The Gospel
One Sheet
The gospel is the good news that Jesus, by the will and direction of God, has purchased the redemption of physical creation, becoming its Lord. Jesus did so by overcoming the sinful dominion of human essence in his own flesh, putting it—along with its curse—to death, and reclaiming through resurrection that flesh sinless and under his own spirit rule as originally created and intended. By doing so, he demonstrated victory over all physical creation, giving him dominion over all, and, thus, making him Lord of all. By his victory, Jesus fulfilled God’s covenant commitment to create for everlasting love relationship with his creation and made possible the resurrection of all image bearers who, through repentance and faith, would seek the same everlasting love relationship with their God.
Gospel Foundational Principles:
#1: Creation’s Purpose: God’s one essential nature is truth, goodness, and beauty. He exists as three persons, each operating in faith, hope, and love, according to that one essence. God, therefore, covenanted within his own Trinitarian self to create for the purpose of satisfying his desire to extend his essence through love to his creation in mutual and everlasting love relationship.
#2: The Fall: The Fall occurred when Adam chose relationship with physical creation rather than relationship with God as the more desirable means to satisfy his own passion for truth, goodness, and beauty. Adam was of the first pair of image bearers to whose spirits were given possession and rulership of physical creation. Therefore, by Adam’s choice, he effected the separation of physical creation from God, causing (1) it to be cursed by God and (2) his spirit, along with all human spirits, to become enslaved to their cursed physical essence.
#3: Sin’s Dominion: Fallen image bearers are separated from God by sin, the missing of the mark of relationship with God. Sin involves two areas of obstruction to resumed relationship: (1) activity—by which the sinner uses his or her own controlled faith, hope, and love to direct action against relationship with God and (2) status—in which the sinner is enslaved by the dominion of cursed (separated from God) physical essence, which would continue to cause the activity of sin. It is impossible for the human spirit to extract itself from the enslavement to the cursed flesh so as to live in relationship with God. Thus, image bearers are destined by this corporate curse of essence to separation from God—everlasting death.
#4: Atonement: God’s restoration goal is the return to love relationship with his image bearers. Restoration requires forgiveness: (1) in mercy—grace extended to human spirits individually guilty of sin and (2) in redemption—the reclamation of cursed human physical essence from its status in sin to return to image bearers the spirit dominion over their essence initially received at creation. God purchased redemption, first, by coming as human in cursed flesh to bear God’s image perfectly, despite its influence, and put that flesh to death, conquering its dominion, and second, by having Jesus reclaim, through his resurrection, the then sinless flesh—conquered physical essence—the firstfruits of the still-to-come full redemption of all physical creation.
#5: Resurrection Victory: By reclaiming his conquered flesh, Jesus demonstrated victory over the enslaving dominion of humankind’s physical essence. The redemption to newness of life meant return to the status of being blessed by (in relationship to) God rather than being cursed (separated from). Christ’s gained authority over physical creation—an impossible result for any other human—is the good news (gospel) for satisfaction of God’s original covenant of creation and for hope for all those who desire relationship with God.