The Gospel of Jesus Christ: a Heritage the Church Must Prioritize in the 21st Century

In many countries, an inheritance is a gift or asset a person receives from a loved one. However, an inheritance also implies death since receiving such a gift generally indicates the owner of that asset has passed away. For this reason, an inheritance should be loved, cared for, and valued because it represents the person who died and thought of us. Jesus Christ died for us on the cross of Calvary. However, before his death, he gave us the most important message for the world as an inheritance and as a responsibility. If this is part of our Christian belief, the most important message given by the King of kings and Lord of lords must be of great importance for the church in this 21st century.

What was the most important message of Jesus Christ?

Part of our heritage as God's people is the most important message preached by our Lord Jesus Christ: the gospel of the kingdom of God. Furthermore, I dare say, this message is so important that when a church forgets or loses its heritage and its responsibility to preach emphatically and consistently the gospel of Christ, it is because it has lost its frst love. Such a church has other priorities and does not care about doing the will of the Lord.

The gospel of the kingdom of God was the central message of Jesus Christ during His ministry. The Gospel writers tell us that Jesus began His ministry by preaching the gospel of the kingdom. Matthew records, “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people” (Matthew 4:23). The writer of Mark notes, “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulflled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:14, 15).

If this message was important for Jesus, it should also be important for the church in this 21st century. We must focus all our effort and work on preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. If we want to reconcile the world to Christ, this is the priority message for the church.

The message of the gospel is part of that kingdom that is and will be established by Jesus Christ—that is, “the already, but not yet.” Dr. Samuel Pagán tells us that “the kingdom, for Jesus of Nazareth, was the extraordinary and concrete manifestation of the divine sovereignty in the midst of history.”1 If we want to see a change in our nations, the gospel of the kingdom is the key.

What is the difference between the gospel and doctrines?

When we speak of the gospel of the kingdom of God, we are speaking of a message of transformation and change. Jesus Christ put it this way: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18, 19).

According to this biblical passage, our Lord Jesus Christ was anointed with the Spirit of God to announce the good news, that is, the gospel of the kingdom. This gospel of the kingdom of God brings deliverance to the captives, gives sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed, and announces the favor of the Lord. All this means that the gospel of the kingdom brings transformation and change to individuals, families, societies, and nations.

The gospel of the kingdom brings salvation to people, and there is no salvation outside of Jesus Christ. This salvation is presented in the gospel of the kingdom of God which, according to the writer of Mark, is the same as the gospel of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:1). Thus, when we speak of the gospel of the kingdom of God, we are speaking of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Hence, we see the importance for the church to prioritize the message of the gospel in order to reconcile the world to Christ.

However, when we talk about doctrines, we are talking about teachings that are expressions of the faith of God’s people. In this context, doctrines are of great value and importance for the church, but we must keep in mind that doctrines do not bring salvation to people. Dr. Justo Gonzáles states it this way:

Although doctrines have a close relationship with faith, and are an expression of faith, it is not by doctrine that we are saved: not by the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of the inerrancy of the Scriptures, or any other doctrine. It is true

Ricardo Hinsbis Espinoza was born on December 22, 1979, in Talara, Peru. He studied Theology at the Unversidad Seminario Bíblico Andino and is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the Pentecostal Theological Seminary. He, his wife Estela, and daughters reside in Paraguay, where he serves as the national bishop for the Church of God of Prophecy.

BISHOP RICARDO HINSBIS ESPINOZA | PARAGUAY NATIONAL BISHOP

that doctrines develop, change, and grow, but the love of God endures forever!2

Many divisions have occurred within the Christian world for lack of agreement over certain doctrines. There are denominations where emphasis is given to women wearing a veil, others where emphasis is placed on the way people dress, and there are even churches that teach the keeping of a certain day of the week. But let us remember what the Word of God tells us:

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:14)

The preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ brings salvation to humanity. It is for this reason that the Gospel of Mark tells us that we must believe in the gospel—because believing in the gospel of the kingdom is the same as believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ, who said, "... the time is fulflled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

The apostle Paul says that he received the gospel by revelation from God: “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:11, 12).

Clearly Paul is stating that the gospel was not the product of human reasoning nor human refection, but the product of God's incomparable love. And it is for this reason that the gospel will never change. However, doctrines can change as we submit to the guidance of the Spirit of God and his enlightenment to understand what is being revealed.

And fnally, I want to mention that the gospel is much more important than doctrines, so much so that we must be willing to give our own lives for the gospel, but not for doctrines. The Gospel of Mark emphasizes this great truth: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it” (Mark 8:35).

After having discussed the difference between the gospel and doctrines, we must now ask ourselves what the Bible means by the gospel of the kingdom.

What is the gospel of the kingdom of God?

Jesus did not defne or clarify what the kingdom of God is, but we do have his parables that teach us about its characteristics. Thus, the parables are a signifcant help in understanding the kingdom of God.

Many theologians have defned what the gospel is; one of them, Francisco Lacueva, states:

In reality, the gospel is not a doctrine, but a “PersonEvent”: (1) “Person” because the gospel is Jesus […] (2) “Event” because the coming of Christ into the world was the great “event”—coming to makes us the exegesis of the Father (cf. John 1:18) and to call men to conduct their lives in such a way as to adopt the necessary provisions to enter the kingdom of God, whose defnite irruption in the world is inseparably connected with the coming of Christ into the world (cf. Mark 1:15; Galatians 4:4).3

Francisco Lacueva says that the gospel is a person and an event. The New Illustrated Dictionary of the Bible [Nuevo diccionario ilustrado de la Biblia] also tells us that the gospel is the “joyful proclamation of the redemptive activity of God in Christ Jesus to save man from the slavery of sin.”4 Dr. Pablo Deiros tells us that the gospel

... proclaims the death and resurrection of Jesus. Although these two historical facts are the fundamental ones, some biblical witnesses also used to add his birth and other details of his life and work, his words and teachings, his reign and his return in glory. But in general, the frst essential and substantial element was the announcement of the good news that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead.5

The apostle Paul, in writing to the church in Corinth, instructs them on the essential elements of the gospel of Jesus Christ: “For I delivered unto you frst of all that which I also received, how 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” (1 Corinthians 15:3, 4).

Defnitely the most important message of the church is the gospel of the kingdom. This is a message of transformation and change for societies and nations. By preaching the message of the kingdom with compassion and determination, we will have quantitative and qualitative growth. The qualitative growth will occur because many people and families will have a changed life through the power of the Holy Spirit. The quantitative growth will also occur as a consequence of constantly and passionately preaching the gospel of the kingdom because our churches will be flled with people who are hungry and thirsty for God.

1 Translated into English from Samuel Pagán, Jesucristo es el Señor: Cristología del Nuevo Testamento (Barcelona: Editorial CLIE, 2022), 44.

2 Translated into English from Justo González, Breve Historia de las doctrinas cristianas (Nashville: Abingdon Press. 2007), 17.

3 Translated into English from Francisco Lacueva, Diccionario teológico ilustrado, 1st ed. española (Tarrasa, Barcelona: Clie. 2001), 274.

4 Translated into English from Wilton M. Nelson and Juan Rojas Mayo, Nuevo diccionario ilustrado de la Biblia, electronic ed. (Nashville: Editorial Caribe, 1998).

5 Translated into English from Pablo A. Deiros, El Evangelio que proclamamos, Formación Ministerial (Buenos Aires: Publicaciones Proforme, 2008).