The Gospel Begins With Jesus Christ

The Gospel begins with Jesus Christ. He is what God meant when God said, “Let us make Humankind in Our image, and to be like Us.” He is the Image of the Invisible God, in whom all the Fullness of Divinity dwells in bodily form (Colossians 1:15; 2:9). By the Incarnation, he is the one Human Being, of which we all partake. He is what it means to be human, and in him we are made complete, and become partakers of the Divine Nature (Colossians 2:10; 2 Peter 1:4).

To be created in the image of God — which is to be truly human — is to be conformed to the image of Christ, who is the Image of the Invisible God. To be like God is to be like Christ, in whom all the fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form. 

God is Love. Self-giving, other-centered, cross-shaped Love. To be created in the image of God, and to be like God, is to love with the divine love, to live the life that is self-giving, other-centered and cross-shaped. The image of God is most profoundly revealed at the cross, where our Lord Jesus Christ shows us what it is to be God and so what it is to be human. 

The Gospel begins and ends with Jesus Christ, the Incarnate One, Crucified and Risen. For all in heaven and on earth are created by him, through him, for him and in him, and all hold together in him (Colossians 1:16-17), and the express, eternal purpose of God is to bring all in heaven and on earth to unity in Christ — all summed up and headed in Christ (Ephesians 1:9-10). If we begin with anything else, we make Christ and the Cross secondary.

An Interesting Thing About the Saints

An interesting thing about the great saints is that while others experienced them as holy, they experienced themselves as sinful. St. Paul said, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners — of whom I am the worst” (1 Timothy 1:15). And Lord Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31-32). The following story is told of Abba Sisoes (d. 429), one of the great Desert Fathers of the ancient Egyptian desert (his feast day is observed on July 6):

When Abba Sisoes was about to die, and the fathers were sitting with him, they saw that his face was shining like the sun. He said unto them, “Behold, Abba Anthony has come.” After a little while he said again, “Behold, the company of prophets has come,” and his face shone twice as bright. Suddenly, he became as one speaking with someone else, and the fathers sitting there asked him, “Show us with whom you are speaking, father.”

Immediately, Abba Sisoes said to them, “Behold, the angels came to take me away and I asked them to leave me so that I might tarry here a little longer and repent.” And the old men said unto him, “You have no need to repent, father.” And Abba Sisoes said to the fathers, “I do not know in my soul if I have rightly begun to repent,” and they all realized that the old man was perfect.

Then, suddenly, his face beamed like the sun and all who sat there were afraid and he said to them, “Look! Look! Behold, the Lord has come and he says, ‘Bring unto me the chosen vessel which is in the desert,’” and he at once delivered up his spirit and became like lightning and the whole place was filled with a sweet fragrance.*

Therefore, let us not lose heart. Let us gladly own ourselves sinners, that we may be cleansed by our Lord Jesus Christ and know our true identity in him. Let us gladly confess our lostness, that we may know our true home in him. Let us gladly embrace our death, that we may know our true life in him. Amen.

* The Paradise of the Holy Fathers, Vol 2, translated by E.A. Wallis Budge, (Seattle, WA: St. Nectarios Press, 1984)  

In Christ Humankind is Born Again

Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is Firstborn of the Dead is also Firstborn of Creation (Colossians 1:15, 18). We may say that he is Firstborn of Creation because he is Firstborn of the Dead, for the Creator of all things in heaven and on earth is Christ crucified and risen. St. Paul shows us that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ encompasses all humankind:

Just as one trespass [Adam’s] resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act [Christ’s] resulted in justification and life for all people. (Romans 5:18)

Just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22)

It is through the resurrection of Christ, St. Peter tells us, that we have been given new birth, that we have been born again, regenerated:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. (1 Peter 1:3-4)

Paul understands this new birth to be related to baptism: “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:4-5). How is baptism related to the new birth that has been given through the resurrection of Christ? Paul shows us in Romans 6:

Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. (Romans 6:3-8)

Through baptism, we are immersed — plunged — into the reality of this new birth in a very tangible way. Dying with Lord Jesus, we are buried with him, so to be united with him in resurrection, and to live this new life. For as Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” And so, through the faithfulness of Christ, by the Cross and Resurrection, what is universally true of humankind, of human being, is personally experienced.

In the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, all humankind is
born again, in Him who is the
Firstborn of Creation. 

The Reciprocal Truth of the Incarnation

On the Cross, we see the reciprocal truth of the Incarnation: Jesus Christ is not only God’s faithfulness toward us, he is also our faithfulness toward God. 

Just as one trespass [Adam’s] resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act [Christ’s] resulted in justification and life for all people. (Romans 5:18)

Where Adam was unfaithful and disobedient to God, resulting in death and corruption for all, our Lord Jesus Christ was faithful and obedient to God, resulting in justification and life for all. 

You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross! As a result God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow – in heaven and on earth and under the earth – and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

As fully divine, Christ did not consider being equal with God as something to be plundered and exploited, to be held on to at all costs, and used for his own advantage — Christ reveals that God is simply not like that! As fully human, Christ was fully obedient and faithful to God, even to the point of the shameful death of the Cross. So, by the Incarnation and the Cross, we see exactly what the faithfulness of God is, and what the faithfulness of humankind is — what it means to be God, and what it means to be human.

Apart From Love, There is No Holiness

God is Love, and God is Holy. The love of God and the holiness of God are not in competition. There is never any tension between them that must somehow be resolved. They do not need to be balanced out, one against the other. There is no “God is Love, but God is also holy.” If at any time we feel the need to add a “but” after the love of God, then we have not yet come to an adequate understanding of the love of God. 

To say that God is Love is to speak of the nature of God. Love is not merely incidental to God, not merely a quality God possesses or an action God occasionally employs. God is not merely loving (adjective); God is love (noun). Love is what God is.

The Love and Holiness of God are not two different things but two different ways of speaking about the same thing, for God is simple, not a being of parts. The Holiness of God is nothing more nor less nor other than the Love of God. The Love of God is holy, and the holiness of God is God’s Love. Apart from Love, there is no such thing as Holiness, for God is Love. 

Church and Scripture

The relationship between the Church and Scripture is that the Church is guided by Scripture, and Scripture is interpreted by the Church, which is uniquely authorized to teach what Scripture means. 

The Scriptures are about our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Church is the Body of Christ. It is the only body authorized and commissioned by Christ to preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that he commanded. 

Further, the Church is the only body that is empowered by the Holy Spirit to fulfill that Great Commission. Indeed, Lord Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would guide the Church into the truth, and the Church is the only body St. Paul refers to as the Pillar and Foundation of the Truth.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:18-20) 

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. (John 16:13)

Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the Pillar and Foundation of the Truth. (1 Timothy 3:14-15) 

A Traditioned Faith

The Christian faith is not an innovative one — we do not make it up as we go along. It is, rather, a traditioned faith, handed down generation by generation from the beginning. It is the Apostolic faith delivered once for all to the Church.

Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. (Jude 3)

The Greek word for “delivered” here is paradidomi, to give or entrust into the hands of another. What has been delivered in this case is the Christian faith concerning Christ and the gospel, and the “common salvation” in which we share. It has been delivered “once for all,” whole and complete, to the saints, the Church. St. Jude exhorts us to “contend earnestly” for this faith. The word is epagonizomai, from the word agonizomai, to strive or labor fervently. Literally, it is to agonize, like combatants in the public games, wrestlers grappling in competition.

St. Paul says something very similar in Ephesians 4:3-6. “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” 

There is one faith, delivered once for all, and Jude means for us to grapple fervently for it, because there were those who would “turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 4)

Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. (2 Thessalonians 2:15)

Paul charges the Church at Thessalonica to stand fast and hold on to the “traditions” with a powerful, persistent grip. The word for “traditions” is paradosis and refers to that which is given over, delivered, or entrusted to another. Paul is speaking of one faith, the Christian faith, delivered once for all, and whether taught orally or in writing, the tradition is all of one piece. Hold fast to it.

What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you — guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. (2 Timothy 1:13-14) 

In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, we see a double action. First, he speaks of what Timothy heard from Paul, the “pattern of sounds words.” Paul has committed it to Timothy, and Timothy has received it — this is the nature of tradition. 

The word for “pattern” here is hypotyposis, a compound of hypo (under) and typos (type). The typos is an imprint or image from a die that is struck or a seal that is pressed into the wax. It is like a typewriter key that leaves the imprint of a letter or other character. Hypo emphasizes the underlying position, that the imprint comes from the original image on the die or seal. 

There is a pattern or imprint of sound teaching that shows the true and authentic image of the Christ and the gospel. Hold fast to it, Timothy, this good deposit has been entrusted to you. The word for “entrust” is paratithemi, to deposit or commit to one’s charge. This is the first action: the pattern of sound teaching has been entrusted to Timothy. The second action corresponds to this.

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2:2)

Paul has entrusted to Timothy the sound teaching of the gospel, the pattern bearing the exact image of the apostolic deposit. And now Timothy is to take what has been traditioned to him and likewise tradition it to faithful men, qualified and competent to teach it to yet others. And so it is handed down from generation to generation.

The Resurrection of the Dead

The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is the resurrection of the dead. He whom God raised from the dead has become our resurrection.

Jesus said to her, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. (1 Peter 1:3-4)

For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22)

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)

Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. (Colossians 1:15-18)

Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Romans 6:3-5)