If there is one Lord and one gospel, then there can be no barriers that divide its substance. Ethnicity cannot divide it, because Jew and Gentile alike are called under the same lordship of Christ. Time cannot divide it either, because the gospel preached by Jesus, lived by his first disciples, and proclaimed after the resurrection is presented in Scripture as one continuous reality. What changes across history are circumstances, audiences, and explanations, not the nature of the call itself. From the beginning, that call has been to trust Jesus in a way that abides in his word and leads out of slavery to sin into life.
For that reason, no later authority—whether councils, creeds, or theological systems—can redefine what the gospel is in its essence. They may clarify, defend, or articulate it in response to error, but they do not possess the authority to alter its substance. When they do more than explain and begin to replace the apostolic message with something easier, narrower, or more accommodating, they cease to be witnesses and become competitors. The New Testament itself sets this boundary when it insists that any “gospel” that differs from what was originally received is no gospel at all.
This does not mean that every theological development is illegitimate, nor that every creed is false. It means that all such developments stand under judgment by the gospel rather than over it. The criterion is not age, institutional authority, or widespread acceptance, but fidelity to the teaching of Jesus as handed on by his apostles. Where continuity remains, there is faithfulness; where continuity is broken, even subtly, the result is not progress but distortion.
Seen this way, the gospel’s universality is not minimalism but unity. One gospel for all peoples and all times means the same call, the same allegiance, and the same life under Christ’s lordship. Anything that introduces a different standard—whether by loosening that allegiance or by replacing it with something else—introduces not a development but a rupture. And the New Testament’s verdict on such ruptures is uncompromising: they are “another gospel,” and therefore no gospel at all.
AI wording, as prompted by Stephen D Green
