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Here is a post from the Grace Commentary website that explains some of the benefits of this approach. The original post is here.

There are so many benefits to “publishing” a commentary online rather than in print format. Below are a few (feel free to add more in the comment section of the forum):

1. It’s Expandable. As I come across new information, rather than think “I wish I had put that in the print version!”, I can simply add it!

2. It’s Editable. Almost everything on this site is “written in pencil.” If I later change my views on a particular passage (either through further study of my own, or in light of the comments that are made in the forum), I can easily go change what I have written.

3. It’s free for you! You don’t have to go buy expensive books, or use up shelf space on your bookshelves.

4. It allows feedback. Ever wish you could ask a writer for further clarification or elaboration? Now you can.

5. It allows discussion. Now you can talk about the passages with others online, for the free exchange of ideas and viewpoints. Alternately, feel free to print some pages for family devotions or small group Bible studies.

6. It is worldwide. Wherever there is internet connection, people can study and learn along with the rest of us! (In fact, when I was about 9 or 10, I dreamt of compiling a commentary on the Bible called “The World Commentary” which was written by leading biblical scholars from around the world. This Forum is not fully that, but is a step in that direction since any person from around the world can contribute to the forum.)

Grace Commentary is Live

By Jeremy Myers

1 Comment

Below is my big announcement I’ve been warning you about for about two weeks.

I’ve started another blog/forum over at www.gracecommentary.com. It essentially is a free, online, interactive Bible commentary. Though I originally began developing the idea two years ago, I’ve only been working on the site for a few months now. I figure that at my current rate, this project will only take the rest of my life (if I have the perseverance to see it through).

I have realized over the past decade or so that one of the things I really enjoy doing is studying Scripture. Studying, of course, needs to have more of an aim than simply gaining knowledge. And while I try to apply what I learn to my life, I think that the teacher in me needs an outlet. Since I am no longer a pastor, I decided to develop an avenue which might allow me to study Scripture interactively with anybody who might want to join. I started with the Gospel of Luke, and post commentary on about 10 verses per week.

I am, of course, not enough of a biblical expert to write a commentary, but I figure that if I start now, by the time I’m 80 or 90 and know enough to write a commentary (although does anyone ever know enough?), I will already have a good base to work with.

Currently, I am the only contributor, but I may add more in the future. However, any registered user may interact with the commentary posts, and provide their own insights and studies on the particular passages. In this way, others (including myself) may read what you have learned in Scripture, and interact with you. Of course, as I learn new things, whether through my own reading and study, or through the interactive comments, I can always edit and/or add to my original posts to reflect this new information.

Originally (about two years ago), I wanted to have at least something posted on every chapter of the Bible before the site went live, so that anybody could contribute and/or post their insights on any passage of Scripture right away without having to wait for me to get to it. But that turned out to be too prone to spammers, so I had to shut that aspect down.

So really, the site is little more than an invitation to study Scripture along with me, and right now, we’re studying Luke. I hope to see you there, and I look forward to your input!

PS, If you come for a visit, please let me know ASAP if there are registration problems and/or glitches. I am not quite sure yet if the site works…

“Jesus is Lord” is central to the Gospel

By Jeremy Myers

28 Comments

As I continue this series of posts on gospelism (aka evangelism), I imagine this post will generate one of two reactions. Some will say “Duh! I’ve known that forever!” while others will say “Uhhhhh…I don’t like where you’re going with this as it could lead to compromising the simple message of faith alone in Christ alone.”

Anyway, here are four premise statements that this post is based on:

The gospel contains truths for all aspects of life, both temporal and eternal.
These gospel truths are centered around the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Evangelism comes from the same word for “gospel” and so might better be termed “gospelism.”
Gospelism is a way of living life under the truths of the gospel.

Based on these, I came to a startling conclusion (startling for me, anyway).

Since the gospel contains truths for BOTH temporal and eternal life, then a summary statement of the gospel must be related to BOTH the temporal and eternal truths of the gospel, and which focuses on Jesus. In Scripture, it appears that this summary statement of the gospel is this:

JESUS IS LORD.

I know that for many of you, this is a “Duh” statement, but for me, it was staggering. I have spent most of my adult life arguing that the summary statement of the gospel was “Believe in Jesus for eternal life” and that believing in the Lordship of Jesus was not part of the Gospel.

But now I am seeing that the statement “Jesus is Lord” is actually central to the gospel!

To clarify, while I still believe that the only way to receive eternal life is to believe in Jesus for it, I do not believe that this is the summary of the gospel.

The gospel is good news for all aspects of life, not just good news about how to receive eternal life.

Therefore, the statement “Jesus is Lord” is the central claim of the gospel, because that claim alone touches all aspects of temporal and eternal life.

Jesus not only wants us to believe in Him for eternal life, but also to recognize His Lordship in all the other aspects of eternal and temporal life as well.

Only in this way can the gospel be fully believed and practiced.

The good news about Jesus is that He has come to set up His universal kingdom, by ruling and reigning in our lives and in this world. While this will never fully happen until He returns, He does want us to be moving in these kingdom directions now. And we do so by confessing and living under the central gospel claim that “Jesus is Lord.”

Interestingly, this week I was reading the new book by Frost and Hirsch called reJesus (#AmazonLink), and they wrote about this idea as well. Here is what they said:

The church’s elemental confession that ‘Jesus is Lord’ captures all the meaning significance of the biblical teaching on the kingdom of God. …Our view of God is that Jesus is Lord, and the kingdom of God is the arena in which we respond to God’s sovereign rule over this world. All is included (and nothing is excluded) in this claim (p. 120).

The lordship of Jesus extends to our sexuality, our political life, our economic existence, our family, our play, and everything in between. There must be no limitation to the claim that Jesus makes over all of life. When we get this right, Jesus’ lordship takes on a missional edge. “Jesus is Lord” is more like a rallying war cry than a mere theological statement (p. 123).

I remember when I was a little ashamed to talk about the Lordship of Jesus because I didn’t want to be confused with people who taught “Lordship Salvation.”

I am now ashamed that I was ashamed. Who can be ashamed of the Lordship of Jesus?!?!

I now see that, ironically, it is only because of my belief that Jesus is Lord that I can trust His claim that anyone who believes in Him will have eternal life.

So why do I believe that eternal life is through faith alone in Christ alone? Because Jesus is Lord.
Why do I study, pray, and worship? Because Jesus is Lord.
Why do I seek to love and serve others? Because Jesus is Lord.
Why do I try to live honestly and with integrity? Because Jesus is Lord.
Why do I seek to see others come to faith in Jesus? Because Jesus is Lord.
Why do I attempt to learn and live the gospel? Because Jesus is Lord.

The gospel is that Jesus has something to do with all of reality, both temporal and eternal. There is no sacred-secular divide. It is all under Jesus, and we ignore Him at our own peril.

See more on this gospelism series:

Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 1)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 2)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 3)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 4)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 5)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 6)

Want to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

A Gospelism Story to help you understand what it is

By Jeremy Myers

1 Comment

Below is a story I read on Alan Knox’s blog. I think it is a good example of one possible way to “gospelize.” (You will also like the blog series about Being the Church or the one about Loving your Neighbor.)

In November I heard Dino Rizzo speak in a workshop at the National Outreach Convention in San Diego. Dino talked about ways to serve the community. He said that if he were new in a city he would buy some garbage bags and volunteer at a community event to help do cleanup. If there was no community event, he said he would just go up and down the streets in his neighborhood and pick up trash.

I told this story to our little group that is trying to learn how to serve an inner city neighborhood in our city. We decided that we should try it the following Sunday morning, the second Sunday in December, and then do it every other Sunday morning. Our first Sunday out was a cold, windy day, but we met, prayed and then picked up trash in the neighborhood for about eighty to ninety minutes.

We skipped the fourth Sunday in December, since everyone in the group was out of town or occupied with visiting relatives. However, we resumed our trash pickup last Sunday, the second Sunday of January.

We met, prayed and started picking up trash. About two minutes after I started a car pulled up near me.

(Him) “What are you doing?”

(Me) “We’re picking up trash to make the neighborhood look nice”.

(Him) “Who are you people?”

(Me, while pointing to the yellow shirts we all wore that has our group’s name printed on it) “We’re a little group of Christians just trying to help out the neighborhood.”

(Him) “What church are you with?”

(Me) “We’re just a small group that meets here in the neighborhood.”

(Him) “I mean, where’s your church? The building?”

(Me) “We meet in cafes or the park. We don’t use a church building. We try to be out around people.”

(Him) “But are you part of some church, like the Catholic church, or something like that?”

(Me) “No. We’re just followers of Jesus, and every other Sunday morning this is how we do church. We go out in the neighborhood and pick up trash.”

Suddenly I was his good friend.

(Him) “My name is xxxxxxxx. I’m on the planning commission here, and I’ve never seen anything like this. I’m church way back, but I don’t go any more. (He gave me some reasons. He doesn’t think much of “religious people”.) Now this is real religion.”

He told me about the dislike the churches in the neighborhood and the people in the neighborhood have for each other, a story that I have heard several times from the neighborhood. (Most of the churches in the area are attended by people who drive into the neighborhood. The churches and their neighbors regularly complain to the city, the police and whomever will listen about each other.)

As we continued picking up trash, people watched. When cars drove by, I looked up. Several people smiled and waved. Some people came out of their houses and thanked us, after watching us from their windows. When we reached the end of our time, and turned around to go back to our cars, picking up a few bits of trash that we had missed on the first pass, more people came out of their houses and thanked us.

Several weeks earlier I walked these same streets trying to see what I could see, and prayed for the neighborhood. No one stopped to talk to me. No one smiled and waved as they drove by. No one came out of their house to talk to me. A couple of gang members asked me for money. That was it.

Oh yes, we do not hand out tracts or invite people to church. We’re just getting to know them and they’re getting to know us. They’re trying to figure out who we are. When they’ve got that figured out, perhaps, just perhaps, they’ll invite us into the spaces of their lives. That is where we will be allowed to hear each others stories. But for now, they’re just smiling, waving, coming out of their spaces to say hello or thank you or to ask who we are and what we’re doing.

After writing this, I thought about a group that is trying to start a new church. Twice they have walked through our neighborhood, hanging invitations to the new church on people’s doors. I watched them. No one smiled and waved at them as they drove by, no one stopped to talk to them, and no one came out of their house to talk to them. After the group had passed, I did see people open their doors to get the flyers, look at them a second or two and toss them in the trash. Hmmm!

I’m going to close out this series on gospelism with a post that might ruffle a few feathers.

See more on this gospelism series:

Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 1)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 2)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 3)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 4)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 5)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 6)

Want to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

Evangelism, Mission, and Gospelism with David Bosch

By Jeremy Myers

11 Comments

We are in a series of posts about how it is better to think of gospelism than evangelism.

Much of my thinking in the areas of mission, evangelism, and discipleship has been reinforced by David Bosch, and his book, Transforming Mission. Below are a few pertinent quotes. Note that he doesn’t use the term “gospelize” but I have included it in brackets where his thinking helped my thinking in this area.

Later today, I will post a story about one group of people who decided to live the gospel in their community (gospelize), rather than just “evangelize.”

So here are the quotes from David Bosch:

We cannot capture the evangel and package it in four or five “principles.” There is no universally applicable master plan for evangelism, no definitive list of truths people only have to embrace in order to be saved. We may never limit the gospel to our understanding of God and of salvation (p. 420).

Evangelism [is] that dimension and activity of the church’s mission which, by word and deed and in the light of particular conditions and a particular context, offers every person and community, everywhere, a valid opportunity to be directly challenged to a radical reorientation of their lives, a reorientation which involves such things as deliverance from slavery to the world and its powers; embracing Christ as Savior and Lord; becoming a living member of his community, the church; being enlisted into his service of reconciliation, peace, and justice on earth; and being committed to God’s purpose of placing all things under the rule of Christ (p. 420).

Mission [or evangelism] is not narrowed down to an activity of making individuals new creatures, of providing them with “blessed assurance” so that, come what may, they will be “eternally saved.” Mission involves, from the beginning and as a matter of course, making new believers sensitive to the needs of others, opening their eyes and hearts to recognize injustice, suffering, oppression, and the plight of those who have fallen by the wayside (p. 81).

The primary responsibility of “ordinary” Christians is not to go out and preach, but to support the mission project [i.e., gospelizing] through their appealing conduct and by making “outsiders” feel welcome in their midst (p. 138).

The church is that community of people who are involved in creating new relationships among themselves and in society at large and, in doing this, bearing witness [i.e., gospelizing] to the lordship of Christ (p. 169).

The church is the only society in the world which exists for the sake of those who are not members of it. [Bonhoeffer said] “The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving” (p. 375).

Mission [gospelizing] is the church sent into the world, to love, to serve, to preach, to teach, to heal, to liberate. …Evangelism is integral to mission. …One may never isolate it and treat it as a completely separate activity of the church (p. 412).

Evangelism is only possible when the community that evangelizes – the church – is a radiating manifestation of the Christian faith and exhibits an attractive lifestyle. …If the church is to impart to the world a message of hope and love, of faith, justice, and peace, something of this should become visible, audible, and tangible in the church itself (p. 414).

A talk-alike, think-alike, look-alike congregation may reflect the prevailing culture and be a club for religious folklore rather than an alternative community in a hostile or compromised environment. …The focus in evangelism should, however, not be on the church but on the irrupting reign of God (p. 415).

[Mission] is the good news of god’s love, incarnated in the witness of a community, for the sake of the world (p. 519).

See more on this gospelism series:

Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 1)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 2)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 3)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 4)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 5)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 6)

Want to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

Is there a difference between gospelism and discipleship?

By Jeremy Myers

5 Comments

In previous posts (here and here) I suggested that since the gospel contains truths for all aspects of temporal and eternal life, then “gospelism” (aka evangelism), is anything we do, whether word or deed, which reveals these truths to others.

But the question may arise (at least, it did in my thinking), “If gospelism is basically just teaching and living the truths of the gospel, then what is the difference (if anything) between gospelism and discipleship?” After all, doesn’t discipleship take place when we reveal the truths of Scripture to others through word and deed? Isn’t this the same as gospelism?

Gospelism and Discipleship are Similar

I think the first thing to remember is that disciples are followers of Jesus, whether or not they have believed in Him for eternal life.

I find that a lot of people think that only believers in Jesus can be disciples of Jesus, but this is not supported by Scripture.

A cursory reading of the gospels reveal that there were many disciples of Jesus who were not believers in Jesus. People followed Jesus and learned from Jesus for many reasons, even though not all of them believed in Him for eternal life. Judas is the prime example.

So I take from this that discipleship is open to all people, whether they believe in Jesus for eternal life or not. This is true of gospelism as well, so at least in this regard, gospelism and discipleship are identical.

The Primary Difference between gospelism and discipleship

But there seems to be a few primary differences between gospelism and discipleship. As I read Scripture, it seems that discipleship is more intentional than gospelism.

That is, rather than simply living the gospel as a way of life before anybody and everybody, discipleship is when we live and reveal the gospel to a select group of individuals for an extended period of time so that they might learn to model their life after ours and ultimately, after Jesus.

So here are a few distinctives of discipleship which separate it from gospelism:

While gospelism is somewhat random in who it touches, we either seek out others to disciple, or they seek us out. It is intentional in who it touches.
Discipleship must be regular. It is for the same group of people, over an extended period of time, with a specific goal in mind.
All who are discipling others must themselves be a disciple of someone else.

So while gospelism is for all people, discipleship is when we gospelize a select group of individuals.

Tomorrow, I will share a story showing how some of this looks in real life.

See more on this gospelism series:

Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 1)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 2)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 3)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 4)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 5)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 6)

Want to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

A definition of Gospelism

By Jeremy Myers

5 Comments

Yesterday I introduced the idea that “evangelism” might be better termed “gospelism.” Doing so will help us see that evangelism is about revealing the gospel, whether by word or deed, and should not be equated with giving a one-size-fits-all, prepackaged, bullet-point presentation.

Let me try to explain in more detail what gospelism is.

A Definition of Gospelism

I propose the following definition of gospelism (aka Evangelism):

Gospelism is a way of life whereby, through our actions and words, we reveal the good news about Jesus to those who are being drawn ever closer to Jesus.

Let me unpack this definition of Gospelism

First, gospelism is a way of life.

The gospel is way more than just a set of Bible facts; it also contains truths about how live in light of those Bible facts. Therefore, while you can believe some of those facts without living them, those who do so don’t really understand the full gospel or it’s ramifications for our life.

Also, we can never assume we fully understand and live according to the gospel. There is always more to learn, and more to practice. Gospel truths are a way of life that take an entire life to develop.

Second, gospelism does not just about what we say, but also about what we do.

Since the good news about Jesus concerns all aspects of our physical and spiritual life, then we can live the gospel just as well as speak it. And how liberating this can be! We don’t have to beat ourselves over the head if the words didn’t come just right, or if we forgot eight of the fifteen points in the “gospel outline” that our pastor wrote up.

Sometimes, the best way of sharing the gospel will not require words at all. Among other things, “evangelism” can be simple acts of honesty, service, kindness, and grace toward other people. But most people don’t think about such things as evangelism, and so they don’t think they are “evangelists.”

Remember what St. Francis of Assisi said: “Preach the gospel always; if necessary, use words.” If we are living a life of love, grace, generosity, forgiveness, patience, honesty, sacrifice, etc, then our lives are living testimonies to the gospel, which is always more winsome than words.

This is why you should live intentionally for the gospel. Fill up at the same gas station every week. Use the same check-out person at the grocery store. Request the same server at the restaurant (and tip well). As we consistently live the gospel before people, they do take notice, and over time, the service aspects of the gospel may result in verbally sharing the eternal aspects of the gospel as well.

Finally, gospelizing is revealing the good news about Jesus to those who are being drawn ever closer to Jesus.

This liberates us from trying to pack the gospel down into one five minute conversation. It can’t be done, so don’t try. Since there is so much information to the gospel, it is impossible to share it with any one person in any one setting. Rather, only bits and pieces can be shared at any one time.

Therefore, “evangelism” can be viewed as a process, rather than a one-time event.

If we share or show a bit of the gospel to a person we will never see again, that’s okay, because they are in process just like we are, and God can bring others into their lives to show them more light. We must do our part, but we don’t have to do the whole part. We must always be looking for ways we can show or share the gospel with any and every person we encounter.

Similarly, if we are developing a relationship with a person, we know that we can’t dump the gospel truck on them, because (1) there is too much to share in one setting, and (2) we don’t know or practice it all ourselves. If we share the gospel with words, and they reject it, we can still be friends, because our life is “gospelism” (evangelism) just as much as our words.

So, start with gospelism today

To put is as simply as possible, I believe that Gospelism is anything, whether word or deed, which reveals the gospel to others.

See more on this Gospelism series:
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 1)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 2)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 3)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 4)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 5)
Evangelism is Gospelism (Part 6)

Want to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

Google Says This Site May Harm Your Computer

By Jeremy Myers

1 Comment

Don’t worry. It’s not true. Google either crashed or got hacked today. Maybe it’s just a coding error.

Whatever is going on, all google searches are coming up with the statement that “This Site May Harm Your Computer.” Just for fun, I did a search for “google” on google.com, and found that google says that even their own site may harm your computer.

I love google, and am looking forward to upcoming innovations, such as their GDrive. I hope they get this fixed soon.

Edit: That was fast. It’s fixed.

The Gospel is Full of Good News

By Jeremy Myers

8 Comments

I still have an exciting announcement which I want to make (well, it’s exciting to me…), but it will have to wait until after I am done with this current series on the gospel and evangelism.

In two previous posts (here and here), I introduced the idea that to properly proceed in our mission to others, we need a proper understanding of the gospel and evangelism. In this post, I will discuss briefly the content of the biblical gospel. But first, let me give some background.

Background
About two years ago, I published an article called The Gospel is More than ‘Faith Alone in Christ Alone’ in the Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society. In the article, I challenged two of the more popular definitions of the gospel. First, that the “gospel” is equated with nothing more than “believe in Jesus for everlasting life.” There are some who think that this is the entirety of the gospel message, and those who ask others to believe more than this are adding to the gospel. I argued that the gospel is way more than such a pared down message.

A second view I argued against was that the gospel could be limited to a set number of theological propositions. Depending on who you read, most Christians have between five and ten propositions which they say constitute the entire gospelm, all of which must be believed for a person to receive eternal life. This view is based primarily on a faulty understanding of 1 Corinthians 15. Generally, they include the following in their gospel definition:
-human sinfulness
-the deity of Jesus
-the death of Jesus on the cross for our sins
-the resurrection of Jesus
-the necessity of faith in Jesus to receive eternal life

Against these two views, I argued that the biblical gospel is pretty much everything related to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, including the prophecies about Him, and the ongoing empowerment for life with God that we receive as believers. I wrote:

This gospel contains everything related to the person and work of Jesus Christ, including all of the events leading up to His birth, and all the ramifications from Christ’s life, death, and resurrection for unbelievers and believers (p. 50).

Response
Understandably, I received a lot of criticism from various groups for questioning their traditional teachings and practices regarding the gospel. One primary criticism was that my idea was new, and nobody else was saying such things as I had written. This is a weak argument, but interestingly, since I wrote the article, is seems that nearly every book I read has ideas which parallel the content of my research. One book in particular really helped my thinking. It is Transforming Mission by David Bosch, and it is now one of the top three most influential books I have ever read. He shows over and over that the gospel is not only a set of facts or propositions to be believed, but is information about how these beliefs will change our lives and how we interact with others.

Gospel of Faith, Love, and Hope
Let me provide a few quotes from Bosch which show this, and then I will close this already-too-long post with a few summary ideas.

“The good news is that the reign of God, present in Jesus Christ, has brought us all together under judgment and has in the same act brought us all together under grace. And yet, this does not mean that the gospel is an invitation to mystical introspection or to the salvation of individual souls, climbing out of a lost world into the safety of the church. Rather, it is the proclamation of a new state of affairs that God has initiated in Christ” (Bosch, 148).

The gospel of the early church “was practiced not as a stratagem to lure outsiders to the church but simply as a natural expression of faith in Christ” (Bosch, 49).

Similarly, salvation is way more than just “entrance into heaven when you die.” Salvation involves all aspects of life and living. It is a full redemption. “Whatever salvation is…it includes the total transformation of human life, forgiveness of sin, healing from infirmities, and release from any kind of bondage. …It does not have only a ‘vertial’ dimension” (Bosch, 107).

What is the Gospel?
The most basic definition of the “gospel” (Gk. euangelion) is “good news.” But that is not really what the biblical gospel is. Based on my years of studying this issue, and especially on my reading over the past few years, I am more convinced than ever that the gospel is message for all people about all the temporal and eternal benefits available to us through Jesus Christ.

Certainly, the message of eternal life is central to the gospel. However, what we Christians often neglect is that there is more to the gospel – much more. The biblical good news also tells us about how God wants to rule and reign over all aspects of life, how there is nothing beyond the scope of redemption, how there is hope for the future, a source of joy and gladness to be had, true community to be experienced, and peace to be introduced. It is good news for the poor, the lonely, the hurting, the despised, the neglected, the abandoned, the abused, the slandered, the outcast – indeed, for all who are suffering mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

The gospel is more than “believe in Jesus for eternal life.” The gospel is even more than “Jesus died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, so that all who believe in Him might have everlasting life.” These are the “bulls eye” central tenants of the gospel, around which everything else has power and significance. Without the truths of the death and resurrection of Jesus, there is no gospel, but the gospel is way more than a message about justification and how to get eternal life. If we limit it only to that, we are proclaiming a partial gospel at best.

The full gospel is full-orbed in the claims it makes about our present life and eternal existence, and what Jesus wants to do with both.

Now, if this is true, what does that do to our “evangelism”? I will address this question in the next post.

Good News!

By Jeremy Myers

4 Comments

Have you heard the good news? There is something better to this life than what you are currently experiencing – not necessarily easier, but definitely better. And the best part is that what I have to tell you is not only for this life, but also about the life to come!

In our culture, conversations about the biblical gospel could possibly begin in such a way. Such a conversation would be awkward with a stranger, and maybe only slightly more natural with a friend. Regardless, it will lead to way more dialogue than the following statement:

Did you know that you are a sinner, and are destined for hell? However, God, because of His great love for you, sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for your sins, and rise again from the dead. If you will just believe in Jesus for eternal life, you can go to heaven and be with God forever when you die.

If you have ever tried to “evangelize” with such a line, you know how (in)effective it is! And yet, the vast majority of Christians today seemt to think that evangelism us best accomplished with option number 2.

Here is a nice rule to remember when trying to engage people in discussions about spiritual matters: Your immediate goal is not to win a conversion, but to win another conversation. (I read that somewhere, and cannot remember where.) Of the two options above, which one is most likely to win another conversation?

Only pick the second one if your idea of a conversation is someone saying “F*** you!” as they walk away. Sadly, many Christians are fine with such a response, because, as I shared in my last post, they believe that as long as they “share the gospel” the “blood of that person is on their own head.” In my view, this reveals a very poor understanding of the gospel. Of course, I am not even sure that the first option above is a good beginning point either. While the first option is more likely to result in dialogue, if you start off with such a statement, it reveals a misunderstanding of the nature of evangelism.

To truly engage people in discussions about Jesus and the gospel, a few things are necessary. Many believe that a relationship or friendship with the person is necessary, but I disagree. While a relationship is incredibly helpful, it is not required. Instead, at the most basic level, two things are required: First, an understanding of what the biblical gospel is, and second, a good grasp of how to share this gospel with others (aka “evangelism”).

I will briefly discuss both over the next couple of posts.

The Benefits of an Online Commentary

Grace Commentary is Live

“Jesus is Lord” is central to the Gospel

JESUS IS LORD.

See more on this gospelism series:

A Gospelism Story to help you understand what it is

See more on this gospelism series:

Evangelism, Mission, and Gospelism with David Bosch

So here are the quotes from David Bosch:

See more on this gospelism series:

Is there a difference between gospelism and discipleship?

Gospelism and Discipleship are Similar

The Primary Difference between gospelism and discipleship

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A definition of Gospelism

A Definition of Gospelism

First, gospelism is a way of life.

Second, gospelism does not just about what we say, but also about what we do.

Finally, gospelizing is revealing the good news about Jesus to those who are being drawn ever closer to Jesus.

So, start with gospelism today

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The Gospel is Full of Good News

Good News!

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