The Three Layers of the Gospel

Hi guys! Today I wanted to share something with you that’s had a large impact on my faith: understanding the three layers of the gospel message. These three layers of relationship, identity, and destiny outline the basic pattern of how we learn who we are as followers of God and help us learn how to trust God.*

Let’s start with the idea of relationship with God. Relationship with God is one of the most foundational aspects of our faith, because as Christians, it’s not enough to know about God—we need to know God, just as we know our friends and family here on earth. We can know God through reading about who He is in His Word and responding to what we read, through listening for His voice, and through speaking back to Him in prayer. But what’s important about this is the two-way relationship. It’s not enough just to know about God, but we are called to “know fully, just as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12) And knowing God for who He is (our Creator, Sustainer, Protector, Provider, etc.) will help us begin to trust Him and understand what our identity is in Him.

This brings us to the next layer of the gospel message: identity. As we understand who God is, we can look in His Word and begin to understand who we are. 1 John 3:1 says, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” When we put our faith in Jesus and His sacrifice atoning for our sins, we are called children of God. And as children of God, we are loved by God before we do anything (Matthew 3:17, John 17:23). This means that we don’t have to strive to prove ourselves, to God or to others—we are loved by God because of our identity as His children! And knowing our identity in God helps us to trust Him because we realize that if He values us before we do anything, then we don’t have to prove ourselves, and can let Him take the lead in our lives.

When we realize how God sees us and begin to trust Him in these areas of relationship and identity, then we can begin to trust Him with our destiny. If we understand that we can trust God because of who He is (relationship), and that He values us (identity), then we don’t have to try to keep control of our future because we know that God will be enough for us no matter what happens in our future. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “ ’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ ” God has greater plans for our future than anything we could dream up—and He will walk through those plans with us. We can stop trying to prove that we should belong where we are, because we realize that we do belong—God has placed us where He wants us!

When we understand these three layers of the gospel—who God is, how God sees us, and what God has planned for us, we realize that we truly can trust God because of the impact He has on our lives.

*Some of the ideas behind this article were taken from an article series written by Pastor Putty Putman: https://www.puttyputman.com/article-series/the-triune-gospel