September 1, 2009
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"stop trying harder"
Here are two short pdf documents about the gospel that are well worth pondering! They talk about the author's realizations of the dangers of emphasizing "performance" rather than faith / trust / God's grace in our walk with Christ. This message is not new... it is basically the same message preached by the reformers in the 1600's, and by many others before and after... each generation must discover the gospel again for itself...
http://www.stoptryingharder.com/Chapter1.pdf
http://www.stoptryingharder.com/Preaching_to_the_Exhausted.pdf
For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith". Romans 1:17
...Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Galatians 3:3b
Comments (11)
The author is clueless about what the gospel is.
@soccerdadforlife - Really? Could you expand on your comment?
@tim223 - Sure, I've posted about this topic many times. The gospel is defined in I Cor. 15:1-11, not in Romans. Romans covers some theology, but its primary purpose is to build a bridge between Christian Jews and gentiles. Most evangelical leaders don't have a clue what the gospel is, to say nothing of the evangelical laity.
A presentation of the gospel may be given by someone which has more than the essentials which Paul mentions, but any sufficient presentation of the gospel includes all of Paul's essentials. I won't steal your fun by listing the essentials for you. Better that you dig into the text and discover them yourself. Read carefully! It's easy to miss some of the essentials.
@soccerdadforlife -
Thanks for your clarification. I believe that you are greatly mistaken. 1 Cor 15:1-11 is a great short summary of the bare historical facts of the gospel, but the rest of the Bible fills in and clarifies the historical facts and their meaning.
For example, consider this phrase "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures". Who is "Christ" ("the Annointed")? What is his character? What is his history? Why is He trustworthy? Why does His death atone for our sins? Why were sacrifices commanded in the first place? What does "sin" mean? How do you I know that we personally are sinners? When it says "according to the Scriptures", why would Paul say that, if in fact everything about the gospel was already contained in this little section?
@tim223 - You raise three questions:
1. What is a Christ?
2. Does Paul in fact define the gospel in this location? Isn't this merely a list of bare historical facts?
3. What about these other doctrines (which you list)?
1. The meaning of "Christ" is defined by the OT scriptures which Paul references twice, in a general sense. Paul is likely thinking of passages including Isaiah 53 and Psalm 16:9-10 and expects the reader to do the same. The references are to be included in all preaching of the gospel, though for the sake of brevity Paul merely references them here. We can find some specific quotations of those OT scriptures in the preaching of Philip, Peter, and Paul in Acts.
2. Paul begins, "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received..." in verse 1. He ends in verse 11 with, "...so we preach and so you believed." There can be no question that Paul is defining the gospel. This is not merely a bare set of historical facts. Rather, Paul is also including evidences that Jesus is the Christ (by his reference to the "scriptures") and that Jesus rose from the dead (by the many references to the apostolic eyewitnesses). The evidences are where the emphasis lies due to the repetition of each.
3. Those other doctrines which you mention are important, but they aren't part of the gospel. Paul in his definition of the gospel assumes a basic understanding of sin (Romans shows that Paul believes that all men are aware of God's law in some form and of their own sins), though this passage doesn't go into a thorough discussion of sin like Romans does.
So, it seems to me that the issues of the evidences of Jesus as Christ (which includes Jesus as Redeemer) and the evidences of Jesus' resurrection are foremost in Paul's mind when he defines the gospel.
@soccerdadforlife - I agree with you that Paul was emphasizing the eyewitness evidences of Jesus' resurrection in his 1 Cor 15:1-11 quote (likely from an earlier Aramaic creed).
@tim223 - Paul was also emphasizing the OT scriptures about Christ--he wrote "according to the scriptures" twice, which indicates emphasis in so short a space.
How often do you hear anything about the messianic prophecies or evidence for the resurrection of Christ in typical "gospel" presentations?
Do you now agree that Paul was defining the gospel in this short passage? "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel...by which you are saved..."
What are the elements of the gospel based on Paul's definition in this passage? (Don't leave any out and don't add any to Paul's definition.)
@soccerdadforlife -
Notice that in the first few verses Paul alludes three times to the fact that he is repeating what he has already taught them: "the gospel which I preached to you", "if you hold fast the word which I preached to you", "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received".
So then, yes, the next few verses are a brief summary or synopsis in a very condensed form of the gospel. He had already taught them much previously, and he is here summarizing. There are many other summaries and gospel presentations in the Scriptures, and we need to be prepared to present whatever aspects are necessary in our conversations with people. Some people need only a brief skeleton outline, as here. Others need more background. I would not agree that this passage is somehow the only, or even the 'best' 'definition' or summary of the Gospel in the scriptures. I would say a search for the 'best short summary' is a misguided search. God gave us the whole of Scripture, teaching, history, poetry, and all, not just brief summary packages or definitions.... and we ought to be ready to consume and present it in all its many forms...
The "elements" presented here in 1 Cor 15 are: Christ's death, burial, and resurrection "according to the Scriptures", and the witnesses that saw him alive afterward. Paul doesn't say this, but John 3 and James 2 and other places make clear, that it is necessary to truly believe in these facts, from the heart, to be saved... not merely assent-intellectually. Other places talk about "repentance", which is obviously part of true faith/belief. Some people need more evidential reasoning beyond the brief "listing" of eyewitnesses here (e.g. Josh McDowell's books, etc etc). Other people (e.g. the Jews of Paul's time) didn't care so much about whether the miracles occurred, as whether the miracles came from God or from Satan, and for these people Peter's, Stephen's, and Paul's sermons emphasize how the history of God's redemptive plan throughout the OT culminated in Jesus...
@soccerdadforlife -
Also, I think one of the points you're making is that it's important to be ready to share evidence for the truth about Christ that we believe.... historical proof that the events described in the Bible really happened.... and I strongly agree. I would caution that not every person needs this... I've learned this the hard way by being too ready to talk about apologetics sometimes with people when what they really needed was a listening ear or prayer. But I would agree with you that we need to be "prepared"/"ready" to give evidences and rational explanation for our belief....
"but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence..." 1 Peter 3:15
@tim223 - You still haven't understood Paul in I Cor. 15:1-11. Proofs about the resurrection and consideration of the messianic prophecies aren't optional. They are essential.
"I would caution that not every person needs this"
I dispute this statement in the strongest possible terms. "Where the head goes, the body follows." If people aren't interested in proofs, they really aren't interested in any significant way. Now, if you are saying that timing will vary from person to person, I agree. Early on, listening may be all that is needed. Initially, the inquirer may not be interested enough for us to present the evidence.
If you examine carefully the evangelistic sermons from Act, selecting those which are complete (which doesn't include Athens, but includes Peter's sermon at Pentecost and Paul's at Pisidian Antioch in Acts 13), then you will find that the essential elements of the gospel, stated by Paul, are always presented.
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