Gospel Guidebook: Getting and Keeping It Right 
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Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God
by Robert P. TerryUpdated June 29, 2025
The apostolic Gospel was simple: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Whoever believed this had life in His name. In this article, we will be looking at some of the verses that prove that this simple message is the Gospel. For way too long, churches, starting with the early post-apostolic churches up until today, have been complicating the Gospel and turning it into another gospel. Of course, every one says that they believe that Jesus is the Christ. Nobody outright denies this. The problem is that people think that it is too small of a thing to believe this message only. In other words, they think it is not enough to believe the simple proposition that Jesus is the Christ. Instead, they think it is necessary to supplement this message with something else. For example, the Reformed churches, at a bare minimum, teach that it is necessary to appropriate the merits of Jesus through some mysterious "faith" that the Holy Spirit works in the heart. Free Grace churches teach that Jesus only made people savable and that it is necessary to appropriate everlasting life to oneself. Arminian churches likewise teach that salvation must be appropriated, but in addition to this, they teach that it must also be maintained. Non-denominational churches often teach people to choose Jesus, pray a prayer, walk an aisle, or dedicate one's life to Jesus to be saved. Anabaptist churches teach that is necessary to get water baptized to be saved. Many Pentecostal churches teach that it is necessary to speak in tongues (or at least prove one's salvation by manifesting what they deem to be spiritual gifts). The Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Lutherans, and Anglicans all teach some form of sacramentalism. What all these churches have in common is that they deny that Jesus is the Christ through their doctrine and deeds. They don't believe that He came into the world to save His people by justifying them and reconciling them on the cross. If they believed this, they wouldn't need to move the focus from what Jesus did for sinners on the cross to what Jesus is supposedly doing in sinners through their appropriating acts, conversion experiences, rituals, and faithfulness. For these churches, an unapplied Christ is no Christ at all. It is my contention that any Christ that needs to be applied in order for Him to be Christ is no Christ at all. Much of this website is dedicated to proving that the cross of Jesus was both sufficient and efficacious in accomplishing justification for His people and that He confers the benefits of His finished work on His people by revealing it to them through belief in the Gospel.
In 1 John 5:9-13, we read, "If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life." These verses teach that to receive testimony is to believe testimony. And what is the testimony that must be believed? It is the testimony that God gave concerning His Son, namely that eternal life is to be found in Him. When did God give this testimony? He gave it most prominently at the water baptism and transfiguration of Jesus. We know that these testimonies are especially important because they appear in one form or another in all of the four gospel accounts. Let's look at them.
In Matthew 3:17, a voice came out of the heavens saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased." This is the testimony that Jesus is the Son of God. It is also the testimony that He is Christ because it is the fulfillment of Isaiah 42:1. In Isaiah, God often referred to Christ as His servant. "Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations." Christ is the one in whom God is well-pleased. This immediately informs us that salvation is to be found no where else. The Apostle Peter told us, "He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief corner stone. And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." Concerning Christ, we also read in Jeremiah 23:5-6, "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, The LORD our righteousness." If anyone reads these words and doesn't understand, but still thinks he is justified because some mysterious faith was worked in his heart, or because he had a conversion experience, or because he underwent a ritual or sacrament, or because he supposes to have appropriated everlasting life, or because he thinks he was regenerated and is now living a faithful life, then such a person has received another gospel from that which the Apostles preached.
In addition to Matthew 3:17, we have the testimony of God repeated in Matthew 12:18, 16:16-17, 17:5, Mark 1:11, 9:7, Luke 3:22, Luke 9:35, John 1:33-34, and 2 Peter 1:17. This testimony, which is as plain as anything can be, is hidden from the eyes of those who are perishing, but God reveals it to His people (2 Corinthians 4:3-6), causing them to believe it so that they can experience the salvation fully accomplished in His blood, just as it says in 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14: "But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." This is why the Apostle told us that the righteousness of God is revealed through faith in the Gospel that concerns His Son (Romans 1:1-5, 1:16-17).
As far as what it meant for Jesus to be the Son of God, this was explained in Isaiah 9:6 as follows: "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace." This is further elucidated in Matthew 1:23, "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which translated means, God with us," and in Luke 1:33-35, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end. Mary said to the angel, How can this be, since I am a virgin? The angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God." From these three scriptures, we can see that Son of God (in the sense that Jesus was called the Son of God) means that the Most High God became incarnated as a human son. Notice the future tenses, how it says He will be called Mighty God, Eternal Father, and that the Spirit of the Most High would be incarnated inside the virgin, and for this reason, He would be called the Son of God. In place of the this plain truth, and instead of "contending earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints" by the Apostles during the apostolic age in the first century, the paganized churches have preferred to get their doctrine from the late fourth century and tell us stories about some heavenly triad of persons. In contrast to these stories, the only true God (John 17:3), who is only one person (Deuteronomy 6:4), and who gives His glory to no one else (Isaiah 42:8), became incarnated as a true human Son (John 1:14) and lived as the last Adam and as the true Israel in complete dependence on God (1 Corinthians 15:45, Galatians 3:16, John 6:57) so that He might perform His righteous act (Psalm 22:31), gain the victory over all His enemies (Psalm 98:1, Colossians 2:15), and declare His glory to all the people of the earth (Psalm 96:3). His people look to Him for salvation (Isaiah 45:22) and have their righteousness in Him and from Him (Isaiah 45:25, 54:17, Jeremiah 23:6, 1 Corinthians 1:30).
Let's now take a look at several verses that show how consistent the message of the Gospel is in the New Testament. As mentioned above, the Apostle Peter declared in Matthew 16:16, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," to which Jesus replied that this truth was not revealed by flesh and blood by by His Father in heaven. Similarly, in John 6:68-69, Peter says, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God" ("that Christ, the Son of the living God" in the KJV). Martha when asked by Jesus if she believed that He was the resurrection and the life replied, "Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world" (John 11:27). Even Caiaphas, the high priest, recognized the content of the Gospel when he demanded Jesus saying, "I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God" (Matthew 26:63). Along these lines, even the demons recognized the significance of Jesus' person, repeatedly saying things like, "You are the Son of God," to which Jesus demanded that they not reveal His identity as the Christ (Luke 4:41). Continuing on, the Samaritan woman recognized that Jesus was the Christ, and subsequently, her fellow townspeople testified that He was indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world (John 4:29, 42 KJV). The Apostle John ends his gospel narrative by giving us his purpose statement: "These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name." Moving onto Acts, the Apostles were constantly proclaiming that Jesus was both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36) and that the "whole message of this life" was that Jesus was the Christ, the prophesied Prince and Savior (Acts 5:20, 31, 42). When going into Samaria, Philip taught that He was Christ (Acts 8:5), and after explaining Isaiah 53 to the Ethopian eunuch, the eunuch testified that he believed that "Jesus Christ is the Son of God" (Acts 8:37 KJV). When the Apostle Paul started his ministry, he immediately went into the synagogues and taught that Jesus was the Son of God and the Christ (Acts 9:20, 22). Peter speaking to Cornelius, preached the word of peace by Jesus Christ, saying that whoever believed in Him was forgiven their sins (Acts 10:36, 43). Paul told the jailer that he would be saved if he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31). Again, in the synagogues, it was Paul's chief aim to have them understand that Jesus was the Christ (Acts 17:3 and 18:5). Likewise, Apollos taught the same message, "demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ" (Acts 18:28). On his way to Rome, Paul spoke to Felix about "faith in Christ Jesus" (Acts 24:24). Again, in front of Agrippa, Paul testified that Jesus was the Christ who was to suffer and rise again in order to proclaim light to both Jews and Gentiles (Acts 26:23).
What is striking about the above verses is that the Apostles never required anyone to appropriate to themselves the merits of Jesus. They never required anyone to believe that Jesus died for him or her individually, and they never required anyone to procure to themselves everlasting life. (They were still practicing John's water baptism, but only as a temporary ordinance for the Jews until the end of the Old Covenant Age, which happened in 70 AD, as explained here.) The Gospel message for them was simply proclaiming the identify of Jesus and explaining what He did. Whoever was ordained to eternal life, believed this message (Acts 13:48).
To conclude this article, let's skip ahead to the John's first letter. As mentioned above, John taught that whoever received the testimony of God concerning His Son had eternal life (1 John 5:9-13). For John, receiving this testimony was receiving truth, and not to receive this testimony was to call God a liar. More than anything else, he wanted the Christians under his care to walk in truth. He told them, "Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father." (1 John 2:22-24). Do you see how John's emphasis was placed on the doctrine of Christ? He didn't want his readers to depart from the message that they heard, namely that Jesus was the Christ. Again, he says, "We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God" (1 John 4:14-15). Again, he says, "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (1 John 5:1). Again, "Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" (1 John 5:5). And one more time for good measure, "And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life" (1 John 5:20). Do you see how important this message is? Do you see how this message is life?
What's extremely prophetic is the way John ends his letter: "Little children, guard yourselves from idols." Sadly, as soon as the Apostles died, the early post-apostolic churches corrupted themselves and turned water baptism into an idol, and this error has continued until this day. With a few exceptions, even churches that insist that water baptism is only symbolic or a so-called "means of grace" will treat you as an unbeliever if you refuse to undergo this ritual. Not only this, but the churches have also turned "the whole message of this life" (Acts 5:20), which centers on Jesus being the Christ, the Son of God, into some mystical conversion experience where the practitioner of some appropriating act attempts to kindle a fire in their hearts and encircle themselves with firebrands (Isaiah 50:11). This is outright idolatry. And to this, the prophet warns that such people will lie down in torment. Dear reader, if this is you, please understand that you are still seeking after your own righteousness and have not submitted to the righteousness of God. You can either continue on this path, or you can believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who came into the world to save His people. For more information on the Gospel, I recommend reading the article What Is the Gospel and the Nature of Saving Faith? Thank you for taking the time to read this article.