“The Essentials of the Gospel and Salvation in Two Sentences” “Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand, By which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.” 1Corinthians 15:1-5

“The Essentials of the Gospel and Salvation in Two Sentences” A couple things should be realized before we begin: These two sentences are not the sum total of Paul’s preaching to the Corinthians on either of these two subjects, cf. Acts 18:1-18; 1 & 2Cor.; And, these two sentences are not given to the Corinthians for their evangelistic purposes either. He’s laying a foundation with them to address a specific issue then relative to the church there, vv.12ff. But, it remains that these two sentences encapsulate the essence of what they had and needed to believe to go to heaven, and to help others do the same! So let’s examine them a bit more specifically…

The Essentials of Salvation in Paul’s first sentence of 1Corinthains 15: The gospel must be preached, v.1a; Rom.10:14 The gospel must be received, v.1b; Acts 2:41 The gospel must be the basis of our stand, v.1c; Phil.1:27 The gospel is that by which one is saved, v.2a; Rom.1:16 But to provide its salvation, the gospel must be held fast, otherwise belief is vain, v.2b; Heb.3:12

The Essentials of the Gospel in Paul’s second sentence of 1Corinthains 15: The gospel must be delivered as received by inspiration, v.3a; 1Cor.2:10-13; 4:1-2 The gospel includes Christ’s death according the Scriptures, v.3b; Acts 2:22-23 The gospel includes Christ’s burial, v.4a; Rom.6:3-7 The gospel includes Christ’s resurrection according to the Scriptures, v.4b; Rom.1:1-4 The gospel includes Christ’s appearance(s) to witnesses, v.5; vv.6-8; Acts 1:8,22; 2:32

While Paul may not give us everything we need to know to go to heaven with just two sentences in 1Corinthains 15:1-5, he does provide us with the essentials of it: The gospel must include the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ by credible witnesses who conveyed it to others by the inspiration of God, 1Cor.15:3-5; and, In order to receive the benefit of salvation afforded by the gospel, it must be preached accurately, received fully, stood upon solely, and held fast until the end, 1Cor.15:1-2. That, my friends, is The Essentials of the Gospel and Salvation in Two Sentences by the inspired apostle Paul! Will you believe and obey that gospel right now that you may have life eternal?