The Heart of the Gospel

We can summarise the message of the New Testament as adoption through propitiation. Simply put, because the Son of God willingly became man and gave his life for us on the Cross, those who believe in him are no longer enemies of God, but are God's children:

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins … See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 4:10, 1 John 3:1)

(This is part of a series on Devotion)

Christ is our Saviour

Many Christians will have heard of how Martin Luther, on reading Romans 1, came to the realisation that we are saved, not by works, but by faith:

As a monk I led an irreproachable life. Nevertheless I felt that I was a sinner before God. My conscience was restless, and I could not depend on God being propitiated by my satisfactions. Not only did I not love, but I actually hated the righteous God who punishes sinners. Thus a furious battle raged within my perplexed conscience, but meanwhile I was knocking at the door of this particular Pauline passage, earnestly seeking to know the mind of the great apostle. Day and night I tried to meditate upon the significance of these words: ‘The righteousness of God is revealed in it, as it is written: The righteous shall live by faith'.

Luther’s realisation-his recovery of the message of the gospel–led to the Protestant Reformation, and the church we now attend. As Christians, we know we have been saved by Grace alone, through faith in the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. The gospel is thus central to our faith:

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you …that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scripture (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

Not only is Jesus’ death central to the gospel and to our faith, Jesus himself is central to the Gospel; to the extent that Jesus in a sense is the gospel:

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. (2 Corinthians 2:6)
For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord. (2 Corinthians 4:5)

While it’s hard to argue that we can ever over-emphasise the cross, sometimes we forget just how momentous the incarnation of Jesus itself was. That Jesus of Nazareth was God made man is a claim that should never cease to amaze us:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. … The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-14)

Somehow the Son of God became a human. And as a human, Jesus voluntarily submitted himself the will of his Father:

“Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does … By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.” (John 5:19-30)

In his submission, Jesus suffered as he was tempted, resisting to become the perfect man.

Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2:18).
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16)

We are God’s Children

We know then that we are saved from our sins by grace. What Luther also realised, but is often lost in our thinking, is what we are saved for. We tend to know that in some way we are saved in order to go to heaven, though our vision of what that means can be fuzzy. What we tend to overlook is that we are saved for adoption.

What the gospel tells us is that, thanks to Jesus, not only have we been saved from sin, but that God sees us as family. To be a Christian is to have a fundamentally new relationship with God. To be a Christian is to have God as our Father:

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God–children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:12-13)
Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba,Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. (Galatians 4:6-7)

Not only that, but we have Jesus–the Son of God who died for us–as our brother:

“Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:35) “Go … to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (John 20:17)

And this Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father, speaking on our behalf:

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. … you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (Col 3:1-3)
Now there have been many … priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. (Hebrews 7:23-25)

Moreover, Jesus, praying to the Father, gave the remarkable promise as Christians, we are loved by the Father in the same way Jesus is loved by the Father:

“I have given them your word … Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. … I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. … Then the world will know that you sent me **and have loved them even as you have loved me**.” (John 17:13-23)

It is easy to overlook this privilege; and also what it means. To the Israelites, God’s covenant name was “I AM”, reflecting his eternal greatness. God’s relationship with Israel was affectionate: “I will be your God, and you will be my people,” but distant: only the High Priest could go into the presence of God, and only on the Day of Ateonment, after purifying himself for the sins of himself and of the people.

By contrast, we are able to talk to God as “our Father”:

Since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus … and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings. (Hebrews 10:11-22)
“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven…’” (Matt 6:9)
The Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:15,16)

We have an Eternal Hope

And ultimately, as God’s children we are also heirs of an eternal hope: that of being with Jesus and sharing in his glory:

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Romans 8:17)
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Col 3:4)
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb … They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. … They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. (Rev 22:1-5)