Doctrine of the Week - The Gospel

The doctrine of the week for this Sunday is the gospel, which is salvation by grace through faith.

The Greek word, Evangelion, which is where we get the term evangelical, it means glad tidings or the good news.

In 1 Corinthians 15 verses 1 through 4, the Apostle Paul writes,

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which

I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you, first of all, that which

I also received, 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.

So this is the gospel. Christ died for our sins and rose again.

And those who receive and trust in the gospel receive the gift of eternal life.

Now, the controversy regarding the gospel historically, as many of you well know, is this.

It's between Protestants and Roman Catholics. Rome says salvation is by faith plus works.

The Protestants say, no, it's by faith alone, and that works are simply the evidence of saving faith.

So we would ask, well, which is correct? Well, how do you determine that?

The word of God says this in Ephesians 2, 8 through 10, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which

God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So in conclusion, a great man once said, salvation is by faith alone, but the faith that saves is not alone, meaning that works accompany true saving faith.

As the book of James says, faith without works is dead.