The Importance of the Gospel
Let us look at some verses of Scripture about the importance of the gospel.
Romans 1:16 — For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
How do we get salvation? By obeying the Gospel, for the Gospel is the “power of God unto salvation.” If we want healing, we need the healing power of God. If we want salvation, we need the power of God to salvation. God could have chosen anyway He wanted to save mankind, and He chose the gospel!
II Thessalonians 1:7-10 — and to give rest with us to you who are troubled, at the revealing of the Lord Jesus from Heaven with the angels of His power, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all those who believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that Day.
Many people begin to attend church to escape the wrath of God. However, this passage lets us know the we must know God and obey the gospel to avoid His wrath.
Some people believe that the gospel was just for the apostles’ time, but verse 10 shows that the same gospel the apostles taught is the gospel that is going to be believed in the last days.
According to the Bible, the Gospel of Christ is indispensable to our Christian life.
The Importance of Doctrine
The word doctrine comes from the Greek word didaskalia, which means “instruction” or “teaching.” it does not mean “opinion,” as some believe. Doctrine is extremely important in our Christian walk with God, as the following verses of Scripture show.
II Timothy 3:14-16 — But continue in the things that you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from a babe you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness
Some people may say, “I don’t have to change because the Bible tells me to continue in the things I have learned.” But if we understand the Bible, we realize the Paul is telling Timothy to continue in what Timothy has learned. God is no respecter of persons, so it only makes sense that we should also continue in what the Paul apostle Paul taught Timothy. (see II Timothy 3:10.)
I Timothy 4:13-16 — Until I come, attend to reading, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift in you, which was given you by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the body of elders. Meditate on these things; be in these things in order that your improvement may appear to all. Hold on to yourself and to the doctrine; continue in them, for doing this you shall both save yourself and those who hear you.
Remember that this entire book is a letter from the apostle Paul to Timothy. In this passage Paul clearly tells Timothy to give attendance to doctrine. He also tells them that doctrine will save him (Timothy) and those who will hear him.
Romans 6:17-18 — But thanks be to our God that you were the slaves of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. Then being made free from sin, you became the slaves of righteousness.
This book is a letter from the apostle Paul to the Romans. In it he explains that they were made free from sin because they obeyed the doctrine that the apostles delivered to them. Once again, God is no respecter of persons, so we need to obey that same doctrine.
II Timothy 4:2-3 — preach the Word, be instant in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For a time will be when they will not endure sound doctrine, but they will heap up teachers to themselves according to their own lusts, tickling the ear.
The apostle Paul prophesies of a time when men will not endure sound (complete for whole) doctrine. Instead, they will hire a preacher who will “tickle their ears,” or preach what they want to hear.
We should be careful not to follow a preacher just because he sounds good or tells us what we want to hear. Instead, we should look for one who teaches sound apostolic doctrine.
Additional Scriptures on the Word
Here are some additional verses of Scripture about the Word with points we must understand in order to be successful in our walk with God.
II Peter 1:20-21 — knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture came into being of its own private interpretation. For prophecy was not borne at any time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke being borne along by the Holy Spirit.
We’ve all heard people say, “I have my interpretation, and you have yours.” But the Bible says that the Scriptures are of no private interpretation. The Bible means what it says!
II Peter 3:15-17 — And think of the long-suffering of our Lord as salvation (as our beloved brother Paul also has written to you according to the wisdom given to him as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable pervert, as also they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction). Therefore, beloved, knowing beforehand, beware lest being led away with the error of the lawless, you fall from your own steadfastness.
The apostle Peter points out that the apostle Paul wrote letters “according to the wisdom given unto him.” He is letting us know that there are things in the Bible that take wisdom to understand, so it is possible to twist the scriptures to our own destruction.
If we find something in the Bible we do not understand, we should keep obeying what we do understand and wait for a fuller understanding of the rest. We should not let the deeper things make us fall from our steadfastness.