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What is the gospel, according to the New Testament?

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The central message of Christianity is referred to as the “gospel.” The word means “good news” or “good message”—even “good story.”

Christians look to the New Testament to define what this gospel is. That’s where we see what the earliest Christians viewed as the central message of Christianity which they taught and preached. That doesn’t mean we’re bound by the specific language of the New Testament to describe the gospel—as we’ll see, the New Testament itself shows much flexibility in this—but it does mean that any further descriptions of the gospel should align with the basic New Testament descriptions.

The New Testament uses a few words to refer to the gospel. One is euangelion, the word translated “gospel” or “good news.” There’s also the verb form of this: euangelizō, “preaching the gospel.” A similar word used is katangellō, “proclaiming, announcing.” Another word group is the noun kerugma and verb kerussō, meaning “public proclamation” and “publicly proclaim.” Another pattern is to use “word” language (usually logos, sometimes rhēma), meaning “message”: sometimes simply “word” by itself, but often with a modifying phrase (“word of truth,” “word of salvation,” “word of Christ,” and so on).

What is the content of this gospel message? There are many places in the New Testament where the content is described. Here are some of the most direct of those, from shorter to longer. In many cases there are several other passages that say essentially the same thing.

2 Corinthians 11:4:

“Jesus”

Philippians 1:15-18:

“Christ”

[Note several other passages that describe the gospel as “the gospel of Christ” or “the word of Christ”; note also that “Christ” is a title, meaning “Messiah,” and referring primarily to expectations of a royal messiah in the line of David, bringing about God’s kingdom on earth.]

1 Corinthians 1:23:

“Christ crucified”

Matthew 10:7:

“The kingdom of heaven has come near.”

[Note other passages in the Gospels and Acts that describe the gospel as “the gospel of the kingdom” or “the word of the kingdom”, or simply speak of “proclaiming the kingdom”; note also the connection between these and “gospel” ideas in Isaiah 40:9; 52:7; 61:1-2, that the gospel is about God’s presence, God’s reign, and God’s liberation for the oppressed.]

Acts 4:2:

“in Jesus the resurrection from the dead”

2 Timothy 2:8:

“Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David”

Romans 1:3-4:

“concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord”

1 Corinthians 15:3-5:

“that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures
and that he was buried
and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures
and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve”

[Note that this is an oral tradition which Paul received from other apostles before him.]

Acts 10:36-43:

“You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

[Note the other evangelistic speeches of Acts as well. They vary according to context, but most essentially summarize the story of Jesus culminating in his resurrection from the dead and his exaltation as Lord.]

The Gospel of Mark:

“The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ…”

[I won’t quote the whole Gospel here! But that’s how Mark starts off his story of Jesus—the whole story, including his healings, teachings, sufferings, death, and resurrection, is the “gospel.” This is the basis for all four Gospels eventually being called “Gospels.”]

What can we say about all these New Testament descriptions of the gospel? A few observations:

  • The gospel message of the early Christians was flexible and fluid. There is no single, standard gospel message. Nevertheless, there are commonalities and patterns among these descriptions.
  • The gospel could be summed up in a single word or in a pithy phrase or slogan, it could be distilled to a poetic piece of oral tradition, or it could be expanded to a longer story about Jesus.
  • Every description of the gospel in the New Testament is in some way about Jesus. Most of them are directly about Jesus. But even the gospel proclaimed by Jesus himself is tied to Jesus: the kingdom of God has come near in Jesus, in his life and ministry. In various ways, the story of Jesus—even Jesus himself—is the gospel.
  • Different aspects of Jesus’ life and ministry are highlighted in different contexts. Some focus on Jesus’ death. Some focus on his resurrection, without mentioning his death. Most expanded gospel descriptions include both—but then other aspects of Jesus’ life and ministry can also be included.
  • There is no specific atonement theory described as the gospel in the New Testament. Jesus’ death by crucifixion is important, and some descriptions of the gospel describe Jesus’ death as “for our sins.” But that simply means, “with respect to our sins,” and doesn’t in itself point to any specific atonement theory. To make this plain: popular evangelical understandings of the gospel make it about penal substitution, that Jesus died in our place, taking the punishment we deserved for our sins, turning aside God’s just wrath against us for our sins. Nowhere in the New Testament are these ideas described using gospel language.
  • There is no mention of hell or heaven in the New Testament descriptions of the gospel. These also figure prominently in popular evangelical understandings of the gospel, that we are saved from a post-mortem hell and saved to a post-mortem heaven. These ideas are entirely absent from gospel descriptions in the New Testament.

So, what is the gospel, according to the New Testament? Well, as noted above, there is flexibility and fluidity in the New Testament descriptions of the gospel, with certain aspects highlighted depending on the context. But a fulsome summary of the gospel in the New Testament would be something like this:

The gospel is the good news about Jesus, Messiah and Lord, that through his life, teachings, healings, death, resurrection, and exaltation God has acted in the world to bring about deliverance from sin and death and all evil powers, to bring near God’s reign of justice and peace.

Finally, according to the New Testament, for whom exactly is the gospel “good news”? And what should our response to the gospel be?

The New Testament names a few specific groups for whom the gospel is “good news”: these include the poor, sinners, and all creation. The gospel is good news for all those who are in desperate need, not only spiritually but also materially. It is good news for all those who are under the power of sin and death, even oppressed by evil powers-that-be in the world. And the gospel is good news even for all creation, for “every creature under heaven,” as humans walk in the loving way of Jesus in the world. If we narrow the scope of the gospel to focus purely on spiritual needs, we have missed much of the gospel’s power; likewise if we focus solely on material needs.

In response to the gospel, we are called to “repent,” to turn from our sins, our ways of harm toward others, and “believe,” to walk in trusting commitment to God and God’s ways, the way of Jesus, his way of love. And God promises God’s Spirit—God’s immanent, transformative presence—to all those who do this. Many other benefits are also promised, most notably God’s forgiveness.

If you’re interested, you can check out my gospel tract I put together as an alternative to the popular evangelical gospels tracts out there. There’s even a link to a downloadable version which you can fold up and hand out, if you’re so inclined. See here for some background on that tract.

What is sin, according to Jesus?

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Ferdinand Hodler, The Good Samaritan

Those of us who strive for a radically Jesus-centred approach to Christian faith and life can sometimes seem to be “soft on sin.” After all, following Jesus in the Gospels, we focus on his positive calls to love God by loving others, to show mercy, to forgive, to do good to our enemies, and so on. (It’s no coincidence that Jesus was also thought to be “soft on sin” in some ways.)

We also lean into Jesus’ command not to judge others. However, that command isn’t a blanket call to avoid discernment related to sin. Matthew’s version goes on to say that once we have taken the log of great sin out of our own eye we can help our neighbour remove the speck of small sin in their eye. And Jesus does call us to beware of false teachers, discerning them by the bad fruit of their teaching and their behaviour—their sin, and the sin their teaching produces in others.

Most significantly, Jesus himself was not afraid to speak out against sin. But it’s important then, for those of us who strive to follow Jesus, to ask the question: what exactly did Jesus consider to be sin? Put another way: what kinds of ways of thinking and speaking and acting did Jesus critique?

Here’s a selection of sins, according to Jesus:

Many of these, I would suggest, fall under a general umbrella: abusing one’s power—including religious power—to cause harm to those who are relatively powerless.

That’s certainly a focus of his critiques of the wealthy and religious leaders. Through their wealth or their status, they have power over others, and instead of using their power for the good of others they are using their power to harm others, or at least not to help them. Many other sins in the list above, though—including his critiques of lust and divorce, even withholding mercy and forgiveness—are also about people having a kind of power over others, and using that power to harm, or not using that power to help, those without that power.

Related to this, it’s worth noting that Jesus never called out the sins of those without power or those vulnerable to harm. These people—those considered “the least” or “the last” or “the little ones” in society, those considered “lost,” even those considered “sinners,” condemned by the religiously powerful for not measuring up—these people Jesus sought out, he welcomed in, he shared meals with, he loved. This doesn’t mean he ignored their sin—he called sinners of all kinds to repentance—but we never see him publicly calling them out for their sin. Most of them we don’t even know what their sins were.

What does all this suggest related to how we as Jesus-followers should understand sin?

Sin is the opposite of love; sin is that which is not-love.

Love, according to Jesus’ teaching, is meeting the real-life needs of others as if their needs were our own—our neighbours, those different from us, strangers to us, even enemies of us. Love, according to the example of Jesus, is giving oneself for the good of others, even walking in solidarity with the powerless, even if it means great self-sacrifice.

Sin, then, is the opposite of this love. It is causing real-world harm to our neighbours, through our attitudes, words, actions—or even inaction. In this Paul was exactly right when he said that “Love does no harm to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law” (Rom 13:10).

And the sins we need especially to pay attention to are those where people with some kind of power over others—through their wealth, their status, their influence, their gender, their race, whatever it may be—use their power to harm those without that power, or do not use their power to help those without that power. It’s for this reason that radically Jesus-centred Christians are known for pursuing social justice and economic justice, even seeing this as what Jesus meant when he said, “Seek first God’s reign and God’s justice” (Matt 6:33).

It’s worth noting that some of Jesus’ strongest critiques were for those who used their religion to justify their abuse of power over others, for causing harm to those most vulnerable in society—economically exploiting them in the service of religion, creating barriers for them in coming to God, refusing to show mercy to them on the basis of religion. May we who are religious—especially those claiming to be Christians—take this warning to heart.

Cling to Jesus

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This was my address to the Juniors and Seniors of Prairie College at their year-end banquet on April 17, 2010. It is inspired by the Gospel of John—see my comments at the end for more details.

Introduction

I’ve been pondering my words for tonight for many months. Yes, many months! I’m not sure what it is about this event that has stirred up such reflection in my heart and mind. Perhaps it is the good memories I have of teaching in Prairie’s classrooms, teaching many of you, seeing you and many other students over the years walk through dark valleys and up bright mountain tops in such a crucial season of your life. Or maybe it’s just that I’m coming on 40 and something about this event has triggered a mid-term evaluation of my life. In any case, that is what I have done.

Over the past few months, as I have pondered my words for tonight, I have thought back to a half-life of learning and teaching, of reading and writing, of ministry and being ministered to, of love and laughter and loss and lament. And out of all that reflection I have only three words to share with you, half a lifetime of experience distilled down to three words of advice: Cling to Jesus.

Carl Bloch, “Healing of the Blind Man” – “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Cling to Jesus. This is no bumper sticker theology. This is not the clever arrogance of “Jesus is the answer; what’s the question?” (yes, arrogance, for it doesn’t first hear the world’s questions). This is no mere “What would Jesus do” inscribed in a Christian tetragrammaton on a bracelet (especially when “what Jesus would do” looks remarkably like what we wanted to do in the first place).

It is, though, as simple as a little child entering the kingdom of God. It is as simple as “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” It is that simple. Yet that simplicity is as complex as thirteen volumes of Church Dogmatics or a lifetime of scholarship; it is as complex as the eternal Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us, the Son forsaken by the Father as he gives up his Spirit on a Roman cross, the three-in-one God drawing us into his eternal dance of love and light and life.

It is all this simple complexity, this complex simplicity, that I have in mind when I say to you: cling to Jesus.

Questions

When questions come that rattle your faith, pushing the boundaries of your thinking about what it means to be a Christian, look to Jesus.

It doesn’t matter what the question is. The biblical creation stories in light of evolutionary biology? Scripture’s inspiration in view of its similarities with other ancient texts? The exclusive claims of Christianity in light of religious pluralism? The existence of God in the face of the world’s latest calamity? These questions and more are all good and important and necessary to wrestle with, but they can create an uncomfortable theological anxiety, they can create such cognitive dissonance for you that the temptation is either to ignore them or to ditch your faith. I know—I’ve been there many times. But when that happens, look to Jesus.

I don’t mean, “Look to Christology, build up a solid doctrine of Christ.” I mean, “Look to Jesus himself, the Jesus who taught and healed among the dusty hills of Galilee, the crucified Jesus who died for you, the risen Jesus who walks with you.” When those hard questions come, when you feel your faith eroding under their weight, read the Gospels, reflect on Jesus’ actions, ponder Jesus’ teachings, drink deeply of Jesus’ self-giving love for you on the cross, think deeply of Jesus’ new life in the resurrection. Let the story of Jesus draw you in again.

And look to Jesus in the lives of others; keep close to those who have been captivated by the story of Jesus and who thus live out that story in their own lives. Keep good friends that will embrace you fully, like Jesus did for a doubting Thomas, friends that will show you Jesus’ wounds for you and be willing to be wounded for you themselves. And follow Jesus and your Jesus friends right into the heart of all the hard questions of life. Go boldly where others have gone before. The Christian life can be difficult; faith is not easy. Yet it really is all about Jesus.

Open up your mind with a heart open to the love of Jesus, and so stretch your faith. Let your “Yes” be a “Yes” of humble faith, not some vain certainty, and let your “I don’t know” be a genuine “I don’t know.”

So when questions come that rattle your faith, look to Jesus.

Decisions

And when decisions need to be made that could change your life, follow Jesus.

Where do I go after Prairie? Should I take this job, or that one? Should I go to university, or to graduate school, or to seminary? Do I even have what it takes to do more school? Is this person the right one for me? Am I even ready to get married? You’ve faced some of these questions already, and there will be many more where those came from, many life choices that need to be made. Don’t shy away from them, but don’t tie yourself in knots over them.

Jesus isn’t playing hide and seek with you; you don’t have to guess the right answer for the flashing door to open and Jesus to wave you through with a ten-megawatt smile—only to run ahead and hide again behind another door. No: Jesus is right with you; he is guiding your steps by his Spirit each day. Follow him in his self-giving love for others, his God-directed faith, his persevering hope; be shaped into the pattern of his cross and resurrection. Then you will already be in his will regardless of the decision you make, no hide-and-seek required. Yes, the hard decision still has to be made. But you are free to make the best decision you can—and Jesus is with you each step of the way.

So when decisions need to be made that could change your life, follow Jesus.

Suffering

And when suffering hits you hard, walk with Jesus.

Life doesn’t just throw curveballs; sometimes it pitches right at your head. And you can’t always duck out of the way, then get up and dust yourself off to face another pitch. Sometimes you writhe around in pain on the playing field of life, and sometimes you have to be carried off in a stretcher.

At those times, there is no vocational skill that will make sense of any of this for you; but neither is there any theology that will share the pain searing your soul; there is no philosophy that will come alongside you and wrap you in its arms; there is no biblical exegesis that will weep with you and sit with you in silence. But Jesus will, and your Jesus friends will, and you will do this for your friends, being Jesus to them even as they are Jesus to you. This is God’s answer to your suffering: he weeps with you, he wraps you in his arms, he absorbs your pain into himself, he enters into your suffering as truly as he has already entered into the suffering of the world in Jesus.

So when suffering hits you hard, walk with Jesus.

Distractions

All this and more is what I mean when I say to you: Cling to Jesus. But there’s much to draw our attention away from Jesus, isn’t there?

Christians are very good at detonating some powerful weapons of mass distraction. Believe it or not, Christianity isn’t about inerrancy, or even in the end about Scripture at all. Christianity isn’t about being able to state a correct doctrine of justification, as if life is all about prepping for the ultimate pass/fail theology exam. Christianity isn’t about eliminating sexual thoughts or opposing gay marriage; it’s not merely a system of private morality or social ethics. Christianity isn’t really about hymns or choruses or organs or drums or liturgies or extemporaneous preaching; it’s not merely a system of proper religious worship—or the lack of such a system. All these things may well be important, but they are not at the heart of Christianity.

Rather, Christianity is about the Father sending his Son, the holy and almighty and loving and faithful God become flesh and blood, Jesus who lived and taught and died for our sins and rose on the third day, and whose Spirit dwells within us and among us to continue the resurrected Son’s mission of faithful love in renewing a fallen world. Cling to Jesus—Jesus the person, Jesus himself, Jesus the heart of this thing called “Christianity”—for it is in Jesus that Scripture and doctrine and ethics and morality and ritual and tradition live and move and have their being.

Then there are those weapons of mass distraction exploding in the world around us. Madison Avenue promises the good life, Hollywood acts it out for us, and Wall Street makes it happen: wealth and wisdom and strength and beauty, the good life of success packaged in a bottle and sold for $1.99 at an everyday low price.

To be sure, “everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Tim 4:4). But all too often the good things of creation get skewed by our world—beauty becomes skin-deep, truth becomes spin and propaganda, goodness becomes a polling question—and our own Christian faith begins to reflect these distortions without even realizing it, our spiritual senses dulled to distraction. Enjoy the goodness and beauty and truth of our world in all its rich diversity, but watch out for claims to goodness and beauty and truth that are merely stagnant wells of putrid water. Cling to Jesus, for he is the spring of living water.

Christians and the world are not the only detonators of distractions from Jesus. Sometimes we’re bombarded with weapons of mass distraction simply by living life. Just when things seem to be working out, when your family is growing and your wife is contented and you have settled into a job you love, your father-in-law is diagnosed with a brain tumor. Then when you have buried your much-loved and desperately-missed father-in-law, you find out own father’s prostate cancer is back with a vengeance, and he needs constant care until he, too, passes away in a cloud of exhausted suffering and grief. Life rebuilds itself, life is good again—family and friends and job all seem to be moving toward something beautiful—until it all collapses in apocalyptic catastrophe. Friendships severed; family wounded; dreams shattered.

All this has been my experience over the past few years, and all this, combined with all the distractions I’ve already highlighted, so easily draws my eyes away from Jesus, sapping my faith and sucking the marrow from my life. And so I don’t merely say this to you out of a head swelled with learning, I plead with you out of a heart humbled by life: Cling to Jesus. Cling to Jesus. Cling to Jesus.

Conclusion

Perhaps this all sounds too dour for an evening of celebration. You’ve let the grumpy old man speak at your banquet! Indeed, we have celebrated tonight, and that is right and good; you have learned much and loved lots in your years at Prairie, and that is worthy of a feast.

But here’s the reality of life: often we feel like Peter in John 6. You know the story. Jesus has just given some hard teaching, and many of his disciples have left him. So Jesus turns to the Twelve disciples and asks them if they, too, would like to abandon him. Peter’s response is brutal in its honesty, yet moving in its simplicity: “Where else can we go?” The reality of the Christian life is that we often cling to Jesus simply because we don’t see any other good option out there. But don’t miss the rest of Peter’s statement to Jesus: “You have the words of eternal life.” Jesus may be the only seaworthy boat out there, but clinging to Jesus does not leave us stranded on a deserted island, alive but left to die. No: clinging to Jesus brings us to an abundant life in his glorious kingdom. Cling to Jesus, and you will know life—full life now, and the fullness of life in the future.

And you may just discover at the end of the road that it has not been about you clinging to Jesus after all. Jesus has in fact been clinging to you.

This Christocentric or Jesus-centered vision is inspired by the Gospel of John. See especially John 1:1-18; 3:16-21, 31-36; 4:10-14, 19-24; 5:19-30, 36-40; 6:60-69; 10:7-10; 11:25-26; 14:6, 10-31; 15:1-17, 26-27; 16:12-15; 17:1-5, 20-23; 20:26-31.

See here for a PDF of this.

© Michael W. Pahl

A Brief Commentary on Colossians

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Rembrandt van Rijn, Saint Paul

Over the past few weeks I’ve been teaching an online course on Paul’s letter to the Colossians. As we’ve gone through the letter, I’ve also been noting on social media some insights gained from studying Colossians. It occurred to me at some point that these form a kind of short-hand commentary on the letter. Here are those social media posts, making for A Brief Commentary on Colossians.

Scholars debate whether Paul actually wrote Colossians (Col 1:1), mostly on theological grounds. Pseudonymous writings were known in the ancient world, a devoted disciple writing in their mentor’s name.

I have doubts about other Pauline letters, but I believe Paul directly authorized Colossians.

Colossians—like most of Paul’s letters—begins with an extended prayer (Col 1:3ff.). Typically these prayers merge into a theologically rich section, which forms the basis for practical exhortations.

A helpful pattern: prayerful theologizing lived out practically. Faith lived out in love.

“God-Lord-Spirit” (e.g. Col 1:3-8) is Paul’s incipient trinitarianism—not the full-blown version of later orthodoxy, but a helpful triad for describing God and God’s work in the world.

God the Father works through our Lord Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. We come to God through Jesus by the Spirit.

“Faith-Hope-Love” (e.g. Col 1:3-5) is Paul’s triad of core Christian virtues.

“Faith” = trust in God + allegiance to God’s ways

“Hope” = future-focused faith, grounded in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead

“Love” = love in the way of Jesus: self-giving, other-lifting, compassion-in-action

Paul’s prayers (e.g. Col 1:3ff.) are saturated with gratitude. Joyful thanksgiving is a hallmark of Christian prayer.

Yes, we also lament—and so did Paul. But more often than not, our prayers should be marked by humble, joy-filled gratitude for the people in our lives and all that God has given us.

“The word of truth” in Col 1:5 is not the Bible. It’s “the gospel,” the text says, the orally proclaimed message about Jesus. This is true of nearly all “word of x” language in the NT, including “word of God.”

The story of Jesus is God’s good-news word to the world. The Bible bears witness to this.

The fruit of the gospel, the fruit of the Spirit’s work in response to the good news about Jesus, is faith, hope, and love in the way of Jesus (Col 1:3-8).

The seed of the word is planted in the soil of our hearts, and if the soil is good it bears much fruit (Mark 4:20).

Four common themes in Paul’s prayers (e.g. Col 1:3ff.):
1) Gratitude for the other, for their faith, hope, and/or love.
2) For the knowledge of God’s will to be fruitful in doing God’s will.
3) For strength to endure hardships with joyful thanksgiving.
4) For growth in love for one another.

What’s in our prayers?

“From the day you heard the gospel and truly comprehended the grace of God” (Col 1:6).

What a wonderful description of a come-to-Jesus moment! Hearing the good-news story of Jesus and fully grasping the amazing grace of God—and being utterly transformed in the encounter.

Paul makes much of his “co-workers” like Epaphras (Col 1:7), faithful men and women who shared with Paul in bringing the good news of Jesus to the world. Contrary to our imagined lone-ranger image of Paul (like Rembrandt’s famous painting, above), he depended on others, working in community.

Knowledge of God and God’s will is never given by God so we can appear clever or wise in the eyes of others. These are given by God to make us fruitful in good works, the works of faith and hope and love—works which are often unseen by others (Col 1:9-10).

God has “rescued us from the power of shadows and transferred us into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son” (Col 1:14).

In other words, we’ve experienced a profound change in lordship: formerly slaves to evil powers, now committed followers of Jesus and his way of love leading to justice and peace.

Col 1:15-20 is highly poetic, and may be from an early Christian hymn (see also 1 Cor 8:6 and Phil 2:6-11). I love the idea of early Jesus-followers gathering in Ephesus or Colossae, their croaky dawn voices singing off-key, “Praise be Jesus the Christ, the image of the invisible God…”

Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15). No one has ever seen God in God’s fullness, but when we look to Jesus we see God as God is—faithful, compassionate, merciful, working through weakness, walking in love.

We are created in the image of God (Gen 1:27)—Jesus *is* the image of God (Col 1:15).

This means we who follow Jesus are being re-created in the image of Jesus (Col 3:10-11)—becoming more and more like him in his way of being, his way of living in the world.

Jesus— “all things have been created through him and for him” (Col 1:16). Jesus is the embodiment of divine wisdom, through which God created and sustains all things (Prov 8:22-31). If we want to know what divine wisdom looks like, look to Jesus: pure, peaceable, gentle, merciful… (Jas 3:17).

For the Apostle Paul, the powers of this world are both “visible and invisible” (Col 1:16)—material and spiritual, human and non-human, personal and impersonal. They are humans with power. They are powerful systems and structures. They are the spirit that animates and compels these powers.

The powers of this world—human, systemic, spiritual—were created by God (Col 1:16). When good, we are called to participate with them, using power to serve. When evil, we are called to resist them, nonviolently. Either way, we trust in God’s ultimate reconciliation of these powers (Col 1:20).

Jesus is “the head of the body, the church” (Col 1:18). He is the source of the church’s life, the guiding authority over the church. The church is called to live out the life of Jesus, to continue his reconciling mission in the world (Luke 4:18-19; 19:10; Acts 10:36).

Jesus is both the “firstborn of all creation” and the “firstborn from the dead” (Col 1:15, 18). “Firstborn” is not emphasizing his origins, but his status—in both God’s original creation and God’s new creation, Jesus is Lord, having “first place in everything.”

In Jesus “all the fullness (of God) dwells” (Col 1:19). Everything that is God is found in Jesus. All God’s transcendence-in-immanence, all God’s power-in-weakness, all God’s majesty-in-humility, all God’s sovereignty-in-service, all God’s holiness-in-mercy, all God’s faithfulness-in-love.

Through Jesus “God was pleased to reconcile to God’s self all things” (Col 1:20). This was Jesus’ mission, and he continues this mission through the church and by God’s Spirit in the world. All things—every person, everything in creation—will be renewed, brought to wholeness and harmony!

In Jesus God has reconciled all things, “making peace through the blood of his cross” (Col 1:20). This isn’t penal substitutionary atonement—it’s Christus victor, Jesus through his bloody crucifixion at the hands of the world’s powers disarming these powers and triumphing over them (Col 2:14-15).

Paul uses strong language to describe the way Gentiles live: “hostile in mind, doing evil deeds” (Col 1:21). There’s surely hyperbole here, common early Jewish rhetoric, but it highlights a reality for all of us: we all have habits of harm which can enslave us, from which we need to be liberated.

We who are in Christ are “holy and blameless and irreproachable”—as long as we “continue securely established and steadfast in the faith” (Col 1:22-23). Throughout the NT Christian faith is portrayed as an ongoing journey, growing in our trust in God and our commitment to Jesus’ way of love.

In what sense has the gospel already “been proclaimed to every creature under heaven” (Col 1:23)? Through Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and his exaltation to God’s right hand: these are God’s public declaration of the defeat of sin and death, and of Jesus as Lord over all evil powers.

If “the gospel has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven” (Col 1:23) then all God’s creatures can proclaim the good news back to us—if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.

“God was pleased to reconcile to God’s self all things”; the gospel “has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven” (Col 1:20, 23). The good-news story of Jesus has profound implications for everything God has created, and we as Christians are called to live into the restoration of creation.

Paul on his sufferings: “In my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” (Col 1:24). This is not that Jesus didn’t suffer enough on the cross; it’s that our co-suffering love with and for others is an extension of Jesus’ co-suffering love with and for the world.

Paul is realistic about physical suffering: he calls it a “groaning” with creation and the Spirit, even a “messenger of Satan” (Rom 8; 2 Cor 12). Yet Paul chooses to rejoice in suffering (e.g. Col 1:24) because, even though it’s not from God, God can work through it to bring about God’s good purpose (Rom 8:28-30).

For Paul “the word of God” is not the Bible—it’s the gospel, the good-news story of Jesus. In Col 1:25 it’s specifically the good news that this gospel brings to Gentiles: the “mystery” of how, through Jesus, God has brought us into the people of God, widening the circle of God’s saving mercy.

“Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27)—a Pauline gospel summary. We who are “in Christ” have Christ “in us,” Christ’s very Spirit. This gives us “the hope of glory”—the assurance that one day we will fully reflect Christ’s glory, the fullness of Jesus’ character, as children of God (Rom 8).

“So that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Col 1:28)—this is Paul’s ministry goal for individual people. Being increasingly shaped into the image of Christ, the character of Jesus—his way of faith, his way of love.

“I want their hearts to be encouraged and united in love” (Col 2:2)—this is Paul’s ministry goal for communities of faith. “Encouraging” them—building them up—so that they are “united in love”—not united in particular beliefs, but in following Jesus’ way of love.

In Jesus Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3). This doesn’t mean there is no knowledge outside of Christ. Rather, it means that in Christ we find the wisdom and knowledge that most matters in life—how to live a life of faith, hope, and love.

“Though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit” (Col 2:5). We’ve all experienced this, the sense of being with someone in spirit even when we can’t be there in person. Paul’s words, though, hold an ambiguity that deepens this for fellow Christians—”I am with you in spirit/the Spirit.”

“Christ Jesus the Lord” (Col 2:6)—two early Christian confessions rolled into one.

Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the one who brings about God’s reign of justice and peace and life on earth.

Jesus is Lord, the one who holds our ultimate allegiance, above all other powers of this age.

As Christians we “receive” Jesus as Christ and Lord (Col 2:6)—we gladly welcome him as Christ and Lord, and we learn the traditional Christian teaching about him as Christ and Lord.

This is the same way in which we continue to “walk” in Jesus—as our Messiah and our Lord.

The Christian life is “walking in Jesus” as Christ and Lord—walking with Jesus, walking in his way of life (Col 2:6). We never get beyond this—spiritual maturity is about walking more closely with Jesus, more closely reflecting his character, his motives, his desires.

No, Paul is not against “philosophy” in general (Col 2:8)—he shows evidence of being familiar with, and using, some of the philosophy of his day. Here he’s probably speaking against a kind of “sophistry,” using clever but false arguments, or beautifully sounding but ultimately meaningless rhetoric.

“In Jesus the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col 2:9). Everything that God is, is found in Jesus. All God’s transcendence-in-immanence, all God’s power-in-weakness, all God’s majesty-in-humility, all God’s sovereignty-in-service, all God’s holiness-in-mercy, all God’s faithfulness-in-love.

For the Apostle Paul, Christians are those who have been crucified with Jesus (dying to our self-focused desires), buried with him (symbolized in baptism), and raised from the dead with him (sharing in his life of faith, hope, and love) (Col 2:12).

In Christ God has “forgiven us all our trespasses” (Col 2:13). This might seem irresponsible of God, not keeping us accountable. But God has also given us God’s Spirit, who works in us a life of repentance from our habits of harm, and a life of faith and love in the way of Jesus.

In crucifying Jesus the powers-that-be thought they were disarming Jesus, publicly humiliating him, triumphing over him. In a surprising twist, however, through the cross—stamped with the approval of his resurrection by God—Jesus has actually done these things to the powers of this age (Col 2:15).

Paul never denounces Jews for keeping kosher or observing Sabbath—he himself was an observant Jew. Rather, his point in Col 2 etc. is that Gentiles do not need to become Jews in order to be part of the messianic people of God—for both Jewish and Gentile Christians, the “fullness” is found in Jesus.

For Paul, the “world” and the “flesh” (e.g. Col 2:20-23) are the collective and individual manifestations respectively of living a self-focused life not centered on Jesus’ way of faith, hope, and love. In their extremes, they can reflect either rigid rule-keeping or wild self-indulgence.

Christians often equate “worldly” with selfish indulgence or rampant immorality. But in Col 2:20-23 Paul describes rigid rule-keeping as equally “of the world.” Legalism is just as worldly as licentiousness. The way of Jesus is neither of these extremes.

It’s something fundamentalisms don’t get: a way of life based on prohibitions cannot actually bring about holiness. This has “an appearance of wisdom” but it fails to deal with the root of the problem: our deeply ingrained habits of harm (Col 2:20-23). We need the Spirit. We need Jesus’ way of love.

For Paul, heaven is not a place we go after we die; it is the realm of God now, where God is most fully present (“the things above,” Col 3:1). In Christian eschatology, heaven comes down to earth; we long for God’s reign to come on earth as it is in heaven—and one day it will (Matt 6:10; Rev 21-22).

Don’t get me wrong. Paul does speak about “life after death,” but it’s not about being “in heaven.” It’s about being “with Christ” (Phil 1:23), “with the Lord” (2 Cor 5:8)—with Jesus. The ultimate goal is the resurrection of the body, living within a renewed creation (Rom 8:18-30).

If heaven/ “the things above” is where God is most fully present, “earthly” things are those which do not reflect God’s presence (Col 3:2, 5). These are not our basic human desires, which are good; they are those harmful or excessive desires we nurture, and the actions that come from them.

For Paul, “sexual immorality” (Col 3:5) refers to harmful or excessive sexual desires, attitudes, and actions: lust, promiscuity, infidelity, idolatry, exploitation, violence. Note: this has nothing to do with sexual orientation, and nothing to do with loving and committed same-sex marriages.

Paul says that greed is a form of idolatry (Col 3:5). A desire to accumulate wealth or power is akin to worshiping another god, one who commands our allegiance—and demands that we sacrifice others along the way. We cannot serve both God and Mammon (Matt 6:24).

Anger is not in itself sin— “Be angry but do not sin,” Eph 4:26 says. But not all anger is righteous, and even righteous anger can fester into rage or malice (Col 3:8). This—harmful or excessive anger—we must guard against, for it does not bring about the righteousness or justice of God (Jas 1:20).

For Christians, “Christ is all and in all” (Col 3:11). “Christ is all”—Jesus is our Messiah and Lord, in whom we find all we need for a life of faith and hope and love. And “Christ is in all”—by the Spirit the risen Jesus is in and among all followers of Jesus, with us to the end of the age.

In our baptism—and day by day throughout the Christian life—we are remade into the image of God, that is, the image of Jesus (Col 3:9-11; see 1:15). In this renewal of God’s image, there is no distinction along lines of ethnicity, culture, language, religious expression, gender, social status…

In our baptism—and day by day throughout the Christian life—we commit to putting off habits of harm and putting on holy habits of love: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forbearance, and forgiveness (Col 3:12-14). This is like putting on Jesus, clothing ourselves in his character.

Love in the way of Jesus is the virtue that “binds together” all other Christian virtues (Col 3:14). It is “the more excellent way” (1 Cor 12:31). It is the greatest of the abiding virtues of faith, hope, and love (13:13). “Faith working through love” is “the only thing that matters” (Gal 5:6).

Love in the way of Jesus is the purpose of freedom for the Christian (Gal 5:13). This—loving our neighbour as if their needs were our own—sums up the entire Torah (Rom 13:8-10; Gal 5:14). It is the first of the fruit of God’s Spirit in our lives (Gal 5:22).

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us” (Eph 5:1-2).

“The peace of Christ” can be inward peace, peace with one another, peace with God, peace within creation. It’s a full shalom.

In Col 3:15, the focus is on peace with one another: “the peace of Christ” is to “rule” or “judge” among us, being the determining factor among us as church communities.

“The word of Christ”: the gospel, the good-news story of Jesus. “Dwell”: make a home in. “You”: a collective plural. “Richly”: abundantly, in fullness.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly”: Let the good-news story of Jesus make itself fully at home among you as a community (Col 3:16).

How does the good-news story of Jesus make itself at home among us? Through our teaching and our worship (Col 3:16). As with believers individually, so with the church collectively—we never move beyond the gospel, we never move beyond Jesus, but maturity is a deepening of life in Jesus (Col 2:6-7).

“Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus”: do everything as if you were an envoy of Jesus, specially commissioned by him (Col 3:17). That’s a daunting task! But it is our calling as followers of Jesus: to be as Jesus to the world, especially in the way we love.

“Giving thanks to the Father” (Col 1:12). “Abounding in thanksgiving” (2:7). “Be thankful” (3:15). “Giving thanks to God the Father through Jesus” (3:17). “Devote yourselves to prayer, in thanksgiving” (4:2).

Gratitude—and the basic contentment that comes with it—is essential to the Christian life.

Col 3:18-4:1 is a “household code,” similar to the better known one in Eph 5:22-6:9. How should we read these for today?

Household codes, following Aristotle’s example, reinforced patriarchal norms to maintain order and stability in society. In following household codes, the early Christians were reassuring the powers-that-be that Christianity was not a threat to the social order.

Why was this needed? Because Christianity *was* a threat to the social order. After all, Jesus is Lord, not Caesar. And all that “brother/sister” language for fellow believers, and not promoting marriage, de-centered the biological family. The first Christians were not about “family values.”

(By the way, for more on that idea—that the earliest Christians were not “family values”—see my blog post here.)

Yet even the Pauline household codes pushed against the patriarchy: according to Col and Eph, the patriarch of the household had significant obligations to household members, outlined using Christian language of love and equity, reflecting Jesus’ Lordship.

Ephesians’ household code begins by calling on all Christians—including patriarchs—to “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph 5:21). Both refer to one of Paul’s axioms: “There is no partiality with God”—God views all people on equal footing (Eph 6:9; Col 3:25).

So how should we read these for today? Christians should always be pushing toward greater equity and egalitarianism. Always. These household codes show us how the early Christians strove to do that, pushing against patriarchal norms even while, at times, having to live within them.

Christians must work against human enslavement, in all its forms. Yet Paul’s words to Christian slaves in his day are good words for all of us as Christians in our work: “Whatever task you do, work as for the Lord and not for humans. You serve the Lord Christ” (Col 3:23-24).

“There is no partiality” with God (Col 3:25); this is one of Paul’s axioms (Rom 2:11; Gal 2:6; Eph 6:9). God regards each person equally, through the eyes of love, regardless of their ethnicity, culture, religion, gender, age, socio-economic status—or any other social distinction we might make.

“Devote yourselves to prayer, with thanksgiving” (Col 4:2).

“Persevere in prayer” (Rom 12:12).

“Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thess 5:17-18).

Regular, persistent prayer—with thanksgiving—is a fundamental reality of the Christian life. It’s the air we breathe.

I’ll say it again: for Paul “the word” is not the Bible—it’s the gospel, the good-news story of Jesus, “the mystery of Christ” (Col 4:3). As Christians may we all—through our words and through our deeds—”reveal” this mystery clearly (4:4).

Christians: “Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders… Let your speech always be gracious” (Col 4:5-6).

I’ll say it again for those in the back of the social media room: Christians are called to let our speech always be gracious toward those who are not Christians.

Gracious. Always.

The ends of Paul’s letters are often skipped over, but in some ways they’re the most interesting parts (e.g. Col 4:7-18). It’s there that we learn about Paul’s coworkers and we get a window onto his closest relationships. We can even glimpse God at work behind the scenes of the NT.

“Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you” (Col 4:9). This is the same Onesimus who is the runaway slave from Philemon, for whom Paul in that letter advocates. He is to be received “no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother” (Philmn 16).

The Colossians have received instructions about “Mark the cousin of Barnabas”; they are to welcome him if he comes (Col 4:10). This is the same Mark that Paul didn’t want to bring along on his second missionary journey (Acts 15:36-39). A reconciliation behind the scenes of the New Testament.

“My coworkers for the kingdom of God” (Col 4:11). As Christians, this is what we are called to be and to do: working together in Jesus’ way of love to see God’s reign come on earth as it is in heaven, God’s reign of true justice and lasting peace and flourishing life for all people.

“Luke, the beloved physician” (Col 4:14). This is the traditional author of the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. We have no solid way of confirming this, but there’s also no good reason to doubt this tradition.

“Nympha and the church in her house” (Col 4:15). Women served as patrons, deacons, teachers, and even apostles in the early church (see Rom 16:1-7). However we understand prohibitions against women having authority (e.g. 1 Tim 2:12), in practice women had much authority—and should still have.

Paul wrote a letter to the Laodiceans, yet we don’t have such a letter (Col 4:16). Was this lost? Or was it, perhaps, the letter to Philemon, or to the Ephesians? Regardless, we know of at least two other letters Paul wrote which have been lost to us, to the Corinthians (see 1 Cor 5:9; 2 Cor 2:3-4).

“I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand” (Col 4:18). Common practice: hire a scribe to prepare the papyrus and ink, take notes, and write out the letter. The author, then—if able—would write a short greeting in their hand. In Gal 6:11 Paul contrasts his large writing with that of the scribe.

“Grace be with you” (Col 4:18). Paul normally ends his letters with a benediction such as this, often longer. “Grace” is Paul’s shorthand for the unearned gifts of God, given to us in Jesus, given through the presence of the Spirit.

Grace be with you, my friends.

© Michael W. Pahl

What is Christianity 101?

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I recently posted this online:

A social media post with this text: "Christians believe that every person is created in God's image—no exceptions. Christians believe that we are to love every neighbour as ourselves—no exceptions. This is Christianity 101. It sure feels like a lot of Christians need to go back and re-learn the basics."

It got me thinking: what is Christianity 101? In other words, what are the basics that every Christian should know and live out?

It’s not a new reflection for me. Along the way I’ve taught plenty of “Intro to Christianity” type courses in academic contexts, along with my share of catechism or baptismal preparation-type classes in churches. I’ve even written a short intro to Christian theology from a biblical theological angle—most of which I still agree with. 😜

But at this time in my life—after 30+ years of Christian academic and church ministry—and at this moment in time—in the shadow of fascism’s resurgence, in an era of increasing distrust and polarization, in a climate-changing world, a democracy-precarious world, and so on and so on—what should every Christian know and live out?

A quadrilateral of thoughts—which would make for a great four-session series…

First, Jesus.

Christianity 101 starts with Jesus—he is, after all, the very image of God, God’s message made flesh, as well as the only foundation for our faith and for the church. Put another way, there’s a reason why Jesus’ name, or a title for Jesus, is on every page of the New Testament.

A basic Christian understanding of Jesus should include a familiarity with the stories and teachings of Jesus in the Gospels. It should include an appreciation of the larger significance of the key episodes in Jesus’ life, and his core teachings. It should include a grasp of the scope of basic Christian confessions like “Jesus is the Christ” and “Jesus is Lord.” It should include a commitment to follow Jesus as Christ and Lord, following in his way of love leading to justice and peace and life.

Second, God.

If Jesus is on every page of the New Testament, God is there at least as often. In fact, the story of Jesus is presented in the New Testament as a story about God, about what God is up to in the world. And Jesus himself had much to say about these things.

A basic Christian understanding of God should include a recognition of God as Creator, both distinct from creation and intimately involved in it—with the strong implication that creation is good, and loved by God. It should include a recognition of God as Saviour or Redeemer—the One who, ultimately, delivers us from our ways of harm and restores us to goodness and life and justice and peace. It should include reflection on the triune nature of God, at the very least that God acts in the world through Jesus by the Spirit and that we come to God and experience God through Jesus by the Spirit.

Third, faith.

The call to faith in God is persistent through the Christian Scriptures, carrying through the New Testament. This is not merely a call to believe certain things about God, though there are such things (see above for some of them). Rather, biblical faith is much more about a personal trust in God, an entrusting of ourselves into God’s care, come what may. It’s also a call to commitment or even allegiance—as Christians we are to follow God’s ways above any other ways, and these ways are the ways of Jesus, the ways of the Spirit.

This faith in God, this devotion to God, this love of God, is expressed and nurtured in certain ways. Christianity 101 would begin to nurture some of these ways of faith, including prayer, worship, solitude, community, study, service, simplicity, generosity, and more. And the greatest of these is…

Fourth, love.

Ferdinand Hodler, The Good Samaritan

The call to love is also persistent through the Christians Scriptures, and especially in the New Testament. This is also the primary “way of God, way of Jesus, way of the Spirit” in which we are to live. It is the primary expression of a genuine Christian faith. It is the primary characteristic of those who claim to follow Jesus.

This basic Christian love is not merely affection, tolerance, respect, or simple kindness—though it includes those attitudes and actions which are commonly called “love.” Basic Christian love is, as one should expect, love in the way of Jesus.

Jesus called his followers to love both neighbours and enemies, and he told stories about and lived out this neighbour-enemy love. It’s an open-hearted, open-armed, open-handed love, giving generously of one’s self. It sees each person as one created in God’s image and loved by God. It’s a practical care for the needs of others, as if their needs were our own—and especially those most in need, most vulnerable to harm. It’s a readiness to forgive when harmed, even when it’s hard. It’s a willingness to stand in solidarity with the harmed, even at great personal sacrifice. It is this way of love that leads to true justice, lasting peace, and flourishing life for all, and all God’s creation.

Jesus. God. Faith. Love.

It’s a quadrilateral of basic Christianity, within which there is plenty of room for lifelong, expansive growth.

© Michael W. Pahl

Hell, God’s Wrath, and the Gospel

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It’s amazing how upset some Christians get when you question God’s wrath.

I posted this on my social media the other day:

If the gospel is that Jesus died to appease God’s wrath against us because of our sin so that we can go to heaven and not to hell, why doesn’t any description of “gospel” in the NT say that? Why don’t any of the gospel proclamations in Acts say that?

Simple answer: because that’s not the gospel.

I thought it would be best not to leave people hanging, so I kindly gave my thoughts on what the New Testament gospel is:

The gospel according to the NT? More like this: God has acted through Jesus of Nazareth, Messiah and Lord—through his life, teachings, death, and resurrection, by the power of the Spirit—to begin to make right all that is wrong in the world because of human sin, to bring about God’s reign of justice and peace and life on earth.

A small ruckus developed over the first of those posts, as people missed the point to point out that Jesus’ death to save us from God’s wrath is indeed found in the New Testament.

I say they “missed the point” because I was being rather precise in my initial post. Let me parse this out by asking, and attempting to answer, two distinct questions.

First, was the idea that Jesus died to appease God’s wrath against us for our sin, or the idea that Jesus saves us from a post-mortem hell to a post-mortem heaven, part of the apostolic gospel proclamation?

The answer to this is, I would say, a pretty resounding “no.”

The language of “gospel” (εὐαγγέλιον, euangelion) or “preaching the gospel” (especially εὐαγγελίζω, euangelizō) occurs over 120 times in the New Testament. It’s used to describe everything from the whole story of Jesus’ public ministry from his baptism to his resurrection (e.g. Mark 1:1), to focusing in on one or more specific aspects of Jesus’ ministry, such as his death and resurrection (e.g. 1 Cor 15:1-5) or simply his death (e.g. 1 Cor 1:17). Other aspects that are highlighted in New Testament gospel descriptions? That Jesus is Messiah and Lord (e.g. Rom 1:1-4; 2 Tim 2:8), that Jesus’ death is “for our sins” (e.g. 1 Cor 15:3), that through Jesus God’s kingdom has come near (e.g. Mark 1:14-15), and that these things were foretold by and are explained by the Jewish Scriptures (e.g. 1 Cor 15:3-4).

Interestingly—and not surprisingly, when you think about it—the evangelistic speeches in Acts confirm these themes. According to Luke in Acts, when the apostles preached the gospel, they told the story of Jesus, Messiah and Lord, who, though his life, teachings, death, resurrection, and exaltation, and in accordance with the Scriptures, has brought about God’s kingdom and offers God’s forgiveness (e.g. Acts 2:14-36; 10:36-43; 13:16-41; see also summaries like 5:42; 8:12, 35; 11:20; 17:18).

Nothing is said in any of this about a post-mortem hell or of God’s wrath against sin, and certainly not in connection with Jesus’ death. Yes, the gospel proclamation could focus on Jesus’ death, and even that Jesus’ death was “for our sins” (again, 1 Cor 15:3). But this simply means that Jesus died “with respect to” our sins in some way—it leaves open to apostolic interpretation exactly how Jesus’ death is “for our sins.” One must make several behind-the-scenes leaps to get from “Jesus died for our sins” to “Jesus died to appease God’s wrath against us for our sins.”

In other words, my social media posts are correct. The gospel proclaimed by the apostles did not include ideas of Jesus’ death appeasing God’s wrath or delivering us from a post-mortem hell. Rather, the apostolic gospel told the story of Jesus, Messianic King and Lord, as God’s good news for the world.

This has immediate implications for how we proclaim the gospel today—which was the implicit point of my online posts.

Most popular understandings of the Christian gospel today focus on Jesus’ death to the exclusion of Jesus’ life, teachings, and often even resurrection. And they focus on Jesus’ death as penal substitutionary atonement: Jesus dying in our place to appease God’s wrath against us for our sins, and to deliver us from hell to heaven after we die. But this is not the gospel. The gospel is much bigger—and much better news—than that.

There’s a second question, though, which many of my online commenters were really getting at. Were these ideas—Jesus’ death appeasing God’s wrath, or delivering us from hell to heaven—part of apostolic teaching? In other words, granted that these were not part of New Testament gospel preaching, they could still have been part of what the apostles believed and taught in explaining Jesus’ death and salvation.

This is less clear—and also wasn’t my point in my social media posts. But here’s where some of my current thinking is at on this question.

The clearest description of what is meant by God’s wrath—not in highly symbolic apocalyptic literature where figurative language abounds—is found in Romans 1. There Paul describes the “wrath of God” being revealed against human sin—and it’s not some future, post-mortem hell. Rather, the wrath of God is God giving humans over to their sin (1:24, 26, 28). In other words, we create our own hell on earth, and God lets us experience the hell we’ve created for ourselves. That’s “God’s wrath.”

This fits well with the language of divine wrath in the Old Testament—it’s individual humans or human societies experiencing the consequences of their own sinful ways, not in some future hell but here on earth, whether in the present or in the future. The most direct parallels to New Testament divine wrath language, for example, describe the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. as a day of God’s wrath (e.g. Lam 1:12). On a related note, see my musings on Jesus’ “hell” language here.

Then there’s the question of whether Jesus’ death appeases God’s wrath. The texts people most frequently point to related to this—whether “propitiation” texts like 1 John 2:2 or more general texts like Romans 5:8-9—aren’t as clear as those folks like to think. Examining those texts is beyond the scope of this already-long blog post; perhaps I’ll tackle that another time. I’m willing to concede that a very few of these texts could be legitimately read as pointing to penal substitution, but New Testament atonement scholars these days acknowledge that at most this is a minor theme among many others in the New Testament used to explain the meaning of Jesus’ death. I’ve given a few thoughts on a non-penal substitution understanding of Jesus’ death as atonement here.

In summary, then: the apostles didn’t proclaim as gospel the idea that Jesus died to appease God’s wrath against us for our sins, to bring us from a hell to heaven—and it’s at least possible they may not have even believed these ideas at all.

© Michael W. Pahl

This Is Jesus

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The early Christians had written collections of Jesus’ teachings, sometimes called Logia Iēsou by scholars, that is, “Sayings of Jesus.” These sayings collections were for teaching about Jesus and for personal and communal spiritual formation. Over the past couple of weeks I have been sharing verses from the Gospels on my social media, with the hashtag #ThisIsJesus. These are things Jesus says or does in the Gospels that are especially inspiring or challenging for me. There’s certainly more to choose from—this is only a sample! But these form a kind of modern Logia Iēsou which one can use to meditate on Jesus’ teachings and way of life. Here’s the whole collection—I’ve even got them numbered for your convenience.

1 “And Jesus said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.'” (Matt 13:52) #ThisIsJesus

2 “‘The time has come,’ Jesus said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Turn away from your sins and believe the good news!'” (Mark 1:15) #ThisIsJesus

3 “And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.” (Mark 2:15) #ThisIsJesus

4 “Then Jesus said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.'” (Mark 2:27-28) #ThisIsJesus

5 “And Jesus appointed twelve to be with him and to be sent out to preach and to have authority to cast out demons.” (Mark 3:14-15) #ThisIsJesus

6 “And looking at those who sat around him, Jesus said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.'” (Mark 3:34-35) #ThisIsJesus

7 Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be filled.” (Matt 5:6) #ThisIsJesus

8 Jesus said, “Blessed are those who show mercy, for they will receive mercy.” (Matt 5:7) #ThisIsJesus

9 Jesus said, “Blessed are those who make peace, for they will be called God’s children.” (Matt 5:9) #ThisIsJesus

10 “On the Sabbath day Jesus taught the people. They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.” (Luke 4:31-32) #ThisIsJesus

11 “And Jesus said, ‘If you have ears to hear, then hear!'” (Mark 4:9) #ThisIsJesus

12 “When Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom.” (Luke 4:16) #ThisIsJesus

13 “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” (Luke 5:16) #ThisIsJesus

14 Jesus said, “Blessed are you who are poor. God’s kingdom belongs to you.” (Luke 6:20) #ThisIsJesus

15 “But woe to you who are rich,” Jesus said. “You have no more comfort than that!” (Luke 6:24) #ThisIsJesus

16 Jesus said, “Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who treat you badly.” (Luke 6:27-28) #ThisIsJesus

17 “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged,” Jesus said. “Do not condemn others, and you will not be condemned. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven.” (Luke 6:37) #ThisIsJesus

18 Jesus said, “Seek God’s kingdom first, and God’s justice.” (Matt 6:33) #ThisIsJesus

19 “Go and learn what this means,” Jesus said, “‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'” (Matt 9:13) #ThisIsJesus

20 “When Jesus saw the grieving widow, he was moved with compassion for her.” (Luke 7:13) #ThisIsJesus

21 “But Jesus said to the woman who was called a sinner, ‘Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.'” (Luke 7:50) #ThisIsJesus

22 “‘Return to your home,’ Jesus said, ‘ and declare how much God has done for you.’ So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.” (Luke 8:39) #ThisIsJesus

23 “When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” (John 6:15) #ThisIsJesus

24 “When the crowds found out where Jesus had gone, they followed him, and he welcomed them. He spoke to them about the kingdom of God and healed those who needed healing.” (Luke 9:11) #ThisIsJesus

25 “Then Jesus said to them all, ‘If anyone wants to come after me, they must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.'” (Luke 9:23-24) #ThisIsJesus

26 “Then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen. Listen to him!’ When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.” (Luke 9:35-36) #ThisIsJesus

27 “When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matt 9:36) #ThisIsJesus

28 They said to him, “In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” Jesus said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:5-7) #ThisIsJesus

29 “The people in the Samaritan village did not welcome Jesus. The disciples James and John asked, ‘Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them?’ But Jesus turned and rebuked them.” (Luke 9:53-55) #ThisIsJesus

30 “I have come to cast fire upon the earth,” Jesus said, “and how I wish it were already ablaze!” (Luke 12:49) #ThisIsJesus

31 “Jesus asked him, ‘Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ The man said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.'” (Luke 10:36-37) #ThisIsJesus

32 Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matt 11:28-30) #ThisIsJesus

33 “Do not be afraid, little flock,” Jesus said, “for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32) #ThisIsJesus

34 “And Jesus said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.'” (Luke 12:15) #ThisIsJesus

35 “Jesus asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you.'” (Luke 13:2-3) #ThisIsJesus

36 “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life,” Jesus said, “and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39-40) #ThisIsJesus

37 Jesus said, “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 14:11) #ThisIsJesus

38 Jesus said, “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the lame, and the blind.” (Luke 14:13) #ThisIsJesus

39 “Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately Bartimaeus regained his sight and followed Jesus on the way.” (Mark 10:52) #ThisIsJesus

40 Jesus said, “So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” (Luke 14:33) #ThisIsJesus

41 “It is the thief who comes to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so they may have life in the fullest possible way.” (John 10:10) #ThisIsJesus

42 “And the religious leaders were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.'” (Luke 15:2) #ThisIsJesus

43 Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Luke 16:13) #ThisIsJesus

44 “Then Jesus said to the Samaritan, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.'” (Luke 17:19) #ThisIsJesus

45 Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is among you.” (Luke 17:21) #ThisIsJesus

46 “And yet,” Jesus said, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8) #ThisIsJesus

47 “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35) #ThisIsJesus

48 Jesus said, “I tell you, this repentant sinner went down to his home justified rather than the self-righteous religious leader. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14) #ThisIsJesus

49 “But Jesus called for them and said, ‘Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.'” (Luke 18:16) #ThisIsJesus

50 Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (Luke 18:25) #ThisIsJesus

51 “Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house.'” (Luke 19:8-9) #ThisIsJesus

52 “As Jesus came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.'” (Luke 19:41-42) #ThisIsJesus

53 Jesus said, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ On these two hang all the Law and the Prophets.'” (Matt 22:37-40) #ThisIsJesus

54 “Jesus saw rich people giving to the treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, ‘Truly, this poor widow has put in more than all of them, for they have contributed a little out of their abundance, but she gave all out of her poverty.'” (Luke 21:1-4) #ThisIsJesus

55 “Woe to you, hypocritical religious leaders!” Jesus said. “You attend to the smallest religious matters but have neglected the weightier ones: justice and mercy and faith.” (Matt 23:23) #ThisIsJesus

56 “Truly I tell you,” said Jesus, “whatever you did to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine—feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, welcoming the stranger, visiting the prisoner—you did it to me.” (Matt 25:40) #ThisIsJesus

57 “And all the people would get up early in the morning to listen to Jesus in the temple.” (Luke 21:38) #ThisIsJesus

58 “Then Jesus took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And he did the same with the cup after supper.” (Luke 22:19-20) #ThisIsJesus

59 “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another,” Jesus said. “This is how people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35) #ThisIsJesus

60 “Because he was very sad and troubled, Jesus prayed even harder. His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” (Luke 22:44) #ThisIsJesus

61 “When those who were around Jesus saw what was coming, they asked, ‘Lord, should we strike with the sword?’ Then one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, ‘No more of this!’ And he touched his ear and healed him.” (Luke 22:49-51) #ThisIsJesus

62 “Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over.'” (John 18:36) #ThisIsJesus

63 “Then Jesus said about those who had crucified him, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.'” (Luke 23:34) #ThisIsJesus

64 “When Jesus was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.” (Luke 24:30-31) #ThisIsJesus

65 “Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.'” (John 20:19-21) #ThisIsJesus

66 Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen me but still have believed.” (John 20:29) #ThisIsJesus

“Give Up All Your Possessions”: Wrestling with Jesus’ Teaching

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Jesus says a lot of hard things. Some are things that are hard to understand. Some are things that are hard to do.

A teaching of Jesus that definitely falls into the latter category is Luke 14:33: “None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”

Heinrich Hofmann, Christ and the Rich Young Ruler

Most people are familiar with a version of this saying in the context of the Rich Ruler. In that story, narrated in varying ways in Matthew 19:16-22, Mark 10:17-22, and Luke 18:18-23, a rich man comes to Jesus and asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus tells him to follow the Ten Commandments (and some Christians today are like, “Wrong answer, Jesus”).

The rich ruler responds by saying he’s kept these since his youth, and Jesus doesn’t insist he must be mistaken for no one can fully keep the Law (“Doesn’t Jesus know how to do this?”). Instead, Jesus says the rich man only lacks one thing: “Sell what you own, and give the money to the poor. (“What?!”) Then come, follow me.”

With this version of the saying—“Sell everything you own and give the money to the poor”—we could be forgiven for saying, “Ah, that’s just for the Rich Ruler. Clearly he had a greed problem.” But Luke 14:33 doesn’t let us off the hook like that. This is for all Jesus’ would-be disciples: “None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”

What do we do with this?

Well, the first thing we should do is to sit with this hard teaching of Jesus, and really wrestle with the possibility that it is calling us to do the very thing it seems it is calling us to do. Even if, in the end, we conclude that Jesus is using hyperbole, or exaggeration for effect (which is very much a Jesus thing to do), we need to sit with the full challenge of this hard teaching.

Yet, having done that, I think there are good reasons for thinking Jesus is using hyperbole here, that not every disciple of Jesus literally has to give up every last one of their possessions.

The first reason is that, just a few chapters later, we see this put into practice. Zacchaeus, that diminutive but wealthy tax collector, determines he wants to be a disciple of Jesus. Yet he doesn’t literally give up every last denarius in his vast collection of denarii. No, but he does give up half of his wealth for the poor, and commit to paying back anyone he’s defrauded four times what he took from them. That’s good enough for Jesus, who resolutely declares, “Today salvation has come to this house” (Luke 19:1-10).

Second, we know of other people in Luke’s double narrative who have wealth and, while being very generous, do not literally give away all of their possessions as Jesus’ disciples. There are the women who support Jesus and the Twelve out of their resources, for instance—this is a continuous reality, which means they didn’t give everything away in one shot (Luke 8:1-3). In Acts also, for example, there’s Lydia, the wealthy businesswoman who sells purple cloth to the upper crust—there’s no indication she gave away all her wealth (Acts 16:13-15). And even in those halcyon days of the early Christian movement, when people shared their possessions with such joy and zeal, Peter makes clear that there was no requirement that the wealthy sell all their property—it was theirs to do with as they wished (Acts 5:4).

This last story can help us come to a solution in our wrestling with Rabbi Jesus’ teaching. In those early chapters of Acts, we’re told that “no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common” (4:32)—yet clearly, as we’ve just seen, that doesn’t mean everyone was literally required to give up their property. Rather, statements like this—and, I’d suggest, Jesus’ teaching in Luke 14:33—call us to a different perspective on our possessions and property than we’re told in the dominant economic narratives of our day.

Capitalism suggests private property is the cornerstone of economic wellbeing.

Communism insists there should be no private property at all, only collective ownership.

The Jesus way, embodied by Jesus’ early disciples, is different than either of these: we may own possessions and property, but ultimately they aren’t ours alone. Ultimately, they belong to God, and thus they can and should be used for the good of God’s people, and for the good of all.

This way of understanding Luke 14:33, I think, gets to the spirit of Jesus’ teaching. And it remains a hard teaching for us, challenging us always to examine our relationship to our possessions and property, holding them loosely, always open to opening up our hands to give generously to those in need—even if it means selling our possessions and property to do so.

How do we know when Jesus is speaking figuratively?

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How do we know when Jesus is speaking figuratively and not literally? Apparently, when he uses violent imagery.

That’s certainly the case on at least two occasions.

First one? “Fire from heaven.”

In Luke 12:49, Jesus says, “I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already ablaze!” He then goes on to use further violent imagery, that he hasn’t come to bring peace on earth but rather division, splitting households and families.

It’s interesting language—especially because a few chapters earlier James and John were eager to take these words quite literally. Jesus and his disciples entered a Samaritan village, but the people did not welcome them. So they left, shaking the dust off their feet (see Luke 10:10-11). Yet that dust-shaking wasn’t good enough for James and John. “Lord,” they said to Jesus, “do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But Jesus, in this respect at least, is not like Elijah from of old (2 Kgs 1), and he rebuked them for this (Luke 9:53-55).

In other words: no, the “fire from heaven” language Jesus uses is not to be taken literally.

Second example? “Buy a sword.”

In Luke 22:36, he tells his disciples that “the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one.” This, he says, is so that the Scripture is fulfilled that says he will be counted among the lawless. The disciples take him literally, and they assure him that they have two swords among them already (I’m betting on Simon Peter and Simon the Zealot). Jesus replies—with no commentary on his tone of voice—“It is enough.”

Gérard Douffet,Taking of Christ with the Malchus Episode

But just a few verses later it becomes clear that Jesus was speaking figuratively about swords and their use. Judas leads a crowd to arrest Jesus, and his disciples ask, “Lord, should we strike with the sword?” Without waiting for an answer, one of them—John’s Gospel says it was Peter—strikes a servant of the high priest and slices off his ear. Jesus’ response? “No more of this”—and he heals the man (Luke 22:47-51). Matthew’s Gospel adds the famous saying of Jesus: “For all who take up the sword will die by the sword” (Matt 26:52).

In other words: no, the “buy a sword” language Jesus uses is not to be taken literally.

Twice, then, Jesus has used imagery of violence. And twice his disciples have taken him literally when they should have taken him figuratively.

Of course, figurative language is still describing something real. It’s used for a reason. Jesus’ message does divide families, still today. His words of love which do indeed bring peace can create division among households when those words are rejected. And his call for his disciples to buy a sword both demonstrates the seriousness of the situation before them and foretells the manner of his death—that he would be crucified as a common criminal, alongside convicted brigands.

Jesus’ violent imagery was to be taken seriously. But it was not to be taken literally.

I wonder, does that apply elsewhere?

His words about “plucking out your eye” and “cutting off your hand” if they cause you to sin (Matt 5:29-30)? Yes, our sins of harm against others are serious, so take them seriously. But no, don’t literally gouge out your eye or hack off your hand.

His words about the fires of hell for those who commit the most serious of these sins of harm, especially the rich against the poor and the powerful against the powerless (Matt 5:22; 18:9; 23:33; Luke 16:19-31)? Yes, the consequences of our sins are serious. But no, people are not literally going to burn for their sins.

What about beyond the Gospels? What about, say, the book of Revelation? There’s plenty of violent imagery there, including violence against the enemies of God by the returning Jesus coming from the heavens (Rev 19-20). I believe the same holds true here: while God’s judgment is serious, it’s not going to be a blood bath culminating in a lake of burning sulfur.

Regardless of how far we take this principle, it’s worth pondering: when Jesus uses the imagery of violence, he’s not meaning his disciples to take him literally.

Take Jesus seriously when he talks about fire and swords, oh yes. But don’t take him literally.

What is Paul’s salvation story?

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What is Paul’s salvation story?

No, I don’t mean his personal story of meeting Jesus and being called by him—though for Paul that story is part of the larger story I’m referring to. I mean Paul’s cosmic salvation story, his big-picture narrative of salvation, what it is he believes salvation is all about.

This is important to discern, because for many Christians (especially evangelicals) the Apostle Paul is the go-to for understanding salvation, the GOAT for explaining the gospel. This is not an easy story to discern, however, because Paul never simply lays out a salvation narrative—he’s written a bunch of letters, each of which is dealing with specific situations faced by his first readers and himself. Scholars continue to debate whether we can even discern a larger salvation narrative from Paul’s writings, let alone what that story might be.

However, scholars are pretty well united on what that grand story of salvation for Paul is not—and this isn’t good news for the conservative evangelicals who typically narrate salvation in this way.

Paul’s story of salvation is not that the goal of human existence is to get to heaven when we die, avoiding an eternity of conscious torment in punishment for our sins. It’s not that Jesus came to earth solely to save us from this fate and bring us to heaven after death. It’s not that Jesus took our place on the cross, taking the punishment that was due us, as God poured out God’s wrath on Jesus on the cross. It’s not that this “penal substitutionary atonement” is what allows us to go to heaven after death, if we believe that Jesus did this for us.

That’s not Paul’s salvation story.

I mentioned earlier that Paul’s salvation story was a “cosmic” story. I said that Paul’s salvation story isn’t merely about his own salvation, but that his individual story was part of a larger, cosmic story. This is important to note. Paul wouldn’t recognize the common evangelical Christian salvation story I’ve just told, because it’s far too individualistic—about Jesus dying for my sins on the cross, taking my place, so I can be with Jesus in heaven when I die—and not nearly big enough, not cosmic enough.

Here’s how I see Paul’s cosmic salvation story.

Humanity is under the sway of cosmic powers at work in the world, the greatest of which are sin and its inevitable partner-in-destruction, death. What we need is to be liberated from these powers and brought into a new age, an era where sin and death no longer hold sway, where instead we experience righteousness and life, along with the fruits of these: justice and peace and joy and more. For Paul, this is salvation; this is the kingdom of God.

As God’s Messiah, the Christ, Jesus has come from that new age into our world, to bring about God’s reign, God’s salvation. Though sinless—and thus not under the power of sin and death—he entered into our world of sin and death, and in faithfulness to God willingly suffered under sin and death on the cross. However, God raised Jesus from the dead, overturning death and opening the way for humanity to enter into his kingdom, the new age of righteousness and life, justice, peace, and joy. We become part of this new age as we align our faith with Jesus’ faithfulness, walking in his way of the cross through death into new life.

Our individual stories of salvation are thus part of this cosmic story of salvation. Paul’s come-to-Jesus moment was Paul being swept up into this cosmic story. My come-to-Jesus moment was me being swept up into this cosmic story. And that’s true for everyone who has ever aligned their faith with Jesus’ faithfulness, to walk in his way of the cross, his way of love.

And yes, this story does mean that when I die I can expect to be with Jesus, one day being raised from the dead like Jesus was. But it’s not about being saved from hell, but being liberated from sin and death. And the story of salvation is so much bigger than me being with Jesus someday. It’s cosmic in scope—with, one day, all creation even brought into harmony with Jesus’ way of cruciform love.

Something like this story better explains both the totality of Paul’s theology in his letters and the specific statements Paul makes along the way. It better explains the way Paul talks about the cross and Jesus’ death, as well as his statements on sin and death and Jesus’ resurrection. It also explains justification: we share in Jesus’ vindication (his “justification”) by God through his resurrection from the dead.

So don’t be ashamed of Paul’s gospel! It’s God’s saving power for all who believe, after all, liberation from the powers of sin and death coming for all who walk in Jesus’ faithful way of love. And, understood in this way, it complements well the other salvation stories told in the New Testament.

© Michael W. Pahl