NO pictures, just boring text..

The anemic Gospel that has dominated, at least the US goes as follows:

God made man so that he could have a relationship with him.
Man sinned, preventing the possibility of that relationship.
The penalty for sin is death. (read: go to hell)
Everyone has sinned so we are all going to die.
God sent Jesus to die for us so that we don't have to.
If we believe that Jesus died for our sin, and that God raised him from the dead, then we can go to heaven when we die.

As on who believes that his calling is to preach the Gospel, I have had issues with this that I have not been able to articulate. How could my primary preaching be the Gospel when it is something so seemingly irrelevant to daily life?? Most churches that I know confront the same dilemma by throwing it in there maybe once or twice during their preaching schedule, and always on those Sundays that are specifically branded as "evangelistic". So here are the questions that I have, when did this become the Gospel? What is right about it? What is missing? 

I had the privilege of teaching the college class at our church these past two Sundays. For my text I chose 1 Corinthians 15. I chose this chapter because it deals with what I increasingly consider to be the heart of the Gospel, our hope of bodily resurrection from the dead. In this chapter of the Bible Paul basically declares that without resurrection life, faith, and ministry are κενος (empty, meaningless). He also writes that without the resurrection of the body those who have died have απολλυμι (perished, cease to exist). But because of resurrection life has meaning and what we do for the Lord is not κενος, and our hope of resurrection should motivate us toward fervent ministry.

I know what you are thinking, long blog posts suck!! Hang in there. The primary problem with dominant, albeit anemic gospel that we preach is that it leaves out the resurrection of the dead. Sure we give props to Jesus being raised, but my guess is that we think of this in terms of him somehow existing in a spiritual (read: immaterial) form, rather than in the bodily (flesh and bones, Luke 24:39) form that the Bible declares that he presently has . It also emphasizes going to heaven when we die, but at the end of Revelation (ch.21) the the city of God comes down to earth, not vise versa. This distortion has many ramifications, the worst being a self centered faith that is largely marked by apathy. Three specific consequences:

1. The gospel that we teach leads us to think of our salvation in terms of our soul and not our whole being, especially our bodies. 

2. It focuses the import of the message on what happens when we die, an event that for those who are living is yet future, and with the result that our salvation becomes irrelevant to our daily life.

3. It suggests that the primary benefit of the Gospel is a personal relationship with God, resulting in a general disregard for others. This is the most menacing because it creates a space for you to completely ignore love for your neighbor while simultaneously appearing sooo spiritual as you work on your personal relationship.

Here is how our hope of resurrection can tweak these and lead to a more vital faith and practice of Christian belief (look at Romans 12 for some interesting parallels):

 

1. We are saved as wholes not just souls. Our bodies are not inherently bad, and what we do in our bodies matters and will somehow have continuity with the glorified body (complete with flesh and bones!) we receive upon resurrection. (12:1-2)

2. Paul describes our glorified body as πνευματικον (animated by the Spirit). Since we have already received the Spirit we can experience the glory and power of the resurrection as the Spirit works in us and through us to conform us to Christ. Our salvation is not some future event but a present reality with immense implications for our daily life. (12:3-8)

3. Our salvation is not meant to be a personal matter. Instead we are saved so that we can then save others, and we do this by putting their interests before our own. (12:9-21)

Now this is a Gospel I could preach! I can thank NT Wright for starting me down a road that has challenged and inspired me. Whitney has suggested that this could just be one of those seminary fads (you know, one of those things that you learn, then get so stoked that your all about it...for a semester), but I am not so sure, especially if I do end up being a preaching evangelist.