Apologetics 101-3 -- The Gospel

     While some may think it strange to classify "the Gospel" in the category of apologetics, I wish to do so here because if anything at all is foundational to the Christian faith, if our core beliefs must be defended in each and every contingency, we must know what the gospel is and why it plays such an important role in understanding our faith. We must, as well, be convinced that the gospel needs to permeate everything that the church does; as it is proclaimed, how it is explained, and by the way it is lived out. Without a thorough grasp of the gospel, the Christian experience rapidly disintegrates into a hollow shell, for what is vaguely known soon becomes greatly undervalued.
     The gospel is the "good news" of the Christian faith. It is the declaration that while our souls were dead in sin, Christ died on the cross to pay the debt for that sin and to bring us back into relationship with him. He was buried in a tomb, proving that his death was real and not an illusion. He came to life again on the morning of his resurrection, for he is the God who gives life and is ever alive.
     The gospel is the story of the life and work and passion of Christ the Messiah as told by the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It is the account of his coming, or incarnation, his life of love in deed and word, and of the extraordinary events surrounding his last days on earth -- betrayal, agony, death, burial, resurrection, appearances, and ascension. It is the story of Christ and his Kingdom.
     The gospel is the eternal, present revelation of these accounts to our souls by the ministry of the Holy Spirit as he works through the Word to teach us God's truth. In Eph. 6, the gospel is described as a suit of armor that defends us against the negative onslaught of evil, which assaults us from all sides. 1Cor. 9 pictures the gospel as a message that must be proclaimed; a message that is so central and vital that preaching it must become the primary task of a believer's life. In Gal. 1, Paul begs us the preserve the purity of the gospel message. It must remain true to its original telling, for if it is changed or watered down it will lose its supernatural power. And in 1Thess.2, Paul emphasizes the fact that the gospel springs up and flows from God through us. He may appoint us to preach the message, but the mechanism that changes hearts is not what we say but what the Holy Spirit does.
    The first and primary task of the church is to proclaim the gospel, or good news of Christ. Just before his ascension, Jesus gave this charge (known as the Great Commission) to his followers: “Go [everywhere] and preach the gospel to [everyone].” The account of this commissioning is found in three New Testament passages, each one carrying a slightly different emphasis.

     Matthew 28:18-20, the focus is on teaching the gospel. The disciples were instructed to “make disciples;” to be the teacher to others that Jesus had been to them, to instruct new believers in the message and meaning of the kingdom of God. The Greek word used here (matheteuo) means to make a disciple by thoroughly and personally training someone in a way of life governed by the knowledge and information they are receiving. The instruction is rooted in the sacrament of baptism, which imprints the heart of the gospel, the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, upon the Christian's soul. It is Trinitarian in its aspect, connecting us to the entirety of the work of God in our lives and in the world. It is centered on teaching that brings about obedience to the commands of Christ, not merely the accumulation of intellectual knowledge.

     In Mark 16:15, Jesus tells the disciples to preach or announce the gospel. This word means to proclaim, declare or assert a particular message publicly. We generally think of this aspect of the Great Commission as the preaching ministry of the church, as Sunday after Sunday pastors preach their sermons or homilies. This is why the sermon is so central to our worship, for in all that is said the gospel must be lifted up, woven in, or clearly delineated in each and every presentation. If a pastor neglects or minimizes the gospel in his or her sermons, a red flag must go up in our hearts, for only the gospel, not good advice, or trendy platitudes, will transform us into the people God wants us to be.

     Another New Testament word used for preaching is “euaggelizo”, from which we get our word evangelize. It means to give an explanation of the good news of salvation, particularly to those who do not yet know it -- namely, that Christ died for our sins and rose again for our redemption and that one may be saved by placing faith in him. Evangelism is done through any means that proclaims this core message; audibly in sermons, visually in media, or informally in one-on-one conversation.

     Luke’s account of the Great Commission uses the term “be my witnesses.” This Greek word is “matoes”, which is the root of the word “martyr,” and, indeed, all of the disciples gave their lives for the cause of the gospel. This word denotes a person who is a witness to an event and can thereby give a true accounting of it. The disciples were eyewitnesses of the life and teachings of Jesus, so they were commissioned to tell as many people as possible about what they had personally observed.
     It’s interesting that the gospel writer who chose to use this word (Luke) may not have been a direct observer of the actual day-to-day ministry of Jesus. We know that he gathered information from many sources when writing his two books. He also received input from Paul, who also did not directly hear and know Jesus when he lived on this earth. This teaches us that we are all witnesses about Christ through the timeless channel of his Word. We may proclaim and teach the truth about the gospel because his Word has been given to us. The Holy Spirit, who indwells us, makes the Word real and living in our hearts and lives.
     When we think about our mission to proclaim the gospel both as individuals and as the church, we need to take care that it motivates everything that we say and do. We must ask ourselves these types of questions: 1.) Does this clarify the good news of Christ? 2.) Does this help a Christian to proclaim the gospel? 3.) Are Christians learning to live the good news in their daily lives? 4. Do the activities we do other than preaching also proclaim the gospel?
     A beautiful example of the centrality of the Gospel may be found in the Anglican tradition of bringing by procession a beautifully bound copy of the four gospels to the center of the church. There, a passage from the gospels is read, in the midst of the congregation. The gospel is glorious and awe inspiring, it is true, but it is also for us and meets us right were we are. It comes from God's heart to ours, and from ours to others. In every heart, in every Church, the gospel must come into the center of all that is done and be proclaimed as the truth upon which everything else is based.

Apologetics 101-2 -- The three transendentals

     God is the source of all reality, the ground of being and the creator and sustainer of life. Therefore, in order to properly understand what is real, what is (i.e. what has being and existence), and what is alive, we must begin with the bedrock beneath it all -- God, our Father. We must know that he exists and that he lives and loves. He must be at the beginning and at the end of our quest for belief. Without God, we are adrift in an empty sea.
      From God come the three transcendentals, or fundamentals, or absolutes that form the foundation for a proper worldview. They are truth, goodness and beauty. If we do not understand them (even if we know God) we will be shortsighted in the way we perceive life, especially in the way we make connections between Christianity and the world around us. For many years I knew of truth, goodness and beauty only as abstract terms; I did not grasp their reality and importance. I knew that these were godly qualities, but I did not realize that they are manifestations of God. God is truth. God is good. God is beautiful. Any created thing that transmits these things is touched by God -- it is revelatory of God. In Phil. 4, Paul tells us not only to consider "whatever is true...whatever is right and whatever is lovely," but to "put it into practice" as well. Then the "God of peace" will be present with us. We will live in the contentment that the interrelationship of these three outpourings of God brings into our lives.
      The first thing to understand about the three transendentals is that they exist as real things in their own right. They are not merely add-ons to other things. We may say that the Bible is true, but we must realize that the truth conveyed by the words of Scripture is far greater than the book itself. We may say that a saint was good, but the goodness came from their connection to the heart of God. We may say that a cathedral is beautiful, but, in the humility built into it, it only captures a glimmer of the glory of God. We are humanly inclined to think of them as descriptive of physical things, but because the three are so intimately connected with God -- indeed they are who he is -- they are as real as he is and transcend this material world.
     Truth, goodness and beauty come into our lives as gifts from God. James phrased it this way: "Every good and perfect (beautiful) gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change (truth) like shifting shadows." (James 1:17) We pick up on these things because we have been made in the image of God. He is truth, goodness and beauty; we know them through him. When the image of God is corrupted by sin, the perception of them is darkened as well. Those who do not know God know very little of the three absolutes. Either they do not recognize them at all, or they fashion them in distorted ways. Without God, truth is relative and lies are truth, good is personal and selfish, and beauty is disfigured or ignored. Anyone who wishes to appreciate them must have his soul reoriented to God as the source of truth, goodness and beauty. Even Christians need to stop periodically and check our position; it is easy to get carried away by the banalities of this world.
     Because truth, goodness and beauty are real and since they come from God, mankind has always known about them to a greater or lesser degree. They are known to all cultures, in all places and at all times. Even if they are not known, or if they are dismissed, or even corrupted, a feeling that they do exist remains. Depending on one's position in the world, this causes conflicting emotions to arise in the soul. Those who have cast them aside may feel angry, disillusioned or conflicted. People who have not really thought about them may feel empty or confused. And people (like I once was) who don't understand them, feel as if they are missing out or unfulfilled. Truth, goodness and beauty were designed by God to be guideposts for the spiritual life of the soul. But, in our fallen world, great tension exists between these ideals in their true intent and their corruptions that are so common to our everyday lives. We will only be able experience the benefits of truth, goodness and beauty by fostering our relationship with God, and allowing him to reveal them to us.
     The three transendentals have great value for this life by opening doors into the true spirituality that nourishes the life of the soul. But because they are spiritual, godly and real, they are eternal. They have always existed, for they exist in and through God. They exist now, seen through the eyes of faith, hope and love. They will exist forever in their true forms, for God will re-create all things. In heaven, truth becomes real, for all communion will be genuine and understood by the wisdom of God. Good will overcome all evil and falsity to the extent that we will experience it so fully that good will be the ground of all existence and anything else will be imperceptible. Beauty will be lasting; it will have lost its capacity to fade away. It will be eclipsed into glory as it brings healing to our ransomed souls.
     Imagining this kind of reality gives us great hope, but living into their reality, as we are called to do, gives us great insight. Paul wrote, "'No eye has seen (beauty), no ear has heard (goodness), no mind has conceived (truth) what God has prepared for those who love him' -- but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit." In order to experience the three transendentals -- to see them and know them and practice them -- is to live in tune with the Spirit of God, living in our souls, who teaches us all that is true, gives us all that is good and shows us all that is beautiful.
     

Apologetics 101-1: Does God exist?

     Since this is a blog about Christian apologetics, I have decided to write some posts about basic apologetic questions. Every good apologist needs to be able to respond to these types of questions; yet for people like me who have been steeped in the faith since birth, we rarely stop to consider these types of arguments. We assume, instinctively, certain fundamentals of the faith -- "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of us all" -- as Paul describes it. So I shall try to reason through some things which I find easier to assume.
     This first question -- does God exist? -- is particularly hard for the "life-long" Christian to address. After all, the knowledge of God has been a fundamental truth upon which our lives have been built. His existence has always been a part of our existence. We not only believe in God, but we have come to know him as well. To lose God, to enter a plane of being where God is absent would be incomprehensible. It's hard to imagine any life or any form of thought that excludes God. This makes it very difficult to address this question, for it is so foreign, so irrelevant to the thinking we have always known. Consequently, former atheists may be the ones to give better arguments for God's existence. They had to seek, and learned much along the way; we can only imagine their journey.
      The first thing that comes to my mind about this question is simply that the question is raised. Why are we asking the question in the first place? We do not (as those of normal temperament) ask if non-existent things exist. There is no reason to pose the question. For example, no one asks if,say, "oblonobos" exist. (Hopefully, this is a word I made up and not a real thing in another language! If it is, just bear with me.) The non-existence of oblonobos prevents us from spending our valuable time wondering if they're real. We ask existence questions about things that have proposed existence.
     Now, we may raise the question of whether or not certain imaginary things exist; for instance, we may inquire as to the existence of fairies. As children we are particularly able to frame such questions, for our imaginations are still pure and much of the realities of the world have yet to be sorted through. In our young imaginations, fairies dance among the flowers and hide in the grass; not to believe in them would rob us of a once in a lifetime wonder.The real question is: do fairies exist in flesh and blood reality? Is their reality of the same substance as mine? Things like fairies have a type of reality that enriches our imaginations, and this is necessary for a full life, but they do not have anything that is really real, no substance that possesses a life of its own.
     It follows, then, that the question of God's existence may be similar -- does God merely exist in the imagination? But right away we are confronted with the fact that the question of God's existence is universal, timeless and life-long. Practically everyone, everywhere and in all stages of life has asked this question. Are we all under some kind of universal illusion, as some philosophies suggest? Or, is there something that universally links us to God -- our very existence, perhaps? Solomon, the Teacher, exhorts us to "Remember your Creator in the days of your youth," implying that the existence of the Creator-God is something that was once known, but is prone to be forgotten, ignored or even lost. We were made by him, but our sin has driven us from his presence. The veil is drawn; we wonder if God was ever there at all.
     Hebrews 11:6 gives us a concise statement of how the question of God's existence is best addressed: "...anyone who comes to [God] must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." First, we must make the effort to "come" to God. One must ask the question and sincerely seek the answer. Jesus said that those who seek will find, and this verse reminds us that an earnest search will be rewarded. Next, one must believe. The knowledge of God comes through faith, not observation. We do not collect the facts about God and see if they add up logically. Furthermore, faith is not a feeling; it is granted by God as "substance" and "evidence" of spiritual realities. (Heb. 11:1, KJV) And finally, the results of this search will be sound and substantial because we will be rewarded with confidence in what we have found, the connection with our Creator-God.  
     But the burden of proof for seeing or finding God does not rest entirely upon us. God had not kept his existence hidden; he has revealed himself or made himself known. The first verses of Hebrews tell us: "In the past God spoke...through the prophets...in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son..." There would be no knowing God without his efforts to make himself known through Scripture and in Jesus Christ. So here we are given instructions for where to direct our search. We must study God's Word and attend to the teachings of the Saviour. (Nature also bears witness to God's existence, if one is willing to acknowledge his handiwork. Heb. 11:3)The Holy Spirit, whose mission is to reveal God's truth, will be faithful to open our eyes to the reality of God.
     Ages ago, the Old Testament saint, Job, responded to God's revelation by exclaiming, "My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." He had discovered God in the glory of Creation and the agony of suffering. In both, God's great grace had shone into his life. His response was humble; he saw how he was nothing compared to the infinity of God's greatness, and this knowledge was rewarded with blessings from God. And the results are the same with all who come to seek for God on the pathways of revelation -- we are found, and God forever becomes our everlasting and true friend.