(Prepared by Rev. Grant Stewart for the Wednesday Koinonia group 24/10/12)

THE GOSPEL QUESTION:

I suspect that many of us resonate with McLaren’s re-interpretation of what constitutes the Gospel – that in fact Jesus was announcing Good news” “the Kingdom of God is at hand!”  Like many I have grown up with the epistle to the Romans serving as “our theological headquarters.”  It was refreshing to read someone who, like many of us, would like to see the Gospels and the stories of Jesus become more primary in our understanding of life and faith.

Here are some of my highlights from this section:

Chapter 14: What is the Gospel?

• Shouldn’t we let Jesus (rather than Paul) define the gospel?  For Jesus the gospel was very clear: The kingdom of heaven was at hand. 
• The kingdom of heaven does not mean “going to heaven when you die” but rather that “God’s new benevolent society is already among us”
• “Repent” means to become pensive again or have a change of mind or heart
• For early believers, to declare that “Jesus is Lord” meant – joyfully and defiantly – that Caesar wasn’t
• Jesus didn’t come to start a new religion…instead he came to announce a new kingdom
• The good news wasn’t simply about a new way to solve the religious problems of ontological fall and original sin… it was about God’s will being done on eart, about God’s faithful solidarity with those suffering, about God’s compassion and call to be reconciled with God, and with one another (and with all creation?)
• The good news proclaimed by Jesus was a fulfilment of three prime narratives of the Hebrew scriptures:
  • First, to accept the gift of being “born again” meant participation in a new Genesis, a  new creation, joining a new generative movement
  • Second, to follow Jesus meant embarking on a new Exodus (of baptism)
  • Third, to enter or receive the Kingdom of God meant becoming a citizen of a new kingdom, learning its ways in discipleship  and demonstrating its presence in word and deed.
  • Such a kingdom, Jesus proclaims is at hand, within reach, here and now and being announced by the prophets was being fulfilled in Him
  • The good news of the kingdom of God, and the biblical narratives that it consummates, integrates, celebrates and opens to all people everywhere
  • The more we let Jesus’ message of the kingdom of God sink in, the more it begins to unsettle all our existing understandings and categories
  • Paul (in his epistles) wasn’t trying to define or explain the gospel at all – rather he was trying to clean up a mess (of the tidy, conventional categories) that Jesus had created through his gospel – Jesus cracked open the door for non-Jews to be accepted in the faith tradition that had previously been exclusively Jewish
  • Paul, in the middle of this mess, is simultaneously defending the right of the Gentile Christians to be different and struggling to keep Jews and Gentiles working together as one community – wants to show them how they can all be a p art of God’s kingdom
  • Reading Roman’s in this light we become sensitive to the wonderful dance of the Spirit of God and the mind of Paul… in the context of a community in crisis.

Chapter 15: Jesus and the Kingdom of God

Paul’s gospel moves in Romans:

1. Move 1:Reduce Jew and Gentile to the same level of need (Romans 1:18-3:20)
   1. Paul puts everyone in the same boat – we are all sinners in need of grace
   2. Paul asserts that God doesn’t play favourites – all fall short of God’s glory
   3. Move 2: Announce a new way forward for all, Jew and Gentile, the way of faith (3:21-4:25)
      1. You can still be a child of Abraham if you are w=marked by the same kind of faith Abraham had
      2. Move 3:Unite all in a common story, with four illustrations: Adam, baptism, slavery and remarriage (Rom 5:1-7:6)
         1. After uniting us all under a common ancestor, Adam, Paul presents Jesus as a new Adam
         2. Adam bought death and condemnation, Jesus now brings life and justification to all humanity
         3. Move 4: Unite all in a common struggle and a common victory, illustrated by two stories ‘the story of me’ and ‘the story of we’ (Romans 7:7 – 8:39)
            1. Paul uses his own internal story and struggles – the internal landscape of the human soul
            2. All of creation groaning in empathy and anticipation with this new humanity in Christ
            3. Move 5: Address Jewish and Gentile problems, showing God as God of all
            4. Move 6:Engage all in a common life an mission (Romans 12:1-13:14)
               1. Transformed by the renewing of our minds
               2. Using our gifts for the common good
               3. Living the way Jesus taught and lived
               4. Move 7: Call everyone to unity in the kingdom of God (Romans 14:1-16:27)

This is the gospel of Jesus Christ: the kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent and believe the good news. Be reconciled