Jesus preached the gospel of God’s kingdom arriving in him. God was fulfilling his promises in Jesus by reclaiming the world as his rightful domain through the deliverance of his chosen people. Paul preached Jesus as the mysteriously revealed Messiah and Lord, through whose death and resurrection God acted to save the world. Jesus saves by ushering in the new age, offering himself as a sacrifice for sins, exposing the evil powers and basic principles that enslave humanity, unveiling the depth of God’s love as well as the image of authentic humanity, etc.
In the Roman world “gospel” announced political victory or accession to the throne. It celebrated the beneficent reign of a new ruler. The “good news” was that Augustus now reigned as emperor, and this news was good because it meant stabilized taxes, better roads, pirate-free seas, and the possibility of a fair trial. (Or so the story went.) Similarly, “gospel” in the Old Testament announces God’s victory first of all, and subsequently the blessings attached to God’s reign.
Put all this together and the gospel is the declaration that Jesus of Nazareth is the world’s true and rightful Lord, who became king by overcoming all rivals through his death and resurrection. This news is good because Jesus is good, because his reign means forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, liberation from bondage, peaceful unity between races and factions, hope of transformation now and glory in the world to come.
This is the gospel. Let it live.
. . .
NOTE: In light of my 30th birthday and in honor of the guys who have all the fun, I’ll be offering thirty reflections in thirty days starting December 19th. Today’s post is #7 (see the so-far list here). The only rule is that I have 250 words to make my point. After that just stop reading. Thanks for making my blog part of your internet experience.
to tell the truth 
Tyler Stewart said:
I’m loving the 250-word-limit posts. I’ve read every one and this one was not what I expected. In fact, I think it strays from the best part of the 30 for 30 series. This post seemed oddly abstract in comparison with the others. I feel funny saying — er, typing– that because I rarely disagree with you. Really, I am not so much disagreeing as asking you to clarify. In each of your 30 for 30 so far you have been explicitly personal. How this lesson has affected, shaped, challenged, and transformed you. So, while you know I eschew broad sweeping “application” as the direction toward which Christian speech and writing must move, how does one let this old story “live”?
What might it mean to let the gospel live? How did the gospel start to “live” differently in your life when you learned that it’s about God’s reign rather than just helping you as an individual? How do the competition from other gospels change you? Obviously, there are a lot more than 250 words that could be typed to answer these questions, but these were the first thoughts that came into my head when I read this post. Since I know that words matter I thought I should express them.
Michael DeFazio said:
Yeah, this one fell a bit flat for me too. But I should clarify one thing, there really isn’t a genre for the 30 for 30. The first week had a certain feel, this week will shift gears a bit, and so on and so forth. Next week will start to feel like last week again.
I think for this one I was just trying to do more than I’m capable of in only 250 words. I’ve spoken often about the gospel being “shrunk” by pretty much all of us in different ways (usually by emphasizing one aspect to the exclusion or marginalization of others), so here I decided to switch metaphors and imagine us choking (or not) the life out of the gospel. The idea came when studying Colossians and noting how Paul speaks of the gospel message in personal terms as something/one that acts on its own.
I know I’m not answering your questions, but we can do an interview some other time. 😉
Glad you commented!
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Ryan McCracken (@likemindead) said:
Sounds like you could have saved Scot McKnight some time (i.e. his latest book The King Jesus Gospel). ;-]