A Sketch of the Basic Gospel
A few weeks ago, I asked readers to give some ideas as to what they thought the fundamental Gospel message was. I received some very thoughtful - and helpful - answers. Here's the outline I've come up with, after reading a variety of sources, most especially the scriptures. One of the surprising things I discovered is that God's love isn't mentioned. Of course, the whole life, death and resurrection of Jesus reveals God's love, but it isn't specifically mentioned in the preaching of the apostles to non-Christians (i.e., Jews and pagans). This surprised me, because while Jews might have presumed God's love for them, the Chosen People, pagans would not have expected God (or the gods) to love them. Far from it! Their sacrifices were often meant to appease gods who were as volatile and unpredictable as their worshippers.
So, without further ado, here's the summary
1. All have sinned →
2. God sent his Son who assumed our humanity/remains God →
3. Jesus reveals the Father →
4. We rejected Him →
5. Jesus embraced cross in obedience for our salvation →
6. Jesus’ death = redemption (payment of debt) →
7. Jesus reconciles us to the Father →
8. Jesus is raised from the dead by the Father →
9. Jesus restored to us what was lost / merited a new life for us →
10. Jesus ascended to the Father and together they sent their Holy Spirit →
11. Jesus will return again in judgment →
12. new life may be accessed through faith in Jesus Christ, repentance of sin and Baptism into Christ’s life.
I have to board a plane. I'll try to give some of the scripture references later, as I have opportunities.
Of course, the question remains for us: how do we proclaim this in a way that will be compelling for our wealthy, postmodern American society. It was hard for St. Paul, too. "Since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation (kerygma), to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles…" 1 Cor 1:21-23
Not to mention the fact that St. Paul claimed that his preaching was accompanied by obvious manifestations of God's power that probably got the attention of his listeners... "My speech and my proclamation (kerygma) were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God." 1 Cor 2:in 4-5
Where is the power of God displayed in our lives? Certainly through the charisms, but many of these have subtle, not miraculous, compared to the pretty amazing cures that seemed to accompany - or precede the preaching of the apostles.
posted by Fr. Mike, O.P. @ 9:16 AM
11 Comments
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11 Comments:
I guess I'm rather simplistic. To me, the entire Gospel message can, if you wish, be condensed into 4 words:
Love
God,
Love
Others
I can't offhand think of anything in the Gospel that violates these 4 words.
Ed -
Thank you! Very interesting stuff.
Add (1) Humanity was meant to walk with God (2)Loss of relationship with God led to the disruption of relationship between man and woman, brothers, creation (sweat and thistle), and very self (death). Christ restores all these things
It is interesting that Jesus says in John 13:34-35 that Jesus commands His disciples to love another and that others will know they are His disciples by their love for each other. 1 John 4 speaks extensively that God is love. If we extrapolate from that chapter and the first two chapters of Genesis that we are made in God's image, then we are love. How then can the Gospel of Jesus not contain love?
Mark,
Speaking of PPT presentation, please check out http://ptdiocese.org/faithengaged/documents/EvangelizationinCatholicTradition1-23-09.pdf
Also, check out the preaching of Dcn Alex Jones. Seems like he's been "evangelizing" with PowerPoint for a number of years. SEE: http://deaconalexcjones.com/home/images/Docs/alex.pdf
Ed Keefe
Rick and Mark;
I fully agree that our preaching of the Gospel today must include the truth that we are created in the image and likeness of God, made in love for love, and are to love one another. I was just trying to put together from various accounts in the Acts of the Apostles what the early church seemed to preach.
We have a different environment in which we are preaching. Just as St. Paul preached differently to the Greeks in the Areopagus than he did to the Jews in Jerusalem, we have to know to whom we are preaching, including what their presuppositions might be, what parts of the Gospel message won't make sense, etc.
For example, many in our culture believe faith and reason are incompatible; that the idea of creation in six literal days (as expressed by fundamentalists, which dominates the American scene) is absolutely falsified by science; that God is impersonal; that there is no absolute truth (and thus the idea of "sin" is nonsensical). How we preach the reality outlined in this post is a huge challenge for us - we have more background to explain, I believe, than St. Paul and the apostles did to their audiences.
I might have mentioned that God created all out of love... just for starters. Otherwise, makes sense to me; I'll start working on the powerpoint slides!
Howard, thanks for the mention of Paul VI's Credo. I wasn't familiar with it. It gives a concise, yet complete outline of what we believe. Now, how to proclaim that to postmoderns is the big question!
1 Corinthians, 13, 13. The three words on the ring I've worn since baptism.
Depending on how much room you have, I would have gone with the Apostle's Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, or Paul VI's Credo of the People of God.
As a catechist trainer, I find a lot of people ask "how?" do we get the message out in terms of methodology. As Moderns, we constantly are looking for the better theological mousetrap that will capture our listener. We seek effective, successful, and efficient ways that will give us the "biggest bang for our buck." To me, this is a dangerous technological mindset that yields to the gods of technology. And these gods love to run the show and hate competition.
I say this because I see this technological mentality all over the place. At times we treat the Gospel and the grace of God like it is a commodity that we distribute at will. We, in natural terms, look to find and use the best, the most ingenious devices "to get this product to market." I wonder (tongue-in-cheek) "what the Holy Spirit would do" without our technology, the U.S. power grid, Power Point, the Internet, computers, Blackberries, and all our organizational strategies? As one Protestant preacher rightly quipped to a Sunday gathering at a large mega-church: "It's amazing what people can do without the Holy Spirit!"
I think we need to pause and look at our priorites, and I'm not being anti-technology here. I'm simply recognizing a need to shift the way we think.
First, we need to see that any movement of the Gospel is ultimately a movement of the Holy Spirit; He is the General and Director of our mission. The grace of God flows to others in concert with His will, not ours. Our organizational strategies can become slothful shortcuts that seek to avoid the hard work of love and devotion and hear what God is saying to us in carrying out our mission (if in truth it is love, then it will NOT be so much hard work as the putting to death of our selfish ways). Those who hear His voice, are deeply in love with Jesus and His Sacred Heart, and know the Gospel "that is the power of God unto Salvation." Second, evangelization has an agenda that collides with our world's agenda: we must make converts. When we leave our houses, we are to influence others so that they will become Catholic. We should want everyone we meet to become Catholic. Over-the-top? No. Jesus says "the kingdom of God is violently advancing, and it is the violent who apprehend it." Americanized Catholicism is too wimpy to meet the challenge. Making converts was Christ's purpose and since we are called to HIS mission, making converts is our purpose as well. Sadly, we've allowed the unconverted to make "un-converts" with a message of "un-conversion."
I know of no other more effective way to proclaim the Gospel than for those who are animated by the Holy Spirit, enthusiastic of the life of Christ, who speak as those who are the beloved of God and see God as their Beloved. The life of salvation is a life that is transmitted from one person to another, and those that live and love His life, will be the agents of grace others need to find the light that is in Christ.
This is our prime directive. With caution, we use the tools that we have in order serve our agenda to convert others. We must beware, though...the gods of technology and methodology never rest...they constantly seek to supplant the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. If it's the Lord's work, it must be done His way. Sorry I went long...
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