Words themselves do not save you. They transfer information and meaning. If the information is the good news from God unto salvation (aka the gospel) then they are required for your salvation.

I’ve heard it said that you can preach the gospel without these words. Have you heard this?

“Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary, use words.”

This saying confuses me, and, I think, the gospel. The meaning may be that people will come to Christ by looking at the way we live our lives “at all times”. After all, nobody likes a hypocrite. But this idea is wrong.

Salvation is not about our lifestyle. Being a Christian is about trust in Christ, it is not about us and how good we smell after the shower and how many times we smile at old people.

The gospel is not a picture of Jesus the do-gooder. The gospel is a picture of Jesus Christ on the bloody cross paying for your sins and then his resurrection for your free justification.

The only reason anyone would want to approach a bloody cross is if they had an interest in it. If the ‘way we live our lives’ will succeed in achieving God’s approval in righteousness then we do not need Jesus on the cross.

No, the only good reason to be interested in God on the cross is if we understand the ‘wretched man’ that we are and realize our need of a perfect payment for our sins.

By the way, how do you show someone through a lifestyle that their sins have forever condemned them? Would some sort of mime work or some music with dissonant notes? The act of taking out the trash may be closer to target. On second thought, I think it is pretty near impossible without words.

Whether they are written, spoken, recorded, or mouthed out in silence words are necessary to give us the meaning of the cross! Without the meaning we can live the life of the straight and narrow and still not be saved. No one has ever been saved by how well they lived. Words are ALWAYS necessary to preach the gospel.

What are the five words necessary for you to have eternal life? It normally takes a lot more words than five but these five are necessary for anyone to get eternal life:

Christ died for your sins – 1 Cor 15:1-4; Rom 4:25