What is the “Gospel”?

Consider this piece of political propaganda from the Greco-Roman world. Listen as I read from an inscription about the birthday of Augustus Caesar the emperor of Rome that was dates from 9BC.

The providence which has ordered the whole of our life, showing concern and zeal, has ordained the most perfect consummation for human life by giving to it Augustus, by filling him with virtue for doing the work of a benefactor among men, and by sending in him, as it were, a deliverer for us and those who come after us, to make war to cease, to create order everywhere. . . . ; the birthday of the god [Augustus] was the beginning for the world of the gospel that has come to men through him [found in What Saint Paul Really Said by N. T. Wright].

THE TERM GOSPEL IS a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon word godspell. It is used to translate the Greek word evangel which means “good news,” “glad tidings,” or “joyful message.” And it is a word with an important use in the pagan politics of the first century. It refers to a royal proclamation or an imperial announcement. It is used to describe a report of the birth, or the ascension to the throne, or the victory of a king. In some cases it can refer to more than one of these, since the victory of an aspiring prince can also count as his coronation. By defeating his enemy, he inherits the kingdom and thus becomes a king. Such a declaration is described as a gospel in the ancient world of the first-century Mediterranean region.

Did John Stott Understand What “a Figure of Speech” Is? Ephesians 2:1

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins…
The Apostle Paul (ESV)

The death to which Paul refers is not a figure of speech, as in the parable of the Prodigal Son, “This my son was dead”; it is a factual statement of everyone’s spiritual condition outside Christ.
John Stott, The Message of Ephesians, The Bible Speaks Today (IVP) [Originally published as God’s New Society, 1979]

On the contrary, when the Apostle Paul writes “you were dead” in Ephesians 2:1, he is definitely using a figure of speech. Of course, it is also a “factual statement” because people use figures of speech to make claims that are (or are purported to be) factual. The father of the Prodigal was stating a fact about his younger son’s status and/or condition by speaking figuratively. The proper alternative to a figure of speech is a literal statement, not a factual statement.

Paul’s Calling to “Saints”

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 1:1 ESV

Paul often addresses Christians as saints in all his letters, but the theology of Ephesians is especially relevant to why he does so. Saint means holy one. It is related to the verb “sanctify,” make holy.

Some Things I Would Like to See More Comment On in Ephesians (Part One?)

Ephesians 1:3 is about praising God for the resurrection/ ascension/ enthronement of Jesus. Jesus was raised to God’s right hand and given the promised Holy Spirit to share with the Church.
The election (1:4) and predestination (1:5) of Paul’s readers is not merely that which is true of all believers in all history before and after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Rather, it is the election and predestination of that generation to see God keep his promises in Christ.
The phrase in 1:6, “to the praise of his glorious grace,” is a mistranslation. Paul really writes “to the praise of his gracious glory” (i.e. graciously given). Paul himself abbreviates the phrase twice, and drops out grace, not glory (1:12, 14).
God’s raising up Jesus did not simply prove the greatness of His “power toward us” (1:19). Rather, God’s raising up Jesus was the definitive exercise of his power toward us. In other words, God raised up Jesus as an act to rescue us from death and bring us into new life, not as proof that he was capable of rescuing people.
Ephesians 2:1ff is not an account of what happened to anyone when he or she was converted. It is an account of the history of humanity, when Jesus was raised by God and brought up to Him in a new life.
Ephesians 2:11ff explicitly references “we” Jews and “you” Gentiles. Since, he discusses the union of Jew and Gentile in the second half of chapter 2, and the nature of the Gospel as the message of the union of Jew and Gentile in chapter 3, this seems to be an important topic to Paul. It looks like the conclusion of an argument or the climax that he has been working toward. So it seems probable (at least) that “the Gospel of your salvation” (1:13) is elaborated in 3:6 “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”
One could easily assume from 2:1ff that Paul thinks no one before his generation was saved, or from 2:11ff that no Gentiles were saved. But since that cannot possibly be true, what does Paul mean?

Mind and Body?

Daniel Kunitz writes an interesting testimony (I can’t think of a better description for it) in the prologue of his book, Lift: Fitness Culture, from Naked Greeks and Acrobats to Jazzercise and Ninja Warriors (HarperWave, 2016). He describes his life as a magazine editor living in New York City:

At our worst, my cohorts and I at the magazine emulated the wasted waif aesthetic of the times, the nineties, and gave no thought to improving or maintaining ourselves physically. We thought of ourselves as living the life of the mind…
p. 4.

Ephesians 2 and the “new topic”

Lynn H. Cohick writes on Ephesians in the NICNT series (page 143) on Chapter 2, verses 1-3:

Paul begins a new topic in Eph 2, though one that is tightly related to his previous declaration of Christ’s complete sovereignty over all powers and authorities… Paul sets before the Ephesians two sharply contrasted visions: that of the victorious and risen Christ, head of his body, the church, (1:22-23), and themselves as morally bankrupt and spiritually dead…
The New International Commentary on the New Testament

This is not how I would express it.

Ephesians 2:1-7 is not about personal conversion

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:1-7 ESV

This is not about being regenerated.

Abraham, Moses, Daniel, Zacharias and Elizabeth, Simeon and Anna, and Cornelius were all dead this way. None of them were unregenerate by the modern Evangelical use of the term “regeneration.”

Ephesians 2:1 as Test for Evangelical Bible Literacy

I am thinking of writing a commentary on Ephesians. Thus, I have been looking at other commentaries, both popular and scholarly, to see what is already available.

That has led me to type this short rant:

The first thing any and every commentator on Ephesians 2:1 should note is the cleanliness code dealing with corpses in the Pentateuch.

Reminding Yourself of Your Future

Back in August, I recommended Henry Hazlitt’s self-help book, The Way to Will Power. I still do. I thought of that book recently when I read Peter’s exhortation:

Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, staying sober, fully place hope on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1:13

In my opinion, this exhortation is strongly related to becoming a better man and guarding your heart. Writing to believers, Peter basically tells his readers to regularly remind themselves of where they are headed and why. He wants them to develop a strong habit of doing this and not let anything distract them from maintaining the habit.

Why?

Single-Model Robots Need Wisdom

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
1 Corinthians 12:14–21 ESV

This is a profound statement about diversity and unity in the church. It has obvious application to wider human society.

But it is also counter-intuitive. We have been so thoroughly immersed in the imagery that we don’t notice that it portrays human life and human society as almost the opposite of the way it appears.