The Gospel: Good Friday leads to Easter
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I love theology; discussing Theos and any and all ideas relating to Him. But it annoys me when many Christians feel we need to go “deeper”. Yes, I am a proponent of deep theological studies. But I think most of the time we need to focus on what is quintessential to our lives: The Gospel. Really, why would we ever need to go deeper than that? We are broken, we cannot make up for our shortcomings, God in his infinite mercy and grace sends his only Son to atone for us, to be the innocent slain lamb. We are truly justified by grace. His resurrection was the final blow; God reigns. That is deep. The Gospel. Simple yet crucial and beautiful.
On Friday, we saw the beautiful tragedy. There, Jesus’ work was finished and the effects of that work are still being felt. We live in the post-Easter world. Jesus returned and holds the priesthood forever. He is calling us to be a part of his Kingdom, his family. That is an offer that no other religion can offer; I think it is worth checking out.
Previous posts:
The Resurrection including Updike’s Seven Stanzas at Easter:
Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.
The Passion of Jesus Christ
The Seven Words of Jesus on the Cross - from the Good Friday gathering at All Saints.
The Reality of Easter
??????????: Some thoughts on John 19:30
Happy Easter! He is Risen!
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i can dig it, matt jones!
at best i used to be of the mindset that the ‘gospel’ was something for new believers, or the good thing that “got you in”.
at worst, i mistook the author of Hebrews to be referring indirectly to the ‘gospel’ when he spoke of such things as spiritual ‘milk’. boy, was that spiritually immature or what?
in fact, i’m convinced now more than ever that theology is a worthless, horrible thing for human beings without the good news of Christ Jesus at the very epicenter. afterall, what good are *any* insights into eternal mysteries (such as the trinity) if the veil hasn’t been torn, our curse removed, and eternal access freely provided for?
keeping the doctrine of the trinity as an example, what blessing is it to anyone apart from the gospel? afterall, all that theologizing would only tell us is that there’s a perfect community that we’re either excluded from forever, or that we have no way of relating to. that’s one of the real implications of so-called “theology” without gospel, and i’m at a loss to see why anyone would give anything more than a warm-diaper about such “knowledge”.
actually, i don’t think anyone does. if you approach theology without ‘gospel’, usually you have to alleviate the tension by either studying theology as a fascinating lie, or creating other gospels, to impart new paths of access to this “God” character.
any which way, i was reading Hebrews again recently, and i’ll leave you to the ‘gospel’ surprises therein, especially concerning the things that are characterized as ‘meat’ for the mature. the list of ‘meaty’ things from ch. 6 get brought up throughout the book, and it’s stunning how they illustrate the centrality of the gospel, especially in opposition to the law, or occultism (angel/oprah worship, etc).
ok, late night ramble over, ttys,
-j
Amen brother!
Gospel is eternal, theology is temporal. Theology is used in the context of believers trying to explain divine nature. But as society and cultures change over time, our descriptions, and therefore our theology, will change as well. The Gospel does not change. It is the same message everywhere and everywhen.
I have, for as long as I can remember, assumed that living on milk as a child or that only having an elementary doctrine of Christ meant that I had to leave “basic” theology and delve into deeper theological issues. I seemed to have forgotten that “land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.” To become a mature Christ follower doesn’t mean forgetting the Gospel and becoming more entrenched in theology; it means to put that faith to work, it means to become wise, it means the Gospel is to become embodied in me! Now that is deep!