Rediscovering the Gospel

I contributed this week’s ‘Word for the Week’, a weekly email service provided by the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God – the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son… Jesus Christ our Lord… God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness… I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes… for in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed…

Romans 1:1-4, 9, 14-17

This week sees the 500th anniversary of an event which arguably set in motion what has come to be known as the Reformation. Martin Luther’s 95 theses, nailed to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg – serving as a public noticeboard – were an invitation to debate. They were triggered by the sale of indulgences (pardons for certain types of sins), but quickly led to other questions about how we know God and how we can be right with God. For Luther and others, at their heart was the nature of the gospel itself.

Whatever we make of Luther, the Reformation, and its aftermath, it’s vital for us constantly to return to what really matters. It’s all too easy for our faith to become about who we are and what we do when it’s first and foremost what God himself has done – for us and for the world – in Christ. The gospel is not some abstract teaching about the nature of salvation, but the announcement of the good news that God saves.

In these opening verses of his letter to the Christians in Rome, Paul makes it clear that the gospel is focused on ‘Jesus Christ our Lord’ and rooted in Scripture, the fruition of promises made long ago through the prophets. Nor is it merely a private claim, but one of public truth – it’s good news for the whole world.

Small wonder, then, that the gospel defines Paul and his ministry, that he is set aside for it, that he is so eager to preach it. Recall what he says of the gospel: the declaration of God’s saving power through the work of his Son, not least by bringing men and women into relationship with himself, which comes about as it always has done – through faith, from first to last – and which is available equally to all who believe, breaking down barriers between ethnic groups in the process. How could he be ashamed of that?

And, since belief in the gospel comes bound up with a particular view of reality – of God, creation, humanity, sin, redemption – we discover that it provides the perspective from which to view the whole of life. Whole-life discipleship begins with the gospel.

Wherever we find ourselves today, and whatever we have to turn our hand to, may the God of the gospel of Jesus Christ be our strength, our joy, and our hope.

Word for the Week – Whole Life, Whole Bible: The Gospel of God

For more than eight years, LICC's free weekly email service – Word for the Week – has provided a short reflection on a passage from the Bible, noted for their profundity-in-brevity as well as being earthed in real-life contexts. Many of these are now available in an archive on the relaunched website.

The relaunched website coincides with the start of a new series of 50 Word for the Week emails – Whole Life, Whole Bible – designed to take subscribers through the main contours of the biblical story. The series hopes to show how whole-life discipleship is an integral part of the gospel and is woven through Scripture as a whole, from creation to new creation, from the garden of Genesis to the city of Revelation.

Questions will be included with every email, designed to stimulate further reflection and action, so that the engagement with God's word might affect the heart and hands as well as the head.

The following was published yesterday as a ‘bridge’ between the ‘old’ series and the ‘new series’…

‘Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God – the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son… Jesus Christ our Lord… God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness… I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes… for in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed…’ (Romans 1:1-4, 9, 14-17)

Again and again, I find myself needing to come back to what really matters. It’s all too easy for my faith to become about who I am and what I do – my values, my intellect, even my discipleship – when it is first and foremost what God himself has done – for me, for us, for the world – in Christ. Many religions begin by telling men and women what they should do; Christianity begins by telling us what God has done.

There is a word for it – ‘gospel’ – referring not to some abstract teaching about the nature of salvation, but to the proclamation of the good news that God saves.

In these opening verses of his letter to the Roman churches, Paul makes it clear that the gospel is focused on Christ and rooted in Scripture. It’s about what God has achieved through his son – Jesus Christ our Lord – the fruition of promises made long ago through the prophets. Nor is it merely a private claim, but one of public truth – good news for the whole world.

Small wonder, then, that the gospel defines Paul and his ministry, that he is set aside for it, that he is so eager to preach it. Recall what he says of the gospel: the declaration that God’s saving power is putting the world to rights through the work of his Son, not least by bringing men and women into a right relationship with himself, which comes about as it always has done – through faith, from first to last – and which is available equally to all who believe, breaking down barriers between ethnic groups in the process. How could he be ashamed of that?

And, since belief in the gospel comes bound up with a particular view of reality – of God, creation, humanity, sin, redemption – we discover that it provides the perspective from which to view the whole of life. Whole-life discipleship begins with the gospel.

Wherever we find ourselves today, and whatever we have to turn our hand to, may the God of the gospel of Jesus Christ be our strength, our joy, and our hope.