Semantics and the gospel

The word "gospel" can be a difficult word to define in such a way that seems to fit it best, but in a nutshell it is the good news that Jesus came to save us from our sins - and ourselves - by His death on the cross as our substitute and that He rose again from the grave so that we could not only have forgiveness of sins but inherit eternal life with Father God.

There are also many phrases out that encompass the full meaning of the gospel - justification, redemption, propitiation, substitution, grace, etc. I am currently working my way through the book of Romans, one of the great theology books of the Bible. One of the first major themes that Paul covers in his epistle is that of justification, the ability that man has to stand before God as righteous in spite of his sin. If we possess saving faith in Jesus' death on the cross, then we are justified to stand before God because Jesus has taken the penalty of our sins upon Himself. We are declared righteous but still our sin is inexcusable. Confused?

Romans 3:25 reads like this: "God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed." Notice that God didn't excuse our sins but rather "passed over" them. If God excused sin then He would no longer be righteous, the One who could not stand to even be in the presence of sin. Instead, He declares us not guilty of paying the punishment of our sin, thus transferring our penalty to Jesus on the cross (the great exchange as R.C. Sproul calls it).

What all this means is that the glorious gospel offers us forgiveness of sins and redemption in Christ, but we must realize that sin is not done away with. If God were simply to excuse our sin then He would prove Himself to be a God who does not take sin seriously. Instead, the filthiness of our sin is transferred to Jesus because a price has to be paid (read 2 Corinthians 5:21 and 1 Peter 2:24 for more on how Jesus incredibly took sin in Himself for us).

This may sound ticky tacky but nothing about the gospel should be minimized. When we surrender to Christ we die to sin but sin is still all around us. Jesus did more than just take our sin upon Himself, He took them in Himself. We are not excused from our sin but rather we are declared not guilty. If we were excused, then there would be no need for a penalty to be paid and thus no need for the cross. It's more than semantics; it's the only hope that we have.