The sign above is at a church near me. I must admit it makes me feel slightly amused and slightly aggravated.
Amused because it seems a little over-confident. And aggravated because I know this denomination’s teaching on Jesus, and I think it is at best missing some important things, and at worst it is giving wrong information.
You be the judge.
Jesus in evangelical Christianity
Evangelical Christianity (see note) has fairly clear beliefs about Jesus and his salvation mission. The salvation message can be summed up something like this:
- Human sin has cut us off from God and leads to God’s judgment and punishment.
- Jesus came to save us through his death on the cross and resurrection.
- We simply have to believe in Jesus, accept this free gift and be restored to a relationship with God.
Jesus’ mission is quite clear in evangelical christianity. As the second person of the Trinity incarnate via the virgin birth, Jesus’ death on the cross satisfies God’s justice and turns away his anger at our sin, which he is now able to forgive and open the way for us to “go to heaven” when we die. His resurrection validates that he has conquered sin and death. He will come again one day to wind up history.
I accept most of these statements (I’d probably re-phrase a few of them), but I believe they leave out so much that they are misleading, with negative consequences.
The mission of Jesus in the gospels
There is no doubt that the four gospels give support for much of this. Jesus came to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). He predicted his death and resurrection as necessary (Mark 8:31). God gave his son so that those who believe would have eternal life (John 3:16).
But important as these things are, his mission was much bigger.
The kingdom of God
Mark summarises Jesus’ teachings as: “The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15)
Matthew notes that this was the message of both Jesus and John the Baptist (Matthew 4:17, 3:2).
The phrases “kingdom of God” and “kingdom of heaven” are mentioned 86 times in total in the gospels. Jesus’ characteristic public teaching was via parables, and most of them are about the kingdom of God (e.g. Mark 4:26, Luke 13:18-20).
New Testament historians say the main emphasis in Jesus’ teaching was the kingdom.
What is the kingdom of God?
Possibly better translated as “the rule of God”, it means the activity of God to bring justice and peace to the world and to people. It is Jesus becoming king over the world not just in doctrine but in actuality.
So when Jesus “preached the kingdom of God” (Luke 8:1), he was saying God’s activity on earth was entering a new phase, where king Jesus was calling people to turn away from wrong thinking and living and follow him in being part of the growing kingdom.
What difference does it make?
The kingdom of God is thus a much bigger concept than personal salvation. It includes personal salvation but goes well beyond it. It includes following Jesus in how we live, it means righting wrongs and bringing justice, and it means the renewal of the whole earth, and presumably the whole universe (Revelation 21:1-5).
This makes an enormous difference, as we will now see.
Gospel truth?
The gospel outline I gave above is too small. It fits with some of Paul’s sayings (e.g. Ephesians 2:8-10) but Jesus’ gospel is way bigger.
It is understandable that we might want to focus on our own salvation, but that isn’t true to what Jesus taught.
“Gospel” means “good news”, and the good news Jesus taught was that he was king and was beginning a new phase of God’s rule on earth.
“Euangelion” is the Greek word translated in Mark 1:5 as “gospel”or “good news” and it was a word used at that time to describe the royal announcement of a new king or a victory in battle.
So Jesus’ good news was an announcement of his kingship and an invitation for us to be part of that movement that will change the world. Its focus is more on this world than the next, though of course it leads on from this world to the next.
The “gospel” is the whole story of Jesus, not just his death.
It is ironic that many of those Christians who fiercely focus on the gospel of sin and salvation are not using the word as Jesus used it, and are missing a large part of the meaning he gave it.
What must I do to be saved?
Ever since Martin Luther, Protestant Christianity has focused on salvation by faith. We cannot earn our salvation by good deeds, we just have to believe and salvation comes as a free gift. And salvation often means simply avoiding hell and reaching heaven in the next life.
But this doesn’t fully reflect what Jesus taught.
Yes, God’s dealings with us come from his deep and undeserved love and grace. Yes, God loves the penitent and isn’t impressed with self-righteousness.
But when teaching about salvation he gave some very clear answers which didn’t focus on our faith:
- When asked what people must do to inherit eternal life, he said love God and neighbour (Matthew 19:16-19).
- On another ocasion he said that if we love God wholeheartedly and love our neighbour, we will “live” (Luke 10:25-28).
- And the parable of sheep and goats says whether we helped the poor and suffering will determine whether we receive “life” or “punishment” in the age to come (Matthew 25:31-46).
I have heard evangelical pastors go against what Jesus said in these passages and distort them to somehow conform to their doctrines of salvation by faith. But “the truth about Jesus” must include these teachings, even if they seem to contradict other teachings.
We need also to remember that, for first century Jews, salvation was national deliverance from oppression and sin, rather than individual salvation. It was closely tied to their covenant relationship with God and the hope for restoration as a people.
Faith & works
Is there a solution to this dilemma?
Firstly, I think we must recognise there is a dilemma and stop trying to force Jesus’ teachings to say what they clearly don’t say, but let them speak for themselves.
Evangelical Christians often speak of the Bible having one consistent message across 66 books written over a millennia, but this isn’t strictly true. There are many places where alternative teachings are given – whether because the issues were so complex that simple statements don’t apply, or because the Bible shows the process of working through issues.
The dilemma of Jesus’ teachings on our actions being necessary for eternal life and Paul’s teachings that they’re not, is possibly the most significant of these differences. (And it’s not just these two. Peter tends to speak like Paul while James tends to speak like Jesus.)
Theologians and churches want consistency and so tend to re-interpret passages to bring homogeneity, but it seems to me we should sit with the inconsistencies a little longer and see what the Holy Spirit has to say about them.
Secondly, we can re-examine the meaning we give to the words translated “faith” in the New Testament. There are good reasons to believe that “faith” should be understood as “allegiance”. And allegiance includes belief + commitment + loyalty, which means living our commitment out in our lives.
This doesn’t mean we earn our salvation, it is still a gift of God’s grace. But it does suggest that we obtain that salvation through lived out faith (= allegiance), and not just an inactive belief.
Not everyone agrees, of course, but this view takes all the teachings of Jesus seriously, which the standard evangelical doctrine doesn’t seem to do.
First century Judaism
Jesus was a first century Jew. Many of his teachings and actions, and many of the questions he was asked, reflect the religious culture of his day.
For example, we better understand the stories of blind Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus (Mark 10, Luke 18 & 19) if we understand the Middle Eastern protocols of welcoming an important visitor to a village.
And we better understand some of the questions answered by Jesus if we know that some were based on arguments between two eminent rabbis, Hillel and Shammai, who lived shortly before Jesus.
But too often, evangelical pastors present Jesus from their own modern western perspective and their congregations miss out on a deeper understanding of Jesus as he really was.
The truth about Jesus?
Our life and faith and churches would be enriched if we all were really taught the truth about Jesus. Learning more has been an exciting adventure for me, and could be for you too.
The church isn’t called to be simply a haven for those with their tickets to heaven, nor just a lifeboat to rescue other sinners. It is meant also to be a demonstration of the kingdom of God on earth, a community that lives the way Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount and is God’s vehicle for justice, truth, mercy, reconciliation and renewal.
Let’s live by the full truth about Jesus (as much as we can)!
Good books to read
- Jesus: A Very Short Introduction. Richard Bauckham.
- Salvation by Allegiance Alone. Matthew Bates.
- The King Jesus Gospel. Scot McKnight.
- Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes. Kenneth Bailey.
Note: Evangelical christianity in Australia, UK and worldwide is generally conservative theologically, socially and politically, but more moderate than the hard right evangelical church that will be most familiar to US readers.
The title of this post comes from the Counting Crows song Round Here, where the character Maria says “she’s close to understanding Jesus”.
