The Bookends of the Gospel: Society & Salvation
March 28, 2010Like bookends, Jesus begins His ministry with an explanation of the Gospel, and ends His ministry with an explanation of the Gospel. What is “Gospel?” Simply put, it’s God’s “good news.” So what are the bookends?
Luke 4:18-19: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Mark 16:15-16: “He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
At the beginning of His ministry, Gospel is clearly defined in “social” terms. At the end of His ministry, Gospel is defined in “salvation” terms. Are these mutually exclusive? Why must progressive Christians embrace only the first part of the Gospel, and why must conservative Christians embrace only the second part of the Gospel? Both are part and partial to the whole Gospel!
Great post!
“Why…?”
I think we often have aspects of life and God that we are drawn to more b/c of who we are and what God has purposed for us (ala Eph 2:10).
As humans we naturally tend to take these things and run with them, and begin to fit God into our own box of understanding.
For example, having always been immersed in the later form of Christianity, when I first began to see and experience the former type of Christianity (the “social” or “progressive”) I was blown away. So many things seemed to make sense that never did before; about God, faith, and what it means to be a follower of Jesus. So, naturally (I use this word purposefully), I pulled away from the later form of Christianity that seemed to lack life and the power and purpose of living in the Spirit.
However, the way God reveals Himself to me and the things that are always at the forefront of my mind spiritually are there for a reason. But God is not limited to those things He has planted in me. He’s created me to be an important part of the body. But no less and no more important than the person in whom God has planted other (and often very different) visions and passions. And it’s actually not a matter of individual importance at all, what is important is that we need each other. Otherwise, there is no body, or at least I’m not part of it, which means I’m not really following Jesus.
This has unintentionally turned into a blog in an of itself, sorry.
My point is that embracing only one part/aspect of the gospel is natural (yes, a play on words again). We tend to stick with the things we most connect with. But, it seems that a partial gospel leads us to put incorrect and harmful boundaries and limits on God and His people, and is therefore ultimately anti-gospel.