Jesus: the Prototokos: Kevin Sparks Berry Shares the Gospel

By Kevin Sparks Berry

Jesus Christ tells us what the Gospel is in Mark 16:16 (KJV).
The Gospel is He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. (Mark 16:16)
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. (John 14:6)
The Gospel is the way, the truth and the life.
The Gospel is Jesus.
Jesus is the Gospel.
Jesus is the Word (John 1:1).
The Gospel is the Word (John 1:2).
The Gospel is the word (John 12:48).
Jesus is the prototokos: Jesus was born of the flesh at his natural birth; we
are born of the flesh at our natural birth.
Jesus was born again of the Spirit at his baptism by
immersion; we are born again of the Spirit at our
baptism by immersion.
Jesus was raised from the dead at his baptism by
immersion; we are raised from the dead at our
baptism by immersion.
Jesus was raised again after his second death; we
shall be raised again after our second death.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 11, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477123751

Kevin Sparks Berry

TO FOLLOW

Book preview

Copyright © 2012 by Kevin Sparks Berry.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2012910086

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4771-2374-4

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4771-2373-7

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4771-2375-1

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Contents

Introduction

The Gospel: Our Assurance of Salvation

The Gospel: The New Covenant

Correspondence with

Denominations on the Gospel

October 2004-March 17, 2005

March 29, 2005-Easter, 2006

Summary

Epilogue

Written in honor of my wife, Mary Christine Berry and my mother, Mary Elizabeth Berry

Two amazingly wonderful Christian women.

Written in memory of my father, Dr. Carrick H. Berry

Introduction

Jesus: The Prototokos. Do you know what prototokos means? Every person that says they are a follower of Jesus Christ should. Prototokos is the Greek word from which our word prototype comes from. How can you, as a Christian, be expected to follow the example of your prototype if someone does not explain this to you? And yet, God will expect it (John 3:5)! What John Harvard, founder of Harvard University, dreaded has now come true; we have an illiterate ministry in the churches (May 31, 2005, correspondence). The fact that your pastor/preacher lacks biblical understanding will not be an excuse for you.

You will have no excuse because you have the King James Bible available to you. The KJV explains what the word prototokos means through scriptural agreement. Look at these scriptures that use the word prototokos: Matthew 1:25, Luke 2:7, Romans 8:29, Colossians 1:15, Colossians 1:18, Hebrews 1:6, Hebrews 11:28, Hebrews 12:23, and Revelation 1:5. Each of these scriptures refers to when Jesus became the prototype at his baptism by immersion in water (Matt. 3:15), when he chose to die his first death (Rom. 6:4). Your pastor/preacher should have been taught this, so he could explain it to you. But pastors/preachers are not being taught scriptural agreement.

Let me encourage you, as a Christian, to not rely on your pastor/preacher to teach you what the Bible says. Get a King James Bible and let it teach you. The scriptures in the King James Bible agree with themselves; other versions of the Bible do not agree with themselves. This is why pastors/preachers and people in the churches today are so confused.

But don’t be discouraged. Believe the Gospel, which is He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved (Mark 16:16), and read the King James Bible if you want to understand.

The Gospel: Our Assurance of Salvation

The assurance of salvation is how you experience the greatest joy while here on earth. God gives you that assurance in the Gospel, which is God’s promise you will go to heaven. It’s God’s simple loving plan for salvation, and He has only one.

The Gospel message is the greatest scripture in the Bible. Without its message of how to be saved, Jesus would have been nailed to the cross for nothing. Jesus says I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also because that is why I was sent (Luke 4:43). He wasn’t sent to preach love. He wasn’t sent to preach faith. He was sent to preach the good news which is the Gospel.

So what is the Gospel? Jesus says in his last words on earth before returning to heaven, Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel unto every creature (Mark 16:15). Then Jesus tells his disciples what the Gospel is: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved (Mark 16:16). This is the Gospel.

The Gospel was mentioned in the Old Testament. Jesus wanted to make sure they knew he was fulfilling that scripture. In the book of Luke, after Jesus was baptized and tempted by Satan, he went to the synagogue. He was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: ‘The spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor’ (Luke 4:17-18). The Spirit of the Lord is the Holy Spirit. Jesus was anointed by God to preach the good news which is the Gospel. The poor are the poor in Spirit. The poor in Spirit is every person born on the earth. No one is born with the Holy Spirit in them.

So how do we receive the Holy Spirit? John the Baptist tells us, I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:8). We receive the Holy Spirit at our baptism. Colossians 1:18 says, And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything he might have supremacy. Jesus was not the first to be raised from the dead. The same Greek word for dead is used for Lazarus (John 12:1), the little girl (Luke 8:49), and Jesus (John 19:33). So this could not refer to the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus was not the first to be baptized with water; John the Baptist had baptized many people with water (Mark 1:8). So this could not refer to baptism with water. Jesus was the first person born from the dead by baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Knowing that you had to be baptized to receive the Holy Spirit, Jesus was constantly making people aware that believing was not enough. They had to believe and be baptized to be saved. Some examples are:

In John 3:3, Jesus declared, I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.

So how are we born again? We are told in Romans 6:3-4 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Just as Jesus was raised from the dead through his baptism as explained in Colossians 1:18, we are also raised from the dead at our baptism. Jesus had to be the first so he would have supremacy in all things.

In John 3:5, Jesus says, I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

So you must be baptized with water and receive the Holy Spirit to enter the kingdom of God. No exceptions will be made; no excuses will be accepted.

In Matthew 5:20, Jesus says, "For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom