This article is Part 2 in a 4-part series on Gospel Awareness. In this series, we’ll look at what it is (Part 1), why we need it (Part 2), how to get it (Part 3), and what to do once we have it (Part 4).

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In part 1 of this series, we looked at what gospel awareness actually is. In this article, we’ll talk about why we need gospel awareness. Foundational to this concept is understanding what gospel awareness is, so if you haven’t read that first post, you can do so here. For a working definition, gospel awareness is realizing how the gospel has changed every aspect of my life and how my heart is in constant need of reorientation as it’s exposed to the truth of the gospel.

So, why bring up this idea of gospel awareness? Can I be a Christian without gospel awareness? The rest of this article will answer the first question, but the second question must be addressed first. Don’t you just love that logic?

The short answer is yes. You absolutely can be a Christian without gospel awareness, if by gospel awareness we mean what I have sketched it out to mean here–recognizing the implications of the gospel for everyday life.

No, if by gospel awareness we mean that it is necessary to at least be aware of the gospel in order to be a Christian. You cannot be a Christian apart from knowledge and belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ. You are a Christian (or not) based on your response to the good news about who God is and what he has done for us in Jesus.

God is the righteous Creator.
People are rebellious sinners.
Jesus Christ is the only Savior.
The right response is repentance (turning from your sin) and faith (trusting in Christ alone to save you).

And you can believe this gospel without understanding the implications of it for all of life. In fact, we all start out this way. None of us come to faith fully aware of what has just happened to us. After all, the new birth is a supernatural gift from God whereby he gives us a new heart to be able to respond to him in repentance and faith. When we move from death to life, it’s going to be shocking. We’re not going to understand all of the implications.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t need to move towards understanding all of those implications. Which brings us back to our main question–why do we need gospel awareness? Here I offer three reasons, related to justification, sanctification, and glorification.

We need it to clarify the gospel (Justification)

Gospel clarity is crucial to following Jesus well. And arguably the most important aspect of gospel clarity is understanding our justification that comes by faith alone in Christ alone. Understanding what it means to be justified by God becomes the fuel for how we define ourselves and what we give our lives to. But more on that when we get to sanctification.

We know that we are “justified by his grace as a gift” (Romans 3:24 ESV, emphasis mine) and that “it was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:26 ESV, emphasis mine). A few chapters later, Paul will say “therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1 ESV, emphasis mine). Then in chapter 8, towards the end of an incredible description of what the gospel does, he says “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified (Romans 8:29-30 ESV, emphasis mine). All of this at the end of chapter that started with there being “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1).

In Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem defines justification this way: “justification is an instantaneous legal act of God in which he (1) thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us, and (2) declares us to be righteous in his sight.”¹ Our sins are traded for Christ’s righteousness. The theological term is imputation. Christ bore our sins, and we are gifted His righteousness. It is on the basis of this transaction that God declares us righteous, no longer liable to pay the penalty (death) for our sin. This legal declaration of our righteousness follows our faith and repentance in the gospel (conversion) as the Spirit imparts new life through the new birth (regeneration).

Paul will go on to say in Romans 3, “Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” (Romans 3:27-28 ESV). It is crucial to understand the source of our justification (the justifier). It is not us. It is God. We acquire justification by faith alone in the finished work of Christ. We aren’t aware of all this when we initially believe the gospel. But as we grow in gospel awareness, the beauty of justification and the glory of God in the gospel swells up ever more in our hearts!

Gospel awareness for justification has its effect when we begin to live in the reality of our unshakeable standing with God based on the work of Christ. We are who we are because of what Christ has done for us. This gives us our identity as sons and daughters of God, and brings assurance of our place in God’s family to our everyday lives.

We need it to chart a course for how we live (Sanctification)

The gospel is how we are made right with God. It is the only means of reconciling undeserving sinners to a holy, righteous God. But the gospel is not just our means of justification. It’s not just a one-and-done interaction with God. Initial belief in the gospel enables and shapes continual belief in the gospel. Our beginning in Christ in faith and repentance enables ongoing repentance and faith, and this is how we grow.

I used alot of digital ink on justification because the right understanding of this doctrine leads to growth in the gospel. Without it, our growth is self-centered and short-sighted. And this is the catch–we can’t actually chart a course for how we live and how we grow, until we’ve understood what has happened to us in our justification. For God has made us new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17) who are “being transformed into the same image [of Jesus] from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV). This is work being done to us by the Spirit of God, not something we drum up on our own.

Gospel awareness for sanctification means we realize that our sanctification is rooted in a right understanding of our justification. We begin to understand that the way we grow in Christ is to be continually called back to who we are in Christ, which is most clearly defined in our justification. Sanctification is not about us outgrowing our need for the gospel. It is about us becoming more and more aware of our need for the gospel. The longer I follow Jesus, the more I become starkly aware of the depths of my idol-producing heart. Since our standing with God is secure in our justification, this frees us up to admit when we fail and fall short of obeying Jesus. This empowers us to repent of our selfishness, pride, and pursuit of false gods and to believe afresh the beauty and wonder of the gospel of the grace of God revealed in Jesus. This is good news!

We need it to carry us through to the finish line (Glorification)

Following the logic that Paul lays out in Romans 8:30, all those who are justified will also be glorified. God doesn’t start something in us only to abandon that work later on (Philippians 1:6). Glorification is when the presence of sin will be removed and we will be with God. This only happens for those who have been justified. This is the end game plan, and it is the goal of the gospel (1 Peter 3:18).

Gospel awareness for glorification means that we live with gospel-drenched hope. The God who has planned our redemption before the foundation of the world itself (Ephesians 1:6) has accomplished that redemption through the death and resurrection of Christ (Romans 3:24) and applied that redemption through His Spirit (Titus 3:5) to all those who repent and believe the gospel. This hope oozes into all of the nooks and crannies of life. Gospel awareness results in a resilient confidence in our unshakeable God. It enables us to continue to press on in the fight against indwelling sin that remains in us, until we are finally rescued from the presence of sin forever.

To summarize…
Gospel awareness helps us realize…
That we have security in our standing with God!
That we have been empowered for the fight against sin!
That we have hope in the completion of God’s work in us!

What if I don’t have gospel awareness?

Now, you might be thinking…
I get that I need gospel awareness, but I don’t know if I have it or not.
Or maybe you’re thinking, I know I don’t have it.
What do I do now?

Glad you asked 🙂
In part 3 of this series, we’ll look at how to get gospel awareness, how to know if you have it, and what to do if you don’t.

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¹Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Second Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2020), 885.

Read Gospel Awareness (Part 1): What is it?