More on distinguishing gospel and what follows

John Fonville has expanded on the post I linked to yesterday with an examination of what the gospel is and isn't. John makes some very valuable points, including this one:

The gospel is not man’s response to it. The gospel is not about what man does but rather about what Christ did. Faith and repentance are the proper responses to the gospel (Mk. 1:14-15) but neither faith nor repentance are part of the gospel.

The response demanded by the gospel is not the gospel. The gospel is not simply calling on people to make a decision. Establishing man’s alienation from God and his need of the gospel is not the gospel. Calling people to repent of their sins and to trust Christ is true and necessary but neither is the gospel. Calling on people to obey and live upright moral lives is not the gospel.

The distinction between the content of the gospel and its demands must be kept utterly distinct. To confuse one’s duty with the gospel is to leave the impression that the essence of the gospel and the Christian faith is what a man does rather than what God has done in Christ (2 Cor. 5:19).

Good point.