A Gospel Primer for Christians: Learning to See the Glories of God’s Love

A wonderful reminder of God’s gift
I was apprehensive to read a book about the gospel as a Christian of nearly forty years. I wish I read it sooner! It is a great reminder of the need for the gospel, not only for the lost but also for believers alike. The principles are clear and supported heavily with scripture which prompts even more study of God and His Word. I’m an “underliner” when I come across impactful statements. I quickly found myself underlining sentences in nearly every paragraph. The book has been a great help and I have since bought several more copies to give to others to encourage them in their walk with God.

Foundational for Discipleship
A Gospel Primer is one of those books that can be read and reread and never get old. I have read it a few times already. It is easy to read, extremely relevant, and concise in content.

Mere Gospel Centered
In my experience, the phrase “gospel centered” has become so common that it often seems to have lost any valuable meaning. It is often used in ways that emphasize what we are to do or have done more so than what God has done and continues to do in our individual lives and through his church. Milton Vincent reminds us of core gospel truths presenting a “mere gospel centeredness” for our own heart and mind to sustain us through the joys, sorrows, and many challenges of life in a broken world. Although this book is written pastorally and with scholarly reflection, he does not write as one who has it all together all the time, but as a fellow pilgrim who at times loses his way. A Gospel Primer is actually the fruit of that experience through which he came to realize he sufficiency of Christ for a life of joy and flourishing. I would encourage reading the final chapter “Surprised by the Gospel” in which he briefly shares his own story. In doing so you may, like me, find reading this book more as a conversation with a friend helpfully sharing his heart and experience rather than simply lessons to be learned. We all need these simple truths, hence the emphasis on daily reminding or “preaching” to oneself; however, if your are experiencing deep struggles and feel separation from God this book is an extraordinarily helpful read to remind us of the magnificent love and grace found in Christ.

Gospel gospel gospel, that’s all this book is about!
Great reminder of the gospel. All this book does is spin the gospel so many ways, constant reminder of our daily need for the gospel. Highly recommend!

Do you find the gospel has faded in it’s lustre a little over the years? Does it sit on the shelf while you try to move on to ‘deeper’ things in the Bible?Do you wrestle with legalism? Or lack of assurance? Or lack of progress despite lots of effort being put in?I suspect that the reason we struggle like this is that we haven’t grasped the richness of the gospel. We think it’s only for salvation. We think that there are other truths that will help us. We think we need to try harder. But the gospel is what we need – There are no deeper things. We just haven’t grasped it deeply enough.Milton Vincent (not a puritan although his name sounds the part!) knows your story for he has been there himself. He has wrestled with the lack of progress, lack of assurance, lack of love, lack of …, well, many things. Out of his own circumstances, and initially for himself, then for his congregation, he put together a list of ways the gospel connects to our spiritual problems – not simply our sin and guilt. The Gospel Primer is the result.The book divides into four sections:1. Why we need to preach the gospel to ourselves – 31 ways in which the gospel connects with our spiritual problems.2. The gospel in propositional form3. The gospel in poetic form4. His story of why he wrote the book.It doesn’t look terribly enticing (and the cover certainly doesn’t entice you to read the book), but it is deceptively simple and effective.I found the first section to be tremendously helpful and soul warming. This is due, in part to the content, but also to the manner in which Vincent writes. He writes in the first person eg,”the gospel is the one great permanent circumstance in which I live and move; and every hardship in my life is allowed by God only because it serves His gospel purposes in me.”This device, along with the content, acts like application, and presses truths right in to the heart. He makes them like personal statements of faith – which is what they are, we just haven’t realised the implications of what we say we believe.Each of the 31 ways makes vital connections which bring the gospel off the shelf and into everyday life. And this in turn revitalises our appreciation of the gospel, as well as opening up new and living ways (actually, the old and living way!) to grow and make progress as a Christian.The 2nd section of gospel propositions cover who God is, my sin before a holy God, the glorious work of Jesus Christ on the Cross, and life we are called to live for God’s glory – all in 41 first person statements. Again the application is almost automatic – old truths, but shaped for the heart, not just the head.Part 3 is the same as part 2 – only in poetic form. The theology is great, the poetry isn’t! This barbarian didn’t enjoy it as much, but I know others who did.In Part 4 Vincent tells how a came to write the book. At the end of his tether spiritually he opened his Bile at Romans 5 and started to read. As he read he started to ask himself if he really believed this stuff. It is something I think we can all resonate with.This is a deceptively simple little book, but powerfully effective. Because it started out as a personal remedy for the problem this is no dry theory, this is from the heart, and resonates with the reader at many points.As an indicator of how essential I think this book is – we gave it to everyone in the two churches I pastor.Many books are good, only some are worth re-reading. This is one you will find yourself returning to over and over again to be refreshed.================================Some thoughts on reading ‘The Gospel Primer’1. Savour it, rather than read it through in one sitting. I read two of the 31 reasons each morning before my bible reading, and then moved on to the propositions – reading 4 or 5 at a time. Although the book is short enough to read in one go – don’t rush.2. Don’t read it to be impressed with the book. Read it to be impressed with the gospel.3. Someone recommended reading part 4 (Vincent’s own story) first – I agree. It allows you to see where he is coming from – and that he has been where you probably are.

Sometimes it is good to stop and have a Spiritual MOT, and that is what this book has done for me. Even a Christian a long time, but on reading this little book have found that Ive wandered into trying to earn Gods approval. It’s been liberating to get back on track in this very easy, but very deep book. Would recommend to Christian’s of all ages