One part of my daily routine, after I do my Bible reading, is to read small sections of several nonfiction books. Among my current reads is one about the gospel, and the author argues that many churches and individual Christians have lost sight of the essential gospel message and fail to present that message clearly.

While I haven’t finished the book yet and don’t want to misrepresent the author’s points, it has struck me that the author is undervaluing the importance of God’s love in the gospel story and message.

The book is reacting against views of the gospel that are human-centered rather than God-centered, and there is a legitimate concern there. We sometimes speak as if the whole story was ours–that creation and incarnation and crucifixion and resurrection all happened because God somehow needed human companionship. He doesn’t; he is self-sufficient. We benefit from it, but God didn’t do any of it because we deserved it or because he somehow had to have us.

Of course, that begs the question “Why?” Why would a self-sufficient, all-powerful, all-knowing God create people when he knew, given free will, they would turn away from him. Why would he subject himself to the humiliation of becoming one of them and the suffering of the crucifixion, all to allow some of them to come back and have fellowship with him?

That is something we cannot fully understand, of course. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8 ESV). The answer the author offers is “for God’s glory.” That is certainly true, but I believe it to be incomplete. Another part of the answer is rooted deeply in God’s character, in his love.

After all, that is what he told us. One of the best known verses of the Bible declares it: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV). Jesus made the point the day before his death that, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13 ESV).

The Bible tells us that God is love (1 John 4:16). Now, we can get in trouble focusing on that. We sometimes seem to think God’s love turns him into a friend or even a pet or a fluffy toy. 

We forget that God is also righteous and holy and just. His love does not change those qualities, and God’s love is of a kind that we cannot really understand. His is a truly unconditional, self-sacrificial love that wants the best for us. What’s more, unlike everyone else who cares for us, including ourselves, God actually knows what is best for us. We must also remember that God’s view always looks beyond present circumstances. An eternity with God is worth pain in this life, and God views it that way.

God’s love is a love deeply inherent in his character and completely lacking in selfishness. No part of his love is rooted in the one who is loved. It is entirely rooted in him. The greatest of human loves doesn’t come close. If we can grasp the reality of this love, it should bring us to our knees.

This I believe is the gospel: God chose to create a universe with people and to love them completely even though he knew they would reject him, which we did. He then chose to experience humiliation and pain as a sacrifice to reconcile us to himself. And any human willing to turn over his life to God and receive that gift of reconciliation and eternal life can experience God’s love in all of its wonder.

That is the good news: the gospel.

 

Photo by Hugo Fergusson on Unsplash