R.C. Sproul

Christ agreed to do the work necessary for our redemption.

That's why we call it the covenant of redemption between the Father and the Son, and then by extension, also the Holy Spirit.

There is so much confusion out there today about what constitutes the essential elements of the New Testament gospel.

And so my conviction is that we are in a period of crisis with respect to our understanding of the actual biblical content of the gospel.

Today we're going to look at one of the most important themes that we ever encounter in the Scriptures, and that's the theme of the gospel itself.

Recently I was involved in teaching a course for clergy

and I had 40 ministers present from 17 different denominations.

And I started this seminar by asking the question openly, what is the gospel?

And I went to the Blackboard and more or less moderated their discussion about the content and meaning of the gospel, and we worked on this problem for over an hour before

At least in my judgment, we came up with anything that adequately resembled the New Testament concept of the gospel.

And I found that somewhat striking, that those who give their lives to the preaching of the gospel and who are set apart and consecrated to the ministry of the gospel would have such a difficult time giving definition to the gospel.

Now, I don't want to suggest that these particular individuals in that class were unusual or derelict or anything of that sort.

It's just that there is so much confusion out there today about what constitutes the essential elements of the New Testament gospel.

Again, a year or so ago,

at the Christian Booksellers Convention, one ministry organization took a poll on the floor of the convention and asked a hundred delegates to the convention, and these are people who own Christian bookstores, what is the gospel?

And in their estimation, out of the hundred that were polled, only one answer

would have really captured the New Testament concept of the gospel.

And so my conviction is that we are in a period of crisis with respect to our understanding of the actual biblical content of the gospel.

And so I want to spend some time with you looking at

this from an elementary, introductory perspective on the meaning of the gospel as it is declared to us in the Scriptures.