Gospel – Page 22 – The Gospel First

By what process does man acquire the knowledge of God?

For an accurate knowledge of God we are dependent upon God’s self-revelation. Revelation implies a difference between God’s knowledge and man’s knowledge. Let me explain by asking and answering a few questions regarding knowledge:

What does God know? His knowledge is comprehensive and self-contained. (God never learned anything.)
How does God reveal what He knows? God’s revelation is both natural and special. Natural revelation is the disclosure of His power and glory in the created universe. Special revelation is the disclosure of His redemptive purposes, primarily through Scripture. In the past special revelation included appearances of God and the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
What do men, as creatures, know? Generally, all of his knowledge is limited and derived. He is dependent upon God for knowledge.
What can a lost man know? Continue reading “By what process does man acquire the knowledge of God?”

IMPLICATIONS OF BEING GOSPEL-CENTERED

Keeping the gospel central was Paul’s concern, as he wrote the book of Galatians. The gospel foundation of the Galatian churches was being undermined as others intermingled human effort with grace. Paul’s message to the church and false teachers is that a non-grace gospel is a non-gospel. The good news of the gospel is that Christ faithfully lived the life that I have failed to live and died the death that I deserve to die and that sinners stand in God’s favor always and solely on the merits of the righteous life and substitutionary death of Christ. Human effort neither brings a sinner into a relationship with the Holy Triune God nor does it enhance or maintain one’s relationship with God.

As we continue to read through the book of Galatians, we see clearly some of the implications of getting the gospel wrong. Let me briefly suggest some of those implications.

GETTING THE GOSPEL WRONG AFFECTS HOW YOU SEE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY

When something other than the gospel is elevated among Christians, unity in Christ is threatened. In Galatians 2:14-16 we see how Peter failed to live out the implications of the gospel of grace. Even though he knew that the gospel of Christ removed the barrier between Jew and Gentile and that the ceremonial practices of the Old Covenant were abolished in Christ, he broke fellowship with Gentile believers because of the influence of those who set forth law-keeping as a measure of one’s standing with God.

In the gospel we dance in celebration together over the victory accomplished in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, not over our preference for theological systems or denominational labels or ethnocentricities or idiosyncratic church expectations. Continue reading “Implications of Being Gospel-Centered”