The Gospel Is About a Person Before It Is About a Principle
Rev. Aniekan "Mbomboyo" Okokon ·
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus… set apart for the gospel of God… concerning his Son. — Romans 1:1–3
Ask a room of believers what the Gospel is and you will hear principles: God loves you, sin separates, Christ paid, believe and be saved. All true. But when Paul defines the Gospel he does not list principles. He tells a story about a Person: Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, was raised on the third day, and appeared (1 Corinthians 15:3–5). The Gospel is not an idea about God. It is news about Jesus.
Why the order matters
Principles can be held at a distance. You can agree that grace is unmerited favour without ever meeting the One who is gracious. You can believe in justification as a doctrine and never look into the face of the Justifier. Principles inform; a Person confronts. The demons, James says, believe the principles and shudder. What they will not do is bow to the Person.
When the Gospel becomes a system, it can be mastered, and mastery breeds pride. When the Gospel is a Person, it can only be received, and receiving breeds love.
What changes when the Gospel is Jesus
- Preaching changes. The aim is not to explain a mechanism but to present a Man, so that people meet Him.
- Assurance changes. Your confidence is not in having understood the doctrine correctly but in the One who died and rose whether you understood it or not.
- Holiness changes. You are not keeping principles; you are following Someone, and you can tell when you have wandered from Him.
- Suffering changes. A principle cannot sit with you in a hospital ward. He can, because He is a Person and He is alive.
Keeping the Person first
The principles are precious; they are how we say true things about Him. But they are about Him, and when they drift free of Him they become a religion with His name on it. Test every sermon, every study, every conversation about the faith by one question: did it bring me nearer to Jesus, or only nearer to being right about Him? The Gospel is a Person. He is the point.