Unless You Believe in Vain

“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:1-2 NASB’95; cf. 2 Corinthians 6:1-2)

There is a lot of spiritual “meat” in these two verses. So, first of all, what is the gospel of Christ, of our salvation? It is “God’s good news.” And, although God’s good news is not limited to just the gospel of our salvation, through faith in Jesus Christ, it is primarily that. And that is the subject matter in what Paul is speaking of here. But Paul only touched a little bit on the subject of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15, where his main thrust is discussing Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead, of which many did not believe.

So, what is the gospel message? It begins with Jesus Christ, God the Son, sacrificing his life on a cross, putting our sins to death with him, in order that, by faith in him, we might be delivered out of our slavery (bondage, addiction) to sin and now serve him with our lives in walks of obedience to his commands (see Romans 6:1-23; Luke 9:23-26). Jesus Christ was put to death on that cross, by his enemies, in order to destroy him. But it backfired on them, for he did not stay dead, but he rose from the dead on the third day, and he appeared to many people before he ascended back to heaven.

And then Jesus Christ sent his Holy Spirit to indwell and to empower the lives of those who believe in him as Lord and Savior of their lives. And now all who believe in Jesus, with genuine God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in him, which is not of our own doing, are indwelt with the Holy Spirit who is given to us to teach us all things about Christ, and to be our counselor, our helper, and our guide in our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord in holy living, according to the Scriptures. And it is all who are being led by the Spirit who are the children of God (see Romans 8:1-4).

So, the gospel message, in a nutshell, is that Jesus Christ (God the Son) died on a cross, putting our sins to death with him, and he rose from the dead, in victory over sin, death, hell, and Satan, so that by God-persuaded faith in him we will now die with him to sin and now live to him and to his righteousness in walks of obedience to his commands, in holy living. But if we should decide to hold on to our lives of sin, and not die with him to sin, and not walk in obedience to his commands, then we don’t have salvation from sin, and we don’t have eternal life with God in his heavenly kingdom.

For pay attention closely to Paul’s wording here about the gospel message. He said it was the gospel that he preached to them, which was the full gospel message that he taught, not only about Jesus’ death and resurrection but about what Jesus accomplished for us on that cross and what it means to believe in him, and what faith is and what faith is not, etc., which he wrote about all throughout his New Testament writings (of the Spirit). And salvation is not just forgiveness of sins, but it is deliverance from our addiction to sin so that we can now live for the Lord in obedience to him.

And this salvation is conditional upon what we do as those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. And not many people are teaching that these days. Too many have cheapened the gospel message to a mere verbal profession of faith in Jesus, no requirements added. But we have to hold fast the word which Paul taught all throughout his writings, in the majority of the books of the New Testament. And he emphasized over again the necessity of us dying with Christ to sin and us walking (in conduct, in practice) in obedience to our Lord and to his New Covenant commandments, for us to have salvation.

And then he said, “unless you believed in vain.” And to believe in vain means to have a faith which is of the flesh and not of God, for it does not submit to God and to his commands, but it allows the sinner to keep on living in sin and makes no requirements of him that he must die with Christ to sin and now walk in obedience to his commands. So his faith is ineffective, futile, worthless, useless, abortive, because it was fleshly and not God-persuaded faith which convinces us that we must deny self, die to sin, and follow Jesus in walks of obedience to his commands, in holy and righteous living.

So, faith in Jesus, which is biblical faith, which is of God, and which is not of human flesh, will be crucified with Christ in death to sin, and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness in walks of obedience to his commands. This does not make us perfect people. And this is not saying that we will never sin again. But if sin is what we continue to practice, by habit, in lifestyle, and if obedience to God and to his New Covenant commands is not our practice, then we will not inherit eternal life with God. Faith in vain!

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

For Our Nation  

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

https://vimeo.com/379406352

Unless You Believe in Vain

An Original Work / April 14, 2025 

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love