Basic Definitions of the Gospel

Below are some more basic definitions of the gospel that I have come across on the internet. What do you think of them? If someone were to ask you what the gospel is and you only had a moment or two to give them an answer what would you say?

Some believe this is not good to do as they think it distorts or makes too simplistic, that which is, in fact, very detailed and deep. I disagree, Jesus summed up the law well with a very simple sentence, do to others what you would have them do to you. Having that basic definition helps not only to understand the law as you look at the details but also serves as a guide on how to apply it.

Coming up with your own excellent basic definition of the gospel is not easy to do, it takes a lot of work. It takes serious, prayerful study and meditation of all that the Bible says about it before you can even begin to get to the point of being able to communicate it in your own words.

Since God has created us to be different and since we are brought up in different cultures, have different life experiences and learn about God and the Bible in different kinds of churches we will see the gospel from slightly different angles even when we are doing our best to understand truth as it is and not as we want it to be. We also all have biases, blind spots and wrong understanding that we aren't even aware of. That is why we need each other, the whole body of Christ through the ages, in order to truly know the gospel it all of it's glorious details.

When we earnestly and humbly seek to really understand the gospel God will give us understanding and when we humbly work together our understanding will grow even more. To His glory and praise.

Tim Keller
Through the person and work of Jesus Christ, God fully accomplishes salvation for us, rescuing us from judgment for sin into fellowship with him, and then restores the creation in which we can enjoy our new life together with him forever.

Tracy Johnson
The good news, the gospel, is that Jesus has exchanged our sinfulness and our shame for His righteousness. Faith in Him and His power to do this for us both provides eternal life for us and gives us the pathway to life in the here and now...right here and right now. That is good news.

Michael Gunn
The Gospel is God’s “Good News” of His in-breaking into human culture in order to justify and save His people (Through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ), and establish His kingdom/Lordship (Through the establishment of His Church) to the glory of His name.

Best Gospel Posts of the Week

Sorry, I'm a few days late but here are the best blog posts I came across the week of August 9-15. They may have been posted earlier but this is the week I came across them.

• Burn Your Plastic Jesus
  
• Gospel Repetition
  
• Is the Gospel Relevant in Today's Culture?
  
• Of First Importance (part 3)
  
• The Gospel, the Whole Gospel, and Nothing but the Gospel (part 1 of 3)
  
• The Wrath of God
• Why Salvation Must be Supernatural
  

Best "Living the Gospel" Posts of the Week

Here are the best blog posts I have come across this past week, August 7-13, concerning how we live out the gospel.

• An Introduction to the Glory of God (part 1) (part 2)
  
• Gospel Relevance=Gospel Application
  
• On Biblical Love
  
• Overcoming Death and Illness with Authority
  
• Real Holiness
  
• The Need for Galatians
  
• Wise Decision-Making in a Wicked World (Part 1) (Part 2)
  

Calvary Chapel Bucuresti Worship

Calvary Chapel Bucuresti Inchinare/Worship from William Anderson on Vimeo.

Here is some of the worship from last Sunday's service. If you go to
Vimeo you can download the video in the lower right
corner of the page.

Basic Definitions of the Gospel

Here are some basic definitions of the gospel that I have come across on the internet.

Robert Webber - Ancient Future Worship
The incredible and radical story of God is that he loves the world so much that he enters into the suffering of the world so that through his death, sin is defeated, death is overcome, hell is conquered. And in his resurrection, life, the true life of the Spirit is recovered and man and the world is made new.

Scot McKnight - Jesus Creed
It is the work of the trinitarian God (Father, Son, Spirit), in the context of a community, to restore cracked Eikons to union with God and communion with others, for the good of others and the world.

Alan Higgins - Real Christianity
It simply is this. We are all sinners and have broken God’s laws and as a result the wrath of God abides on us. God must punish sin because he is holy and he SHOULD punish us all and throw us ALL into the lake of fire but Christ showed his love to us by taking the punishment on the cross that should have been ours, and dying on the cross provided a way out for us so that we can receive the forgiveness of sins and be made righteous. Simply said, we broke the law, but Jesus paid the fine. Unless a person repents and puts their trust in Christ ALONE, they will incur God’s punishment and his wrath.

Masculine and Feminine Spiritual Battle

I came across an article the other day about the consequences of radical feminism in Denmark and thought it was real interesting. You can read it here. It isn't a Christian article but I have read several articles on the web where Christians are discussing the same issue but from a Christian perspective. It is about all the confusion about what it means to be a man or a woman. You know it is getting bad when secular people start realizing there is something wrong with their "enlightenment".

We know that Satan is doing his best to destroy the works of God including that God created us male and female. I think this issue is something we will need to deal with so I would encourage you to study, think and pray about it. The issues are not all the same here in Romania but there are issues non the less that need to be dealt with.

Seems to me this should be a topic of high interest in men's and women's groups in churches.

Here are some resources and articles about being a godly/Biblical man:

The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood -

The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood Free Online Books

Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood - free PDF download of book from John Piper and others

Knighthood and Biblical Manhood - from Campus Crusade's "Leadership U'

The Marks of Manhood - 13 marks of Biblical manhood

The Next Christian Men's Movement - from Christianity Today

A Jesus for Real Men - What the masculinity gets right and wrong

Christian Men Seeking Lost Masculinity

GodMen - a Christian men's movement - watch video

Desultory Thoughts on Masculinity

Profiling Christian Masculinity - very good, be sure to read it

The Masculinity Movement - added August 19th

Shalom in the Home: Gospel-Centered Marriages - added September 3rd

Fight the Good Fight, Part 1 - added September 18th

Darul Inchinarii

Darul Închinării from William Anderson on Vimeo.

This video has both English and Romanian text. It shows what worship of God is truly about, which is a great reminder for us that live in a consumer oriented and self-centered world.

You can download a 457 MB HD (1280x720) version on Vimeo, look towards the bottom right to find the download button. There is also a 27 MB mp4 version here.