The human experience

The background for the Gospel is always human reality. The Bible is not unworldly, but speaks precisely against the background of human experience. The Gospel speaks into this experience. God’s promises are not for unworldly crackpots, but for realists who recognize in the experience of this world the outlook of the gospel as “good news.”

Our world is neither glossed over nor demonized in the Bible. Our world is imperfect and plagued by impermanence. The whole creation, Paul writes, is in need. That is a simple statement. This is especially clear in the Letter to the Romans, which offers something like an overview of the distress of this world and God’s response to it (Rom 8:20-23).

The Letter to the Romans is something of a survey of the plight of this world and God’s response to it.

Recognizing the need of the world does not at all mean that everything is simply bad. The misery of the world, suffering and death, missing the mark and sin – they are all real, but urge liberation. In the Bible, this is called “salvation.

No spongy spirituality

The misery of our world cannot be met with a vague spirituality. The Bible is not about religious feelings. Feelings you have for yourself, while a relationship can only be lived. There lies the difference: spirituality you can only cultivate for yourself and is focused on your own experience, while the Bible leads into a relationship with your neighbor, with God and the world.

Gospel means “good news”. The news is joyful because it appears against the background of human experience, which is less joyful. The Gospel is concrete because our need is concrete. Blessed is he who does not feel need at present, but everyone will reach his own limits at some time in his life. The relevance of the Gospel connects there, but with an important distinction: it is not always about personal need, but often about need in general. Those who only want to get quick relief from the Bible for their own lives do well, but that is not the real concern. God is not concerned with the individual current situation, but with the whole. His goal is to become “all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28).

The confrontation with reality

The liberation from the felt limitations does not succeed on its own. We are caught in our transience. Therefore, the Gospel is a liberating message. God Himself makes free by bringing about His own righteousness through Jesus Christ, His Son, where we cannot achieve it. This then is the basis for everything God makes known in the Bible as good news.

When Paul details man’s unrighteousness as well as God ‘s righteousness in Romans, he is surprisingly not talking about things we “should” do, as if the gospel demands certain behaviors or performance. Paul does not portray a demanding God. It is not about what we “ should” do, but about what is “in the world. “ Paul describes a reality, a true condition.

Paul challenges us in Romans to deal with reality.

First, it is the reality of man, with all his transgressions. He then describes the reality of the gospel, wherein God Himself gives salvation. Paul challenges us in Romans to deal with reality. When he describes reality, it is about the relationship between God and us and, of course, also about what we achieve (or: do not achieve) through it. Paul leads us here to recognize our reality in the light of God’s reality. Confidence and faith grow there.

What the Gospel speaks about

What the Bible talks about is just as important as what it doesn’t talk about. Some topics are extraordinarily important in many communities, but they play no or only a subordinate role in the Bible. The Gospel is good news, but why?

Perhaps it is surprising that the gospel Paul describes does not talk about heaven and hell. When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, you were not threatened with hell, but with mortality. In the understanding of many Christians, however, it is about heaven and hell. What happened to make this develop the way it did? There are no “destinations heaven and hell” in the Bible. That is not the issue. The notion is wrong from many considerations. Not only does the Bible not speak of this, but there are quite other things that are very much mentioned. The idea of heaven and hell ultimately centers on man, but a God who is above all does not need such things. In the Bible, the final goal is all about God, but He will be “all in all”(1 Cor. 15:28). There it is about redemption, fulfillment and relationship.

The Bible describes the problems mankind faces and reduces them to two key statements: sin (missing the mark) and death. The Gospel counters this with two solutions: Justice (goal setting) and life.

Against this background speaks the gospel of God’s righteousness (Rom 1:16-17). There begins the solution and redemption. He creates something new. He brought about His righteousness on the cross. This is the answer to the injustice of the world and the basis for salvation. On the basis of God’s righteousness there is life, peace, reconciliation, and ultimately mutual reconciliation (Col. 1:20; 1 Cor. 15:28).

The problem is not hell and the solution is not heaven

What the apostle Paul presents as the gospel in Romans answers the questions about sin and death. Nowhere does Paul speak about hell. The problem of man not hell. The solution is not heaven. Even if it is presented or understood this way again and again – the gospel or Christianity is not a “ticket to heaven” and the gospel does not have a “place” as its content.

It’s about completely different things, as mentioned before. Sin and death are seen in the Bible as the real challenges of our lives. They are more than made up for by justice and abundant life. This is the content of the Good News, the Gospel.

Better than a ticket to heaven

God wants to become everything in you and me today. God is for you (Rom 8:31). One day He will be all in all (1 Cor. 15:28). Then the perfection of God will fill the creation completely. The last one is the declared goal. This is salvation in the Pauline sense, and this outlook seems better to me than a ticket to heaven.