As I mentioned in my email newsletter that went out this past Wednesday, I’ve been reading quite a bit of New Testament historical fiction. One of the series–Angela Hunt’s “Jerusalem Road”— made me think about is how weird it would have been to live at the time of Jesus. We look back from our modern perspective and think it would have been amazing to be alive at that time and have the chance to actually meet and talk with Jesus. But I wonder if it’s more likely we’d have been confused and perplexed by this seemingly ordinary man who suddenly started performing miracles and who claimed to be the literal Son of God.

It’s hard for me to imagine not knowing Jesus is the Messiah (the Hebrew word for “Christ,” which means “anointed”). I grew up going to church. Not only that, I grew up in a culture that was shaped by Christianity and where most people I met had at least a basic understanding of who Jesus is and what Christians believe. It’s so natural for me to think of Him as the Son of God and accept that He lived, died, and rose from the dead. But that all would have been brand-new to early 1st century people.

As our modern culture moves farther and farther away from Christianity, more and more people don’t have much–if any–Christian cultural background or Bible knowledge. Those of us in the U.S. and similar countries can’t really assume anymore that if we talk with someone about our faith they’ll have any foundational Biblical knowledge to build on. It’ll be more like Paul preaching to Gentiles who’d never heard of Jesus and thought Yahweh was only a God for the Jews than it is like Peter preaching to Jewish people who already had a faith background but needed to hear how Jesus is relevant to them.

What Are the Gospels Doing?

I’ve also been pondering a related thought, this time about sharing Jesus with someone rejecting Him rather than someone who never knew about Him. I know of someone who was Christian but is now adopting Jewish beliefs, and I’ve heard that this person challenged someone to prove that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God using only the Old Testament. In many ways, that’s a ridiculous thing to ask. You can prove just from the Old Testament that there is a promised Messiah coming, but if you’re going to prove that it’s Jesus you need to cite evidence that His life lines up with those prophecies. As I thought about this topic more, I realized this is exactly the point of the gospels. They’re there to convince readers of who Jesus is.

Now Jesus performed many other miraculous signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John 2o:30-31, NET

Have you ever noticed how many times the gospel writers (especially Matthew) say things like, “it is written” or “that it might be fulfilled”? They’re constantly referencing back to the Old Testament writings and linking them to Jesus, showing that He fulfilled prophecies. Just like Jesus came to fill the law and the prophets to the fullest and just like He had to open His disciples eyes to understand the scriptures about Himself (Matt. 5:17-20; Luke 24:25-48), so are the gospel accounts there to open up the scriptures for us and show that Jesus is the Messiah. Of course, God the Father is the one who opens minds to comprehend these truths (John 6:44), but He also responds to those who diligently seek Him (Matt. 7:7-11) and expects His people to help share His truths with the world (Matt. 28:18-20; 2 Tim. 4:1-2).

Preaching the Word of Christ

I feel like a lot of times when we talk about our faith, we want to jump right into the details. We like to explain what makes our church’s Christianity different from other churches. We want to make sure people know God has expectations for them and their conduct if they commit to following Him. But that only matters to people if they already know about Christianity and they already care what God thinks about them. If they don’t have that already, they need to hear the gospel–the good news about who Jesus is and what He taught–before all the details about how to follow Him.

 For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation. For the scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How timely is the arrival of those who proclaim the good news.” But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ.

Romans 10:10-17, NET (bold italics mark quotations from Isa 28:16; Joel 2:32; Isa 52:7; Nah 1:15; Isa 53:1)

The details about how to follow Jesus are important–He included many of those “how-to” details in His message, and His followers filled in more information in their letters that make up the rest of the New Testament. But at it’s core, the gospel is very simple. People hear the preached word of Christ, they respond in faith and obey the good news, and their belief results in righteous living. Remember, God’s sincere desire is that everyone turn away from wickedness, turn to Him, and choose life (1 Tim. 2:1-4; 2 Peter 3:9; Eze. 18:21-32). That should be our desire as well, and the ways we talk about Him should reflect that.

I know this wasn’t really my typical blog post format this week. It was more musings and reflections than a topical Bible study. I just really struggled coming up with a topic this week, and so I wrote about the ideas my thoughts kept coming back to pondering.

---

Featured image by Ben White from Lightstock