Do you live the gospel?

[MW]

Thomas Case (Puritan Sermons, 5:524, 525):

Hold fast the models of divine truth in your practice. – A practical memory is the best memory: to live the truths which we know, is the best way to hold them fast.

There are heretical manners as well as heretical doctrines. “Profane Christians live against the faith, whilst heterodox Christians dispute against the faith” [Augustine]. There be not a few that live antinomianism and libertinism, and atheism, and popery, whilst others preach it. Apostates are practical Arminians; a profane man is a practical atheist. Whilst others, therefore, live error, do you live the truth; whilst others deny the gospel, do you live the gospel: “As ye have received” the truth as it is in Jesus, “so walk ye” in it, to all well-pleasing (Col. 2:6; 1:10). Without this, a man forsakes the truth, while he doth profess it: “They profess that they know God, but in their works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Titus 1:16).

Yea, to live the truths we hear, is the way, not to hold them only, but to hold them forth to others; as the apostle speaks, “Holding forth the word of life” (Phil. 2:16). It is a metaphor taken either from fire-lights upon the sea-coasts burning all night; the use whereof is to give notice to seamen of some neighbouring rocks and quicksands that may endanger their vessel: or else from torch-bearers in the night-time; who hold out their lights, that passengers may see their way in the dark. According to which metaphor our Saviour calls true, real Christians “the light of the world, a city set on a hill,” to enlighten the dark world with their beams of holiness (Matt. 5:14). It is a blessed thing when the conversations of Christians are practical models of gospel-truths, walking Bibles, holding forth “the graces” or “excellencies,” “of Him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Pet. 2:9).

 

[Wayne]

Excellent. Now I have to go pull that volume and read more.

 

[Kevin]

Amen.

Every Sunday I pray that we all may "live the Gospel" so that we may "speak the Gospel".

 

[dudley]

Amen.

Every Sunday I pray that we all may "live the Gospel" so that we may "speak the Gospel".

Kevin I do pray in the same manner as you and I can say I try to live the Gospel and also speak the Gospel and when I teach , I try to teach by the example Christ set for us all in the Gospel.

 

[R. Scott Clark]

I must have missed it but don't see much about "living the gospel" in the quotation. Living in light of the gospel, yes.

Here's some reflection on the expression "living the gospel" from a few years back:

Is the Gospel Preached or Lived? « Heidelblog

 

[InSlaveryToChrist]

We should see our eyes as mirrors. Whatever object we fix our eyes on, when people see we are gazing somewhere, they will also want to see what there is. And consequently, when we fix our eyes on God, only then should we expect others to behold God. And this should not be common only in our worship, but also in our preaching, witnessing, eating, and every other aspect of our lives. So, as a simple rule to the Christian: If you don't look to God, don't expect others to look to Him either. Moreover, when the Bible says we are "the light of the world", it certainly doesn't mean WE are to be ultimately focused on and praised, but rather that by seeing the light in us (dark vessels), people ought to realize that this light cannot have come there from nowhere - there must be a God to be praised! But, of course, being "the light of the world" means also exposing the sins of the wicked, which in part leads them to behold the holiness, the glory of God.

 

[Jack K]

I try, and often fail, to live as one who has believed and received by the alone and empty instrument of faith the Gospel of grace.

Yup. And I'd say that's just about the most helpful way to put it.

 

[Berean]

I try, and often fail, to live as one who has believed and received by the alone and empty instrument of faith the Gospel of grace.

Well put, Josh.

 

[mvdm]

I must have missed it but don't see much about "living the gospel" in the quotation. Living in light of the gospel, yes.

Most Reformed folk would see those two phrases as practically synonymous. I'm guessing the part you missed from the quote supplied by Rev. Winzer is this:

"...models of gospel-truths, walking Bibles, holding forth “the graces” or “excellencies,” “of Him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Pet. 2:9).

 

[ServantsHeart]

I would think as has been said that the Gospel is a Message the life lived is due to it being believed in saving Faith. We are seen as GODS Workmanship of His Creating in Christ Jesus. Ehesians 2:10>2 Corinhtians 5:17> 1Corinthians 1:30,31

 

[Contra_Mundum]

I must have missed it but don't see much about "living the gospel" in the quotation. Living in light of the gospel, yes.

Most Reformed folk would see those two phrases as practically synonymous. I'm guessing the part you missed from the quote supplied by Rev. Winzer is this:

"...models of gospel-truths, walking Bibles, holding forth “the graces” or “excellencies,” “of Him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Pet. 2:9).

I think the relevant portion of the quote (so far as Rev.Winzer intended it) was this imperitival: "Whilst others, therefore, live error, do you live the truth; whilst others deny the gospel, do you live the gospel: “As ye have received" the truth as it is in Jesus, “so walk ye" in it, to all well-pleasing (Col. 2:6; 1:10)."

Be that as it may, with due deference to Rev.Winzer's concerns, the problem on the American scene today is a confusion of the gospel (proper) for the implications of the gospel. And the "living" of it is today expressed in many circles by naked antagonism to "believing" it. If a certain turn-of-phrase useful in one era sends a false message in another, prudence dictates that we take additional care in using it.

 

[Jack K]

If a certain turn-of-phrase useful in one era sends a false message in another, prudence dictates that we take additional care in using it.

Very right.

 

[MW]

I must have missed it but don't see much about "living the gospel" in the quotation.

"whilst others deny the gospel, do you live the gospel"

It is not just living in light of the gospel; it is living the life the gospel brings. The gospel is more than a message; it is the power of God unto salvation. Life and immortality are not only proclaimed but "lit up" by the gospel. The gospel does not only proclaim facts about a person; it also reveals that person to the heart of the believer. How can one espouse a spiritual realism of faith in the sacrament and deny it in the word to which the sacrament is always tied? "Christ who is our life;" "for me to live is Christ;" "the life that I now live in the flesh, etc." Any teaching about the gospel which denies the "real" and "transformational" nature of the gospel is not worthy of the name "reformed."