Is Your Gospel Too Small?

Disclaimer 1) this is a post rife with difficulties.

Disclaimer 2) this is a post with much left unwritten.

Disclaimer 3) this is a post with which some in The Church may struggle.

Disclaimer 4) this is a post with which some in the world may struggle.

Disclaimer 5) the struggles of #3 and #4 are not the same struggles.

Disclaimer 6) this is a post I am humbly undertaking...I am open to dialog.

Disclaimer 7) the implications of this post, and all the above disclaimers, point to the beauty of God’s Story (albeit incompletely).

There is, perhaps, nothing more central to the Christian message than the gospel. I suppose an accurate equation could be “Gospel = Christian Message.” And here is where our list of disclaimers becomes a factor.

The above disclaimers now engage us because I am using human language in an attempt to describe that which is, ultimately, indescribable – God and the things of God. Now this is not to say our human language is useless in talking about God. Yet it is to say human language continually falls short when talking about God. There is too much left unsaid, unknown, incomplete, and quite honestly open to wrong interpretation.

For example; to talk of God as Father is a Biblical truth (e.g., Deut1:30-31; Ps68:4-6; Mt5:45; 6:9; Rom1:7; Rev1:6, and Mk14:36; Rom8:15; Gal4:6). Yet for many, to think of God as “Father,” is quite unpleasant (even repulsive) because their earthly father was abusive, distant, sexually exploitative, or perhaps even unknown. This illustrates a struggle/tension concerning cataphatic and apophatic statements about God. What those strange terms mean is this: cataphatic statements are positive statements about God and apophatic statements are negative statements about God. So in relation to “God is Father” we need to understand He is indeed “Father” (apophatic), but He is unlike any earthly father you have ever known (apophatic). Unfortunately, all of our earthly fathers fell short of giving us, their children, God’s best. Equally unfortunately, as a father now, I know I fall short of giving my children God’s best. There is a real (and often ignored) danger which must be worked through by everyone seeking to follow Jesus. The danger is that of seeing God – the Heavenly Father – through the lens of their earthly father. God is indeed “Father,” but not like any father you have known.

Wow, I think I now need to add Disclaimer 8) “at some point I am bound to ramble and get a bit off topic,” and Disclaimer 9) “by God’s grace He will bring me back around to making something resembling coherent sense – and the ramble will be helpful in some way...I hope,” and for good measure, Disclaimer 10) “thank you for continuing to read this post.” OK, that is not really a disclaimer; I just wanted another to end on one of the numbers used for completion in the Bible (Bible study insider joke).

All of that said, what is the gospel? A rather standard answer in Christian circles is Paul’s description in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 (or so) - "Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, ² and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. ³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶ Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me."

We will talk about this very important text in due time. Yet for now I simply want to make two observations about the word “gospel.”

Observation 1) the Greek word underlying gospel [εὐαγγέλιον] means “good news.” This can be seen with the prefix “eu” – good; cf. eulogy – a “good word” about someone in a funeral service, and the word root “angelos” – messenger; cf. “angel” – a messenger, who may in fact be preternatural. So at its core the gospel is “good news.” However, this leads us to…

Observation 2) the word “gospel” is a completely relative term. In other words, what is “good news” for one may well be “bad news” for someone else. In fact, this is how the nouns and verbs related to “gospel” are used in the Old Testament.

For example, the death of King Saul was spread as “good news” (verb form) for the Philistines (1Sam31:9). Yet while lamenting this news David does not want it “published” (verb form) lest more Philistines rejoice (2Sam1:20). In other words, the “good news” of Saul’s death was not so good for the people of Israel – even if some thought it could be leveraged to their advantage (cf. 2Sam4:10 – both noun and verb forms).

So where does all of this leave us? It leaves us with a few more disclaimers: Disclaimer 11) “this will not be the only post on this topic,” and Disclaimer 12) “I pray these words and thoughts will continue to shape me and all who read them.” 

It also leaves us, I hope, with the door at least open to the possibility that “the gospel” is larger – and I will add more beautiful – than we ever realized. Perhaps even more beautiful than we ever dared to dream or imagine. But yet…isn't that so like God?