Gospel

Greg Gilbert recently preached a sermon on the Gospel in which he contrasted his approach with that of Scot McKnight and Matthew Bates. 9Marks released the edited sermon notes shotly thereafter. In response, Bates said on April 17th that he was misrepresented and later wrote an article for Christianity Today. Scot McKnight also wrote a response article on the same day.  

So what is the conflict, and at the end of the day, what is the Gospel? Here are some thoughts.  [Read more…] about Is the Gospel about Kingship or Salvation (Or both)?

What are we saved from? We could answer “sin.” That would be true. We could also answer, “death,” which would be no less true. We could even answer “Satan,” which again would be true. In this sense, we have multiple and interlocked threats from which we need rescue.

Rescue is a useful word. To be saved means to be rescued. De-theologizing that the word salvation for a moment may help us here to answer the question. We need rescue. We are in dire straights and without rescue, we will be lost. What sort of rescue do we need and what does it mean to be lost? 

Scripture provides three interlocking answers: sin, death, and Satan vie against us. Sin brings justice which we know as divine wrath, so that we must pay restitution and so satisfy justice’s demand to avoid it; death kills us, so that we need immortality to avoid it; Satan deceives us, so that we need to conquer the deceiver to overcome his schemes. 

Let’s take these one-by-one to see how Scripture outlines these threats, and how Christ rescues us from each. [Read more…] about What Is Salvation?