Skip to main content

What is the Gospel? (Why does it have to be so complicated?)

I've just been reading Tom Wright's new book 'Simply Good News' and have three questions for you.

  1. How much Bible background do people need to have to be able to understand the gospel?
  2. What, exactly, is the good news that we proclaim?
  3. How does this change when we share it cross-culturally? i.e. can it be contextualised, and if so, what are some examples? What is core to the gospel across all cultures? (See Roland Muller, 'Honor & Shame' p102-103 for some ideas.)
These questions bug me when I read books by Tom Wright. All of a sudden the four spiritual laws don't seem to be long enough:
  1. God Loves You!
  2. All of us have done, said or thought things that are wrong. This is called sin, and our sins have separated us from God.
  3. God sent His only Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins.
  4. If you want to accept Christ as your Saviour and turn from your sins, you can ask Him to be your Saviour and Lord by praying a prayer like this: "Lord Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. Please forgive my sins and give me the gift of eternal life. I ask you in to my life and heart to be my Lord and Saviour. I want to serve you always."
So, what do we need to know about creation and covenant? Neither are mentioned in the four laws but Tom Wright makes a big deal about them. There's a useful review of his book here: review.

OK so I'm not going to give any answers here, because I want to generate some discussion.



Comments

  1. Tracy P.29 April 2016 at 05:35

    I'm glad you put this out here, David. I was hoping to get to peek in on some informed discussion. Formulas make me uneasy. Our churches our big on Vacation Bible School, and they drill the "ABCs of becoming a Christian". A=Admit to God that you are a sinner. I have led the training for years, and I always say that before A is #1, you are God's unique and treasured creation, born to bear his image--i.e. sin is NOT the essence of who you are. Would love more of your take on this. I studied "Surprised by Hope" with our small group several years ago, and might have to check this one out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dawut3 May 2016 at 00:48

      This book seems to summarise his teaching in several others, but the layout is rather helpful. Re. starting with us as sinners, see my summary of an email discussion below:

      Delete
  2. Dawut3 May 2016 at 00:45

    I posted this blog on an email discussion group for Scripture Engagement specialists and got some great responses:
    - We need to ask 'Who is God?' first
    - Jesus 'manifesto' in Luke 4 (when he reads from Isaiah in the synagogue) is a good place to start
    - as is the Apostle's Creed
    - the 'good news' taught in the NT is all of Jesus' life, ministry, suffering, death, resurrection, ascension...
    - and is the fulfilment of OT prophecy of a coming Messiah
    - is to do with the coming of God's Kingdom on earth and in people's lives
    - starts way back in Gen 3:15
    - people don't need to understand all of the gospel in order to become a Christian
    - 1Cor 15:3-11 seems to be a summary of the gospel, as Paul saw it
    - if you want a theology of the atonement don't forget Christus Victor: http://www.ijfm.org/PDFs_IJFM/26_3_PDFs/26_3_Howell.pdf

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Flow Chart for Bible Translation (a Relevance Theory Approach)

One of the current theories behind modern translation work is Relevance Theory. [1] Here is a flow chart that explains the process often used to produce a draft when using such an approach: *Make sure your translation committee makes the decision as to what kind of translation they want. A domesticated translation is one that submits to dominant values in the target language [2] whereas a foreignized translation is one that is happy to import foreign terms and ideas from Hebrew, Greek, or the language of wider communication such as the Greek term baptizo . The chart looks something like this: Text                                   Communicated Ideas                  Context A sower went out to sow  A farmer went out to sow grain   People scattered/threw seed etc. The text has very little information, but behind i...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Plea Regarding Footnotes in Bible Translation

Recently I was giving input to a team who had worked on Psalms. I noticed that in several places they had included footnotes referring to the New Testament use of those Psalms. One example was a footnote in Ps 34:20 'not one of [his bones] will be broken' that referred to John 19:32, 33, 36 where this prophecy is fulfilled. Now, obviously this is a useful link for readers, but it is better to put it in John's gospel referring back to Psalms. Why? Because the New Testament is (to some extent) a commentary on the Hebrew Bible, whereas the reverse is not true (the Hebrew Bible never refers to the New Testament). There are often two possible ways of reading a Psalm: In its original context, and  As interpreted by the New Testament writers. This is quite important, as the Hebrew Bible belongs to two faith communities, the Jews and the Christians. (Muslims too, to some extent, though they refer to the Torah and the Psalms only). If we translate the Bible in such a way that it onl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Integral Mission vs. Holistic Mission - What's the Difference?

 A lot of people are talking about integral mission these days, whereas the idea of holistic mission seems to have fallen by the wayside. What's the difference? Holistic mission is mission to the whole person, taking into account their physical as well as spiritual needs. Evangelism is combined with social action. Unfortunately, this term has been used for some years now, and much mission that was labelled 'holistic' was mainly social action. Integral mission has more focus on communities and their felt needs. What issues of poverty and (lack of) justice are there? How can a given community begin to address these issues? What input do they need from outsiders as they do so? How can they define kingdom goals that will bring them out of their physical and spiritual poverty? Lausanne defines it here . The fact is that the neediest communities are often ones that lack the Bible, and lack a clear orthography (alphabet corresponding to the phonemic system of the language, and tha...
Post a Comment
Read more