The definition of the Gospel is the key to a sound understanding of Jesus and the New Testament. Unconsciously, many Bible readers mount a fierce opposition to Jesus, because evangelicals have been systematically taught NOT to think of the Gospel teaching/preaching of the historical Jesus as of very much importance in salvation! (Last month we printed a revealing quotation from Luther showing that this tendency goes back to his own reduced gospel.) Any down-playing of the teaching/Gospel of Jesus — the Gospel as he himself preached it — is really an amazing mistake in view of II John 7-9: “If anyone goes too far and does not remain in the teaching of the Messiah, he does not have Father or Son.”
The teaching of Jesus began in Matthew 4:17 with a ringing command: “Repent in view of the coming Kingdom.” Mark (1:14, 15) summarizes the Christian faith by recording Jesus’ opening salvo: “The Kingdom of God is at hand: Repent and believe in the Gospel [of the Kingdom].” The whole Christian faith rests on that foundation.
Certainly the cross and the resurrection are essential to the Gospel, but they are not the first element in the Gospel. (Paul spoke of the death and resurrection of Jesus as “among matters of first importance” — I Cor. 15:1-3.) The death and resurrection of Jesus follow from the first (Kingdom) element, because no one can gain the Kingdom without the cross and the resurrection. But the Kingdom remains the heart of the One Gospel throughout the NT. The Kingdom provides the content of Christian HOPE, and hope is the second cardinal virtue after love.
There is no reason for doubt on this subject. The Gospel teaching of Jesus about the Kingdom takes up the space of over 40 chapters in the Gospels before a word is mentioned about his death and resurrection. John’s Gospel is a plea for belief in the Gospel/teaching/word/words of Jesus as the basis of salvation: “He who hears my word and believes Him who sent me has the life of the Age to Come [‘eternal life’]” (John 5:24). How can you believe “if you don’t believe in my words?” (John 5:47). That word is defined as the “word about the Kingdom” (Matt. 13:19). Jesus obviously considered an intelligent belief in the Kingdom as the sine qua non — the indispensable factor — of successful faith: He referred to the counter-activity of the Devil: “The Devil comes and snatches away the word of the Kingdom [Matt. 13:19] from their heart so that they cannot believe it and be saved” (Luke 8:12). This is amazingly clear teaching. Salvation, in this central parable, is directly related to an understanding of and commitment to the Kingdom Gospel as Jesus preached it.
When in my 260 radio programs I point this out, I regularly receive comments from long-time Bible students and teachers who say, “We never realized that the Gospel had to do with the Kingdom!” Such is the power of anti-Kingdom propaganda.
Matthew has five blocks of teaching (possibly a deliberate parallel with the five books of Moses), each ending with “When Jesus had finished all these sayings...” The section which begins in Matthew 4:17 (“From that time Jesus began to proclaim…”) ends at the end of the Sermon on the Mount (7:28). In that section Jesus spoke of the only foundation for salvation: adherence to his teaching. That teaching is based on the command to repent and believe in the Coming Kingdom (Mark 1:14, 15) and in view of that Kingdom to develop “the righteousness which must surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees” (Matt. 5:20) — otherwise we will not be fit to enter the Kingdom.
The whole Kingdom program is the gracious act of God who offers us salvation through Jesus and his words and work. Paul, faithfully following in Jesus’ steps, looked back over his entire ministry and described it as “proclaiming the Kingdom” (Acts 20:25). Paul followed Jesus faithfully and continued to preach the Kingdom everywhere.
What a wonderful model for contemporary evangelism.
0 comments:
Post a Comment