One Gospel

In a previous post, I asked you to pick the real description of the Gospel from among three very different explanations. By now you’ve probably realized that all three are true and accurate descriptions of the one true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Some might quibble over my attempt to summarize each perspective in one paragraph. Others might have a sectarian ax to grind. But in general, each of these is a more-or-less accurate explanation of the Good News.

Unfortunately, most Christians tend to emphasize one of these explanations at the expense of the other two. At best, this leads to an unbalanced approach to Christianity and evangelism. At worst, it causes a distortion of the gospel and leads to battles between Christians.

With the exception of a small but vocal group of Christians, everyone agrees that God gives humans the opportunity to choose whether to accept the gospel. (Please keep the debate over this issue at the other blog. Such comments here will be deleted.)

So let’s focus on the choice that one makes in response to God’s call from the three different perspectives.

From the first perspective, God’s call focuses on what Jesus Christ has done for us in his death and resurrection. He calls us to put our trust in Christ and receive eternal life (Romans 10:9, 10).

From the second perspective, God calls us to join the kingdom he is establishing in Jesus Christ. He calls for us to repent and submit to a new Lord, working to advance that kingdom starting right now (Luke 9:23).

From the third perspective, God calls us to accept his unconditional love. He calls for us to give up the impossible effort to make ourselves good. He calls us to live a life of grace (Ephesians 2:8-10).

The interesting thing is that most Christians interpret all three of these passages in the context of the first perspective.

But these three perspectives suggest three different approaches to how we go about living “in Christ.”

We’ll explore that tomorrow.

Pastor Rod

“Helping you become the person God created you to be”