Adult Education: Fall 2009

The Royal Announcement

In this chapter Bird enters into an intense conversation among Protestant Evangelicals today. The conversation basically asks what is the Gospel. Bird alleges, without exactly naming names, that evangelicals have settled for a limited, formulaic idea of the Gospel, one which is not supported by Paul’s writings.

In 1952 Campus Crusade Bill Bright wrote and distributed the pamphlet, The Four Spiritual Laws. This is likely the most widely distributed evangelistic tract ever numbering now over a billion copies. The thinking of the four spiritual laws has constituted the heart of evangelism as it has been successfully practiced in conservative Christianity ever since.

The four spiritual laws are:The four spiritual laws are:

•God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life. (John God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life. (John 3:16, John 10:10) 3:16, John 10:10)

•Man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore, he cannot Man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore, he cannot know and experience God's love and plan for his life. (Romans know and experience God's love and plan for his life. (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23) 3:23, Romans 6:23)

•Jesus Christ is God's only provision for man's sin. Through Him Jesus Christ is God's only provision for man's sin. Through Him you can know and experience God's love and plan for your life. you can know and experience God's love and plan for your life. (Romans 5:8, I Corinthians 15:3-6, John 14:6) (Romans 5:8, I Corinthians 15:3-6, John 14:6)

•We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God's love and plan for our then we can know and experience God's love and plan for our lives. (John 1:12, Ephesians 2:8,9, John 3:1~8, Revelation 3:20) lives. (John 1:12, Ephesians 2:8,9, John 3:1~8, Revelation 3:20)

Today young evangelical theologians have offered a critique of such an approach, saying not that it is wrong but that it is deficient. This chapter, while not aggressively polemical makes a contribution to this conversation.

Bird wishes us to see that the salvation which comes through Jesus Christ is not a logical formula but a fulfillment of the entire story told by the Bible. Jesus’ sacrifice needs to be seen in context of the entire Easter story including the resurrection, which needs to be seen in the context of Jesus’ entire ministry, which needs to be seen in the context of God’s mighty acts throughout the history of Israel.

Bird sees Paul’s gospel as embedded in the great sweep of God’s work in four ways:

First: it is better to see Jesus’ obedience not as supplying and supplementing where we may be short on righteousness in order for God to find us acceptable, but as living the human life as God intended. Jesus is the new Adam who finally gets it right. We, in turn, participate in Jesus’ righteousness by attaching to him in relationship.

Second, it is better to see salvation arising from more than Jesus’ sinless birth and sin-bearing death for all of humanity. Jesus’ mission was very much directed toward Israel and was a continuation of God’s work with Israel. It is further important to see the entire content of Jesus’ life (his teaching and example) as contributing to salvation.

Third: it is better to read Paul as ascribing critical importance to the resurrection and the anticipated return of Christ. In some Christian circles, one might think that the resurrection is merely a proof that Jesus died and that his death was saving. Paul states that forgiveness of sins is tied to the resurrection. Likewise the coming of Christ marks the culmination of God’s work establishing a new heavens and new earth.

Fourth, it’s important not only to read Paul’s gospel as good news for us in our situation, but also to remember that deliverance from exile and Roman occupation were the explicit near-term understandings of Jesus’ life and death. (Calling baby Jesus “savior” was politically provocative in a world where Caesar was “savior.”) When Paul says ‘gospel” he is echoing hopes from Israel’s tradition. In the first century one would read the gospels as provocative political pronouncements.

The Gospel is essentially story rather than logical sequence

Let’s see how all of this actually appears in a sample text from Paul—I Corinthians 15.1-5

15Now I should remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, 2through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. 3 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

First: the primary content of the gospel is the death and resurrection of Christ. This dual event has inherent saving significance.

Second: Christ died for our sins. Christ’s death affects sins by removing them or atoning for them.

We need to note that Paul does not describe how Christ’s death is atoning, only that it removes sin. Put more provocatively, Paul here does not set forth one of the five metaphors that Christians have used to interpret the cross of Jesus:

1.Penal Substitution—Christ takes the punishment we deserve2.Ransom—Christ offers his life to spring us from evil’s clutches3.Sacrifice—Christ’s sacrifice is understandable as sacrificla4.Christus Victor—that Christ triumphs over evil by tricking the Devil5.Moral Influence—the quality of Christ’s loving sacrifice moves us

Third: Christ’s act is according to Scriptures (Hebrew Bible). The Aqedah (binding of Isaac), exodus, Passover, sacrificial system and Suffering Servant all foreshadow the saving nature of Christ’s death. The crucifixion is not “out of the blue.”

Fourth: it is the gospel that saves. Both the death and resurrection of Christ are the objective grounds of salvation. These are the content of what is believed. Salvation comes through believing that Jesus died and was raised in accordance with the Scriptures.

Fifth: the Gospel is not Paul’s invention. What Paul proclaims is in complete agreement with the other Christians of his time.

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, 3the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.—Romans 1.1-4

What are we saying?

A careful reading of Paul reveals that the Gospel, which saves us, consists of the atoning death of Jesus (interpreted in several ways) and more. The gospel includes a proclamation of the kingship and reign of the Lord Jesus (The Kingdom of God), the teachings of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, and the sense that he is a fulfillment of the calling of Israel.

The Five Fundamentals of Fundamentalism

•The inspiration of the Bible by the Holy Spirit and the inerrancy of Scripture as a result of this. •The virgin birth of Christ. •The belief that Christ's death was the atonement for sin. •The bodily resurrection of Christ. •The historical reality of Christ's miracles.

The Gospel and Caesar

Bird finishes making the point that Paul’s understanding of Jesus’ lordship was not entirely other-worldly. Jesus’ kingdom encroached with upon the power and authority that the Roman Empire attempted to exert. This is why Rome persecuted Christians. Bluntly, Jesus threatened the messianic pretentions of the emperor cult.

Why point this out? Bird wants to make convincing the fact that the salvation that comes through Jesus is not confined to a remedy to our sin problem. We have not only the cross but the whole of Jesus’ life and teachings that work together to save us.