Heart of the Gospel

The heart of the gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Paul expresses it in this manner:

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4 ESV)

Death, burial and resurrection is also the heart of our response to the gospel of Jesus.

Our death is putting away our sinful deeds and desires and submitting to the will of Jesus. Paul will refer to that as our “circumcision of the flesh” in Colossians 2:11. It is putting off the “body of the flesh” to live for Christ.

Our burial is our baptism into Christ.

Our resurrection is the new life we now have in Jesus as we strive to obey him and live as he directs us to live. We trust him and strive to follow him.

There is a specific order to the three fold heart of the gospel.

Jesus died on the cross. Then he was buried. Then he was raised from the dead.

The same is true for us.

We first make a decision to die to our selves and live for Christ. This is our process of death.We are then buried with him in our baptism. (Romans 6:3-4)

We rise from the grave (water) to walk in a new way of living. That is our resurrection in him.