Episode
Two Words You DON'T ACTUALLY Know: Gospel & Faith
- Podcast
- Vine Abiders Podcast
- Published
- Apr 12, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1318
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Summary
There are two words that sit right at the center of everything Christians talk about. Two words you’ve heard a thousand times. Gospel. And faith. Every pastor assumes that everybody knows what these words mean. But what I want to suggest to you today is that most of us don’t really know what either of them means. And I don’t mean we’re fuzzy on the details. I mean we’ve gotten the definitions of these words completely wrong. I want to be clear. This is not some fringe idea. The scholars behind this reassessment, people like Drs. Matthew Bates, Scot McKnight, Nijay K. Gupta, N.T. Wright, are not radicals. They are working from the original Greek texts, from the historical context of the first century, and from church history. And they keep arriving at the same conclusions. This presentation will be in two parts. Part One: what the gospel actually is. And Part Two: what faith, that is the Greek word pistis , actually means in context. PART ONE: THE GOSPEL First, let’s talk about what the Gospel Is Not If you ask most Christians today to define the gospel, you’re likely going to get one of two answers. The first answer sounds something like this: we are all sinners. We’ve broken God’s law. And because God is holy and just, that sin has to be dealt with. The good news, the gospel, is that Jesus dealt with it for us. He died in our place. And now, if you believe that, if you put your faith in what he did, you are forgiven, you are right with God, and you have eternal life. Those are real things that Scripture more or less teaches. But the argument we’re going to make is that that’s not the gospel. Or at least, it’s not a complete definition of the gospel. And treating it as the whole thing produces real problems. The second common answer to what the gospel is is similar: th…