Via ~Paramount Church ~

On a live stream cast today it was stated that we proclaim the gospel in words and deeds. This is a common yet fundamental category mistake of law and gospel. We do not proclaim the gospel in words and deeds. We proclaim and believe the gospel and then respond (never perfectly but only a small beginning in this life) out of gratitude in deeds according to God’s moral will (i.e., the Great Commandment-love of God and neighbor, Matt. 22:33-40). We are redeemed from our misery by grace through Christ, without any merit of ours, and our response of gratitude is to do good works. We do good works (e.g., homeschooling our children during a quarantine) because Christ, having redeemed us by His blood, renews us also by His Holy Spirit after His own image, so that with our whole life we may show ourselves thankful to God for His blessings,1 and that He may be glorified through us;2 then also, that we ourselves may be assured of our faith by its fruits,3 and by our godly walk may win others also to Christ.4 1 Rom 6:13, 12:1-2; 1 Pt 2:5-10; 2 Mt 5:16; 1 Cor 6:19-20; 3 Mt 7:17-18; Gal 5:22-24; 2 Pt 1:10-11; 4 Mt 5:14-16; Rom 14:17-19; 1 Pt 2:12, 3:1-2 (Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 86). But, to be sure, our lives are not a proclamation of good news but terrible news (Rom. 3:23). We have never Incarnated ourselves (Philip. 2:6-7; Heb. 10:5). We have never perfectly obeyed God’s moral will (Matt. 5:17; Heb. 10:7-9). We have never been able to say, “I always do the things that are pleasing to Him” (John 8:29). We have never propitiated the wrath of God (Rom. 3:25; 1 John 2:1-2; 4:10; Heb. 2:17). We have never laid down our lives of our own authority and raised them back up again (John 10:18). We have never been buried to end the curse of the law (Gen. 3:19 w/Psalm 22:15; Psalm 16:8-11; Matt. 27:57-60; 1 Cor. 15:4). We have never redeemed anyone from the curse of the law (Gal. 4:4-5). We have never reconciled God to man (Rom. 5:11). We have never expiated anyone's sin as typified in the scapegoat in Leviticus 16:20-22 under the old (Mosaic) covenant. We have never been raised for the justification of anyone (Rom. 4:25). We have never physically ascended to the right hand of the Father (Luke 24:50-51; Acts 1:9-11). We have never interceded as an Advocate for sinners before the Father (1 John 2:1-2). And we have never promised to return to bring forth a new heavens and a new earth (Rev. 21:1-5). Graeme Goldsworthy explains We recognize that the gospel tells us of the absolutely unique work of Christ, both in his living and his dying, by which we are saved through faith. We cannot imitate or live the gospel event as such. We can only believe it. We cannot work our way to heaven by moral endeavor. We can only depend on the finished work of Christ for us. We cannot command other people to live or do the gospel. We must proclaim the message of what God has done for them in Christ. We follow the New Testament in calling on people to live out the implications of the gospel, but we cannot urge people to actually live the gospel, for that was the unique work of Christ (Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture, 4).