Introduction: Gospel Formed Life

The Gospel We Are Becoming

I can still feel the worn weight of the tri-folded pamphlet in my hand as I grabbed it off the wall in the foyer of the country church I was preaching for. The font and stark black type were as no-nonsense as the message it wanted to convey. In big, bold letters, all capitalized, it said,

THE GOSPEL PLAN OF SALVATION.

I quickly read the various self-assured steps and immediately noticed something was missing. My wife just shook her head and whispered, “don't say anything.”

A kind elderly woman with a warm smile noticed my chagrin. She said, "you know what’s missing from that pamphlet, don’t you?" I looked at my wife who was adamantly shaking her head at me to somehow vicariously keep me from mouthing off.

I took a deep breath and said, “No? What's missing?” I’ll be honest I was expecting another step for the plan, but what she said instead nailed precisely what I was struggling to understand in my early ministry development. She smiled and said, "Jesus."

We get so confused about what the Gospel is. Granted, there has been a lot of debate and broader scholarship over the exact nature of the Gospel. Yet, in every place in the NT that you read about the Gospel, whether from 1 Corinthians 15 or Acts, you will see one core, standard description: Jesus.

As much as we want the Gospel to be lined out steps for salvation, the New Testament does not describe it that way. The Gospel is the story of Jesus the Messiah.

The word for Gospel is euangelion, meaning “good news.” It is a Greek word used by messengers as they ran into Rome, declaring victory for the emperor. They were bringing euangelion, Gospel, or good news. Our word “gospel" is an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning something like “good story,” “good telling,” or “godspell.”

So when the New Testament authors use the word euangelion, they refer to a message of good news. Specifically, this message is the good news of the incarnation, ministry, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and return of Jesus the Messiah. Just as Roman messengers would bring the good news of the emperor's victory into Rome, declaring their continued reign over the Roman empire, the disciples would also declare the good news of Jesus's victory and continued reign.

So we see that the Gospel is the message of Jesus: who he was, who he is, and who he will be. One of the remarkable things about this Gospel is how the New Testament authors describe our relationship to that good news. The good news of Jesus is not only something that happened to Jesus and because of it, but we also receive benefits. Undoubtedly through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, we have great benefits, but there is so much more.

The Gospel is the good news that we are becoming. If we are being formed into Christ's likeness and the Gospel is the good news about Christ, then we are becoming the Gospel itself. As the New Testament scholar Michael Gorman puts it so well in his book Becoming the Gospel, “Already in the first Christian century, the apostle Paul wanted the communities he addressed not merely to believe the gospel but to become the gospel, and in so doing to participate in the very life and mission of God.”

We can know who we are being formed into because it is revealed in the good news of Jesus Christ. His reality is becoming our reality. His incarnation becomes our incarnation. His ministry becomes our ministry. His death and burial become our death and burial. His resurrection becomes our resurrection. His ascension becomes our ascension (I know this one was also mind-boggling for me). Finally, his return will be our return.

This concept might seem a little crazy, but it is at the core of our formation.

As you read through today's passages, notice how Paul connects his own formation with the Gospel of Jesus.