The topic around here the past few days has been the scope of the gospel. We're so used to talking about it in terms of individual forgiveness that it's easy to lose sight of what it's really about. Not to mention that we don't consistently get what the gospel looks like on an individual level either.
Marc Vandersluys has been talking about this too. He asks, "Where on earth did we get this notion of Jesus 'Your Ticket to Heaven' Christ?" Referring to N.T. Wright's Simply Christian, he writes:
Biblical faith, according to Wright (and others such as Dallas Willard, I believe), the belief that God is "setting the world to rights", as Wright would put it: restoring justice, truth, beauty and spirituality (and forgiveness fits in there as well!) through the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Christ. And we play a role in this: the Church is to bring God's future-when heaven and earth with permanently intersect or overlap--to the present. We are to live out (perhaps as practice) God's future of justice, mercy, beauty, spirituality and forgiveness here and now. As Wright puts it, Christianity is about "life after life after death"--not about where we go when we die, but what happens after that, when the end and eternity has arrived, when creation is restored, when Jesus reigns and God once more walks among us.
Then today I heard Cornelius Plantinga Jr., president of Calvin College (more on that later). I was flipping through one of his books during the break and read this:
At their best, Reformed Christians take a very big view of redemption because they take a very big view of fallenness. If all has been created good and all has been corrupted, then all must be redeemed. God isn't content to save souls; God wants to save bodies too. God isn't content to save human beings in their individual activities; God wants to save social systems and economic structures too...Everything corrupt needs to be redeemed, and that includes the whole natural world, which both sings and groans...The whole world belongs to God, the whole world has fallen, the whole world needs to be redeemed - every last person, place, organization, and program; all "rocks and trees and skies and seas"; in fact, "every square inch," as Abraham Kuyper said. The whole creation is "a theater for the mighty works of God," first in creation and then in re-creation.
Marc writes, "God isn't working on evacuating us from the world, leaving it to rot--God is working to restore the world, to set it right, and church (and that includes you and me) is to play a part in that!"
We talk about salvation being great, but it's even better than that. That's why there is no one gospel presentation. It's much different, much bigger than we may have been thinking.
Oh man, at this very moment I'm cringing at the errors and poor grammar in those quotes! That's what happens when I don't double-check last-minute changes. Shoot!
I've appreciated your posts on this subject for the last couple of weeks: they've been enlightening and affirming. Keep it up! As I said in my post, this is all relatively new to me.
I am getting the point, really I am.
I've told you before that when you make me think it HURTS! (But, don't stop now, please! Keep it coming, Bro.)
Darryl, I think the hesitation that some of us have (at least I do) is that you're blurring the difference between the saved and unsaved. I think we all agree that the gospel can be communicated differently given the situation - I don't think there is a debate there. I'm just scared that you're belittling the credibility and urgency of individual personal salvation.
What can you say to reassure us?
Jacob,
I appreciate you getting to the heart of your concern.
I would never want to belittle the need of every individual to turn to Jesus. It's an urgent and important issue.
I want to emphasize that salvation is more than a decision, it's a reorientation of our entire lives. And from a human perspective it can sometimes look like more of a process than an event. But I would never want to minimize the need for people to be reconciled to God through Christ.
"We talk about salvation being great, but it's even better than that. That's why there is no one gospel presentation. It's much different, much bigger than we may have been thinking."
What's so great about salvation Darryl, what's so great about it for you? What does it mean to you? What does it mean to be saved?
Ok, so there is no one gospel presentation but you agree the different presentations should get to the core? What is the core?
Darryl do you believe the whole world will be redeemed? Do you believe those who
reject Christ will be redeemed anyway, God's just going to overlook their rejection because they have been so good?
Where does the Bible tell us that redeeming creation is also part of the salvation story? Isn't it true that there is going to be a new heaven and a new earth? But that's just for the redeemed people isn't it? That being the case, what would be THE most important message that we who profess to be the redeemed need to proclaim to the world?
Do you think it is JUST as important for we the redeemed to proclaim to people their need to clean up the environment as it is to get right with God and receive eternal life?
I am getting more confused about what you are saying as this discussion continues. Give us the basics as you see it Darryl, salvation 101 if you will.
Hi George,
This is kind of a funny discussion because it's not really about what I think. The real issue is what the Bible teaches, which seems to be more than what we normally teach.
"What's so great about salvation Darryl, what's so great about it for you?" George, I'm amazed that the Bible didn't end at Genesis 3 with our judgment. I'm amazed that the Bible begins and ends with things the way that God designed them to be.
"What is the core?" God is renewing and redeeming all things through the work of Christ, including (but not ending with) people. We get to be part of that.
"Do you believe the whole world will be redeemed?" If you're asking if all people will be, the answer is no.
"What would be THE most important message that we who profess to be the redeemed need to proclaim to the world?"
Sin and brokenness are not the final word. God created all things to be good, and human beings in his image. Through Christ he is making it possible for sin to be defeated, for us to be who God designed us to be, and for God to be glorified. Those who turn to Jesus and re-orient their lives around what God is doing participate in this great work.
This is such a hopelessly truncated version that it can't possibly say enough, but I recognize our natural tendency to want to get something down to a sentence or two, even though there are dangers to that.
"Do you think it is JUST as important for we the redeemed to proclaim to people their need to clean up the environment as it is to get right with God and receive eternal life?" For some amazing reason, people matter to God and should matter to us as well. They seem to be more important to God than the rest of what he created. So it is a very important thing that people understand what Christ has done for not only them but all of creation.
However, those who ignore the creation mandate given to Adam, and think that the spiritual world is more important than the material world, are making a mistake and also disobeying God.
Hope this helps, George.