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www.insidethebible.ca /the-nature-of-the-gospel-1-corinthians-151-4/
Micah Hackett
1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and
wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have
believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins
according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
The Gospel is far more than a massage preached at a revival meeting; it is more than Gods pathway to salvation. It
is that and thankfully so! but it is so much broader in its scope. God designed it to be Truth that carries on in our
lives from the point of salvation unto the endless ages of eternity, and as long as we live upon this earth amidst false
doctrine God will hold us responsible in how we pass down this Truth. Therefore, it is absolutely vital to understand
the nature of the Gospel, seeing as we are stewards of it.
I. The Preaching of the Gospel
Paul begins his section by looking back to how the Corinthian believers heard the gospel in the first place through
his preaching. Notice:
1. It was doctrinal in nature. We know this by the fact that the doctrine of the resurrection, which he would
explain later in the chapter, was the same that he taught the Corinthians at the beginning. Any man entrusted
with the public ministry of the Word must understand faithfulness to Scriptures clear teachings. Paul was
confident in what he preached, and he remained in that. Can we with confidence preach what we do? Or is
our understanding of Truth weak and relativistic?
2. It was grace-centred. Though not in our section, we see in verse ten by the grace of God I am what I am.
No labourer in the gospel can remain true unless he understands that his competence is of God. The man
who forgets grace compromises an entire future of fruitfulness that comes by the gospel. Since we know that
a foundation in the gospel starts from the preaching of it, and since we also know that the preaching of the
gospel is by grace, we understand that the assemblys foundation in the gospel is totally of grace: we must
not forget the goodness of God.
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again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of
laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgement. And this will we do, if God permit.
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