CHRISTIAN UNDERSTANDING OF THE GOSPEL
To understand God’s idea of good news, it is helpful to know that Euaggelizo and Euaggelion are both derived from the Greek word Aggelos which is translated as either angel or messenger. Angels appear throughout the Bible, not just in the New Testament, and not just to preach about Jesus. Angels are messengers who bring good news. The good news that they bring is the full, true gospel of God’s spoken word — not the simple, incomplete Christian gospel about Jesus.
STUDY TIP: See Angels.
The traditional, accepted Christian view of the “Gospel” is that it is the “good news” that Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for man’s sin so that we might become the children of God through faith alone in Christ alone. Implicit in this simplified view is the belief that people who put their faith in Jesus will go to heaven after their natural life ends.
It is not a mystery that this view of the gospel is so popular. Basically, the Christian gospel says is that all you need to do to know God and be sure that you will spend eternity in heaven with him is believe that Jesus died for your sins and trust that he paid the price for your sins. If you do these things summarized as four spiritual laws, your eternal salvation is secure. What could be more simple than that?
In some denominations trust in Jesus is activated through baptism in Jesus’ name. If you do this, or have it done for you in the case of infant baptism, and believe that you have done it sincerely, your eternal salvation is secure (i.e. you will go to heaven after you physically die.) After that, it doesn’t matter too much what you do with your life. You, your family and your church friends know it will all work out in the end because you said that you trust Jesus for your salvation.
With this simple understanding, it is not a surprise that the idea of the gospel is so popular. It is short, quotable, and it preaches well. It is easy to grasp and easy to do. It is so easy to understand and do that even people who know little or nothing else about the Bible can understand it an do it. Most importantly, it gives Christians the assurance they need that their eternal life with God is secure.
The problem with the gospel that Christians preach is that it is wrong. The Christian gospel is not what God means by the gospel. Nor is it what Jesus and the apostles preached. It is nothing more than a religious doctrine that Christians created and employ to support their many wrong doctrines about Jesus. Moreover, it shows that Christians do not understand Biblical symbolism about death, resurrection, heaven and hell.
The common understanding of the gospel makes sense to people who interpret the Bible literally. But is illogical and untrue in the light of God’s spoken word which interprets the Bible symbolically.
STUDY TIP: See Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 1, Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 2, and Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 3 for understanding of why the Bible should be interpreted symbolically and not literally.
Man’s idea of the gospel exists as truth in Christian doctrine because Christians do not understand that God’s written word and God’s spoken word are not the same. The written word leads to dead religion, and the spoken word leads to eternal life.
It is a curious fact that the Christian gospel only mentions God in the sense of being children of God, and says nothing about seeking God with your heart to know him. It ignores the spiritual principle of God sowing seed that results in the rebirth/creation of his children. The gospel as Christians understand it, therefore, is a false gospel because it ignores the power of God’s word.
Even though the Christian gospel is a false gospel, we must allow that it does contain elements of truth. Those truths are not, however, in the literal words of the Bible. Truth lies in the spiritual interpretations of those literal words. But, the only way to understand the symbolic meanings is to listen to God’s spoken voice.
When we listen to hear God’s voice while studying the Bible, we understand that Jesus did indeed die, but it was not a physical death as the literal interpretation suggests. And if we understand scripture about faith, belief and trust, we find that we can indeed become children of God and have eternal life if we believe Jesus’ words.
Believing Jesus’ words is everything. Believing in Jesus the human person is nothing. Jesus’ words are important because he speaks for God. The true gospel is God’s words spoken by Jesus and other true prophets.
The true gospel is not about Jesus’ physical death and resurrection. That is a false gospel. Stories about death and resurrection are to be interpreted symbolically — not literally. The symbolic interpretation is available only to people who know how to listen to God’s voice.
STUDY TIPS: See Death, Resurrection, New Life, Salvation, Forgiveness, Heaven and Hell. Also see Jesus, BORN AGAIN: THE MIRACLE OF CREATION, Eternal Life, and GOD’S SPOKEN WORD HAS POWER.
Religious people who only understand the literal words of the Bible understand a false gospel in their natural minds. They have a very small view of God that is limited to words on a written page. New Covenant disciples understand the true gospel in their hearts as God reveals the mystery of the symbolism found in the literal words. They have an expansive view of God that always expects new revelations of God every time they study.
STUDY TIP: See LISTEN FOR GOD’S VOICE WHILE READING.
When we hear God’s spoken voice, the spirit of God explains the mysteries of the Symbols, Signs, Types, Parables, Copies, and Shadows that fill the Bible. When that happens, we see the Bible in a whole new light. The words are the same, but the understanding is totally different. We see with the spiritual eyes of our heart — not with our natural eyes or our intellectual minds.
Every time God reveals the mystery of the Bible to us, we are raptured up in excitement knowing that we have heard God’s voice. Again and again we amazed to understand the truth of the “first the natural and then the spiritual” principle. And we are humbled when we recognize that we once believed a simplistic, inaccurate, false gospel that made Jesus so big and God so small.