David Fitch on gospel proclamation

At this rate of discovery I am beginning to think the shift in how we define the gospel is getting to the point of near "consensus" at the scholarly level. Check out this quote by David Fitch:

"...we must understand we are speaking “reality” into people’s lives by the Spirit and we too are being challenged and changed in the process. This dynamic of proclamation I believe has been lost because a.) our preaching has become limited to a teaching exercise, and b.) we have limited the gospel so narrowly we have lost many if not all the entry points with our culture. I hope to address some of these issues in forthcoming posts."

You can read more here: http://www.reclaimingthemission.com/proclaiming-the-gospel-in-the-neighborhood/

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Gal 4:8-20 - The gospel unchained

The last verse in Galatians referencing the gospel is 4:13 in the context of Paul transitioning from the Galatians' enslavement to their freedom:

8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods.⁹Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits? How can you want to be enslaved to them again?¹⁰You are observing special days, and months, and seasons, and years.¹¹I am afraid that my work for you may have been wasted.
12 Friends, I beg you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong.¹³You know that it was because of a physical infirmity that I first announced the gospel to you;¹⁴though my condition put you to the test, you did not scorn or despise me, but welcomed me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.¹⁵What has become of the goodwill you felt? For I testify that, had it been possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.¹⁶Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?¹⁷They make much of you, but for no good purpose; they want to exclude you, so that you may make much of them.¹⁸It is good to be made much of for a good purpose at all times, and not only when I am present with you.¹⁹My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,²⁰I wish I were present with you now and could change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

The word 'gospelled' is straightforwardly speaking about Paul's original preaching of the gospel message to the Galatians due to illness. The whole purpose of Paul writing this letter is to move the Galatians back to simple, obedient, Spirit-led faith in that message rather than a complex system of religious observance and practice being introduced to them. The perversion of the gospel message is the addition of observing the law to be considered part of Israel and to receive eternal life. This is not purely doing the 'right' thing in terms of sin, but also the proper religious observances including rituals of circumcision, Sabbath keeping, festivals, etc.

As far as concluding how Galatians defines the gospel, we can say that it largely assumes the Galatians know its message already. However, the implications have been distorted by others adding requirements to what Jesus has already achieved, the 'righteous' status as Abraham's children declared by God, and what the Spirit is at work doing in their lives.

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Gal 3:6-9 - Abraham heard the gospel

This post has been a long time coming. but I did get other posts up including my short, medium, and long definitions of the gospel. I'm sure these definitions will be altered by the time this blog covers the use of the 'gospel' noun and verb in the New Testament, but they will work for now. I've decided to leave some assessments of the texts I look at open for additions from you. This text is a good example.

I've skipped over a large section of Galatians since the last time we delved in because there is no use of the 'gospel' verb or noun and the main concept of that section was covered in the post, "Galatians and gospel logic."

There are plenty of passages that directly speak about how the gospel was promised beforehand and this is one of them. Here's the interesting part: It has to do with being descendents of Abraham and fulfilling that promise of God to make a people for himself. Here's the text, Gal 3:6-9 (NRSV):

6 Just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness’,⁷so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham.⁸And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.’⁹For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.

 The verb, 'gospelled before' is in verse 8 and is the single occurrence of the modified 'gospelled' verb (essentially adding a prefix making it past-tense).  It refers to the gospel having been told to Abraham. The gospel that was declared was that all nations would be blessed in him. All who believe (Jews and Gentiles alike) are descendents of Abraham and therefore blessed with him. It seems to me that the text is saying that when we have faith in the gospel we are blessed because we are brought into Abraham's family.

As this is the 2nd last occurrence of the word in Galatians, I should also touch on how its seems that Paul is saying the 'promise' or 'blessing' or 'inheritance'  is the Holy Spirit himself (3:14) who we live by leading to eternal life (6:8-9). Paul again reiterates, after his long explanation about how it is only through faith in Jesus and what he has done, that we are Abraham's descendents (3:29).

Why do you think this is such an important point for Paul?
How does it change how we view the gospel?
Do you think I need to integrate this more into my definitions? How?

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My medium length definition of the gospel

 Yesterday I posted my short definition of the gospel with some discussion here. Tomorrow I will post the long definition and more discussion from a class I am teaching. Today's medium length definition is the one I use the most often because it can very easily be unpacked, yet it contains elements that are often left out or minimized when preaching, proclaiming, or explaining the gospel.

My medium length definition of the gospel:

"The story of Jesus; Israel's Messiah crucified and risen to be Lord over everything (according to the Scriptures) who saves and will judge."

 If you compare it to the short definition, you'll notice it begins and ends the same, but 'Christ' has been replaced with 'Messiah' along with several additions. Messiah is a less familiar term, which is a synonym for 'Christ' meaning 'anointed one' referring to Israel's long expected liberating king. It is the English equivalent to the Hebrew word 'Mashiah' which I inserted to deliberately link Jesus to the Jewish expectation we find in the four gospels. The good news for Israel was a good king coming to liberate them from oppressors and usher in a new age of world shalom or 'peace'. That is also why I identified the Messiah as belonging to Israel, which also links Jesus and the gospel to the whole of the old testament in a stronger way.

Another addition was the inclusion of the crucifixion and resurrection. How did I have a short definition without the cross? It is because 'saves' is a board term and the cross is the means by which Jesus defeats sin, death and evil so save. Also, Paul does the same thing in Romans 1:2-4. The question I would ask back is, "How anyone can define the gospel with the cross and not include the resurrection? This happens pretty frequently, but people don't get as bent out of shape about it. However, the cross without resurrection is empty and powerless. What is achieved together is the overthrow and defeat all else, the vindication of Jesus as the true Messiah, and his establishment as Lord over everything because he is victorious. The point of being Lord 'over everything' is also emphasized in this definition to expand the focus to not only persons or his people, but all so-called powers and the entire cosmos (universe).

The last addition was 'according to the Scriptures', which points back to the Old Testament promises of God to Israel through which Jesus is the fulfillment. It also alludes to the New Testament in that there is much more that could be said about what Jesus as Messiah and Lord, crucified and risen, who saves and will judge means. I think having this phrase point back to the source of Scripture allows acknowledgement that no definition can capture everything there is to say about the gospel. We don't even get one single definition that succinctly handles the whole gospel message without using this tactic. The best one we have is in 1 Cor 15, which uses this phrase twice. The same thing happens in Romans 1. If Paul can omit things with a 'catch all' then so can we.

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Gal 2:1-5 - Paul's Gentile gospel

 Today's "gospel" text is Gal 2:1-5 (NRSV) which has 2 nouns:

2Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. ²I went up in response to a revelation. Then I laid before them (though only in a private meeting with the acknowledged leaders) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain. ³But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. ⁴But because of false believers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us— ⁵we did not submit to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you.

 Paul goes to Jerusalem because of a revelation (not of Jesus or to do with the gospel) and takes the time to explain what he preaches to Gentiles (non-Jews). "Preach" or "proclaim" in v2 is not "gospelling," but "to herald" as with news from a king or ruling authority with the implication that whatever is announced is to be obeyed). He is here seeking to confirm that the message of the resurrected Lord, Jesus, he has seen himself is the same message as they preach also having seen the resurrected Lord.
The fact that Titus was not compelled to be circumcised and that false believers were spying on Gentile freedom in Jesus the Messiah (Christ) has to do with the truth of the gospel. I have already posted on Galatians and the logic of the gospel, but I think it makes the most sense to say the implications of the gospel are the freedom of not following the law, including circumcision, because Jesus has fulfilled the law.  To say that living in freedom from certain restrictions of the Jewish law such as not having to be circumcised are the gospel itself doesn't make sense unless we say all other effects or implications are the gospel. We would basically have to say the entire Christian faith is the gospel itself. The distinction between implication/effect and the gospel itself will be shown in later posts. However, this text and the previous post I've linked to above demonstrate how inseparably linked the two are. If you distort the freedom we have you distort the gospel itself and if you distort the gospel itself you distort the freedom.

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Gal 1:18-24

Continuing the trend of the verb 'gospel' is Gal 1:18-24 (NRSV):

18 Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him for fifteen days; ¹⁹but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord’s brother. ²⁰In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie! ²¹Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia,²²and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; ²³they only heard it said, ‘The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.’ ²⁴And they glorified God because of me.

 Verse 23 is also translated "proclaiming the good news"(NET); "preaching the faith"(NIV and most other translations),;"preaching the very message"(Msg). In one sense, this is merely reiterating the same thing as the last post: Paul is 'gospelling' about Jesus. However, we should also note that in addition to Jesus being identified as God's son, he is identified as the Messiah/Christ, which the people are 'in'. What Paul tried to destroy was the announcement of Jesus as Messiah, Son of Man at the right hand of the Father, the righteous one, the Prophet promised by Moses, and Lord (Acts 7). Also, I'm sure I'll repeat myself many times, but the first thing Paul proclaimed after his conversion was Jesus as the Son of God; the Messiah (Acts 9). One whole chapter of Galatians and so far no hint of Justification, sin, or the cross, but there will be plenty of that to sort out in the coming chapters.

Gal 1:16 gospel (verb)

Here's a quick post on the use of 'gospel' from Gal 1:13-17 (NRSV):

13 You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. ¹⁴I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. ¹⁵But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased ¹⁶to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, ¹⁷nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.

 Literally, verse 16 says "...so that I might gospel him..." (it can be a verb as in this case and verse 11)  Paul is speaking about 'gospelling' God's son, aka Jesus. This is very similar to Friday's post, so I won't go into much detail except to point out that we see once again the gospel as a message about making Jesus himself known.