Did you know that the “Good news” of the Kingdom of God has to be obeyed? How do you “obey” good news? I was reading this in my quiet time and that phrase struck me as odd. According to Paul’s letter, not “obeying the Gospel” is a sign of being an unbeliever (2 Thess. 1:8). I had to think about it for a bit and wanted to write down my thoughts.
Given most “gospel” presentations, this seems like a strange union of words — “Obey the Gospel.” This phrase makes the “good news” sound so weighty and serious. Most people only consider “receiving” the Gospel. After all, who doesn’t want to receive good news? It doesn’t cost us anything and it might even make us feel better!
The Immediate Context
Notice that the author couples this statement with knowing God. According to Scripture, when a person knows God, there is an awe and reverence of Him (Romans 1:18-21, John 17:3). To illustrate this point as a stand-alone, even Cornelius was described as a “God-fearing” man, before he came to know the Gospel (Acts 10:22). But Paul couples these two points together, “knowing God” and “obeying the Gospel”. Both are equally significant identifiers of a believer. Why would the “Gospel” have the same significance as actually knowing the Almighty Creator?
What do you mean by “Gospel?”
First, we must understand what the gospel is. You can’t just obey good news, right? So, to help understand what it means to obey the Gospel, you must piggy-back that first statement of knowing God. If you know God, you have a reverence and awe of Him. If it is He Who has sent the “good news” which was proclaimed by His angels (Matt. 1:20-23; Luke 2:9-14), then the good news must be honored with reverence as well.
The good news, or Gospel, is presented in Scripture as God saving His people from their sins. The Person He sent was Jesus, the work He chose to accomplish this task was twofold: Living a life of perfect obedience to God the Father and dying a perfect, sacrificial death which could be a substitute for those He was to save. Jesus is unique. It could be no other that saved people from sins (Acts 4:12). Only Jesus was born perfectly, lived perfectly and died perfectly. Only Jesus was raised from the dead by God the Father, to validate His life and work (Acts 4:10; 13:30; 17:31; Rom. 4:24).
How do you ‘obey the Gospel?’
How does one “obey the Gospel?” The Greek word for obey in this verse means, “of the thing to which one is obedient or which one embraces in full surrender”* Fully surrendering to the good news that was sent by God! God’s good news is Jesus! Think of it this way. The One True God promised to send a Messiah, a Savior for His people. When He did, it was done so in a manner which fulfilled His prophetic promises and announced by His angels. That message of good news was given a name at His birth … Jesus. Demonstrating obedience would be to believe this fulfilled promise of God as God Himself. Jesus is actually God, manifested in human flesh (John 14:9)!
Obeying the gospel is to illustrate by our actions that we believe Jesus Christ is the redemptive plan of the One True God. God, Himself, handed down a very important piece of “Good News”. That “News” is Jesus Christ as Redeemer. The people who were persecuting the church of the Thessalonians were not treating the Gospel of Jesus Christ as if it were actually handed down by the Almighty Creator Himself (2 Thess. 1:4-6). Instead, they were persecuting the church, as if Jesus were just some common religious idea. Obeying the Gospel means that we live a life oriented around the unique, holy, glory of Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 1:9-10). Obeying the gospel is a faith in God Himself.
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*Arndt, William, Frederick W. Danker, and Walter Bauer. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
Now by this we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments ,whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. First John two verse three. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. First John 5:2 through three
Romans 2:6 through 11 Obeying the gospel means obeying God’s Commandments, see also John 14:21
That’s not what obeying the gospel means..
What is the gospel that must be obeyed? Jesus Christ, specifically His death, burial, and resurrection.. The good news is that Christ died for our sins, was buried, but was raised from the dead to die no more,, And if we believe and obey, like Him, we will be to.. This is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that must be obeyed..
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you THE GOSPEL which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first 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 15:1-4)..
How does one obey the gospel, Christ’s death, burial and resurrection? This is how one obeys the gospel of Christ..
“Know ye not, that so many of us as were BAPTIZED INTO JESUS CHRIST were BAPTIZED INTO HIS DEATH? Therefore WE ARE BURIED WITH HIM BY BAPTISM INTO DEATH: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For IF WE HAVE BEEN PLANTED TOGETHER IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS DEATH, we shall be ALSO IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS RESURRECTION: Knowing this, THAT OUR OLD MAN IS CRUCIFIED WITH HIM, THAT THE BODY OF SIN MIGHT BE DESTROYED, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
For HE THAT IS DEAD IS FREED FROM SIN. Now IF WE BE DEAD WITH CHRIST, WE BELIEVE that WE SHALL ALSO LIVE WITH HIM: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”(Romans 6:1-11)..
That’s how the gospel is to be obeyed!
Baptism then is the rite that symbolizes to Christians the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we are baptized we join with Christ in his death when we come up from the watery grave, we are resurrected to a new life, in other words, we have been born again. At the point of baptism, our old life of sin dies and a new man arises who serves God and not sin.. To be freed from sin one must die unto sin, and the only way to die unto sin is to be buried by baptism into death!
That is not the gospel of Christ that must be obeyed, and that’s not how one obeys the gospel..
What is the gospel that must be obeyed? Jesus Christ, specifically His death, burial, and resurrection.. The good news is that Christ died for our sins, was buried, but was raised from the dead to die no more,, And if we believe and obey, like Him, we will be to.. This is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that must be obeyed..
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you THE GOSPEL which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first 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 15:1-4)..
How does one obey the gospel, Christ’s death, burial and resurrection? This is how one obeys the gospel of Christ..
“Know ye not, that so many of us as were BAPTIZED INTO JESUS CHRIST were BAPTIZED INTO HIS DEATH? Therefore WE ARE BURIED WITH HIM BY BAPTISM INTO DEATH: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For IF WE HAVE BEEN PLANTED TOGETHER IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS DEATH, we shall be ALSO IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS RESURRECTION: Knowing this, THAT OUR OLD MAN IS CRUCIFIED WITH HIM, THAT THE BODY OF SIN MIGHT BE DESTROYED, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
For HE THAT IS DEAD IS FREED FROM SIN. Now IF WE BE DEAD WITH CHRIST, WE BELIEVE that WE SHALL ALSO LIVE WITH HIM: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”(Romans 6:1-11)..
That’s how the gospel is to be obeyed!
Baptism then is the rite that symbolizes to Christians the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we are baptized we join with Christ in his death when we come up from the watery grave, we are resurrected to a new life, in other words, we have been born again. At the point of baptism, our old life of sin dies and a new man arises who serves God and not sin.. To be freed from sin one must die unto sin, and the only way to die unto sin is to be buried by baptism into death!