Concerning the person and work of Christ, we must preach that Christ is God incarnated to be a God-man, that He is both divine and human. We must also preach His redemptive death. In His redemptive work He died on the cross for our sins and for us sinners. Then He was resurrected so that He could impart Himself into us as the divine life. Therefore, the gospel we preach is that Christ, the God-man, died for our sins and was resurrected.
John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This verse reveals that Christ, the Word, was with God and was God from the beginning. In the beginning, that is, from eternity past, the Word was with God. It is not, as supposed by some, that Christ was not with God and was not God from eternity past and that at a certain time Christ became God and was with God. Christ’s deity is eternal and absolute. From eternity past to eternity future, He is with God and He is God. This is the reason in the Gospel of John there is no genealogy regarding Him as in Matthew and Luke. In the Gospel of John He is “without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life” (Heb. 7:3). We all must be very clear that our Christ was with God and was God from the beginning.
In the incarnation Christ is God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16). He was manifested in the flesh not only as the Son but as the entire God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. As the Word, who is the very God, Christ became flesh (John 1:14). Therefore, He is God-the Triune God-manifested in the flesh.
We need to realize that the entire God, not only the Son of God, was incarnated. John 1:14 says that the Word, which is God, became flesh. This God, who the Word is, is not a partial God; rather, He is the entire God-God the Son, God the Father, and God the Spirit. The New Testament does not say that the Word, who became flesh, was God the Son. Instead, the New Testament indicates that in the beginning was the Word, and this Word is the entire Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Hence, Christ in incarnation is the entire God manifested in the flesh.
Because of the influence of traditional teaching, we may think that only the Son of God, not the entire God, was incarnated. Actually, the New Testament does not say that the Son of God was incarnated; it says that God was manifested in the flesh. This means that the entire God became incarnated.
John 1:18 tells us, “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” The Father’s only begotten Son declared, explained, God by the Word, life (v. 4), light, grace, and reality (vv. 14, 16-17). The Word is God expressed, life is God imparted, light is God shining, grace is God enjoyed, and reality is God realized. God is fully declared in the Son through these five things.
In 1 Timothy 1:15 Paul refers to the redemptive work of Christ. “Faithful is the word and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” Christ came into the world to be our Savior by incarnation. He was God incarnated that He may save us through His death and resurrection in His human body. This should be constantly announced as the gospel, the glad tidings, in a local church.
In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 we have a brief word concerning the gospel. Verses 1 and 2 say, “Now I make known to you, brothers, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you as the gospel, unless you believed in vain.” The gospel here is the full gospel, including the teachings concerning Christ and the church, as fully disclosed in the book of Romans (1:1; 16:25). We should stand in the full gospel, that is, in the entire New Testament, not just in certain teachings or doctrines.
In 1 Corinthians 15:2 “being saved” literally means in the way of salvation (Conybeare). After being justified in Christ and regenerated by the Spirit, we are in the process of being saved in the life of Christ (Rom. 5:10) until we are mature and conformed to Him in full (Rom. 8:29). On the one hand, we have been saved; on the other hand, we are being saved. We have been saved by Christ’s death, but we are still being saved in His resurrection.
In 1 Corinthians 15:3 and 4 Paul goes on to say, “For I delivered to you, among the first things, that which also I received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He has been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” Christ’s death for our sins, His burial for our termination, and His resurrection for our germination with life, according to the prophecies of the Old Testament (Isa. 53:5-8, 10-12; Psa. 22:14-18; Dan. 9:26; Isa. 53:9; Psa. 16:9-10; Hosea 6:2), are the basic items among the first things of the gospel. The last of these items is the most vital in the gospel, for it imparts life to us that we may live Christ.
The resurrection of Christ is the vitality of the gospel. There are many philosophies and religions, but none of them is vital. On the contrary, every one of them is devoid of life. Hence, none of them has any vitality. But the Lord’s gospel contains life, even resurrection life.
Resurrection life is a life that has conquered death, a life that entered into death, remained in death for a period of time, and then came out of death. Thus, this life is a death-conquering and death-subduing life. For this reason it is called resurrection life.
The gospel of Christ not only has life; it also has the life power to subdue death, to conquer death, and to annul death. This life, the life that has subdued, conquered, and nullified death, is resurrection.
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