“The Gospel is Simple”
1 Corinthians 15:1-4; “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”
The first four verses of the famous resurrection chapter of the New Testament is a classic definition of the word “gospel”. However, what is meant by the words of Paul when he said “if ye keep in memory of what I preached unto you”?
Let’s look at a couple of other passages describing the gospel when Paul wrote some of his prison epistles.
Romans 1:16; “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
Ephesians 1:13-14; “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”
Colossians 1:22-23; “In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: 23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.”
From these other examples we’re able to see that the gospel is something that is done for us by God. In other words we are not the cause of what takes place, nor are we able to help it in any fashion.
Gospel means good news. If there’s good news then why what was the reason for delivering this to mankind? Reason tells us there must be some reason or something going on that wasn’t good. It’s a message of deliverance.
It is the power of God for our salvation after we heard and believed we were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise…it is the news that Jesus will present us holy and blameless before God!
Where in all these verses do you see any “ordinance” or “principle” going on? For the Christian there are only two “ordinances” to observe and neither are conditional for our salvation. It is baptism and communion. Both of these things are a manifestation of our present salvation we live in after we have already believed and accepted with assurance that we are saved.
Moreover, the term “ordinance” isn’t found in the New Testament.