This essay first appeared on August 10, 2001, as “The True Gospel (Part Two)” in the CGG Weekly.
“But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”
—I Corinthians 1:30
Whether in English or Greek, gospel means “good news” or “good tidings,” yet the news Jesus Christ brought is not just a proclamation of good cheer. Normally, when we hear the phrase, “good news,” we think of a positive announcement. Jesus’ message is certainly encouraging, but the adjective “good,” which has its roots in the word “god,” suggests that Jesus’ message also possesses a moral quality. Since it is good news about Jesus, His work, and the Kingdom of God, such moral quality is a given.
Certainly, Jesus’ gospel is the good news of salvation. What could be more encouraging? Jesus Himself confirms this in John 3:17, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” However, in accordance with human nature’s desire for self-preservation, the Protestant world has overemphasized this aspect of the gospel—deliverance from death—and minimized others, particularly the part of the salvation process called “sanctification” or becoming holy.
Notice the apostle Paul’s list in I Corinthians 1:30: “But of [God] you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. . . .” Nominal Christians hang on this verse because on its face it seems to say that Christ did all the work for us—that we are righteous, sanctified, and redeemed by accepting His sacrifice for us, and we need do no more. So, they proudly say, “I have been saved!”
Upon closer study, though, this verse actually points out that Jesus is our Example in these matters; He embodies these virtues. Just as He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), He is also wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. If we walk as He walked, we will be wise, righteous, holy, and redeemed. As the paragraph’s entire context shows, God will amaze and shame the world by taking the foolish, weak, and base, and creating them into children like His Son (cf. Luke 10:21). Even as nothing just appears as a finished product, so His children will go through a process of development, one that follows a similar path to the one that Jesus took in His life (John 8:12; I Corinthians 11:1; Hebrews 2:10-11; I John 2:6; etc.). Instead, we should say, “I have been saved [justified], and I am being saved [sanctified]!” (see I Corinthians 1:18; II Corinthians 2:15; also Acts 2:47).
Jesus is our Example in these matters: wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He embodies these virtues. Share on XOn this distinction, the traditional gospel comes up short. It proclaims “by grace you have been saved through faith” alone (a word not found in the Greek of Ephesians 2:8, yet added by Martin Luther) and discounts works entirely as vehicles for building character because of God’s imputation of Christ’s righteousness and holiness to us at the moment of redemption. True, we are not saved or justified by our works (verse 9), but Paul asserts that “we are . . . created in Christ Jesus for good works” (verse 10; emphasis added).
In other words, God’s spiritual creation of sons and daughters is not finished at baptism but continues throughout their converted lives. The apostle James, whose epistle Luther abhorred, adds that works exhibit and stimulate faith (James 2:18, 22, 24, 26). Works, then, are both a tool to build and a product of godly character. This is why Peter ends his second epistle with an exhortation to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18).
The gospel, then, is more than an announcement of salvation to mankind. It is a roadmap that teaches us what we must do to be saved—not just to be justified by Christ’s sacrifice, but also to be glorified in the Kingdom of God! Between justification and glorification is sanctification, the process of spiritual growth to become holy and righteous as He is, and the gospel explains how that is accomplished. Though that process does not save us, we will not be saved without it!
