A new approach has entered some Christian communities who desire to reach the nations: If people are going to hear, understand, and respond to Jesus and his Gospel, we need to update our language, our metaphors, and maybe even our understanding of the Gospel itself.
The question for us is: are Christians facing a relevancy deadline? Must we act now because people cannot understand Jesus or His Gospel as the scriptures portray them? I humbly suggest that the Bible’s imagery is understandable. Jesus does not rely on our innovation to save Him from an archaic Bible. We can trust him at His word.
The Bible uses relevant and accessible images to explain the Gospel. To illustrate the point, here are four accessible biblical images regarding law, economics, liberation, and family.
Law: Guilt and Innocence
We live in a world where guilt and innocence frame our lives. The guilty need to be held accountable, and the innocent need to be protected. We need justice to be served in our movies, politics, and personal lives. And this corresponds to what Paul says, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.”
Paul affirms that the guilty will be held accountable. During Paul’s day, some struggled with the concept of the resurrection. Yet there was no issue in understanding innocence and guilt. And the same is true for us today. We understand the concept of law. When someone runs a stop sign or a red light, we start craning our necks to see if a police officer is around. (Not to mention, this is often accompanied by a few choice words).
The issue for us today comes when we are told how Jesus’ Gospel carves up the world into guilty and innocent. In Romans 1–2 Paul makes it clear where everyone sits in terms of guilt or innocence. All of humanity sits in the guilty camp. Jesus is the sole member of Team Innocent. According to the scriptures, no one can claim or camp out in the moral high ground because all have fallen short and are guilty. Let’s not confuse the issues. Understanding is not the problem. We can understand Paul’s words; they are offensive.
Liberation: Slavery and Freedom
No culture has ever been so attuned to the struggle for liberation as ours. The world has become a stage, to which we all are given front row seats for unfolding attempts at visions of liberation. The rules of the game are also equally clear. Freedom is good. Slavery is bad. And liberation is the way forward.
The growing awareness of things like sex trafficking and unethical workplace environments is a wonderful and necessary thing. They will not be a part of God’s Eternal Kingdom and so to the extent that we can, we ought to pray and work towards their elimination-’On earth as it is in Heaven.’ This understanding of liberty, as determined by God’s ethical precepts, is positive for society and even reflects many biblical ideals.
What is much more difficult for the world to accept, though, is that we are actually part of the tyranny. We are told in the scriptures that Jesus liberates people from the tyranny of sin. Jesus frees us from our rebellion against God’s good rule. Here, we find that there is an offensive component in the Bible’s presentation of the Gospel as liberation.
First, we are not just innocent victims in need of liberation but we are also the rebels. Second, we cannot liberate ourselves. This will undoubtedly kindle the anger of those who think we can educate, medicate, legislate, and earn or create heaven. Finally, the liberated saints now find themselves as God’s servants. Actually, better make that slaves to the King who, Himself, became a slave!
Biblical liberation does not lead to a do whatever you want freedom but a re-alignment with the purposes for which we were created. We were created to honour and serve your Creator and Redeemer. We can almost feel how this narrative of liberation grinds against the narratives on offer in our world. But again, the issue isn’t that this image is in danger of complete irrelevance. It’s that it provokes and undermines our own self-styled liberation.
Finance: Red and Black
The next image, finance, is also accessible. Ever been in debt? Have economic concerns ever dominated your life? Does the world become quite clear to you when divided in terms of red or black? The answer to all of these is likely, “Yeah, I’ve been there.” Unsurprisingly, Jesus not only speaks about financial issues, but also frames his Gospel in those same terms. “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many,” (Mark 10:45).
At this point I hope it’s starting to seem wrong to suggest that the Bible can’t speak meaningfully into modern peoples’ lives. All humans are in the red. But, Jesus says, through his work people can receive the gift of ‘debt paid’ stamped across their body and soul. Jesus pays the debt.
Christian faith is not reserved for those with a PhD. Such a simple explanation of the Gospel is accessible (even if we didn’t understand the world of finance, how long would it take to explain it?), but it’s offensive. The scripture is unflinching in its critique of humans. They are guilty (law) rebels (liberation) with unpaid debts (finance). Many thinkers have sought to save Jesus from such negative outlooks of humanity. But according to Jesus, He’s not the one who needs saving.
Family
The final image of the Gospel we will look at is family. Again, that word alone makes it clear we’re in a world we already have access to. We probably don’t even need much commentary or explanation. The Bible is not barred, locked, and gated. It is an open book. In John’s Gospel, we are invited to become children of God through believing in his Son. This is an open invitation for adoption. We not only understand the concept of adoption with ease, we celebrate it in our communities. John argues that through what follows in his Gospel account–Jesus’ life, death and resurrection–divine adoption can take place.
Because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, divine adoption can take place. It needs to be stated then, that the desire to update the Gospel does not have to do with its accessibility or clarity. It has to do with its offence. The process of adoption is required, according to John, because people love darkness rather than light. This is another negative description of humanity. Followed immediately by God’s response, the light of men was coming into the world.
Conclusion
We live in a world dominated by law, finance, slavery, and family. We can safely and humbly conclude that the charge of irrelevancy hardly sticks. Behind the desire for new understandings of the Gospel, is a subtler one–a desire for a more digestible Gospel.
According to the Bible, we come before God as guilty, enslaved, indebted, and as foreigners. We can understand each assertion. After reading them, we aren’t left wondering what on earth those terms mean. And you can’t help but think these images were purposefully selected on the basis of their lasting relevance.
Our issue is not that the Bible is far removed from everyday life. Our real issue is that we don’t like what the Bible says. Ironically, this refusal to acknowledge our sin (guilt, debt, slavery, foreign identity) ends up reinforcing the Biblical witness. Darkness not only doesn’t like the light; it doesn’t like being called darkness. Those who go this route also end up creating a parody of the Gospel.
It turns out the Bible is painfully clear. While the Gospel is offensive, it is also scandalously accessible.
