Wednesday, June 29, 2016
By Colton Allen
The gospel should never be reduced to simply a message of personal salvation. Doing so leaves us with a malnourished understanding of the gospel. It is much more than a message of personal salvation, but this is not to say that personal salvation is not an important part of the gospel. Instead, personal salvation needs to be understood in its appropriate context: a story within the gospel narrative.
The gospel is the good news about the kingdom of God coming and with it life, truth, beauty, goodness, and love uncorrupted. The good news is Jesus the chosen one of God, the messiah, ushering in the kingdom of God and defeating sin and death. However, this was not done in a way we would expect. This messiah, this Jesus, initiated the coming of the kingdom of God and the end of sin and death by dying a death fit for criminals and slaves: crucifixion.
This is quite the quandary. How does a crucified messiah bring in God’s Kingdom? How does death overcome sin and death? Jesus the messiah was crucified to say “Yes!” to these questions: “is there a loving God?” and “will every bad thing become untrue?”
From God’s very being come forth life, truth, beauty, goodness, and love. If these things come from His very nature, then He must make untrue all things contrary to His nature. There is no room in the kingdom of God for sin or death….
Read the full article at: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2016/06/27/when-gospel-meets-kingdom/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=socialnetwork