| God’s PURPOSE
RELATIONSHIP |
The gospel is the good news of the kingdom of God and salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
To preach the gospel is to proclaim the fulfillment of God’s purposes through the sending of the eternal Son of God in the power of the Holy Spirit to break into our fallen world, overthrow its evil, and transform and redeem all who were captive to sin and evil’s power and eternal consequences. |
| Man’s PROBLEM
SEPARATION |
. . . our fallen world,
. . . its evil . . . captive to sin and evil’s power and eternal consequences. |
| God’s PROVISION
JESUS CHRIST |
The central events of the gospel are about Jesus: his birth, life, ministry, crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and ascension.
Through these events in the life of Jesus, God’s kingdom has broken into our time and space to bring about our salvation. The gospel is the astonishing good news that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God’s forgiveness of us is unconditional, and it is given before our confession of sin and repentance. |
| Man’s POTENTIAL
RECONCILIATION |
Freed by the Holy Spirit in response to the Word of God, repentance is how we receive the forgiveness that has already been freely given to us on the basis of Christ’s atoning work on the cross.
To refuse to repent is thus to refuse God’s gift of forgiveness. The Son of God was sent by the Father to assume our human nature to himself and to rescue and transform it in himself. This was done to reconcile us to God so that we might become his beloved adopted children. Jesus Christ came, lived and died for our sins and has made us his own before and apart from our believing in him. He has bound us to himself by his love in such a way that he will never let us go. Therefore, the Lord calls on all humans to repent and believe in him as Lord and Savior. |
| God’s PROMISE
RELATIONSHIP |
Revelation 3:20 (NKJV)
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. |
11.4 How should we respond to the gospel?
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- NOTE: With respect to the Gospel in Peas … this question would relate to the fourth ‘P’ — MAN’s POTENTIAL — Reconciliation
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- With repentance and faith.
- The Son of God was sent by the Father to assume our human nature to himself and to rescue and transform it in himself.
- This was done to reconcile us to God so that we might become his beloved adopted children. Jesus Christ came, lived and died for our sins and has made us his own before and apart from our believing in him. He has bound us to himself by his love in such a way that he will never let us go.
- Therefore, the Lord calls on all humans to repent and believe in him as Lord and Savior. (See 2 Corinthians 5:14-20 below.)
- Romans 10:9-10 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
- Acts 16:31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
2 Corinthians 5:14-20
14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not [d]imputing[reckoning] their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
THE SECOND DEATH
In the Bible, the “second death” is not a sequential chronological death like an individual passing away a second time on Earth. Instead, as outlined on Christianity.com, it is a symbolic and theological term used exclusively in the Book of Revelation to describe final, eternal judgment and separation from God, represented by the lake of fire.
- The First Death: Refers to the physical death of the human body on Earth.
- The Second Death: Refers to the final spiritual and permanent doom after the physical resurrection and final judgment.
- Revelation 2:11 “The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.”
- Revelation 20:6 “Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them…”
- Revelation 20:14 “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.”
- Revelation 21:8 “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Discussions across Christian communities show that interpretations of what the second death actually entails vary:
- Eternal Conscious Torment: Many traditional views hold that it represents an ongoing, conscious state of punishment and separation from God in the lake of fire.
- Annihilationism: Another view interprets the imagery as total destruction or the absolute cessation of existence (the extinguishing of body and soul), rather than endless suffering.
- Cleansing Fire: Many universalist theologians interpret the fire of the second death as the loving, holy presence of God acting in a corrective manner.
- Killing the Sin: Rather than destroying the person, this “death” targets and destroys the person’s corrupt ego, rebellious nature, and sin.
- Spiritual Renewal: The experience is viewed as a painful but necessary spiritual death of the old, unregenerate self, clearing the way for new life.
- Against Eternal Torment: Universalists reject the traditional view that the second death is a permanent state of conscious suffering, arguing that endless punishment would mean God’s ultimate defeat and failure to save all creation.
- Against Annihilationism: They reject the idea that the second death completely wipes out or erases a person from existence, noting that if God permanently destroyed anyone for whom Christ died, death would retain final victory.
- Conquering Death: Universalist thinkers (such as early church fathers like Gregory of Nyssa, as well as modern writers) emphasize that Revelation itself states “Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev 20:14).
- The Final Outcome: Because death and hell are ultimately consumed and abolished, the second death marks the absolute end of all alienation from God, leading to the fulfillment of universal reconciliation.