by Rev Donald Beaton
Good news is always pleasant to hear, but no one appreciates it so much as those who need the message that is brought to them. But, of all the good news that ever fell on mortal ears, none is like the good news from heaven. The gospel, the good news of God, has been as a drink of cool, refreshing water to many a thirsty soul, and as a cordial to revive many a drooping heart.
Much is said of the gospel in the New Testament. What is it then? Literally it means good news. But it is good news about a particular matter. It is good news about God’s salvation. Speaking generally, the gospel is the message that tells of God’s great salvation, and this message is committed to men set apart by the Holy Spirit to declare it to their fellow men. It is variously designated in the New Testament Scriptures: (1) as the gospel of God, setting forth the truth that the message speaks of God as the Author of this great salvation; (2) as the gospel of Jesus Christ, telling us that this great salvation is wrought out by Him; (3) as the glorious gospel of God or, literally, the gospel of the glory of God, telling us that, in this salvation, God’s glory shines forth; and (4) as the gospel of the grace of God, telling us that God’s salvation is all of grace from beginning to end.
Now, as God’s salvation, revealed in Christ, is unchanging, the message that declares this salvation is unchanging also. God, in His infinite wisdom, in purposing to save a multitude which no man can number, made provision on a scale sufficient to accomplish the purposes of His heart. Not only so, He provided such a salvation as would meet the needs of everyone that was to be saved. This salvation was God’s remedy for the cure of a disease which was universal and which, however varied the symptoms, was the same in every individual of the race of Adam. As a remedy, it has never yet failed, nor will it ever fail, to meet the needs of a sinner to whom it is applied by the Holy Spirit.
This is the gospel that the Apostle Paul gloried in proclaiming, and over whose integrity he watched with a jealousy that showed how dear it was to himself. The thought was intolerable to the Apostle that anyone, however exalted, angelic or human, should take upon himself to declare any other message concerning God’s salvation than one which made it unmistakably clear that it was not by works of righteousness that the sinner is saved but by grace.
This comes out very plainly and clearly in his Epistle to the Galatians. “Though we, or an angel from heaven,” he writes, “preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again: If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed” (Gal 1:8,9). These are solemn words. The Apostle invokes the curse of God, in no light manner, on any who would dare to preach another gospel. His words are weighted with the most solemn meaning and they tell us that anyone, even an angel from heaven, who would preach any other gospel than he had preached, and the Galatians had received, would be fit for perdition. This curse should be always before the minds of those who preach. What then was the gospel which the Apostle preached and which the Galatians had received? In the next verses he tells us certain things concerning this gospel.
1. “The gospel which was preached of me is not after man.”
Its very nature was in antagonism to anything man would have thought of. This accounts for men in their natural state rejecting it. The wisdom revealed in this salvation, of which the gospel tells, is the wisdom of God, and it is foolishness in the eyes of men. The gospel which the Apostle preached is a gospel which tells that man must be brought in guilty before God, feel himself lost and ruined, and totally unable to do anything for himself. It was for such people that God’s salvation was provided. Now this is the very last way the wisdom of man would have suggested – that the deliverance should come through the righteousness of another. The gospel preached to the Galatians was therefore not after man. This is plainly proved by all the false gospels thought out by men but directly opposed to God’s gospel.
2. “For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it.”
The fact that his gospel was not “after man” indicates that he could not have received it from, nor could have been taught it by, man. Hence he says, “I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it”. It did not have a human origin at all, unlike the “other gospel” which had bewitched the Galatians. The Apostle was profoundly convinced that the message he delivered had a heavenly origin.
3. “By the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
This then is what gives authority to this message: it was given to him by the revelation of Jesus Christ and therefore has the stamp of heaven upon it. When it pleased God, who separated Paul from his mother’s womb, and called him by His grace, to reveal His Son in him, he conferred not with flesh and blood but went into Arabia and returned again to Damascus (Gal 1:15-17). It is because of this that the Apostle is so jealous that no change should be permitted in the declaration of the gospel. It may seem a small thing in the eyes of men, as it was in the eyes of the Galatian false teachers, to get people to believe that they are to be made perfect by the works of the law, but such teaching daringly arraigns the infinite wisdom of God in the plan of salvation and deceives all that listen to, and receive, it with a false hope.
It is therefore a very solemn and serious matter to be entrusted with the preaching of the gospel. Men are not at liberty to change it to suit changing human ideas, for by doing so they cease to be the servants of Christ. The Apostle does not give the slightest indication that a changed outlook and changed circumstances will necessitate a change in the gospel. His words indicate a finality that no change of circumstances will affect. If it is a solemn matter to be entrusted with the preaching of the gospel, it is also a very solemn matter to listen to the pure gospel of God being preached by one of His sent servants.
The gospel which Paul preached told of ruin and guilt, as well as the way of escape; and when his message is to become good news to any sinner, the Holy Spirit first convinces him of his guilt. Where there is no sense of guilt, the news about this remedy may be heard from Sabbath to Sabbath, for a lifetime, but it will never be good news to the sinner until he is made to feel his need. No message that the preacher can deliver is as encouraging as the gospel and, for those who need it, no message is so sweet to hear. It has brought many a hearer to the very gates of heaven and has brought comfort when hope was well nigh gone. God’s servants can say that some of the happiest moments they ever enjoyed in this world were when they were telling of God’s great salvation. And His people can also say that some of the happiest moments they ever had were when they were listening to the proclamation of this blessed message.
^1 Taken with editing from The Free Presbyterian Magazine for May 1926. Mr Beaton (1872-1953) was the then editor of the Magazine and minister in Wick.