Gospel Guidebook: Getting and Keeping It Right 
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Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God
by Robert P. TerryUpdated May 10, 2026
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 have been teaching another gospel. Of course, everybody says that Jesus is the Christ. Nobody outright denies this. The problem is that people think 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. They slander belief in the Gospel as being "mere mental assent," "head knowledge," "dead faith," and "the faith of demons." But when people says these things, they are, in fact, denying that Jesus is the Christ. If they believed that Jesus is the Christ, they wouldn't need to move the focus away from this simple message to what they supposedly did through their appropriating acts, conversion experiences, perseverance, rituals, spirituality, and faithfulness. For way too long, churches have been teaching that 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.
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." To receive the testimony of God is to receive life. And what is the testimony that must be believed? It is the testimony that God gave concerning His Son. When did God give this testimony? He gave it at the water baptism and transfiguration of Jesus, and He also gave it through the testimony of His apostles. In this regard, the Apostle John said, "We [the Apostles] are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error." To reject the testimony of God and His apostles is to reject life.
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, the only 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 Isaiah 53:11, "As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities." If anyone reads these words and doesn't understand that God's pleasure rests upon Christ only, but still thinks he has secured favor with God (or has confirmed himself to be one of the elect) because he supposedly received "true faith" from the Holy Spirit working in his heart, or because he thinks he received a private word from the Holy Spirit that Jesus died for him individually, or because he had a conversion experience, or because he underwent a ritual or sacrament, or because he thinks he appropriated everlasting life, or because he supposedly received a gift from the Holy Spirit, or because he believes he's been regenerated and is now living a faithful life, then such a person has received another gospel from that which the Apostles preached.
Let's now take a look at several verses from the New Testament that show how consistently the Apostles proclaimed the testimony of God. 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). The Apostle John records Martha's encounter with Jesus when He asked her if she believed that He was the resurrection and the life. She 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). According to the Apostle Matthew, 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, Luke tells us that 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, John tells us that 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). 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" (John 20:31). 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, the Apostle Philip taught that Jesus was the Christ (Acts 8:5), and after explaining Isaiah 53 to the Ethiopian 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 achievements 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 the Baptist's water baptism, but only as a temporary ordinance to manifest Christ to Israel, including to those in the diaspora, until the end of the Old Covenant Age, which happened in approximately 70 AD, as explained here.) The Gospel message for them was simply proclaiming the identity 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, this testimony was not only the truth, but it was life. More than anything else, he wanted the Christians under his care to walk in this 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 Jesus being 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? Do you see how this life is the Son of God himself? To receive this message is to receive the Son of God (1 John 5:9-13).
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. 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 his heart and encircle himself 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. For more information on the Gospel, I recommend reading the article What Is the Gospel and the Nature of Faith? Thank you for taking the time to read this article.