SOLE TRUE GOSPEL
As Christians, we must never
think that we can separate our ethical responsibilities from our salvation. The
grace of God, the free, undeserved pardon and reconciliation God has given us
in Jesus Christ, is never distinct from right conduct.
That’s because righteousness
is rooted in right relationships—a right relationship with God and right
relationships with our fellow human beings. Love is at the heart of right
relationships, and love forms the basis of righteousness. Sin, on the other
hand, is whatever damages or destroys those relationships, creating alienation
and isolation.
The gospel is all about a
return to right relationships. It declares the good news of reconciliation, of
restoration of fellowship between estranged parties, that is, between God and
humanity. It is a restoration that God himself has brought about though his own
Son, Jesus Christ.
The Son of God became human,
taking upon himself all the alienation and isolation of humanity’s sin, and
destroying that alienation and isolation by remaining absolutely faithful to
the Father on humanity’s behalf and in humanity’s place as the perfect, and the
representative, human.
In other words, because the
Father has, in Christ, brought humanity into the perfect and joyous fellowship
of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you
have been restored into right relationship both with God and with your fellow
human beings.
You are
included and wanted. You belong to
your Father, and he loves you with the same love with which he loves his Son,
because by his grace you live and move and have your being in his Son.
That means that salvation is
not merely being saved out of death and the Final Judgment, it is being
restored into right relationship with God and fellow humans. It is being freed
from the alienation and isolation of sin. It is being freed to love God and
love our fellow human beings. It is a return to joyful fellowship and it is
freedom from the destruction of sin.
Because we are forgiven, we
can forgive one another. Because we are forgiven, we can repent of our sins,
that is, we can turn back to God who loves us. It’s good news indeed.
From time to time I hear the
question, “If God has already forgiven me, why should I have to repent?”
What a silly question. To
quote theologian Michael Jinkins:
“To
say, ‘I don’t have to repent because God has already forgiven me,’ is like
saying ‘Because my lover has forgiven me, there’s no need for us to be loving.’
Salvation is God’s gift of
freedom. God saves us from our sins so that we can live free from sin and full of his love.
I’m Joseph Tkach, speaking
of LIFE.
