A recurring New Testament theme is the necessity of obeying the gospel.
At the start of His earthly ministry Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel…saying,
"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the
gospel" (Mk.1:14-15).
Describing Christ's 2nd coming, 2Ths.1:7-8 says, Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God
and to those who do not obey the gospel.
With this in mind, let's read 1Cor.15:1-4.
"Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received,
in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which
I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for
our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised
on the third day according to the Scriptures".
Here we see Paul stating that the gospel enables one to be saved.
He then shows that the gospel message in a nutshell is the death burial and resurrection
of Jesus.
Question: How in the world does a person obey the gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection
of Jesus?
I guess someone could arrange to be nailed to a cross and then laid in a tomb after dying.
But I imagine arranging the bodily resurrection might pose a few difficulties.
So I think we can safely rule out obeying the gospel literally.
But, this still leaves our question unanswered.
How does a person obey the gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus as a non-Christian,
and how does a person maintain his or her obedience to this gospel as a Christian?
Let's talk about that.
So first, how does a non-Christian obey the gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection?
Consider Rom.6:17-18.
Paul rejoiced that the Roman brethren had obeyed and thus were freed from sin.
What's interesting is the wording used to convey what they obeyed: you became obedient
from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed.
The "teaching" clearly refers to the gospel, but what did Paul mean by that form of it?
The Greek word for "form" (tupos) equals a figure, an image, a representation.
It refers to the impression that's left after a blow.
For example, if I put a coin on some playdoh and hit the coin with a hammer, it would leave
an impression of the coin in the playdoh.
The dent in the playdoh is obviously not the literal coin, but gives an impression (form)
of the coin.
So, the Roman Christians had obeyed the gospel teaching of the death, burial and resurrection
of Jesus.
Not literally, but a "form" of it.
When did they do this and how?
Let's go to the start of Rom.6.
First note v.5.
"For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall
be also in the likeness of His resurrection".
The word "likeness" [hom-oy-oma] is similar to the word "form".
Thayer defines it as "that which has been made after the likeness of something, hence:
a figure, image,…representation…a resemblance…such as amounts almost to equality or identity".
Now let's read v.3-4.
"Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been
baptized into His death?
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ
was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness
of life."
Here's the answer to our question.
The Roman brethren had symbolically re-enacted the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ
through the process of "dying" to sin (repentance), being "buried" in the waters of baptism, and
then being "raised" (resurrected) to newness of life.
They were thus forgiven and saved.
Look at an artist's impression of this on the screen.
You can see Jesus dying on the cross, buried in the tomb, and then resurrected.
Now, see an individual symbolically re-enacting this as if he is right alongside Jesus.
He has expressed a willingness to repent, that is, die to sin; he is baptized by being
immersed or buried in water; after which he is raised or resurrected out of the water
and now enjoys a new spiritual life.
This is the "form" of the gospel the Roman's obeyed almost 2000 years ago, and this exact
same "form" of the gospel is what one must obey today in order to be saved.
There’s no wonder, then, why it says in Heb.5:9 that Jesus is the source of eternal
salvation to all those who obey Him.
Jesus Himself says in Mt.7:21, "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter
the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter."
Okay, we’ve now seen from the Bible how a non-Christian obeys the gospel, but what
about obeying the gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ when one is a Christian.
Read with me again 1Cor.15:1-2.
"Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received,
in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which
I preached to you, unless you believed in vain."
Did you catch that? "…if you hold fast the word which I preached to you…"
This indicates that in order to maintain the good spiritual standing and salvation provided
after one's initial obedience, he or she must in a sense continually obey the gospel of
the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
Again, not literally, but figuratively.
But how?
I find it interesting that Christianity is often portrayed in the New Testament by terms
relating to death, burial and resurrection.
Let's look at several of these:
In Lk.9:23.
Jesus Himself said, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up
his cross daily, and follow Me.
Look at Rom.6:1-2.
"What shall we say then?
Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase?
May it never be!
How shall we who died to sin still live in it?"
Skip down to v.12-13, "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should
obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments
of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your
members as instruments of righteousness to God."
Now let's see 2Cor.4:8-11. "we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed,
but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying
about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in
our body.
For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, that the life
of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh."
In Gal.2:20 Paul said "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live,
but Christ lives in me.
Next, read with me Eph.2:4-6.
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even
when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you
have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places,
in Christ Jesus."
But Christians are not raised up to sit down and do nothing.
Notice v.10, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which
God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
We are raised to serve!
A longer example is found in Col.3:1-10.
"If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ
is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in
glory.
Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion,
evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
For it is on account of these things that the wrath of God will come, and in them you
also once walked, when you were living in them.
But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech
from your mouth.
Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,
and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the
image of the One who created him".
So you see that a new spiritual life ought to translate into a new way of thinking and
behaving.
I might be stretching the idea a bit with these next two, but hopefully the basic point
is still relevant:
In 1Tim.4:12-13 Paul urges Timothy to be an example of speech, conduct, love, faith, and
purity, and that he needs to exhort & teach the brethren.
In what follows, I like the way the New American Standard Bible puts v.15: "Take pains with
these things; be absorbed in them," that is, immerse yourself in these things.
No one likes the idea of being snowed under in their job, or buried in paperwork; but
Christians should relish being immersed in godly character and church service.
Then there's 1Jn.1:6-9.
"If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do
not practice the truth; but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we
have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all
sin.
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness."
Are any of you familiar with "Bubble Boy"?
David Vetter was born in Texas in 1971 with severe combined immunodeficiency, and he was
forced to live in a specially constructed sterile plastic bubble from birth until he
died at age 12.
Because of his sterile bubble, he was famously known as "Bubble Boy."
Christians live their lives figuratively buried within a bubble of Christ's purifying blood.
As long as we do our best to walk in the light (live faithfully), and confess our sins when
we do occasionally mess up, we enjoy continual cleansing from sin.
David Vetter's lifelong burial in a plastic bubble was sad and uncomfortable; but the
Christians lifelong burial in a bubble of Christ's blood is a joyous relief.
Finally, look at 1Jn.3:16-18.
"We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren.
But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against
him, how does the love of God abide in him?
Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth."
While it may be the case that one day we'll find ourselves in the drastic position of
needing to choose to actually die for a brother or sister in Christ; here it shows that laying
down our lives for our brethren may simply mean sharing what we have with them.
We have now seen several examples of how Christians can continually obey the gospel of the death,
burial and resurrection of Jesus.
Okay, so we have set before us the gospel, which in a nutshell is the death, burial,
and resurrection of Jesus.
How does one obey it?
For non-Christians…there's no need to be literally crucified, literally buried in a
tomb, and then figure out how to be literally resurrected.
You simply have to obey a form or likeness of it: Be willing to repent of sin, allow
yourself to be immersed in water for the forgiveness of sins, and then you'll come up out of the
water with a new spiritual life.
For Christians…it's a matter of taking up our cross daily and dying to sin, dying to
selfishness.
It's a matter of staying buried in Christ's cleansing blood, by being faithful and confessing
our faults.
Immersing ourselves in good character and good works.
It's a matter of remembering we've been raised to a new higher quality of life.
We mustn't sink back down into worldliness, but set our minds on things above; basking
in a renovation of spiritual knowledge & spiritual service.
Finally, let's always look for opportunities to share the gospel with the lost.
It's certainly a matter of first importance!
Maybe this lesson has motivated you to want to pursue things further; maybe you have questions,
or just want more information.
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