What is the gospel? - a little look at the Apostle Paul's definitions in 2 Corinthians and 1 Timothy

What is the gospel?

We talk a lot about the importance of the gospel. But what exactly is the gospel?  

I am not trying to pose a trick question, and others before me have sensed a need to define what we are talking about when we use the word 'gospel'. Some have been book-length answers such as 'What is the Gospel' by Greg Gilbert.

The simplest answer to that simple question is that, it is the 'good news' ….as that literally translates the meaning of the actual word 'gospel'.

But in Scriptural context, what is this good news about?  What is this news which we are told is good? 

How would you describe the 'good news' of the gospel?

In this 21st century when you want an answer to a question, (and in particular what people might give as a definition of the 'gospel')…what do we do?

… a 'google' search of course!

So I typed in 'What is the gospel' to Google, and here are some examples of short answers that came up:

GotQuestions

The gospel is, broadly speaking, the whole of Scripture; more narrowly, the gospel is the good news concerning Christ and the way of salvation.

Desiring God

The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for our sins and rose again, eternally triumphant over his enemies, so that there is now no condemnation for those who believe, but only everlasting joy. That's the gospel.

RC Sproul

In New Testament terms, the gospel is the proclamation of the person and work of Jesus Christ plus how the benefits of that work can be appropriated to us by faith and by faith alone.

So the gospel has a narrow definition: it's the message about Jesus. Now, there are other good tidings: the kingdom of God, all of that. But, specifically, if you look at what we call in the New Testament the kerygma, the apostolic proclamation of the gospel, it focuses on Christ: who He is, what He did, and how we receive His benefits.

Sinclair Ferguson

If a student asked me that question I would say, "Paul has told us in the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 15." He says, "These are the things that are of first importance." And he states facts with an interpretation: "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; the third day He rose again" (1 Cor. 15:3-4). And that is, in the New Testament, or at least in Paul's letters, the simplest foundation.

Evangelism group CRU 

It is the news about who Jesus Christ is, what He has done, and how that changes everything for all of us.

Greg Gilbert - author of the book 'What is the Gospel?'

It's a message from God saying, "Good news! Here is how you can be saved from my judgment!"

Answers in Genesis

The word 'gospel' means 'good news.' When Christians talk about the gospel, they are presenting the good news of Christ's death and resurrection.

9Marks

The gospel is the good news about what Jesus Christ has done to reconcile sinners to God.

Most of the above answers are essentially fairly similar, and most went on to explain it further after their initial short answers. And, these short answers are all excellent succinct answers and definitions. 

However, these answers all may nicely agree, and give us a neat 'spear-head' kind of consolidated and sharp definition. But do they clearly help us see what the real 'point' of the gospel spear-head is?

The gospel in 2 Corinthians 4

Recently I read 2 Corinthians 4 in the course of once again working through the Bible in a year, and one particular verse 'jumped' out at me, in a way I guess I hadn't 'seen' quite so clearly before.

Maybe 2 Corinthians 4:4 gives us the simplest and most profound answer to the 'gospel' question…and one we might easily overlook in weight and meaning…

It says:

'In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, 

to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.'

So, if we ask re the gospel, 'it is the good news of what?' ….the answer from this verse is: 'the glory of Christ'.

Now this might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about what could be a definition of the gospel….it certainly wasn't the way any of the above Christian leaders or groups defined it. At least not in those specific terms.

Maybe as you are reading you are grabbing your bible to check out that verse in 2 Corinthians which I just quoted, and your bible says it a bit differently:

The NIV says the 'gospel that displays the glory of God'

The NLT says 'the glorious light of the good news'

The KJV and NET say ' the glorious gospel of Christ' (although the NKJV changes it to 'the gospel of the glory of Christ')

The CEV says 'the good news about our glorious Christ'

So some translations of this verse adjust it slightly and turn the noun 'glory' into an adjective. But this seems to lessen its impact and importance.

Here is what a couple of commentators say as they pick up on  these words and the way some translations switch a noun for an adjective (emphases mine):

Ellicotts

Lest the light of the glorious gospel.—…. The English version "glorious," though a partial equivalent for the Greek idiom of the genitive of a characteristic attribute, lacks the vigour and emphasis of the original, which expresses the thought that the gospel is not only glorious itself, but shares in the glory of Christ, and has that for its theme and object.

Jamison-Faucet-Brown

light of the glorious gospel of Christ—Translate, "The illumination (enlightening: the propagation from those already enlightened, to others of the light) of the Gospel of the glory of Christ." "The glory of Christ" is not a mere quality (as "glorious" would express) of the Gospel; it is its very essence and subject matter.

The gospel is not just something glorious in that it is wonderful news, but it is news about glory that has come, like bringing light into darkness.

So here we have a definition of what the gospel good news is….in three words….'glory of Christ'. 

Now, let's look at another passage to see a bit more about this gospel of glory.

The Gospel in 1 Timothy 1

Some years after Paul the Apostle wrote the words to the Corinthian church and further toward the end of his life, he once again wrote a similar explanation and definition again to Timothy, his son in the faith. His understanding of the core essence of the gospel had not changed. Paul, in verse 1 of this passage is in the midst of warning about false teaching, and reiterates to Timothy that sound doctrine has to be:

in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

So this way of describing the gospel, was no 'accident' or insignificant definition, but obviously one that Paul felt was important and was in the forefront of his mind when he thought about the core essence of the gospel he proclaimed.

He knew it was the good news about a glory that was supreme of which he did not need to be ashamed of (Romans 1:16).

This verse is also 'adjusted' in some translations to turn a noun into an adjective (glorious gospel) and I once again feel that slightly conceals the weight of the word and context of glory and honour.

But once again the Commentators explain that the turning of 'glory' into an adjective is not the intent of the text.

MacLaren's Expositions

the proper rendering is that which is given in the Revised Version--'the gospel of the glory,' not the 'glorious gospel.' The Apostle is not telling us what kind of thing the Gospel is, but what it is about. He is dealing not with its quality, but with its contents. It is a Gospel which reveals, has to do with, is the manifestation of, the glory of God.

Vincent's Word Studies

The glorious gospel of the blessed God (τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς δόξης τοῦ μακαρίου θεοῦ). More correctly, the gospel of the glory, etc.

The Gospel of Glory

The 'gospel of glory' almost seems too simple a way to describe the gospel….and yet it is maybe the most weighty and clear definition we have, and maybe we don't recognise its significance and importance because we have 'missed' the core of the gospel, because we have missed the core of Scripture being a story about glory - glory present, glory given, glory lost, glory won, and glory re-given.

Greg Gilbert's book above talks about how that to understand the gospel we have to understand the reality of sin, since the gospel is the good news coming to address the bad news about sin. Yet it is remarkably easy for us to miss the true nature or identity of sin…and thus miss the true nature of the gospel.

Remember Romans 3:23….'all have sinned', and what does it say next?….and 'come short of the glory of God'. In other words our sin is a 'lack of glory' problem. Therefore it makes perfect sense that the gospel is then the 'gift of glory' solution.

And what does Paul say in Colossians 1:27 about the mystery finally being revealed?

…'Christ in you the hope of glory'. 

If 'lack of glory' is the sin problem, then to be given the opportunity to have 'the glory restored' is the needed answer. 

How does that happen?  Christ.  He bears our 'lack of glory', ie shame, and if we repent of our own self-efforts of glory (our prideful seeking and desire for significance, acknowledgement, importance, value, worth, status, honour, acceptance, approval) for ourselves from others and our own efforts, and believe in Christ's provision of glory, God gives us the favour of the undeserved gift of His glory…and that's called grace. The chasm and separation between us and God is bridged and our relationship with Him is restored, and through His gift of glory He brings peace. Both the turmoil in our own hearts and the enmity with our Creator is resolved. The King of glory becomes to us, the Prince of Peace.

This is also thus a message to overcome shame - that sense at many levels that we feel we are not enough or accepted, or feel excluded or rejected in some way, or feel we are in 'imposter' in our success, or fear exposure of past or present sin and failures, or have been violated by the abuse of another and so feel worthless. All of these are just windows into awakening our awareness of the issue of shame, and then recognising the reality of our greater shame before a holy God. But the gospel is the good news because the whole of Scripture is about God making a way to bring us out of shame and estrangement that began in Genesis 3, and into glory and peace through Jesus.

In our 21st century world which is drowning in shame and desperately seeking honour and wanting to escape shame…and discovering that options to find true peace on the banquet table of the world are empty…the gospel truly is the best 'good news of glory' there could ever be both for now and eternity!

In this Christmas season, let's not forget this is the good news

 which begins with a baby entering the world in Bethlehem about 2000 years ago, 

when God became flesh

 in order to become our shame-bearing Saviour, 

so as to be the 'gift of glory' solution to our 'short of glory' problem.

The Cross Solution to our Sin Problem is Rooted in an Honour-shame Answer in Genesis

Photo Credit

Ken Ham of the organisation 'Answers in Genesis' has often stated how that all the issues of life have their answers rooted in Genesis 1-11

So when we might wonder what these issues of honour and shame are all about, or if they are critical to making disciples and having a right gospel understanding of salvation and sanctification, or if they might have a vital part to play in solving the problems of our world, we will not go wrong to look in Genesis.

We don't have to go far into that first book of the Bible to discover God's great honourable plan of creation, and then the entry of shameful sin into our world. And in the midst of the story we also begin to see the first glimpses of what would be required to provide a solution to the sin problem which damaged God's honourable creation.  Let me summarise in 3 points.

Honour in the beginning

1. In the beginning God…

- that's the first statement of honour….God's holy and honourable presence is the foundational setting for the entire universe, including us

2. God created…and it was good

- all that God created was good - God's good creation gives glory (honour) to God because it reflects Him and fulfils the creator's purpose and carries out His will

3. In His image

- God created human beings 'in his image'. Human beings were created with an honourable status above all other creation - of being in God's image. Human beings were the crowning glory of God displaying His glory. Humans were created in his glory for his glory.

4. Unashamed

The final word of chapter 2 is 'unashamed'. The final word of how God describes his pre-fall sin-free world in Scripture, is 'unashamed'. To be without shame is to be in a place of full honour. People were able to live as God created them with no barriers between them and God and between each other as humans. They were free to live in the honour in which they were created.

Shame enters the story

1. The Situation Changes

The serpent comes with the temptation to eat the fruit. Some will say it was a temptation of disobedience to God's command. And that certainly was part of it. But a temptation to disobey a command is just a result of something else happening prior to this…and that is a disregard or 'dishonouring' of the command-giver. 

Adam and Eve failed to enquire of the Lord first (in other words 'pray'), to think about God first in their situation. Honouring God as God, their Creator and life-giver somehow vanished from their radar.  In commenting on this another blogger noted that 'man doesn't account for God because he believes he doesn't need God'. So underneath the disobedience was a mind that aleady didn't adequately prioritise God or factor God in, and underneath that was a belief that God was not needed for and irrelevant to the situation. 

Now all this can happen in our mind and thinking in a fraction of a second, like it probably did for Adam and Eve.  But it happened because Eve had somehow been more pre-occupied with, and already moved closer to the tree that God had prohibited, rather than staying in what God had gifted. Without realising she had already increased her opportunity for temptation. 

Maybe she had already allowed the eyes of her heart to wander away from thankfulness (honouring) and satisfaction in the sufficiency that God would provide for her, to dishonouring God by elevating/honouring her own opinions/assessments which in turn fed thoughts of dis-satisfaction that God was with-holding something from her.  

I don't say this just from supposition, but also because in 2 Corinthians 11:3 Paul uses the context of Eve succumbing to the deceptive cunning of the serpent in the garden in Genesis to explain that we as Christians can be easily 'led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ'. He doesn't say anything about actions of disobedience but being 'corrupted' from a heart attitude of sincerity and purity in Christ. And that word 'corrupted' comes from the Greek phtheiró whose root meaning according to Helps Word Studies is a 'moving down from a higher level (quality, status) to a lower form'…in other words a loss of honour. Eve's problem, like ours, is a temptation to move away from God being the one to whom we give honour, and from whom we seek our honour.

Ken Ham in a message at an Easter conference in 2019 proposed what he calls the 'Genesis 3 Attack' and that Eve's problem was that she fell for the same temptation that we can all have to question the word of God. This I would suggest is simply another way of saying we have a temptation to not honour God and His Word as we should (Romans 1:21; 2 Thessalonians 3:1). So again, we have emerging in Genesis a context of 'dishonour' that enters the world and underlies the fruit of disobedience.

So by Genesis chapter 3 verse 10….just 10 verses later, Adam and Eve are in a vastly different situation. Honour is lost and shame enters.

Now, Adam and Eve are suddenly aware of something new (nakedness) they had never felt before. They felt vulnerable and exposed for the first time, and they instinctively wanted to cover themselves and hide in fear. No-one had yet explained why they felt this way…but it was such an overwhelming awareness and feeling that it dramatically changed how they acted toward God and his creation and toward each other. It was so powerful it consumed their focus and guided their decision making. 

2. Alienation and fearful Separation emerges in place of Fellowship and Joyful Togetherness

What was joyful open relationship with God suddenly altered and they felt pulled away from the freedom of walking with God. We can only imagine what it must have felt like to suddenly sense shameful separation after only knowing the joy and honour of full fellowship with God.

3. Human efforts to cover our shame don't work 

- Rev Clive  …. the preacher at St Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney last week (as I watched online), interestingly did not emphasise guilt in this Genesis story, but repeatedly emphasised shame. Maybe his Indian ethnic background and ministry focus helps him to recognise the presence and significance of shame in the 'Fall' story, and makes him less vulnerable to the Western presumptions of guilt as the main factor. His observation, I would suggest is 'spot-on'. The issue is primarily about shame. 

Shame makes us want to hide and to cover. We can feel shame long before we understand any guilt-law association. Evidence of a law-breaking is helpful not because it is the critical factor, but because it reveals to us what God already knows before we know it, and shows us what we need to know. Disobeying a law simply reveals a heart that had moved to a place of dishonouring the law-giver. Adam and Eve ate the fruit because they first listened to and believed the lie of the tempter that it might be nice to have the honour of becoming what they were told was 'wise'. They were attracted to an idea that they could be 'more' or 'greater', and thus made a choice to try to access that potential higher status and power. But of course the lie only brought the opposite of honour….and they suddenly felt shame.

Salvation's picture presented

Genesis goes on to show us more of the honour-shame context of sin, and its remedy:

1. Only God Can Cover Our Shame

After his statement that 'human effort to cover our shame just won't work', Rev Clive in his sermon also then said 'human religion never works, God himself must cover our shame'.. 

there are two interesting issues to note here…

a. he insightfully equates 'human religion' with 'human effort to cover our shame'. 

Let's think about this a little more….

Whatever the 'brand' or 'style' or 'cultural requirements', at the heart he recognises that any human religious effort is an effort to find a way to overcome, or outweigh, or cover-up or hide from our shame. Whether that is finding fig-leaves, or re-defining adultery to just being 'consensual sex' or denying that homosexuality is outside of God's plan, or lying to protect a risk of shame to our reputation, or avoiding showing up at a food van or homeless shelter even though we need help because we feel ashamed, or committing suicide rather than go home and face the family after being fired from a job, we are seeking ways to avoid or deny or rid ourselves of shame. 

Religion in its various forms offers ways to join a group or embrace an ideology or do good works or find absolution or redefine what is shameful and not shameful…and becomes a 'way' in which we follow and try to find peace, acceptance, and welcome for our hearts that at the deepest level are aware of some kind of inadequacy - a 'falling short'.

b. The skin's covering was to cover shame

Rev Clive then read chapter 3 verse 21: 'the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them', and pointed out that God got the 'skin' from somewhere and it wasn't like animal skins were just lying around. The skin had to come from an animal. This is something that most Christians are fully aware of, but we often don't make the honour-shame connection. He goes on to unhesitantly say that 'the first sacrifice in the bible is actually performed by God, to cover the sin of humanity, to cover our shame'. He then later points out that this was just a small glimpse of the eternal plan of God to 'send His only Son Jesus to be the perfect sacrifice to cover the sins of the whole world'.

He said:

 'God's ways are higher than our ways, our ways are to grasp at being like God and to blame others to justify ourselves and try to cover our shame, but when the Son of God came into the world, he didn't grasp at being equal with God but humbled himself and made himself nothing'…'he didn't blame others but instead died to take the blame for all of our sins and cover our shame'

2.The Curse Foretells a Coming Honour Restoration 

The curse given to the snake - of permanently travelling on his belly down in the dust, and the promise given that the woman's seed would have his heel bruised but Satan would have his head bruised (Genesis 3:14-15) are also a picture of a future hope of punishment and remedy for our sin-shame condition. Satan would not get away with his deception, but shame would be his lot, and ultimate victory honour would belong to a Saviour to come, who would conquer Satan. Satan may have thought he succeeded in messing up God's design and succeeded in separating humans from God and from each other and having them ejected and rejected from the garden. But in another garden the Saviour said 'not my will but yours be done' and became our shame-bearer, and then in yet another garden he rose victorious over the final shame-separation of death….so that we could join him in honour in a new garden one day in a new heavens and earth (Revelation 21:1; 22:2).

To Conclude…..

Verses like Romans 4:7 remind us that the gospel is not just about lawless deeds being forgiven but about sins being covered, so that as we are told in Romans 9:33 'whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame'.

Romans 8:21,30 and Colossians 1:27 remind us that the gospel is about restoring glory that was lost.

The gospel is the 'honour' answer to the 'shame' problem. It is the grace given to us in Christ - the second Adam (the one who would bruise the head of Satan and provide the perfect covering for sin) that provides undeserved honour in place of the shame (that began with the first Adam in the Garden of Eden).

Sin is inherently a shame problem. 

Guilt is not meant to be the core of the story, guilt from disobedience is just the signpost that reveals and points us to the deeper issue, the deeper need and the deeper remedy. 

Once again Genesis shows us the foundation of what we need to know….don't miss it!

Christ is Coming! The Cradle, Cross... and Crown of Christmas

Christmas is Coming!

with its season of traditions of Trees, tinsel, songs, food and presents.

But we could also say 

Christmas has Come

 - 2000 years ago Jesus entered this world as a baby in a manger cradle as - Immanuel - God with us.

- we remember that first Advent of Jesus when we celebrate Christmas each year (although sadly our world thinks little of the fact that Christmas is about Christ!)

- and yes, the Cradle led to the Cross, Jesus was born to die, for us and thus Christmas is also about Easter, and then about the Ascension of Christ too.

Yet there is a Coming we can often forget, that is truly still to come, a Coming that is the whole purpose of Christmas….

But I rarely hear this talked about at Christmas … this is the 'Coming' spoken about at the end of the last chapter of the last book of the bible - Revelation 22...and I would encourage you to read the whole of the book of Revelation in the lead-up to Christmas Day.

(it is interesting that Handel's 'Messiah' links the gospels to words from Revelation, and is sung at Christmas)....

It's the second Advent, the Coming of Jesus again, his second Coming, not as a baby to die, but as a King to reign.

So maybe we should be saying….Christ mas is Coming

Interestingly enough, for anyone who uses a 'read the bible through in a year' bible reading plan, Christmas lands right at the last book of the Bible. Yet we rarely, if ever, pause to make the connection.

But the cradle and the cross were not the end of the story. The end of the story is yet to come. The purpose of the cradle that led to the cross is yet to come. A shame story is yet to end in full glory.

The Garden of Eden began in glory and quickly descended into shame after only a couple of chapters. From there, until the last couple of chapters in Scripture, that shame of sin stays present in our human story. In the midst of that, from Adam and Eve's sin that ushered in shame for this world - to the shame filled birth of our Saviour laid in a manger - to the shame filled cross on which our Saviour died, it is the  mess that fills the story of humanity's hopeless state. 

But alongside this was another story, one of hope in the midst of hopelessness. 

Jesus let go of his heavenly honour to be born into an honour-less situation in the eyes of people of the world. 

But God gave a glimpse, for those who cared to think and see,

that the road to restored honour had begun. 

For though laid in a manger for a cradle, 

Jesus' birth was announced to the lowly shepherds with a huge angelic choir from heaven, and    

     surrounding them with the glory of the Lord, 

and then he was brought highly valuable gifts from kings. 

Joseph and Mary were willing to endure a life of shame in the eyes of their community 

in order to glorify the Lord and say, 'be it unto me according to your word'.

Then after the most shameful death after a shaming lead-up to death, 

Jesus was given the tomb of a wealthy man from which death could not hold him and he rose again on the third day as he had said

and then he was received back into heaven to the place of honour at the right hand of the Father's throne.

Yet, we who follow Christ, and are found 'in Him' and belong to God's Kingdom family, still endure the shame and suffering as servants of the Master who endured for us.

But we are told that though we experience sin in this world, we have already been given the positional place of glory in Christ, seated with him in heaven.

And the story hasn't yet ended…..

It is the end of the story and the ultimate glory yet to come which delivers our true dignity, defines our lives on earth, drives our perseverance, and determines our destiny. 

It is in the last chapters of Revelation that we see the hope fulfilled of the glory that flows through the story of Scripture, where Satan is defeated to suffer and be shamed forever along with his workers and followers on earth and his demonic forces, and where the saints that make up the church are adorned, and rewarded with crowns, as the full glorification of Christ's body is completed and brought into the presence of God forever and ever.

Immanuel - God with us isn't only a Christmas cradle story, and doesn't even end with the cross, 

but culminates with God's purpose to dwell with man forever (Revelation 21:3) in unhindered glory. 

And yes that is only possible as the holy glory of man, lost at the Fall, is restored in the holy glory of Christ 'in whom we live and move and have our being', so that man and God can dwell together in eternal glory and honour. 

The purpose of the manger-cradle and the cross is not just to have our sins forgiven as an end in itself, but so that the purpose of God's glory story can be fulfilled. 

The shameful cross is only filled with glory and honour for the Christian because the resurrection and ascension leads us to look to the ultimate second Coming of Christ, with his Crowns of honour as King of Kings….where we are not just going to attend a Christmas day roast turkey and ham, but we are called to an eternal marriage supper of the Lamb, as his bride the church, and with the example of the 24 elders, honouring him by laying our crowns at his feet. 

It is as the true glory of man is restored - through being 'in' the glory of the Son and his glory lived out through us, and brought to completion (all to God's glory and honour), that God's glory plan is fulfilled.  Christ's crown of thorns is yet to become the multiple crowns of Revelation 19  (not just in victory over all the kingdoms of the earth, but from the saints crowns given back to him our King).

As the coming year is set to be the crowning of the new King Charles III and media has just announced the late Queen's crown has already been taken to begin alterations to make it fit for the new king, maybe we need to turn our thoughts to much greater crowns and the King of Kings!

Jesus is yet to return to this world with the golden crown of honour as King. We are yet to receive our reward crowns. He is yet to ride and rule with his multiple crowns as King of Kings. We are yet to have the true Christ-celebration feast. We are yet to leave suffering and pain and sin's presence behind. Satan is yet to be judged. Full glory is yet to be known and full honour is yet be given to our God.

But that day is coming!

But also, let us also remember that while we are still on this earth, the Christmas trees and tinsel, songs and presents, must remind us that Jesus is coming again. It means hope for those of us who are found in the glory of Christ. But it also means there is an urgent message to bring to those still in shame and without hope. Let us be spurred on in motivation to share Christ and to more eagerly look toward His Coming again.

Amen, Come Lord Jesus!

Pentecost and the Honour of His Presence

When the electricity fails, and you light a candle, have you ever lit just one candle and then taken that one flame to light many candles and create multiple light sources around a room?  It is certainly a common occurrence at our house. 

In the Old Testament, the symbol of God's presence with his people Israel as they were led out of Egypt and through the wilderness was the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.(Ex 13:21-22, Ex 40:38, Num 9:15) Every day, that cloud/fire was a reminder that the Israelites were God's chosen people/family, with whom he chose to dwell.

When God met Moses at the burning bush, he spoke out of the fire that kept burning but didn't consume the bush.

God is described as a 'consuming fire' reflecting his almighty power and supremecy (Ex 24:17, Deut 4:24, Hebrews 12:29)

The Honour of His Presence Individually as well as Collectively

But God's presence as a fire over the tabernacle, was a corporate and collective presence for his people. His individual people only enjoyed his presence because they were part of the greater group of chosen people with whom God decided to dwell in a very special and unique way.  They knew his honour on them as 'chosen' primarily in a collective sense.

Today on this Pentecost Sunday, I am reminded that God brought the fire of his presence from the collective presence to involve an individual presence. 

We are told that God's presence in the form of the Holy Spirit, was symbolised in the coming of a fire that 'divided up' - 'separated' - into multiple flames, one flame for each individual person. No longer was God's presence a collective presence only. Not only was He with them as a group, but he was going to be in each of them individually, to guide, direct and empower (Ezekiel 36:27).

Prior to Pentecost God's people were still individually accountable, but as far as God's presence was experienced it was primarily by being part of the collective group. 

After Pentecost, God's presence was able to be experienced individually by everyone who belonged to God through Christ. 

Prior: God chose to presence Himself with the collective group in which individuals were a part, thus the individual's access to God was via the collective group. God's presence was something they looked to outside of themselves.

After: God chose to dwell directly in the individuals who then together formed the collective presence of God in Christ by the Spirit. Not only does the Christian enjoy the privilege of the honour of God's presence collectively as part of the body of Christ, but individually and directly as His beloved child. The temple where God dwelt was no longer only external to them, but internally within them as an individual.

In explaining Acts 2:3,  Scholar and Theologian Bill Mounce said:

Just as the Spirit of God rested on the nation of Israel corporately, after Pentecost the Spirit divides and rests on every individual of the new covenantal community.

But in this new reality, Christians can be assured that we don't each have 'part' of the Spirit, but like a flame when it lights many candles, we each fully experience the fulness of the power of God in our lives. 

This is also why, Jesus could say 'I am the light of the world', but also tell his disciples that 'you are the light of the world'.  His presence with us and in us collectively and individually as the many members of his body, is not diminished in any way by God moving from 'dwelling' in one huge cloud/fire and the one room of the Holy of Holies to dwelling within every Christian all over the world. He is not like a soup that you water down to make it go further, but a burning flame given from himself to empower each one of us.

The Honour of the Presence of His Power

In Acts 1:8 we are told that when the Holy Spirit came, Jesus' disciples would receive power. Not just a power to perform miracles but the power of his presence with them, that would enable them to be his witnesses, his ambassadors wherever they went. 

Israel looked outward to the cloud/fire and to be assured of God's presence with them and they had to wait day by day to see where and when the cloud/fire would move to know  if they would move here or there or wherever... and they would then follow the cloud/fire.

But when Jesus' ascended, he gave the command to 'go' into all the world and 'lo I am with you always'. He said when the Holy Spirit came he would enable that 'going' into the 'all the world' that they were instructed to go to.

Habakkuk 2:14 says

"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."

As we go into all the world, we go with the honour of His presence in us.  The wider and more extensively we go in fulfilling our great commission, the more the knowledge and presence of God's glory and honour fills the earth.

In the book of Genesis, the first family of Adam and Eve was meant to 'fill the earth' and cover it with God's image bearers. God's glory and honour in the human beings he created and had breathed his life into, were meant to wrap and fill the earth with His glory and honour.

But as we know, all we as fallen human beings managed to do was fill the earth with failure, sin and shame.

But through the Spirit and in his power, God gives a fresh opportunity for us as the New Family in Christ, spread the good news of restored honour in salvation. 

Right across the globe, the glory and honour of God's presence more and more fills the earth,  to end one day in the new heaven and earth which will be filled with the glory and honour of his presence forever.

Pentecost was both the culmination of God's plan to restore his presence in the life of human beings whom he created to be in his image…and the beginning of the working out of that plan - a plan that he calls us to be a part of, as we bring the good news of reconciliation to those who are alienated from the life of Christ across all nations, so that they too can come to know the reality of God's presence with, in and through them.

We have a great message to share with the world!

In Recognition of the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation: The Reformation and the Restoration of Honour - Part 3

In parts One and Two of this blog series, we looked at three ways in which the Reformation, sparked by Luther nailing his 95 theses to the Wittenburg church door, was about restoring significant issues of honour. And here we come to the final part:

Honour of God's People

One of the main reasons that such God-dishonouring doctrines were perpetuated in the church in the centuries prior to the Reformation, was because God's people were treated as inferior in knowledge and spirituality.  And the Roman Church leadership were assured the people could be kept that way by with-holding access to God's word.  Most people could not read or understand Latin (the language the Scriptures were in at the time, and was not what the people spoke in their daily lives), and even if they could they would be told that only the 'church' could properly interpret the Bible.  Not until shortly before Luther's theses, the printing press had not been invented and a person also would have had to be wealthy to own a bible or bible portion.  Only the noblemen - those in places of high honour in the society - even had a chance to get access to a bible.

We are told in the book of 1 Peter (2:17) to 'honour all men' - in other words there is no special category of people who have any 'higher' honour requirement than another. Everyone should be given equal due honour. As far as our place in God's family - the true church - is concerned there is no position of greater or lesser honour. Our nationality, gender or social position is irrelevent. In Christ we are all equal heirs of his riches in glory (honour).  (Phil 4:19, Col 1:27, Rom 8:17) We are all the saints (set apart) of God, and we are all members of a kingdom of priests with direct access to God (known as the term 'the priesthood of all believers').

The Reformation and the lead up to it with Bible Translator John Wycliffe (often called the Morning Star of the Reformation who lived 1330-1384)), gave to God's people the honour of equal access to the Scriptures, and the honour of an individual being able to come to the Scriptures to learn and know God's truth without always looking to the church for Scriptual knowledge and interpretation.

It restored the fulness of the honour of being able to access God in prayer through Christ without the need of other mediators. 

It restored the honour of the ability to come to God directly in confession of sin and for forgiveness of sin.  

It brought again the truth of the honour of truly being 'in Christ' - the assurance of individually being God's child eternally, safe and secure in Christ forever. 

It restored people to a place of knowing and seeking honour from God alone through Christ alone, instead of the church dictating who was shamed and rejected, and who was honoured and accepted.

It restored the honour of being able to access, read, study and learn from God's word - an honour we so easily take for granted. The average person could know more of the honour of being God's child by having access to God's word in their own language.  No longer did speaking only the local language and not the Latin language of the educated elite, place them in the lower and less honourable position of exclusion from knowing the truth of God's word for themselves.

This all in turn spurred on the ideas we are familiar with today of education and literacy for all, of individual freedom to be creative and innovative, of using one's money and time to develop, invent and build rather than having to spend all one's time and money on the church and securing salvation through buying indulgences.

Rejoice in the Reformation

As Protestant post-reformation Christians, we have so much we can easily take for granted.  But what we take for granted we can also easily lose.  No, it is true no earthly authority can remove heavenly realities and many before the reformation had God's assurance of their salvation even if they in themselves doubted it.  But in the process many people had the truth withheld from them which resulted in confusion, fear, shame, and for some, eternal death because they did not know the Truth which could have set them free. False teaching brings false hopes and false fears.  

We can rejoice that we have access to God's word, can read it for ourselves in our own language, and can buy and own our own full copy, and even multiple copies. 

We can rejoice that we have been able to know the honour of God's salvation in Christ, the honour of access to God's word, and the honour of being one in Christ Jesus as believers together.  

But let us guard the gift we have been given, that many lost their lives fighting for, ….and remember that just like the church became oppressive when it lost sight of the Scriptures many centuries ago, so individual freedom alienated from the authority of God through His Word can, will and has resulted in our current century,  just yet another form of destruction. 

So, as we remember what happened 500 years ago today, let us like Luther, be careful and diligent to be true to the authority of the Scriptures, whatever our nationality, generation, or era, and let us not only know God, but as Romans 1 says, honour Him as God in all things, with thanksgiving!

…..ps

In case you think that this event is saying what the Roman Catholic church was like 500 years ago and its not like it now, please read this article or check out this little video and be challenged that we still need to bring the good news of salvation in Christ alone by grace alone through faith alone to those who are falsely and hopelessly looking to the Roman Catholic church edicts, rules and requirements to save them. 

And if you are interested...take a look at this list of 5 ways in which this event impacted the wider world for the centuries following up to our present day!

In Recognition of the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation: The Reformation and the Restoration of Honour - Part 2

As we continue to look at the honour issues of the Reformation, sparked by Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the Wittenburg church door on the 31st October 1517, following on from Part 1, we come to the next two significant categories of honour restoration:

Honour of God's Word

When we don't honour God as God, we are consequentially not going to honour what God says the way we should. If we honour a human being, human leadership or human systems and rules above God, we are going to honour what they say as authoritative above what God says as authoritative.  And that is what was happening in the Roman Catholic Church.  The church was adding to Scripture's requirements. Words and concepts and regulations and warnings and systems were developed that had no basis in God's word whatsoever. Teaching on such things as Purgatory became central to church doctrine yet are not even mentioned in Scripture, let alone supported.  

God's word had become secondary. The focus was on the teaching of the church and authority of the Pope.  In fact they had gone one step further and made the teaching of the church of equal authority, infallability and holiness to Scripture.  Of course when that happens it is inevitable that the teaching of the church becomes elevated above Scripture.  When supposedly two 'equal' pieces of information conflict, and the church's teaching says that the church leadership speak as the voice of God, no-one is going to question what the church leadership says, and any Scripture that disagrees will be put aside in favour of what the church leadership says. 

To thus treat God's true word with such disregard, is to despise God's Word.  And as God accused and reminded king David when he sinned (2 Sam 12:9-10), to despise God's Word is to despise God Himself. 

There was also an understanding by the Reformers that God's word would lose no honour by being translated into the language that the people spoke.  The honour of God's word was not in it remaining in the Latin language accessible only to those of high church rank and status.  The honour of God's word was founded on its nature and source, not what earthly language it was in. Luther's translating the bible into German, like John Wycliffe before him in England translating it into English, was because they believed God's word would have greater honour in the hearts and lives of the people if they had access to it in a language they could understand and which they spoke on a daily basis.

The Reformation sought to restore God's word to its rightful place, that it might be once again honoured as God's supreme and ultimate authority shared with no other human authority, person or organisational rules, but that it could have the honour of being accessible to everyone in their own language.

Honour of God's Son and Salvation brought through Him

I remember sitting in a Christian Convention as a teenager, many years ago, and hearing the speaker say "Christ+ = Christ- = not Christ"! (ie Christ plus equals Christ minus equals not Christ)

God sent His Son, His only Son to be the only way of salvation for sinful humanity. 

He sent His Son to be the one and only Mediator between man and God.

We are not saved by any other name, only Jesus' name.

When we pray, we are to only pray to God the Father and only in the name of God the Son.

There is only one who sits at the right hand of God the Father, Jesus Christ. Only He is the firstborn from the dead.

Only Christ is the Messiah, only Christ is Immanuel God with us.

And I could go on…..

Mary is not Christ, she is not a mediator between God and humans, she does not hear and answer prayer. 'Saints' of the Roman Catholic Church are not deity in human form, are not elevated to some higher spiritual power after death, and have no power or influence over creation or life on this earth.  To say such things is to say we need more than Christ, which is to say that Christ is not enough for God's saving, sanctifying and sustaining work in a Christian's life.  A view of Christ that says this, is a view of Christ which does not equal who God tells us Christ is.

We are thankful for Mary's availability, obedience, humility and submission to God's will in God's plan, but we don't need her for salvation or answers to prayer.  She has no more powerful or special spiritual connection to Christ, than you or I. 

We are thankful for the lives of great Christians of the past and their example of godly actions but they too are not in any different spiritual catagory from anyone else…..if they truly came to Christ alone as sinners and accepted His full finished work of salvation for them, they were saved just like you and I can be, and if they did not they are just as lost eternally as you or I can be.

Not only was the Roman Catholic church denying the priesthood of all believers which allows us to all access God's throne in prayer directly through Christ, and not giving sole Mediator status to Christ, they were giving authority to priests to forgive sins, an authority that was only God's. 

The 'church' was also saying that salvation was not assurred in Christ.  The 'church' taught that to be saved, or have a good chance at being saved, you had to do good works. You had to participate in the seven sacraments of the church which were believed to be the channels of receiving God's grace including the Mass/Eucharist and Confession. The church had also invented the unbiblical category of 'purgatory' between life on earth and heaven, a category in which the church was telling people if they were to give money to the church (called indulgences) it could help them reduce their time in purgatory and to get relatives out of purgatory and into heaven.

From beginning to end the 'church' was promoting a works based salvation in which people often had no sense of assurance of salvation before or after death, and definitely no assurance if the priest hadn't given it. They had to hope that their 'good works' outweighed their 'bad works', or that they had paid enough indulgences or had relatives who would keep paying after your death.

To think there are some additions needing to be made to salvation in Christ alone, is to not honour God as God, because you are not accepting that God's way of salvation through Christ's once for all sacrifice, is enough.  It's saying you don't believe God when He says it is enough. That, in adddition to saying that the 'church' and its leadership know better, is thorough dishonour of God.

The Reformation was to restore to God's people a right and true understanding that they could be saved by faith alone and grace alone in Christ alone.  It was about restoring the honourable rightful place of God's Son as the sole means and assurance of salvation from sin.

To be continued in Part 3…..

In Recognition of the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation: The Reformation and the Restoration of Honour - Part 1

This is the year of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation - or rather the event that was the major trigger for the Protestant Reformation.

It was October 31, 1517 that Martin Luther, the preacher and professor of moral theology at the University of Wittenberg, nailed his 95 theses to the Wittenberg church door, which served as a bit like the community notice board. It seems he did not intend to start a new church or radical movement, but simply to put forward some issues on which he wanted to spark further discussion about matters in the church he was concerned about. But that wasn't how it turned out.

Yet there is so much to be thankful for because of that event.

When we think about the Reformation, we most readily recall the events themselves, the people involved and the tangible results it brought about of greater access to God's Word and greater awareness of the biblical basis of salvation and a greater assurance of salvation. But underlying the Reformation were actually foundational matters of honour.

In Romans 1, Scripture tells us that we can know about God but fail to honour Him as God. When we fail to honour God as God the way He says to honour Him, we fail to live the way He wants. Even worse is the situation, when the church and its leaders are the ones failing to honour God as God.

The word 'honour' may not have been prominent at the time, in regard to the Reformation, and not really be mentioned even now, but the principle was permeating the whole process. In fact we use the simile of of the word 'honour' all the time when we talk about the Reformation….the word 'glory'. 

The fifth all encompassing 'sola' of the five solas of the Reformation, is Soli Deo gloria: "to the glory of God alone"

The Reformation was all about the issue of 'glory' - the issue of honour, and I see it permeating in four significant ways. Over the next few posts, we will have a look at these.  Firstly we see the…..

Honour of God

By 1517, the church leadership and system had more and more overstepped its role and place. It had set itself up in the place of God. It saw itself as the one to decide if a person's sins would be forgiven, if a person could go to heaven or not, and what rules and regulations should define sin and as the only ones to interpret scripture. It saw itself as the voice and authority of God in the lives of people and in society. 

Not only that, but it was promoting idolatry by having people bow at carved images of Christ and Mary the mother of Jesus, at the feet of church leaders and of religious 'relics'. It set Mary up as a sinless human being to be venerated and as a mediator, encouraging people to pray not only to God but to Mary.  The dishonour of God went even further as certain people were elevated after death into a category of an unbiblical definition of 'saint', appointing them to some mystical position of great spiritual power over earth's events.

The Reformation was about wanting God to be honoured as God.  It was about a desire for God to get the glory He deserved. It was about wanting the Roman Catholic church and its leadership to ascribe the full honour to God that was and is due Him, instead of taking it for themselves. When the church refused, it was time to honour God and the true church of His children, above any earthly organisation that set itself in God's place. 

The Roman Catholic Church might have been saying that they honoured God above all, but in reality they were putting themselves in the authority position of God in the life of the church corporately and the lives of people individually, and that does not honour God as God. 

The Reformers were seeing a church giving more honour to rules and rituals than understanding the reality of God.  The Scripture that comes to mind is 'They honour me with their lips but their hearts are far from me' (Is 29:13, Matt 15:8). The honour of the church system and the honour of its leaders had overtaken the honour of God. The Reformers were zealous for God and His honour above all.

To be continued in Part 2…..

The Message of the Gospel: We are Saved from What?

Photo Credit - Creative Commons

This week was the inaugral Honor-Shame conference in Chicago, which due to unavoidable reasons we were not able to attend.

But it was to be 3 days of wonderful sessions, seminars and discussions with authors, professors, mission practicioners, researchers and others with the common interest of the vital relevance of honour-shame dynamics in Scripture to reaching our world with the gospel, not least those areas whose cultures are steeped in honour-shame dynamics.

The Gospel: its a term much used in evangelical circles of late.

And rightly so…..without the gospel - the good news - we are hopelessly lost for eternity.

However when we use the term 'the gospel' what do we mean?…what do we hope others will understand by it? Do we truly understand it?

Once again a passage of scripture 'jumped out at me' in a new way this morning as I read 'with my honor-shame' eyes open. This time in Romans chapter 10.  I find it is so easy to miss the obvious when we come to scripture with 'guilt-innocence' presumptions.

The gospel is all about rescue.  The good news is that a Saviour was born, died and rose again.  

But what did He come to save us from?

"Sin", you say.

Correct!

But…..

….what does John 3:16 say God sent His son into the world to do?

"give us eternal life"-

"whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life"

Yes, Correct again! but in this verse we are told that Jesus came to bring us eternal life so that we didn't have to….PERISH!  In other words we have been saved from 'death'.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23)

So its not just sin that we have been saved from, but the wages of sin, the inevitable results of sin—death. 

…and we Westerners understand that to mean that physical end of life when we stop breathing and then go to a place of forever physical torture where any sense of physical enjoyment of life is totally finished. But some other parts of the world, in fact the majority of the world, find relational death (full shaming by separation/rejection/isolation) more significant and severe than physical death.

But if we look again at Romans, this time in chapter 10, verses 9 then verse 11 then verse 13 we see what the Apostle Paul explains we are saved from.

In verse 9 and 13 he says what 'will' happen, and sandwiched between these two verses in verse 11 he says what 'will not' happen to us in the process of explaining the impact and effect of this salvation that 'will' happen to us.

Verse 9 says….we will be saved

Verse 11 says ….we will not be put to shame

Verse 13 says ….we will be saved

He doesn't say we will be saved from sin, or from guilt, or from hell, or from judgement or from death or from fear, as much as they may all be part of the 'rescue package'. Instead he does a commentary on a verse from the Old Testament in Isaiah 28:16 that talks about the 'rock of offence' that God has laid down and goes on to say that…

 "everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame".

Paul is saying that to be saved, is to avoid being 'put to shame'. We are rescued according to Paul, from shame.

Remember it is also Paul who explains to us in Romans 3:23 that 

"all have sinned and come short of the glory of God".

In otherwords, the impact of the sin we are in is our not attaining (coming short of) the glory (honour) of God.  If we don't attain honour, by default, we are in the opposite state of shame.  

Honour lost, is shame gained.

We often think about Romans as a book about the law. However, the extensive treatment of the law that Paul gives us in Romans is not to have us think the gospel is all about the law. NO its about showing us that the law was only there to show us how far short we are of the standard we are supposed to be at if we are to have the honour of holiness that God created us to have when He made us in His image.

The law simply reveals our shame. The shame that points us to our sin.

So when we read in Daniel 12:2 that the contrast of eternal life is eternal shame, 

"And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."

or in another translation

"Many sleeping in the ground will wake up. Some will wake up to live forever, but others will wake up to be ashamed and disgraced forever." (God's Word translation)

...Paul is totally consistent with what God was saying all along. And to go back to the beginning, it is also totally consistent with the fact that lack of sin before the fall of mankind was described as a state of being 'naked and not ashamed.' (Genesis 2:25)

Sadly, the prosperity gospel has hijacked the African's natural inclination to see references to 'lack of shame' in Scripture.  'Lack of shame' is of great interest to a people who's lives are controlled in every dimension by an avoidance of shame.  But because we have brought a gospel as evangelicals that doesn't really touch the issue of shame, when the prosperity gospel promises that they 'will not be put to shame' in an earthly cultural sense and instead will be given the honour of wealth and good health/healing, the erroneous teaching is embraced with great eagerness.

The gospel is the good news, that is true.  But it is the good news primarily that Jesus came to be 'our rock of offence' - the spotless, holy and innocent One who endured all shame not just from those on earth but also from His father in heaven….so that He could rescue us from the eternal shame (separation/rejection) that we deserved.

We will be saved…..because we will not be shamed!

Shame lost, is honour gained.

Like Adam and Eve before the fall, we will stand once again unashamed, this time clothed in the honour robes of Jesus Christ our Saviour!

This is the message of the Gospel!