Colbiwiki: How Do We Know We Have the Original Gospel?

Colbiwiki: How Do We Know We Have the Original Gospel?: "A comment question I hear among skeptics (and among believers!) is, 'How do we know that we have the original Gospel?' Often, that question ..."

The Gospel from 35,000 Feet

The most common way that we look at the Gospel is from the ground up. Man is a sinner, sinners are unfit for the presence of God, Jesus came to earth to pay for our sin, and we can have his eternal righteousness and fellowship by faith. It's not a bad way to look at the Gospel - it's clear, accurate, and something we easily identify with. But ... I was wondering today what the Gospel looks like from the top-down. There are many ways to answer that, but one way that struck me as curious centers on the idea of the image of God.

In the beginning, God created man (man and woman, but "man" to refer to the whole lot of us). God had created many other things already - angels, stars, planets, plants, and critters. But He created man to be different that the rest. He created man in the image of God (Gen 1:27). Man is the "image bearer" - he uniquely has this thing called "God's image" imprinted on his being. That image is a reflection of God's glory.

Then, man sinned. Adam and Eve disobeyed God's design and God's clear word. When this occurred, that image of God was not lost, but it was "vandalized." We still bear God's image, but that image in us has been severely distorted, mangled, and disfigured. It can become so distorted that it becomes very difficult to recognize that image at all in someone. This, of course, is grievous to God - not only for our loss, but also for what has happened to a reflection of His own glory! He had image bearers that reflected His great glory, but now after the vandalization, instead of a glorious reflection, it is a tarnished, blasphemous semblance of His glory.

The Old Testament teaches us the futility of man trying to restore that image on his own. How can an inglorious reflection repair itself? It's not possible.

Then Jesus came. Jesus was unique in that first, He bore the image of God perfectly. That's something no one had done since Adam and Eve before the Fall. Second, He is the God whose image we bear! He's both fully God (the glorious One) and fully man (the perfect image bearer). He alone bore the image perfectly on behalf of the entire human race.

When He died on the cross and rose again on the third day, he defeated sin and death - the very things that marred the image of God in man. In other words, the mission of Jesus was to restore the image of God in us. That image can be perfected in us. It begins with salvation (putting our faith in Christ). It continues through sanctification (the process of becoming more like Christ). It is complete in glorification (when Jesus returns and completes the image of God in us).

The Gospel from 35,000 feet is that Jesus came to make us perfect image bearers again, fully glorifying God as we were intended. We can become perfect image bearers only by faith in Jesus Christ, the glorious One and perfect image bearer.

Scripture shows the Gospel from 35,000 feet in a couple of places:

Romans 8:29:  Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.


1 John 3:2:  Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.


Perhaps this can be a fresh way for you to share the Gospel with others who do not respond to the Gospel from the ground up.

The Clown Days have Changed

Please remember to pray for our kids who are at Camp Quaker Haven. Pray for them to learn, to grow, and to be safe.

This week, I had an opportunity to drive by the house in Independence where I grew up. It's amazing to me how much smaller the house looks, and how that great hill we used to sled down looks rather flat and short - somehow I don't think the hill is what has changed over time. Perspectives have changed.

I also went through the drive-through of the McDonald's that we used to go to when I was a kid. There was only one in town at the time, and it was a bit of a drive, but what a great treat it was for us kids. This week, however, while waiting in line I watched a drug deal go down - as brazen as could be. Like I said, perspectives have changed.

Seeing how the innocence of my own childhood has been erased by age and crime, let me urge you again to pray for our children at Camp Quaker Haven. This world conspires against their innocence. The constant forces of gravity never pull them up. They are pulled up only by God, by His Truth, by the example of disciples, and by our prayers. Everything else is a constant pull downward. Just as my childhood home decays over time, so do our souls, without an intentional effort on our part to foster God's work within us.

Pray for our kids. Pray for our children's Sunday School. Pray for AWANA. Pray for Children's Church and Junior Church. Pray for our Youth Group. And pray for all those who volunteer their time and talents to invest their lives into our young people.

Pray for our kids constantly as if the rest of their lives depended on it.

How Do We Know We Have the Original Gospel?

A comment question I hear among skeptics (and among believers!) is, "How do we know that we have the original Gospel?" Often, that question is not worded in such open, kind, inquisitive terms - and more often it is a negative statement instead of a question. But the question is still there.

The answer to the question requires at least a book-length answer, but let me give you a few things to consider in response:

1. We have extremely early evidence that the Gospel we preach is what the apostles preached. For example, 1 Cor 15:1-5 explains the same basic core of what the Gospel is as what we believe - atonement for sin in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. 1 Corinthians is easily shown to be one of the earliest Christian documents, evidence that what we believe to be the core of the Gospel has been the core since very early in church history (before A.D. 50). But also consider that 1 Cor 15:1-5 appears to be quoting a common saying. If that's true, then the core of the Gospel shows up even earlier than 1 Corinthians. It takes a while for common sayings to become common!
2. There is terrific evidence that every book of the New Testament was written in the 1st Century, and they all agree on what the Gospel is. The book of Acts is particular good about boiling the Gospel down to it's primary content.
3. There is no other 1st Century evidence of any other gospel. (There are "other gospels" that appear in the 3rd Century, but nothing from the first.) So, the only evidence we have from the 1st Century is consistent on what the core of the Gospel is. Anyone who believes we don't have the original Gospel has to explain why all the 1st Century evidence points only in one direction. I've heard theories, but they require more faith and speculation than what we're accused of.
4. There are Roman and Jewish documents from the 1st Century that are hostile against Christianity, and yet they confirm that the main doctrine of Christians is that they believe in the resurrection of Christ. They don't agree with that belief, but they affirm that this is what Christians believed. These documents by no means want to promote Christianity - even hostile primary sources affirm the content of the Gospel!
5. The apostles preferred death over denying the resurrection of Christ. That's how core this belief has been from the beginning. 
6. Jesus wasn't killed for being a controversial religious figure, or for being a controversial teacher, or for being a political activist. He was killed for claiming to be equal to God. The very reason for killing Him (from the human perspective) affirms that His claims to divinity were core to His message. If He didn't claim to be equal to God, He likely would have lived to a ripe, old age.

The list goes on, but this gives you a taste of why we have a strong defense against any charge that we do not possess the original Gospel. Be emboldened by the facts - they are always on the side of Truth. In my experience, the more we dig, the more reasons we have to believe, not less.

Prayer Meeting

Prayer is a mysteriously important lifeline for the Christian. We don't fully understand it, and we're even told we don't know how to do it as we should (Rom 8:26), and yet, it is something we are told to do without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17). Like love itself, we need it, but we can't explain it. We have set aside Wednesday evenings to be a time for the people of Grace Fellowship to gather specifically for the purpose of prayer.

We gather in my office at 7pm, complete our list of requests that the people of Grace have, and then enter into a casual time of prayer. Some of us pray out loud, some silently. Some of us pray short prayers, some longer. Some of us stumble to find the right words, some have the gift of words that just seem to flow. Some of us experience prayer with some measure of emotion, some of us see prayer as a privileged conversation with God. Some of us come every week, some whenever possible. But all of us pray, and all of us pray in the ways that we can - and that's what matters.

We don't expect everyone to pray out loud, to pray eloquently, to "feel" something in particular when they pray, or to even be comfortable praying in a group. Our desire is for the body of believers to be a praying people, whether it's in our particular group or not. We believe prayer is essential for our church to grow in the ways God wants us to grow. We believe prayer is too often a lost and forgotten art, something that can frighten us when it should be the most inviting activity God allows us to have. We want to pray, and we want to encourage you to pray. We believe we pray more fervently when we gather together for the sole purpose of praying as one.

In the future, we would like to occasionally take the prayer group "on the road" - that if there is a particular need, that we pull up our stakes, take the prayer team to where the need is, and pray with you on the spot. Also, some nights we will focus our prayers on a particular area of need, such as children's ministries, our marriages, missionaries, and so on. We will announce in advance when we have a particular focus so that you can make a point of joining us for those issues closest to your heart.

Please submit your prayer requests to the church office for inclusion in the prayer list. If it is confidential, just let the administrative assistant know that. Also, if you submit a prayer request in the Friendship Folders that are passed around during the worship service, the Elders receive those requests and pray for them on Sunday mornings before Sunday School.

Prayer is a privilege. We want to share that privilege with you. We want all of us to help one another become more of a praying people.