The Gospel Alphabet: "A" for "Alignment"

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul teaches us that the doctrine of the Gospel is "of first importance." He writes: 1 Cor 15:1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you- unless you believed in vain.3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures

As I often say, gleaning from Pastor Timothy Keller, the Gospel is not merely the ABC’s of the Christian life; rather, it is the A to Z of the Christian life.

In keeping with this notion, J.I. Packer and Gary Parrett in their recent book, Grounded in the Gospel (108-116), have offered what they call the Gospel Alphabet—26 reasons (drawing from the alphabet) why the Gospel must retain pride of place in our families, churches, and personal walks.

Over the next several days, I will be sharing this alphabet with you. Today we come to the first letter: A.

The “A” is alignment. That is, we must continually learn and study the Gospel because it is to be the “plumb line” for all our doctrine and living. We are to measure all our teaching to ensure that it corresponds to the glorious Gospel of God (1 Tim 1:11). If our teaching about God, humanity, sin, salvation, the church, last things, and any other doctrine we teach does not accord with the Gospel then they must be rejected.

So, we see a reason in this why Paul would say the Gospel is "of first importance."