The gospel has many benefits, as we saw in a previous article. Through the death, life, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, also known as the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3-4), we are reconciled with God (Romans 5:10), justified (Romans 4:25, 5:9), ransomed (Mark 10:45), redeemed (1 Peter 1:18-19), forgiven (Ephesians 1:7) and made holy (Colossians 1:22), etc. There are indeed many more things that the gospel does for us in terms of our relationship with God. It is a glorious gift that we have. As Christians, we must never lose our awe for the gospel, even telling it to others and to ourselves. The gospel isn’t just to be preached to non-believers; we, the believers, also need to be reminded of the gospel every day (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Consider some of the blessings of the gospel.
Brings Love and Unity
1 Peter 1:22-23 shows us how the gospel encourages brotherly love. In verse 22, Peter writes that we’ve been purified for obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love. This is made possible by the fact that we’ve been born again through the redeeming work of Christ, all summed up in the gospel (1 Peter 1:23). Before accepting the truth of the gospel, we were destined to stumble over and disobey it (1 Peter 2:8). However, through the great mercies of God (1 Peter 1:3), we’ve been called out of darkness and into the marvellous light of Jesus (1 Peter 2:9). We now belong to a community called “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession” (1 Peter 2:9). This gospel community we’re a part of is called the Church. Through the enabling of the gospel, we, as God’s people, are empowered to love one another (1 John 3:15-18, 4:7-12).
The gospel enables us to love those in our new community because we’re unified by it in our worship of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:9). As we worship Christ, we’re brought into fellowship with one another (1 John 1:7). It is natural to have conflicts in our gospel communities because we still struggle with sin, but through the gospel, we can be reconciled to one another (2 Corinthians 5:17-19). Knowing that we’ve been reconciled to God through the death, life, and resurrection of Jesus (Romans 5:10), we now carry forward Jesus’ ministry of reconciliation and forgiveness to those around us (2 Corinthians 5:17-19, Ephesians 4:32).
The Only Hope of The World
All have indeed sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23); every race, tribe, and tongue (Romans 3:9-10). However, the gospel has enabled all of humanity, without distinction, to be justified and made righteous in the sight of God (Romans 3:21-24). The gospel isn’t just good news for some specific race or tribe but for all without distinction (Romans 3:21-24). In other words, through our justification by faith, racism, sexism, classism, xenophobia, and tribalism dies. That’s because if Jesus has forgiven you through the gospel, you, too, should forgive others (Ephesians 4:32).
If you’re reviled or mistreated, we remember that Jesus went through the same for our sake (1 Peter 2:22-24). Remembering this encourages us to bless those who have hurt us instead of repaying them in the same measure (1 Peter 3:9). The gospel also rebukes the racist, sexist, classist, xenophobe, and tribalist to stop their hatred because God loved them enough to give his son Jesus to make them justified and righteous in his sight (John 3:16, Romans 5:8). This love experienced through the gospel once again causes them to love the ones they once hated (1 John 3:15-18, 4:7-12). The gospel is a blessing in that it brings hope and unity to all without distinction.
Renews Our Priorities
Once we encounter the power of the gospel, our minds are renewed (Romans 12:2); as a result, our life priorities are also bound to change. For example, the gospel teaches us to live for Christ as opposed to the worldly way, living for oneself (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). Jesus died for others selflessly; as his followers, we must have the same attitude as we seek to love those around us (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). In the same vain, Jesus laid his life down for sinners like us. We are now to do the same for others humbly, whichever way this may look (1 John 3:16). The gospel turns selfish people into generous people (Ephesians 4:19-24, 28), the stories of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10) and Matthew (Matthew 9:9-13, Mark 2:13-17) are good examples. Initially, they were both selfish and greedy tax collectors, but they changed entirely, leaving their greedy ways after meeting Jesus. Zacchaeus even gives back four times what he had stolen (Luke 19:8).
The gospel’s transforming power also influences marriages (Ephesians 5:25). Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, explains how Christ-centered marriages should look like. Instead of having a marriage where everyone wants to be served, the gospel encourages husbands and wives to live selflessly, freely serving one another (Ephesians 5:21-25). Through the gospel, we learn that our lives are to be laid down in all we do, including how and what we eat (Romans 14:15). As Christians, we are not to act carelessly, causing others to stumble in their faith (Romans 14:13-19). Even though we have freedom in Christ (1 Corinthians 6:12), we also know that we are to lay down our freedoms for the sake of others who are weaker in their faith (Romans 14:15, 1 Corinthians 9:19-23).
Our world can be a difficult place to live in. Still, we are blessed to have a new family in the Church through the gospel. With Christ as its head, he leads us to live in unity, love, and humility with one another and in our everyday encounters with those around us (Matthew 5:43-48, Romans 12:20).
