the death of Christ and proves it be true and successful (1 Peter 2:24-25).
3. Paul (Galatians 4:4-5). The Apostle Paul gives an explanation of how salvation was achieved by Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).
4. Martin Luther, a paraphrase from his book, Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings, p.155
5. The prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 64:4-7), The prayer for Mercy and Help. Isaiah’s plead to the Lord confessing the wretchedness of all men.
6. The apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 5:21). In this text, Paul explains the importance of the active obedience of Christ achieving genuine righteousness that all men desperately needs.