The Gospel of God is the good news of what God has done for man through Jesus Christ, His Son. Jesus Christ is the content of the Gospel; it is about Him, what He did and Who He is.

The Gospel is about what He did:

I Cor. 15:3-5 RSV
"³For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received,
that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures,
⁴that he was buried,
that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,
⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve."

The Gospel is also about who He is:

Rom. 1:1-4 ERS
"¹Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
²which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures,
³the gospel concerning His Son,
who came from the seed of David according to the flesh,
⁴who was designated the Son of God in power
according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection of the dead:
Jesus Christ our Lord."

What did God accomplish through these events in the life of Jesus? In these events God accomplished the salvation of man. The Gospel of God is the good news of salvation (Eph. 1:13). But the Gospel is not only about salvation it is also the power of God unto salvation:

Rom. 1:16 ERS
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel:
for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes;
to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."

What is salvation?
Salvation is deliverance from something bad to something good.
It is deliverance from death, sin and wrath;
it is deliverance to life, righteousness and peace.
These acts of deliverance are the Three Aspects of Salvation:
Reconciliation is salvation from death to life.
Redemption is salvation from sin to righteousness.
Propitiation is salvation from wrath to peace.
These three aspects of the salvation are accomplished for us through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Gospel tells us about this act of God for salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And in the preaching of the Gospel, God exerts His power for the salvation of men to bring them to faith in Jesus Christ.

Rom. 1:16-17 ERS
"¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the gospel:
for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes;
to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
¹⁷For in it [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed
from faith unto faith; as it is written,
'Now the righteous from faith shall live.'"

- End of Introduction -

RECONCILIATION

Reconciliation is salvation from death to life.

Death is that power which causes spiritual and physical death.
Spiritual death is the separation of man's spirit from God.
Physical death is the separation of man's spirit from his body.
As Jesus said, "Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead",
(Matt. 8:22; Luke 9:60; I Tim. 5:6), that is,
"let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead".

Death is caused by Adam's sin and has spread to all his descendants.

I Cor. 15:21-22 RSV
"²¹For as by a man came death,
by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
²²For as in Adam all die,
so also in Christ shall all be made alive."

Rom. 5:12 ERS
"Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world,
and death through sin;
and so death spread to all men,
because of which [death] all sinned."

Spiritual and eternal life is knowing God personally and having fellowship with Him in a personal relationship. It is the opposite of spiritual death, which is alienation and separation from God. Jesus said as He prayed,

John 17:3 RSV
"And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."

Jesus Christ is this life because it is only through him we can know the true God and can be made alive to God in a personal relationship to God. As Jesus said,

John 14:6 RSV
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life:
no one comes to the Father, but by me."

I John 5:12 RSV
"He who has the Son has life;
he who has not the Son has not life."

We are made alive to God through His resurrection.

Ephesian 2:4-5 ERS
"⁴But God, who is rich in mercy,
out of the great love with which he loved us,
⁵even when we were dead in our offenses,
made us alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been saved),"

Reconciliation is a complete change in one's relationship to God, restoring him or her from alienation to fellowship with God; hence it is salvation from death to life.

II Cor. 5:18-19 RSV
"¹⁸All this is from God,
who through Christ reconciled us to himself
and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
¹⁹that is, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself,
not counting their trespasses against them,
and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation."

John 5:24 RSV
"Truly, truly, I say to you,
he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life;
he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life."

- End of the section on Reconciliation -

REDEMPTION FROM SIN

Redemption is salvation from sin to righteousness.

Sin is any decision not in conformity with trust in the true God.

Rom. 14:23 NAS
"...for whatever is not from faith is sin."

The basic sin is idolatry or trust in a false god. A false god is any substitute for the true God.

Rom. 1:25 RSV
"...they exchanged the truth about God for a lie
and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator,
who is blessed forever!"

Exodus 20:3 RSV
"You shall have no other gods before me."

Idolatry is the basic sin because:
(a) It is the most serious sin. It is directly against the true God and is an insult and an affront to His divine majesty.
(b) It leads to other sins. A person's god, being his ultimate criterion of decision, ultimately controls the direction and character of a man's decisions. The wrong choice of a false god will lead to other wrong choices; this sin leads to other sins. Thus idolatry is the basic sin.

All men have sinned (trusting in a false god) because they are spiritually dead.

Rom. 5:12 ERS
"Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world,
and death through sin;
and so death spread to all men,
because of which [death] all sinned."

Gal. 4:8 RSV
"Formerly, when you did not know God,
you were in bondage to beings that by nature are no gods;"

I Cor. 15:55-56 RSV
"⁵⁵'O death, where is thy victory?
O death, where is thy sting?'
⁵⁶The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law."

If a man is spiritually dead, separated from the true God, and since he must choose a god, he will usually choose as his god that which seems like god to him from among the creation around him or from the creations of his own hands or mind. Not knowing the true God, he will choose a false god. Thus death leads to sin; that is, because of death all sinned (Rom. 5:12d ERS). Thus God saves us from sin (trusting in a false god) by saving us from death (spiritual death - separation from the true God). Salvation is redemption from sin because salvation is basically reconciliation, salvation from death to life.

- End of the section on Redemption from sin -

REDEMPTION TO RIGHTEOUSNESS

Redemption is salvation from sin to righteousness.

Righteousness is right personal relationship to God. Righteousness is the opposite of sin. Therefore, as sin is basically trust in a false god, so righteousness is basically trust in the true God.

Rom. 4:3 RSV
"'Abraham believed God, and it [his faith] was reckoned to him as righteousness.'"

Rom. 4:5 RSV
"And to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly,
his faith is reckoned as righteousness."

As death leads to sin, so life leads to righteousness.

Gal. 3:21 RSV
"...for if a law had been given which could make alive,
then righteousness would indeed be by the law."

But since Christ can make alive, righteousness is indeed from Christ.
And He impart this righteousness of faith in the preaching of the Gospel.

Rom. 4:23-25 RSV
"²³But the words, 'it was reckoned to him,'
were written not for his sake alone,
²⁴but for ours also.
It will be reckoned to us who believe in him
that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,
²⁵who was put to death for our trespasses and
raised for our justification."

Redemption is salvation from sin to righteousness.
Redemption is deliverance from sin as a slave master by means of the death of Christ [His blood] as the price or ransom.

Eph. 1:7 ERS
"In Him we have redemption through His blood,
the deliverance from our offences,
according the riches of His grace..."

Col. 1:14 ERS
"In whom we have redemption,
the deliverance from sins.

- End of the section on Redemption to righteousness -

PROPITIATION

Propitiation is salvation from wrath to peace.

The wrath of God is God's opposition to man's sin; wrath is caused by sin.

Rom. 1:18 ERS
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men
who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth."

God's wrath is specifically directed against idolatry.

Deut. 6:14-15 RSV
"¹⁴You shall not go after other gods,
the gods of the peoples who are round about you;
¹⁵for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God;
lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you,
and he destroy you off the face of the earth."

The wrath of God is God's "No" to man's sin. It is the other side of God's love and is not opposed to his love. In wrath God's love opposes man's sin and in grace God's love saves man from his sin.
Peace with God is the opposite of the wrath of God.

Rom. 5:1 ERS
"Being therefore set right by faith,
we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Rom. 5:9 ERS
Much more then, being set right by his blood,
we shall be saved from wrath through him."

Propitiation is the turning away of God's wrath by means of a sacrifice. In the O.T. the animal sacrifices turned away God's wrath by covering the sin; Christ's death as a sacrifice turned away God's wrath by taking away the sin, the cause of wrath. Thus "no sin -- no wrath."

Rom. 3:24-25 ERS
"²⁴Being set right freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
²⁵whom God set forth to be a propitiation,
through faith in his blood..."

Since redemption in Christ Jesus takes away sin, His death as a propitiation turns away God's wrath.

- End of the section on Propitiation -

SUMMARY

Summary

Because God loves us, He has acted in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation of man from wrath, sin and death to peace, righteousness, life.
Propitiation is salvation from wrath to peace.
Redemption is salvation from sin to righteousness.
Reconciliation is salvation from death to life.
These three aspects of salvation are accomplished through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Since wrath is caused by sin (Rom. 1:18) and sin by death (Rom. 5:12d ERS), salvation is
basically from death to life,
then from sin to righteousness,
and then from the wrath of God to peace with God.

In propitiation God turns away His wrath;
in redemption He takes away man's sin;
in reconciliation He takes away death and gives life.

Propitiation is the sacrificial aspect,
redemption is the liberation aspect, and
reconciliation is the representative aspect of His work of salvation.

The Gospel tells us about this act of God for salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And in the preaching of the Gospel God exerts His power for the salvation of men to bring them to faith in Jesus Christ.

Rom. 1:16-17 ERS
"¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the gospel:
for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes;
to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
¹⁷For in it [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed
from faith unto faith; as it is written,
'Now the righteous from faith shall live.'"

- End of Summary -

RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD

The Righteousness of God.

What is the righteousness of God?
In the O.T. the righteousness of God is God acting to put right the wrong, hence to vindicate or deliver the oppressed; it is the action of God in which God saves His people by rescuing them from their oppressors.

Psa. 71:2 RSV
"In thy righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline thy ear to me, and save me!"
(See also Psa. 31:1 and 143:11-12.)

Thus the righteousness of God is God acting to set man right with God Himself and is synonymous with salvation.

Psa. 98:2 KJV
"The Lord hath made known His salvation:
His righteousness hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen."

Isa. 56:1 KJV
"Thus saith the Lord, keep ye judgment and do justice [righteousness]:
for my salvation is near to come,
and my righteousness to be revealed."

Note the parallelism in these passages which clearly show that the O.T. writers considered the righteousness of God to be synonymous with divine salvation. Parallelism is that literary device characteristic of Hebrew poetry by which the thought and idea in one clause is repeated and amplified with other words in a second and following clause.

The righteousness of God is not opposed to the love of God nor does it condition it. On the contrary, it is a part and the proper expression of God's love.

Psa. 103:17 RSV
"But the steadfast love of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear him,
and His righteousness to children's children."

Psa. 143:11-12 RSV
"¹¹For thy name's sake, O Lord, preserve my life!
In thy righteousness bring me out of trouble!
¹²And in thy steadfast love cut off my enemies,
and destroy all my adversaries, for I am thy servant."
(See also Psa. 33:5; 36:5-6; 40:10; 89:14; etc.)

Now the righteousness of God has been manifested, publicly displayed, in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Rom. 3:21-22 ERS
"²¹But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets,
²²even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ
unto all those who believe; ..."

The righteousness of God is manifested in death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to bring us to faith in God. And when one believes in Jesus Christ, they are set right with God or justified through faith.

- End of the section on the Righteousness of God -

JUSTIFICATION THROUGH FAITH

Justification through Faith

The Gospel tells us about this manifestation of the righteousness of God. But also in the preaching of the Gospel the righteousness of God is being continually revealed or made effective and actual.

Rom. 1:17 ERS
"For in it [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed
from faith unto faith; as it is written,
'Now the righteous from faith shall live.'"

This revelation of the righteousness of God in the preaching of Gospel is justification.

What is justification?
Justification is that act of God whereby He sets or puts man right with God Himself. It is not just a legal pronouncement declaring that man righteous before God but it is the action of God setting or putting man right with God: a bringing him into right personal relationship with God. Thus justification is essentially salvation; to justify is to save. Hence Paul can say that God is He "who justifies the ungodly" (Rom. 4:5), that is, who saves the ungodly.

Rom. 4:5 ERS
"But to him who works not,
but trusts him who justifies the ungodly,
his faith is reckoned as righteousness."

God justifies the ungodly by bringing them into the righteousness of faith which relates man rightly to God; to have faith in God is to be right with God. Thus justification is by or through faith (Rom. 3:22, 28) and out of or from faith (Rom. 3:26, 30). Justification by faith takes place when the Gospel is preached. God acts to set man right with Himself as the Gospel is preached by bringing man to faith in God Himself.

Rom. 10:17 RSV
"So faith comes from what is heard,
and what is heard comes by preaching of Christ."

- End of the section on Justification -

CONCLUSION

Conclusion

The Gospel is the good news of what God has done for our salvation. God has acted in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation of man from death, sin and wrath to life, righteousness, and peace.
Reconciliation is salvation from death to life.
Redemption is salvation from sin to righteousness.
Propitiation is salvation from wrath to peace.
These three aspects of salvation are accomplished through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Since wrath is caused by sin (Rom. 1:18) and sin by death (Rom. 5:12d ERS), salvation is
basically from death to life and
then from sin to righteousness
and then from the wrath of God to peace with God.

This threefold act of God for the salvation of man is the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God (salvation) has been manifested (publicly displayed) in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:21-26). The Gospel tells us about this act of God, about this manifestation of the righteousness of God. But also in the preaching of the Gospel the righteousness of God is being continually revealed or actualized (Rom. 1:17). That is, God is exerting His power for the salvation of man in the preaching of the Gospel (Rom. 1:16) to set men right with God (to justify them) through faith.

- End of this document - Return to Beginning