The present-day church is saturated with the gospel, and that’s not good news. It’s not good news for the church because the church doesn’t need more and more justification; we are already justified in full because we believe in what Christ did for us on the cross. The gospel is for the lost, not the church. We are ministers of the gospel. Our message is, “Be reconciled to God!” (2Corinthians 5:18-21). We are already reconciled, this would seem evident. Have Christians become so mindless that they have actually bought into the idea that the saved still need salvation?
We are justified in full. It is a onetime declaration by God. It’s done. In fact, it is so done that we were already considered to be glorified before the Earth was even created (Ephesians 1:4, Romans 8:30). How much more done can you get? Nothing that happens in sanctification can change…
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Paul's Passing Thoughts 
I think the key is how one defines the term “gospel.” If one assumes “gospel” is limited to justification by virtue of the pardon of sins because of Christ’s atoning sacrifice, then the “same gospel that justifies” definitely would not sanctify us. That would be illogical. That would be like saying there is no difference between a pronouncement in a court of law that a man was pardoned for stealing and the life the man thereafter lived.
But, what if the term “gospel” itself means more than justification or pardon of sins? Even in Paul’s classic discussion of the “gospel by which you are saved” in I Corinthians 15, he refers to the death and resurrection of Christ. Is Christ’s death and resurrection only significant in terms of our justification? I don’t believe that Paul saw it that way. In Romans 6, Paul uses the death and resurrection of Christ to teach us about the truth that, not only are we legally forgiven and pardoned, we are born again and actually freed from the power and dominion of sin, enabled to “obey from the heart.” Is Paul’s teaching in Romans 6 “good news?” Absolutely!
The freedom from the power and dominion of sin taught so clearly by Paul is what makes the Christian life “doable” so to speak, including the sanctified, holy life and the good works required by all the Apostles. This broader understanding of the “gospel,” or the good news of Christ is consistent with Peter’s teaching in II Peter 2 that God, by his divine power, has given us everything we need for life and godliness.
Finally, Christ’s use of the term gospel was connected to his kingdom – for example, in my daily reading today in Luke 8. A kingdom is much more than the means by which you first enter or become a subject/citizen. A kingdom includes how you live and what is expected of you by the King. In Luke 8, notice the women who had been freed from the power and dominion of sin to become followers of Christ. If you had asked them to describe the good news, I am sure they would have included both forgiveness and the freedom from the dominion of sin (that had previously enslaved them) to live a new, godly life.
When talking about regeneration, justification, and sanctification, much confusion and false teaching would be avoided by proper use and understanding of the separate significance of each of those terms. As you consistently point out, the New Calvinists emasculate true sanctification by merging it with justification, thereby eliminating the power to live a truly godly life. It is false teaching of the worst kind, the kind that has a form of godliness but denies the power to live it. Or, to put it in the vernacular – it’s all blow and no go.
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Randy,
To your point: Christ went about preaching the good news of the kingdom. Then, we soon find out exactly what that message was; it was the Sermon of the Mount which did not include anything in regard to the death, burial, and resurrection. You are absolutely right: “gospel” is a broad term and determined by context.
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The reference to Peter should be II Peter 1.
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Randy,
Which post? Can’t find the reference.
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I apologize for the typos in the first comment above. Is there an edit feature?
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Randy,
It’s early, and waiting on coffee, but I think I got most of them.
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Thanks, Paul – glad the java still does its thing. Another good passage describing those in the kingdom, from Luke 8 (NLT):
The True Family of Jesus
19 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they couldn’t get to him because of the crowd. 20 Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, and they want to see you.” 21 Jesus replied, “My mother and my brothers are all those who hear God’s word and obey it.”
Notice how Jesus expects his true family to hear God’s word and obey it, and Jesus does not say that he will do that for them as so many New Calvinists like to say.
Like my wife just said to me, if Jesus had wanted to say, “It’s impossible for you to hear God’s word and obey it, don’t even try, just gaze at me and I will obey it for you,” wouldn’t this have been the perfect place for him to teach this? Of course, that New Calvinist teaching is not of Jesus, but of someone else who likes to spread lies and weaken the faith.
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yep, that seems pretty plain to me, and that’s pretty much how he concluded the sermon on the mount as well. Exact same words. “hear and obey”: wonder how many times the NT has Jesus using that exact phrase.
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