Quiz Questions
Q1: What does the word 'gospel' literally mean?
- A. Holy scripture
- B. Good announcement ✓
- C. Sacred teaching
- D. Divine law
The word gospel comes from the Greek word euangelion — a compound of 'eu' (good) and 'angelion' (announcement or message). It literally means 'the good announcement' or 'good news.'
Q2: How many times does the word 'gospel' appear in the New Testament?
- A. 12
- B. 46
- C. 93 ✓
- D. 150
The word 'gospel' appears 93 times in the New Testament. This repetition is not a coincidence — it is God's emphasis that this message is the main thing and must not be lost or watered down.
Q3: What Old English word did 'gospel' come from?
- A. Godword
- B. Godspell ✓
- C. Godlight
- D. Godtruth
Gospel comes from the Old English word 'godspell,' which literally translates to 'glad tidings' — happy, joyful news worth celebrating. It was later used to translate the Greek term euangelion.
Q4: According to Romans 3:23, who has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God?
- A. Most people
- B. Only the wicked
- C. All people ✓
- D. Non-believers only
Romans 3:23 leaves no wiggle room: 'For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.' All — not most, not the obviously bad people — every human being without a single exception.
Q5: What are the 'Four Acts of Human History' described in the gospel story?
- A. Birth, Life, Death, Resurrection
- B. Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration ✓
- C. Promise, Law, Grace, Glory
- D. Eden, Exile, Return, Kingdom
The four acts are: Creation (God made everything good), Fall (human rebellion broke everything), Redemption (God's rescue mission through Jesus), and Restoration (God will one day make all things new in a perfected creation).
Q6: What does the Greek word 'hamartia' (sin) literally picture?
- A. Breaking a clay jar
- B. Crossing a forbidden border
- C. Missing the mark in archery ✓
- D. Falling into a deep pit
Hamartia comes from the world of archery. It pictures an archer failing to hit the bullseye — representing our failure to meet God's perfect standard. In God's archery range, a near miss is still a miss.
Q7: What does the word 'wages' imply in the verse 'The wages of sin is death'?
- A. A random accident
- B. A gift given freely
- C. A temporary fine
- D. What is earned or owed ✓
Wages represent the payment one receives for work done. In Romans 6:23, the word implies a logical, earned consequence — death is not a random punishment but what sin earns and is owed.
Q8: What standard does God require for righteousness, as quoted by Jesus in Matthew 5:48?
- A. Sincerity of heart
- B. More good deeds than bad
- C. Perfection ✓
- D. Being better than the average person
Jesus said 'Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.' The standard is not pretty good or better than average — it is perfection. And James 2:10 confirms that failing at even one point makes a person guilty of all of it.
Q9: What does 'propitiation' mean in the context of Christ's death?
- A. The act of becoming a better person
- B. Turning away God's wrath through a sacrifice ✓
- C. The process of forgiving oneself
- D. A religious ceremony performed by priests
Propitiation means the turning away of wrath through a sacrifice. Jesus absorbed the full force of God's righteous wrath against sin, thereby satisfying divine justice so that mercy could be extended to us.
Q10: What does 'imputed righteousness' mean?
- A. Working hard to earn your own righteousness
- B. Jesus' perfect record legally credited to your account ✓
- C. Slowly becoming a better person over time
- D. God ignoring your sins because He is nice
Imputed righteousness means Jesus' perfect record — his flawless, complete, unblemished moral record — is transferred to your account by faith. It is like all of his medals being pinned to your chest. You are treated as if you lived his perfect life.
Q11: What is 'Antinomianism' as it relates to the gospel?
- A. The belief that we must follow every Jewish custom
- B. The historical study of ancient laws
- C. The practice of animal sacrifice for sin
- D. The belief that moral living does not matter because of grace ✓
Antinomianism comes from 'anti' (against) and 'nomos' (law). It is the dangerous distortion that because God forgives, a person can live however they want. It slides off the gospel mountain on the opposite side from legalism.
Q12: What is the correct 'gospel order' according to Tim Keller?
- A. Obey → Believe → Saved
- B. Believe → Obey → Saved
- C. Believe → Saved → Therefore Obey ✓
- D. Saved → Believe → Obey
The gospel order is: Believe → Saved → Therefore Obey. Obedience is a grateful response to being saved, not a way to earn salvation. You do not work toward God's love — you work from it.
Q13: What Greek word did Jesus cry from the cross, meaning 'It is finished' or 'Paid in full'?
- A. Euangelion
- B. Hamartia
- C. Dunamis
- D. Tetelestai ✓
Jesus cried 'Tetelestai' — a word used in the ancient world to stamp on a paid debt. He was declaring that the work of redemption was complete, total, and lacking nothing. There is nothing left to add or contribute.
Q14: What does the Greek word 'dunamis' — used in Romans 1:16 — give us in the English language?
- A. Dynamic
- B. Dynamite ✓
- C. Dynamo
- D. Dynasty
Dunamis gives us the English word 'dynamite.' When Paul says the gospel is the dunamis of God, he means there is something explosive inside this message — the power comes directly from God himself, not from the preacher's eloquence or delivery.
Q15: What does Paul mean when he describes the gospel as 'the gospel of God' in Romans?
- A. It is a message about becoming a god
- B. It is owned and authored by God ✓
- C. It is a summary of God's personality
- D. It is a message people created for God
The phrase 'of God' means the gospel originated in God's mind and heart and belongs entirely to Him. We did not invent it, improve it, or hand it down. It came from heaven itself — which means we do not get to edit or soften it.
Q16: In the David and Goliath story, what does David's role represent in relation to Jesus and the gospel?
- A. A moral lesson about being brave against problems
- B. A substitute champion whose victory is credited to all his people ✓
- C. A lesson that the smallest person is the strongest
- D. A picture of using simple tools to defeat evil
David fought as a substitute champion — if David wins, everyone wins. His victory was credited to all of Israel even though they did not lift a finger. This is exactly what Jesus did: he defeated sin and death as our champion, and his victory is credited to everyone who trusts in him.
Q17: What is the primary difference between 'mercy' and 'grace'?
- A. They are synonyms and mean the exact same thing
- B. Mercy is not getting the punishment you deserve; Grace is getting what you do not deserve ✓
- C. Mercy is earned through prayer; Grace is given at birth
- D. Grace is for the good; Mercy is for the bad
Mercy is the withholding of the judgment we deserve — not going to hell. Grace goes further: it is the bestowal of blessings we do not deserve — being adopted into God's family, receiving eternal life, being given the very righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Q18: How does Christianity differ from Karma when it comes to justice and mercy?
- A. Christianity ignores justice while Karma enforces it
- B. Christianity offers mercy through a substitute while Karma has no mercy ✓
- C. They are essentially the same system with different names
- D. Karma is based on love while Christianity is based on rules
In Karma, every debt must be paid by the individual — there is no room for forgiveness or grace. In the gospel, Jesus pays the debt for the individual. Both justice and mercy are fully satisfied simultaneously at the cross — something no other system achieves.
Q19: Who spoke about Hell more than anyone else in the entire Bible?
- A. The Apostle Paul
- B. Moses
- C. The Old Testament prophets
- D. Jesus Christ ✓
Jesus Christ — the most loving, compassionate, gentle person who ever walked the earth — spoke about hell more than all the prophets combined. He spoke about it so much because he knew it was real and loved people far too much to pretend otherwise.
Q20: What did Martin Luther discover about the 'righteousness of God' in Romans 1:17?
- A. It is a gift God gives to us through faith ✓
- B. It is a high bar we must clear to be loved by God
- C. It refers only to the Ten Commandments
- D. It is something we achieve through decades of discipline
Luther initially read the 'righteousness of God' as a terrifying standard he had to meet. But through studying Augustine's writings, he saw it was not the standard God demands from us — it is the righteousness God freely gives to us as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ.
Q21: Why does John Piper argue that the Prosperity Gospel is 'a different message entirely'?
- A. Because it requires too much theological training to understand
- B. Because it encourages people to work too hard at their jobs
- C. Because it uses God as a tool to get material wealth rather than treasuring God himself ✓
- D. Because it focuses too much on helping the poor
Piper argues the Prosperity Gospel offers people exactly what their fallen hearts already want — wealth, health, comfort, status. It allows the natural heart to stay in its fallen state, seeking earthly treasure and using God as a means to get it, rather than treasuring God himself.
Q22: According to James 2:10, what happens if a person fails at just one point of God's law?
- A. They must perform extra religious duties to compensate
- B. They become guilty of all of it ✓
- C. They lose their salvation temporarily
- D. They must make a public confession
James 2:10 states: 'For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.' One sin is all it takes to fall short of perfection. This is why our own record can never meet God's standard — only the perfect record of Jesus Christ can.
Q23: According to 1 Peter 3:18, what was the ultimate purpose of Christ's death on the cross?
- A. To give us eternal life in heaven
- B. To bring us to forgiveness
- C. To bring us to God ✓
- D. To give us a better life on earth
1 Peter 3:18 says Christ suffered 'to bring us to God.' Not to bring us to heaven, not just to forgiveness, not to a better life — but to God himself. The goal of the gospel is not the gifts of God but God himself as our supreme treasure and eternal home.
Q24: What did Martin Luther say happened when he finally understood the true meaning of righteousness in Romans 1:17?
- A. He felt a deeper sense of religious obligation
- B. He felt reborn and as if he had gone through open doors into paradise ✓
- C. He felt confused and needed years of further study
- D. He felt relieved but still uncertain of his standing
Luther described the moment of his breakthrough: 'I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise.' When the gospel finally moves from the head to the heart — when grace becomes real — it produces exactly this kind of transformation.
Q25: What is 'substitutionary atonement'?
- A. God overlooking sin because He is loving and kind
- B. Believers suffering for their own sins over time
- C. The righteous dying for the unrighteous so the unrighteous could go free ✓
- D. A ritual performed by Old Testament priests
Substitutionary atonement means Jesus stood in our place and absorbed the punishment we deserved. Greg Laurie captures it: 'Jesus came to pay a debt he did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay.' He was righteous, owed nothing, and yet took everything.
Q26: Why is the gospel NOT primarily a 'social justice' message or 'self-improvement' program?
- A. Because God does not care about poor or suffering people
- B. Because improving oneself is completely impossible
- C. Because it addresses the root problem of sin and eternal judgment ✓
- D. Because social justice is too political for the church
While the gospel produces social change as fruit in transformed hearts, its core message is rescue from the eternal consequences of sin. MacArthur puts it plainly: 'The gospel is not solving a social problem. The gospel is, we are all headed to eternal punishment... but God has provided a rescue.'
Q27: What does R.C. Sproul mean by calling Christ's righteousness an 'alien righteousness'?
- A. It is a righteousness that is mysterious and cannot be understood
- B. It is a temporary righteousness that must constantly be renewed
- C. It is a righteousness that comes from outside of ourselves ✓
- D. It is righteousness achieved through visiting foreign lands
'Alien' simply means foreign — it does not originate in our effort, record, or spiritual discipline. It is the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ transferred to our account by faith. We do not present our righteousness to God and hope it is enough; God presents his Son's righteousness to cover us completely.
Q28: What was the key error of the 'circumcision group' that Paul confronted in Galatians, as explained by Tim Keller?
- A. They denied the resurrection of Jesus
- B. They believed faith plus law-keeping was required for salvation ✓
- C. They refused to preach the gospel to Gentiles
- D. They taught that baptism alone was sufficient for salvation
The circumcision group believed faith in Jesus was not enough — you also had to obey the ceremonial laws. Their order was: Believe → Obey → Then saved. This is the wrong order that makes salvation dependent on performance, producing anxiety and self-righteousness rather than freedom.
Q29: What did Billy Graham say he would do differently if he could go back and do ministry again?
- A. Preach more on God's love and kindness
- B. Focus more on social justice and community transformation
- C. Preach more on the cross and the blood of Christ ✓
- D. Spend more time on intellectual apologetics
When asked what advice he would give his younger self, Billy Graham did not hesitate: 'I would preach more on the cross and the blood of Christ. That is where the power is.' The greatest evangelist of the 20th century pointed back to the most uncomfortable part of the message as its greatest power.
Q30: According to John Piper and Jonathan Edwards, what is the ultimate treasure the gospel brings us to?
- A. Eternal life and a home in heaven
- B. Forgiveness of sins and a clear conscience
- C. A better, more meaningful life on earth
- D. God himself — not just his gifts but God personally ✓
Edwards wrote: 'God himself is the great good which the redeemed are brought to... God is their wealth and treasure, their food, their life, their dwelling place.' The gospel is not primarily about escaping hell or going to heaven — it is about getting God. Everything else is the road; God himself is the destination.
