Aug 23, 2024 The Language of a Living Gospel – Words of Grace Blog – August 23, 2024
The language used in reference to the gospel makes it clear that it is alive with power. That makes us want to pay attention and give ourselves to its influence in our lives.
In the introduction of Colossians, Paul gives thanks for these Christians’ faith and love that is rooted in the hope laid up for them in heaven. He says they heard of this hope in the gospel. Then comes the curious language in reference to the gospel. Paul says the gospel “is bearing fruit and increasing” (Colossians 1:6).
Alive things bear fruit. Do we think of the gospel as a living message?
In Romans 1:16, Paul again uses this kind of language about the gospel. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…”
Alive things have power. Do we think of the gospel as a message with power to save?
Maybe our definition of the gospel as a message and as news has led us to think of it as mere words, which we don’t think of as alive. But that’s not how the New Testament represents the gospel. It says the gospel is alive with power.
What makes it so?
The gospel is alive with the reality of Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and reign. Colossians says the gospel is Christ in us, alive and powerful, giving us hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). Christ alive in us makes us alive to God.
The gospel comes to us with the power to do things like awaken, grant, generate, and grow. Colossians says it bears the fruit of faith and love from the hope it promises (Colossians 1:4-6). This promised hope produces faith and love.
How does the language of a living and powerful gospel impact us? We pay attention to the gospel and give ourselves to its influence in our lives.
Several years ago, the word “gospel” started to be used as an adjective to describe things. Has that trend led us to focus on the other things rather than the gospel itself? Let’s return to the language of the Bible so we can renew our thinking about the gospel.
The gospel is the thing. The gospel is the power of God, bearing fruit and increasing, saving and sustaining our lives, because in it Christ Jesus is revealed as the one who lived, died, rose again on our behalf, and who now lives in us by faith. In Christ, we now live. And if Christ is alive in us, we are forever yielding to his influence and becoming like him. The right language about the gospel communicates the reality of it.
This Sunday at Grace Community Church we will consider these things and give thanks with Paul for the living and powerful gospel among us.
Enjoy Colossians 1 this weekend.
-Scott