What is the Christian Gospel?

From Gospel Translations

---

Revision as of 21:42, 28 September 2008

What is the Christian Gospel?

The gospel is not just a sequence of steps (say, the "Four Laws"of Campus Crusade or the "Six Biblical Truths" of Quest for Joy ).Those are essential. But what makes the gospel "good news" is that it connects a person with the "unsearchable riches of Christ."

There is nothing in itself that makes "forgiveness of sins" goodnews. Whether being forgiven is good news depends on what it leadsto. You could walk out of a courtroom innocent of a crime and getkilled on the street. Forgiveness may or may not lead to joy. Evenescaping hell is not in itself the good news we long for - not ifwe find heaven to be massively boring.

Nor is justification in itself good news. Where does it lead?That is the question. Whether justification will be good news,depends on the award we receive because of our imputedrighteousness. What do we receive because we are counted righteousin Christ? The answer is fellowship with Jesus.

Forgiveness of sins and justification are good news because theyremove obstacles to the only lasting, all-satisfying source of joy:Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is not merely the means of our rescuefrom damnation; he is the goal of our salvation. If he is notsatisfying to be with, there is no salvation. He is not merely therope that pulls us from the threatening waves; he is the solidbeach under our feet, and the air in our lungs, and the beat of ourheart, and the warm sun on our skin, and the song in our ears, andthe arms of our beloved.

This is why the New Testament often defines the gospel as,simply, Christ. The gospel is the "gospel of Christ" (Romans 15:19;1 Corinthians 9:12; 2 Corinthians 2:12; 9:13; 10:14; Galatians 1:7;Philippians 1:27; etc.). Or, more specifically, the gospel is "the gospel of the glory of Christ." (2 Corinthians 4:4). And even morewonderfully, perhaps, Paul says that the preaching of the gospel isthe preaching of "the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Ephesians3:8).

Therefore to believe the gospel is not only to accept theawesome truths that 1) God is holy, 2) we are hopeless sinners, 3)Christ died and rose again for sinners, and 4) this great salvationis enjoyed by faith in Christ-but believing the gospel is also totreasure Jesus Christ as your unsearchable riches. What makes thegospel Gospel is that it brings a person into the everlasting andever-increasing joy of Jesus Christ.

The words Jesus will speak when we come to heaven are: "Enterinto the joy of your Master" (Matthew 25:21). The prayer he prayedfor us ended on this note: "Father, I desire that they also, whomyou have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory"(John 17:24). The glory he wants us to see is the "unsearchableriches of Christ." It is "the immeasurable riches of [God's] gracein kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:7).

The superlatives "unsearchable" and "immeasurable" mean thatthere will be no end to our discovery and enjoyment. There will beno boredom. Every day will bring forth new and stunning thingsabout Christ which will cause yesterday's wonder to be seen in newlight, so that not only will there be new sights of glory everyday, but the accumulated glory will become more glorious with everynew revelation.

The gospel is the good news that the everlasting andever-increasing joy of the never-boring, ever-satisfying Christ isours freely and eternally by faith in the sin-forgiving death andhope-giving resurrection of Jesus Christ.

May God give you "strength to comprehend with all the saintswhat is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to knowthe love of Christ that surpasses knowledge" (Ephesians3:18-19).

Savoring and waiting,
Pastor John