The word "gospel" means good news so the Christian gospel is the good news concerning the Christ - the Jewish Messiah, God's Son and the Saviour of the world.
So what is this good news?
A straight quote from Paul's letter to the Corinthians will provide a concise answer to this question.
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures
He was entombed
He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures
[1 Cor 15 : 3 - 5 NIV]
This is really Good News (Gospel) from God to mankind because of its awesome consequences, both personal and corporate.
Personally, God no longer holds our sins against us
God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them.
[2 Corinthians 5 : 19 NIV]
because
(Jesus) is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
[1 John 2 : 2 NIV]
Corporately, God will remove death and sin from his creation and create a new heaven and earth.
The Son of God appeared for this very reason, to destroy what the Devil had done.
[1 John 3 : 8b GNB]
Our dreaded enemy, death, which we inherited from Adam is to be removed from creation.
For he (Jesus) must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
[1 Cor 15 : 25 - 26 NIV]
God will have supreme control.
But when all things have been placed under Christ's rule, then he himself, the Son, will place himself under God, who placed all things under him; and God will rule completely over all.
[1 Cor 15: 28 GNB]
Heaven and Earth will be in complete harmony
God did what he had purposed, and made known to us the secret plan he had already decided to complete by means of Christ. This plan, which God will complete when the time is right, is to bring all creation together, everything in heaven and on earth, with Christ as head.
[Eph 1: 9 - 10 GNB]
and squeaky-clean
But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
[2 Peter 3 : 13 NIV]
It's amazing how many people, even those belonging to the Christian religion, do not believe this awesome outcome, even though they sing songs that proclaim it most Sundays.
For example, at a funeral I attended last week we sang a well-known hymn whose words included the death of death, the destruction of hell and God's "kingdom stands, and grows for ever, till all your creatures own your sway".
Most of the nearly 300 people present heartily proclaimed these words describing God's promised future for his creation.
Let's truly believe and endorse what the Scriptures teach about our God and his exciting plan for all mankind through the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ.
Blessings, Barry
This is the tenth in a mini-series of posts responding to the arguments offered by Dr Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum (Dr Arnold) against God's plan to eventually reconcile and save all His creation.
His arguments against Universal Reconciliation (UR) are offered under five headings, the second of which is b. The Fixed State of the Unbelieving Dead. (see a previous post "Opposition to Universal Reconciliation" here)
Under the b. The Fixed State of the Unbelieving Dead heading Dr Arnold claims that the unbelieving dead are seen in a fixed state that cannot be altered and then quotes numerous texts from the New Testament hoping to illustrate his assertion.
(i) The Matthew texts, (ii) The Rich Man and Lazarus parable and (iii) the John texts were discussed in three previous posts - Parts 7, 8 and 9.
(iv) Two texts from 2 Peter declaring that the unrighteous will need to face judgement.
Dr Arnold states that these texts demonstrate that the unbelievers are committed to pits of darkness to be reserved unto judgement of the Great White Throne and the unrighteous are kept under judgement until the day of judgement.
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell [Tartarus] and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; ...
then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
[2 Peter 2 : 4, 9 NASB]
I totally agree with Dr Arnold. That's definitely what these verses say.
But Dr Arnold's inference is that judgement is inherently a bad result and therefore the end of the road for those angels and the unrighteous.
However, judgement is a decision or a verdict - not a sentence or a punishment - which may have a favourable or an unfavourable outcome.
Even in our human courts, we should expect verdicts to be reached fairly and penalties applied appropriately.
If a favourable decision is reached, the accused is not guilty as charged, so goes free.
If an unfavourable decision is reached - the accused is guilty as charged - and expects to be penalised in some appropriate way.
That penalty should be designed to produce a change in behaviour, and when served and the change in behaviour achieved, the accused is then as free as if he/she was not guilty in the first place.
Indeed, going to court, being found guilty and serving the relevant penalty is the only way an offender can be finally free.
So surely, the God of love, mercy and compassion would do at least as well as our human courts.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
[John 3 : 17 NIV]
And, if God claims to be the Saviour of the world, then freedom for all can be confidently expected eventually.
For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.
[1 Timothy 4 : 10 NASB]
The believers are special because they become aware of, and are given the faith to believe in, their salvation early - they are the firstfruits, using Hebrew harvest terminology.
They will live and be co-rulers with Christ in the millennium kingdom age; the remainder serve the penalty of not living and enjoying life in that kingdom age before facing their judgement and rehabilitation.
I have been extremely brief in my comments here, but "The Really Good News About God" has a whole chapter dealing with judgement and might be worth a re-read at this point.
I have just said sufficient to demonstrate that God's judgements are designed to produce good outcomes and are stepping stones on the way to universal salvation and reconciliation as revealed by Paul.
And all people will see God's salvation.
[Luke 3 : 6 NIV]
With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
[Ephesians 1 : 8 - 10 NIV]
Let me finish this post by quoting a favourite author of mine, Professor Thomas Talbot, from his book "The Inescapable Love of God".
While discussing God's judgements as being remedial - a means of correction - he says, "It is eternal both in the sense that its causal source lies in the eternal God himself and in the sense that its corrective effects last forever".
Isn't it so exciting to know that God loves us all, Jesus died and rose for us all, and God has life in store for us all?
I find this a much more positive gospel (good news) to share than the one I grew up with.
Blessings, Barry
I'm taking a pause in my responses to Dr Arnold's opposition to God's plan to eventually reconcile and save all His creation to explain my motivation in writing these posts.
As regular readers would know, I frequently write posts explaining and advocating God's plan to eventually save all His people.
And I will continue to do so.
But recently I have been reading books and articles written by pastors and theologians who don't believe God will be that successful, so you will also see some responses to those writings from time to time.
Naturally my responses will attempt to expose the weaknesses in the arguments being offered and may sound quite critical of them.
However, I trust my responses will not convey any criticism of the author whose writings I am critiquing - I definitely have no intention of attacking him or her personally.
Indeed, I hope I never fall for the trap of criticising or belittling a fellow believer just because I hold a different point of view on some subject.
In the current mini-series addressing Dr Arnold's article, let me assure my readers that I am not criticising or attacking Dr Arnold.
As I stated in my opening post in this mini-series, here Dr Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum (Dr Arnold) is a brilliant Messianic Jewish theologian living in USA whom I respect and whose expertise in the Scriptures, particularly regarding Israel's past, present and future, is outstanding, and I am learning so much from his written and video publications.
You can access them directly at www.ariel.org.
However, I do not agree with his opposition to God's plan to eventually reconcile and save all His creation, a position I find promised over and over in a correctly translated Bible and discussed in my book "The Really Good News About God" published in 2015.
Although Dr Arnold's opposition to God's plan of universal reconciliation fills only 2 pages of an 18 page study called "The Intermediate State Between Death and Resurrection", my response has become quite extensive (9 posts to date with probably 5 more to go) because his opposition piece contains a large number of (briefly-stated) opinions.
I felt each of these opinions needed a fairly comprehensive response containing Biblical and/or logical and philosophical arguments to demonstrate why I hold a different view to a theologian of such standing,
In summary, most of my posts will be positive and advocate and show Biblical support for God's plan to reconcile and save the world, but some will be negative and critique the writings of those who believe God will not achieve that outcome.
I trust you can enjoy and appreciate both types of posts.
Blessings, Barry
(Response to Universal Reconciliation Opposition - Part 10 coming soon)
