The Gospel Is About Death and Resurrection

The gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, is that He died for our sins, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day (1 Cor. 15:1-4).

In Jn. 12:24, we read: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." Through His death on the cross and His resurrection, the Lord Jesus brought many adopted sons to the Father (Eph. 1:5).

Scripture teaches that a person who is born again through faith in Christ, if he desires to bear much fruit, must live a life of death to self—one of complete surrender to Christ and His Word through the Holy Spirit—so that the life of the resurrection may be manifested in him. It is important to recognize that it is by dying to self that the resurrection life of Christ is revealed, producing fruit. When we die to self (putting the flesh to death through the Holy Spirit), we become vessels through which the resurrection life of Christ is expressed. In fact, we die so that Christ’s resurrection life may be fully manifested through us.

Some helpful verses: Gal. 2:20; Lk. 9:23; Jn. 15:4-8; Gal. 5:24-25; Col. 3:3; Lk.14:27.

Consider the example in 2 Cor. 13:4: "For he was crucified in weakness but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God."

Here, the power of God refers to the power that raised Christ from the dead. This is the way of the gospel—our weak flesh cannot please God and must be continually put to death through surrender to the Holy Spirit. When the flesh is set aside, the resurrection power of Christ is expressed powerfully through us. Living out the gospel means continually allowing self to die so that resurrection life may follow, producing much fruit.

God declares that in Christ, we have become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). This righteousness is manifested as we yield to the Holy Spirit, dying to self so that God’s righteousness may be revealed in and through us, bearing fruit—which is the evidence of the resurrection life. The gospel transforms everything: "The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Cor. 5:17).

This new life is lived by faith—continually yielding to the Holy Spirit, dying to self, and allowing the resurrection life of Christ, which triumphs over all things, to be revealed. The gospel is ultimately about death and resurrection. Resurrection (and its fruit) does not come without death. To experience resurrection and its fruit, we must first go through death. We die so that resurrection life may be manifested through the fruit it produces.

Thus, the message and life of the gospel are about death and resurrection.