Background
If you ask many people, who espouse Christ and go to church every week, just what is the gospel you will get various responses. Some will say being a “good person” is the gospel. Roman Catholics may say the gospel is that Jesus died for us and is present in a real way in the sacrifice of the mass. Many evangelicals would define the gospel as the belief that Jesus was sinless, was truly the God Man (100% human and 100% divine) and died for our sins and that He rose on the third day. If you ask Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Lutherans what the gospel is, they will frame it in terms of baptismal regeneration. This is the belief that the work of water baptism is salvific when the proper incantation of “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit” is used.
The Problem
Actually none of these are what the true gospel is.
It is a great shame, such has biblical literacy declined that even many pastors are ignorant of the gospel. And many people who espouse Christ can attend church their entire lives without once hearing the true gospel. This is shocking and shows what a bad state the Western church is in.
When we say that the basic boilerplate gospel of “Christ was born of a virgin, led a sinless life, died as a sacrifice for us and rose again on the third day.” is insufficient it’s because the type of Christ we are believing in matters. Mormons would say they believe in Christ, but if one examines Mormon theology they will soon see that fundamental theological errors abound.
The basic precis of the gospel is a starting point. Yes one must affirm those essential truths, but to see the deeper and richer points we must go further.
Tragically, millions of people are steeped in a religious system, such as Roman Catholics, Orthodox, etc. But, they have not been regenerated! One must have sincere repentance and believe the true gospel of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to the Scriptures alone, for the glory of God alone!
The 5 Solas
What I have just articulated are known as the 5 Solas. They were defined by the Reformers and were instrumental in defining the structure and meaning of the true gospel which had been obscured and obfuscated for centuries. The Protestant Reformation was a return to the truly apostolic faith of the very earliest Church, the New Testament Church!
The 5 Solas are pillars which gird up Reformed theology. The Solas are:
Sola Scriptura – Scripture Alone. Scripture (God’s inerrant and infallible Word) is to be the preeminent authority structure and the only infallible authority for our faith and praxis.
Sola Fide – Faith Alone. Our justification is grounded in faith alone. No amount of good works contribute to our salvation. They do aid our sanctification. But sadly many people conflate the two.
Sola Gratia – Grace Alone. Our salvation is solely due to God’s sovereign grace alone, it is not merited in any way. There is nothing intrinsic in us which qualifies us to receive the gift of God’s grace. Nothing man does can merit salvation.
Solus Christus – Christ Alone. It is solely in Christ that we find our salvation. He bore God the Father’s full, crushing wrath on the cross at Calvary. He alone atoned for our sins. And Jesus is the sole mediator between God and man. Salvation is possible only by Christ’s agonizing death and miraculous resurrection. Mary, nor any of the so-called saints of Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy can act as mediators.
Soli Deo Gloria (SDG) – Glory to God Alone. Everything we do as Christians is to bring glory and honor to God alone. We should constantly have at the forefront of our mind “Does this honor God? Does it bring Him glory?”
So we should now be able to see clearly how the 5 Solas are the pillars that hold up Reformed Theology and provide a fuller picture of the true gospel.
But there is yet more that should be said when defining the true gospel.
Now I’ll discuss how soteriology (the study of how we are saved) for a bit. This is another piece in the puzzle of the gospel.
What is Calvinism?
Specifically I’ll discuss Calvinism. Calvinistic soteriology is the 5 points which lucidly illuminates our view of the true gospel as defined in Reformed theology.
Calvinism is defined, in its most barebones sense, as 5 theological points of soteriology. They are known by the acronym TULIP.
T – Total Depravity. Due to the Fall, man’s nature is evil and enslaved to sin. I go further and say I, and many Reformers, believe the image of God was lost in the Fall and is restored when we are regenerated. If you’d like to learn more please see my blog post which is linked below. Man has a heart of stone. He is unable to turn to Christ, and unwilling, in repentance and belief (faith).
U – Unconditional Election. God predestined, before the foundation of the world, certain people to receive His sovereign grace. These Elect believers were not chosen on the basis of any intrinsic quality or action. This is sovereign grace.
L – Limited Atonement. Christ did not die, and He did not atone for every single person who would ever live. His atonement was limited solely to the Elect. To say it another way, Christ’s atonement was sufficient for all, but it was effectual solely for the Elect whom God had predetermined to save.
I – Irresistible Grace. We are spiritually dead before God sends the Holy Spirit to quicken our hearts and give us the gifts of sincere repentance and true faith vis a vis the true gospel. A dead man cannot revive himself. It takes an outside agency to resurrect him. Sinners are brought to faith in Christ irresistibly. As Dr. R.C. Sproul quipped, the sinner doesn’t come kicking and screaming. God so works in their heart that they come willingly. This is the effectual calling.
P – Perseverance of the Saints. Those who have been regenerated and are thus truly saved will run the good race, as the Apostle Paul says, to the very end. They will stumble, and may even fall, but over the coarse of their life as a believer, one will see a trajectory towards being Christ-like. And their spiritual lives will yield good fruit. Salvation can never be lost.
Atonement
There is one more component of the true gospel I should mention.
The gospel is also revealed fuller through the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement (PSA). When Christ was on the cross, all of our sins were imputed to Him. He, the sinless Lamb of God, voluntarily took on every single sin of mankind and Christ bore the full wrath of God which we should have suffered. But out of love for mankind, Christ became the substitute through His propitiation. We are righteous when we are regenerated because Christ’s perfect righteousness is imputed to us. This is double imputation. Some critics say this is a case of nominalism. But I reject that assertion. When God declares something to be, it is in a real sense, not merely noministically.
Some Closing Thoughts
Tragically the vast majority of people who espouse Christ (1.3 billion Roman Catholics, 500 million Orthodox, and some millions of various Protestant sects) are ignorant of the true gospel.
I have demonstrated what the true gospel is. And how one may have assurance of salvation, viz by trusting in Christ’s grasp on you, not your grasp on Him!
God is building His Church. The true Body of Christ is invisible. Every sect and faith tradition has Elect sheep in it, among the numerous goats.
Soli Deo Gloria!
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