23 He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.

24 But God raised Him from the dead, releasing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep Him in its grip.

36 Therefore let all Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ!”

— Acts 2:23-24, 36

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

— 1 Corinthians 2:2

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,

— 1 Corinthians 1:18, 23

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and salvation from Christ to you.

One more confusion of the gospel is about “the cross-less gospel” and “the promise-only gospel.” This false gospel invalidates faith in who Christ (the God-Man) is and what He did (died for our sins and rose again). These essential details are viewed as extra information and unnecessary truths for salvation. Some cross-less gospel preachers go so far as to say that if you require faith in Christ’s person and work, you are actually adding to the gospel. Proponents of this false gospel claim that these are nonessential truths for eternal life. They often call the message to be believed for eternal life the “saving message,” saying that the word gospel refers to the entire Bible.

The false gospel teaches that for salvation a person must believe in the promise of Jesus to give us eternal life. To these teachers, all that is essential for salvation is faith in eternal security through a man named Jesus. While it is true that Christ gives us eternal life when we believe in Him, we are not told to believe merely in Christ’s promise to give us eternal life. The apostles such as Peter and Paul both preached the person and work, death and resurrection, of Christ when they shared the gospel with the lost to lead them to believe Christ’s person and work for their salvation.