A Gospel Narrative | Papers

I started a pastoral internship at my church. Our first assignment was to read A Gospel Primer for Christians by Milton Vincent, check out my review here, and to write a paper fleshing out The Gospel in our own words as a Gospel Narrative. My Gospel Narrative paper is pasted in below. See my Scripture References at the end correlating to the numbers in parentheses.

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Gifted Salvation by Grace Through Faith (1)

GOD IS HOLY, OMNIPOTENT, AND LOVING

My living God is set apart from all of his creation. There is none like him. Before the world began he was. After the world ends he will be (2). I cannot compare him with any of his creation (3) for he is the creator and therefore worthy to receive glory, honor, and power as the one and only true God (4, 5). He rules perfectly with all authority (6, 7). His plans cannot be thwarted (8). He is love and is the source of love (9). He is the one and only triune God (10).

FALL OF MAN, SIN SEPARATED US FROM GOD

My holy God created the universe and said it was good (11). Male and female he created mankind in his own image and said it was very good and blessed them (12). Sin was introduced into this good world by the rebellion of man against God’s command, believing the lies of Satan that God’s way wasn’t what was best for them (13). Sin separated man from God (14) and brought a curse (15). I sin all the time and choose my own way over God’s way thinking I know better just like Adam in the garden (16). No matter what I do or how hard I try I cannot earn my salvation apart from Christ. I am worthy of judgement and hell even when I’m living most righteously (17).

SACRIFICE REQUIRED TO RESTORE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

Sin leads to death (18) and the sacrificial death of a life with the shedding of blood is required to atone for the sin of man (19, 20, 21). God made a holy priesthood of men to intercede on our behalf enabling us to be forgiven of our sin through the sacrifice of an animal (22) in a holy tent where God’s spirit dwelled among men on earth just as in the Garden of Eden (23). These sacrifices were not enough to credit man with the righteousness required to be in relationship with God again as in the garden or they would have ceased (24).

JESUS WAS THE PERFECT SACRIFICE

God made a way for us to be saved from our sin by sending his only son to die in our place (25). My savior Jesus did what no other man can do; he lived a perfect life. He did not deserve to die or face God’s wrath for he never sinned. Jesus interceded for us by laying down his blameless life as the perfect and final sacrifice required to justify all those who abide in him with the Father (26, 27). In sacrificing himself in my place Jesus has shown me greater love than anyone else (28).

JESUS DIED AND WAS RAISED SO I HAVE NEW LIFE

The curtain separating man from God’s holy presence in the temple was torn from top to bottom symbolizing our relationship with God was restored thanks to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross (29). Jesus was raised to life after three days and is now our great high priest who secured our eternal redemption and intercedes for us to the Father (30, 31). If I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart God raised him from the dead, God sees Jesus’s righteousness rather than my sin when he looks upon me (32, 33). My old self has been crucified with Christ and is now dead. Now Christ lives in me and I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me (34). Jesus will bring us to himself someday where we will live with him for all eternity (35). When Jesus left Earth he promised to send a helper, the Holy Spirit who is in us once we are saved, (36) and in whom we receive God’s power (37).

WE LOVE GOD AND OTHERS IN RESPONSE TO THIS GOOD NEWS

As God has loved us by graciously sending his son for us (38) we are to love him with all our heart, soul, and mind (39). Because Jesus first loved us we are to love others (40). We are no longer to be anxious for or love the things of the world which now hates us (41) but are to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. God knows what we need and will take care of us (42).

Scripture References

Scripture References (ESV used)

1. Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

2. Revelation 4:8 ..."Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!"

3. Isaiah 40:18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?

4. Revelation 4:11 "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."

5. Isaiah 45:18 For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): "I am the LORD, and there is no other.

6. Psalm 19:7-9 7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.

7. Isaiah 40:13-14 13 Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel? 14 Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

8. Job 42:2 "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

9. 1 John 4:7-8 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

10. Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

11. Genesis 1:3–4 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.

12. Genesis 1:27 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them...

13. Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

14. Genesis 3:21 And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

15. Isaiah 59:2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

16. Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

17. Ephesians 2:8-9 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

18. Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

19. Genesis 3:17 “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

20. Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.

21. Hebrews 9:22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

22. Leviticus 4:35 And all its fat he shall remove as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it on the altar, on top of the LORD's food offerings. And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed, and he shall be forgiven.

23. Exodus 40:34–35 34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

24. Hebrews 10:1–4 1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

25. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

26. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

27. Hebrews 10:14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

28. John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

29. Matthew 27:51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.

30. Hebrews 9:11–15 11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. 15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

31. Romans 8:34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

32. Romans 10:9-11 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame."

33. Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

34. Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

35. John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

36. John 14:16–17 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

37. Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

38. 1 John 4: 9-10 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

39. Matthew 22:37-40 37 And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

40. John 15:12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

41. John 15:18–19 18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

42. Matthew 6:31–33 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.