I love talking about the gospel! It's been truly invigorating to read what you've all said about "What is the gospel?" in the comments of the last post. I've actually blogged about that question in the past, at least twice, but I truly wanted to open it up so we could all encourage each other with the truth of "the gospel!" You're still welcome to comment, any time.
Depending upon the version of the Bible, the actual word "gospel" appears around 100 times in the New Testament! And you can bet that gospel "talk" occurs many times over even when the word itself isn't actually used.
Some of my own thoughts on this come from Luke 2. And for me, this just gets things started!
At the birth of Jesus, we find an angel of the Lord appearing before some shepherds who were keeping watch over their flock by night. Luke 1:9 says that they were "greatly afraid." This is probably not a sight you see every day! But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people." The angel goes on to tell them of the birth of Christ the Lord. Then suddenly there was "a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!'" (Luke 1:13-14).
This story shouldn't just be told at Christmastime! This is a year round "gospel" story! Good tidings of great joy... Peace, goodwill toward men...
I like to point out that it says, "goodwill toward men." Not that there's anything wrong with people having goodwill toward each other, but I so often think that the world misses the point here. This is good news because it's all about God's goodwill toward mankind!
That is very good news, " BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US."
ReplyDeleteI note that you were quoting from the KJV. Most of the other translations have an additional part to Luke 2:14. For example the NASB has, "with whom He is pleased." Is this still "good news?" It is to those in whom God is pleased, to those who have recieved His son. But to those who have rejected His Son, ...
I think the best part of the Gospel, is the realization of where we would be with out it.
Correction: Looks like I wrote "Luke 1:13-14," when I meant "Luke 2:13-14."
ReplyDeleteAs far as the additional words in Luke 2:14 (another version says "on whom His favor rests"), I can see it both ways, but I wouldn't be dogmatic about either way.
Using Bino's "gift" analogy, we could say that God has put His gift on the table for all of mankind, because of His goodwill and favor toward all of mankind. However, if they reject the gift and end up in hell, it's not because God didn't have goodwill or favor toward them... it's because they rejected His gift of life.
On the other hand, it could be exactly as you say, Gary. :)
I love how you took notice of those statements that are normally over looked. Such as when Jesus was reading from Isaiah in the synagogue and they all "Marveled at the gracious words that were coming from His mouth."
ReplyDeleteThe grace I hear from most Christians today doesn't cause me to marvel very much. It's all very standard procedure type grace. Yes, it's grace, but you gotta have works theology. Apparently Jesus was preaching a lot more grace than we do.
Matthew,
ReplyDeleteI agree fully! Most of the time when I hear someone talking about grace, there's a huge "but..." that follows, and it's all to often the type of 'but' that negates the grace that's being talked about at the time!