What is the Gospel?

In the last post, I raised eyebrows at 9 Marks's presentation of the Gospel. I didn't go into it too far, but I did say that the Fall is not a part of the Gospel, and that Jesus died to save us from our sins is basically it.

There is more to be said here.

Insofar as many who identify as "deconstructing" are struggling with this, I figure my view on things is unlikely to hurt and might even help.

So, first, how do we know what the Gospel is? Well, the Bible. How do we know the Bible is true? I don't want to get bogged down in the details of epistemology here, but let's start with what I take the Gospel to be.

Good News

The name about sums it up, in a lot of ways: The Gospel is the good news or Good News full stop. It is good news par excellence, the best possible news. If you hear it, and that is not how it strikes you, then you have not actually heard it. Either they said "another gospel" or you misheard--and, these days, I'd predict the former.

And what is this best news? Well, what is your greatest fear? What keeps you up at night? What is the worst evil, the greatest guilt you carry deep in your heart where you hope no one ever gets to see? What secrets do you want to take to the grave? The Gospel is the good news that the omnipotent one cares so deeply about all those things, knows all your darkest secrets, and cares about them, loves you, and came to be God With Us.

The Gospel is not that you are worse than you can imagine, but God loves you more than you can imagine, but that God knows you through and through in love. I don't need to tell you about the fall. I need to tell you that it's going to be okay because God still loves you. Even if you stand across from me saying "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and gosh darn it people like me!" I can look you squarely in the eyes and tell you that God loves you and--if the Spirit is working--you might just break down in tears. That "gosh darn it" gives the game away, you know.

The Gospel isn't "you're bad, but..." but rather "God knows you already and still loves you, so it's safe now. You can admit your guilt, your secrets, because God already sees and proves that you are still loveable by loving you."

The good news is good news because it deals with the worst kinds of news. It carries us through with hope that God has not spared his own Son in making things right.

How Do You Know?

I know because I built my life on it and it hasn't fallen yet. I started tentatively, cautiously--can this be real?! But as I tested it, I have found it to make life feasible, to give a depth of understanding of people I could not manage by worldly wisdom, and to be climactically freeing.

"Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." I learned that before I learned to read, and I asked how we know the Bible is true soon after, but I have only grown more confident in it.

The Bible gives a picture of love which is true to life and demanded by our weaknesses. It told me that Jesus knows me and still loves me--even when I am overwhelmed with guilt--and I took hold of that promise, so I trust the Bible.

Sanctification

And that Gospel really does change us. Because if you believe this is what you deeply need, and if you believe that this is how humans are deeply wired, it changes how you relate to people. Love has to be unconditional, because I already know you are worse than you appear, and yet I also know that the holy one loves you so far as to die for you. I know I need this deep love which wants to know me as I am, accepting my faults without excusing them, and so I must at least aspire to love like that. I am guilty of being unloving, of course, but--here's the Gospel!--Jesus still loves me. I return again to that knowledge, mourn my hard-heartedness, and return to love again. I can bear all things because Christ bore all things for me, even when I have sought my own fame and worldly acclaim rather than his deep love.

My sin is not in seeking too much for myself, but in fearing being known because I often forget the Gospel: Jesus literally died for me, and he will love me when I fail.