Swimming In The Gospel

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you.” – 1 Corinthians 15:1-2

J. D. Greear points out that most of us think of the gospel as merely the entry rite into Christianity, the diving board from which we jump into the pool of Christian living, where we then swim off to enjoy the changes in life that go along with being a believer. “But the gospel is not only the diving board,” he writes. “It is the pool itself. Even after the big splash dies down and you’re floating freely there in this new experience, the next lunge you take that carries you farther away from the diving area doesn’t move you beyond the gospel but deeper into the gospel. You’re swimming in it. It’s all around you. The purest waters that flow from the spring of life are found by plunging deeper into the gospel well… the gospel is not only the way we begin; the gospel is the way we grow. It’s not just where we start; it’s where we are going. All the Christian values and virtues we hope to develop don’t happen on the other side of the gospel but rather right there in the middle of it.”

Paul has gotten nearly to the end of his letter, but he goes back to the gospel. Look at the tenses in this verse: Paul would remind us (present tense) of the gospel he preached (past tense), which we received (past tense), in which we stand (present tense) and by which we are being saved (ongoing present tense), if we hold fast to it (present tense) as it was preached (past tense). The past tenses frame, highlight and emphasize the present tenses.

What does it mean to swim in the gospel, to hold fast to it every day? The first thing Paul goes on to do is spell out the gospel. He preaches it again: that Christ died for our sins, that he was buried and raised on the third day. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, “the problem with most believers is that we should be not listening to ourselves but preaching to ourselves.” We need to preach the gospel to ourselves because our memories are short. We forget that we need rescue, that we have received it, that we have forgiveness and freedom and power not through ourselves but only through Jesus. Paul also goes on to lay out a list of eyewitnesses who saw Jesus after he rose: the gospel really happened. People saw it. We need to do whatever it takes to hold that reality, and our knowledge and experience of that reality, before our eyes every day. To record gospel sightings. To share about it with others. To say like Paul, “But by the grace of God I am what I am” (15:10). May we move every day deeper into the truth of the gospel in our lives.