What I’m Reading: A Gospel Primer for Christians

Pastor Milton Vincent’s booklet, A Gospel Primer for Christians has been recommended to me a number of times. I finally read it, and my response is this: I don’t think I’ve ever been as edified and encouraged by a non-inspired work as I was by the Primer. It’s exceptional. And at this point, it’s free. You can download it as a pdf here.

A Gospel Primer has three parts. Part 1 gives you the opportunity to eavesdrop as a pastor who understands the gospel preaches it to his own heart. That’s the gist of the whole book: that Christians need to re-preach the gospel to themselves every day. His brief meditations, loosely organized under topical headings, will instruct you and move you to worship.

Part 2 tells the gospel story—literally. It’s arranged as prose. Part 3 recites the gospel poem—again, literally. It covers the same material a third time, this time in poetic form. To be honest, when it was first described to me, I was suspect, imagining that it would be redundant at best, hokey at worst. It is neither. Each section was a pleasure to read.

My recommendations:

1. Print it out. I took the trouble to cut the pages in half and put it in a small 3-ring binder.

2. Read it with a pen in hand.

3. Read it in one sitting. It’s short. The first time through, move quickly to get the overall idea.

4. Return to it and review it section by section, especially focusing on how the biblical texts are expounded.

5. Internalize it. Learn from Pastor Vincent’s example. Learn to meditate on the gospel on a daily basis.

6. Improve on it. What I mean is, learn how to preach the gospel to yourself, for yourself.

If there is a dominating thought in my life right now it is this: we have for too long relegated the gospel to being a message for the lost. It’s not. The entire NT is essentially the gospel explained and applied, and it is obvious that the NT was written for Christians. The gospel is both the milk and the meat of the word. The gospel is the source of both spiritual birth and spiritual life. The gospel is the heartbeat of Christian living, without exception. Until we realize this, we’re doomed to pseudo-sanctification by mere will power, which will invariably lead to spiritual failure and self-condemnation.

In the future, I’ll try to post the highlights of our midweek series for the summer: “The Gospel for Every Day Life.” We started it tonight, and it was a great blessing. We also distributed copies of A Gospel Primer. Again, I’ll try to put the installments of the series up as I’m able.

It’s all about the gospel, friends. Learn that, then shout it from the housetops.

Thank you, Pastor Vincent, for this excellent resource.

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Note: I’ve recently shared similar thoughts on the gospel’s application to Christians here and here.