If you’ve ever wondered how to really connect the good news you believe (the gospel) to the way you think and the way you live, Mike Bullmore provides a road map. For a full treatment of this topic (The Functional Centrality of the Gospel) listen to this message given at New Attitude 2006. Below Mike Bullmore gives an overview of how the gospel powers our sanctification:
Imagine three concentric circles.
In the center is the gospel itself, perhaps best represented by the words of 1 Corinthians 15:3—“Christ died for our sins.” This simple phrase speaks of the reality of our sin, the necessity of divine punishment, and the wonderful provision of salvation from divine wrath by God in Christ. Paul speaks of this “good news” as the matter of “first importance” and we know well of the priority given to this message in his preaching and writing (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:1-4). Hence, its centrality. But in order for it to have a functional centrality it must be connected to areas where people live their lives.
Which introduces the second circle, Gospel Truths. These are specific, concrete doctrinal implications of the gospel, or, as Paul puts it, “doctrine that conforms to (i.e., takes its shape from) the glorious gospel” (1 Timothy 1:10-11). These gospel truths bring the gospel to bear on areas of lived experience, particularly in the mind. They are useful in the renewing of the mind so that our thinking is more and more shaped by the truth of the gospel.
As we might expect, the book of Romans is particularly rich in these gospel truths. Let me give three examples. In Romans 5:1 Paul states, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Notice the logic of the verse. Something follows from the essential truth of the gospel. Our having peace with God is not the gospel itself but it is a powerful implication of the gospel—a “gospel truth”—and it will go a long way in renewing the thinking of a person who understands this truth so that their thinking conforms to the glorious gospel.
Romans 8:32 is a favorite. “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things.” Notice those words “also” and “along with him.” They speak of something that grows out of the gospel.
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HT: NEXT
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