She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus—‘God saves’—because he will save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21 MSG)
Christians often use the term “saved” but have you ever thought about what that means? To be saved implies that we were saved from something, right? So what is it that we are saved from? Our answer to this question will uncover our central beliefs about the gospel.
The gospel of Jesus basically says we have been forgiven; gloriously saved from sin. This does not only refer to individual sins (transgressions) but the nature that was infected with the disease of sin. But in the past two hundred years of church history, this truth has been eclipsed in ways by alternate gospel messages. Although this can take on many forms, I have narrowed them down into two loose categories. One says Jesus came to save us from eternal hell and the other says He came to save us from temporary trouble.
Doom-Oriented Salvation
The last post I published that was written by a friend touched on the influence of the ministry of Charles Finney, who is credited with being the greatest American evangelist in history. But was what he preached really the gospel? If you study his crusades, they were often marked by terrifying people with hell. I believe that the influence of Finney has played a part in the ideology of the gospel being about being saved from hell.
But should we to want to be saved simply so we do not end up in hell? How can one build a loving relationship with God that is based in escaping from doom rather than wanting a relationship with their true Father? Sure, just making heaven when one dies is a whole lot better than not making heaven and hell should not be ignored. But this is not the goal of the gospel as outlined by the New Testament scriptures and the early church.If you read through the book of Acts and the epistles of the new Testament, the early church preached Jesus, not hell.
As I have said before, Jesus defined eternal life as knowing the Father and the Son (see John 17:2-3). His description did not have to do with eternal reward vs punishment, but a relationship with the eternal God. This is something we can experience both now and forever through being healed of the disease of sin.
God’ s plan has always been to restore relationship and intimacy with man; to an even greater degree than what was lost in the garden of Eden at that. The goal of Jesus’ salvation was to save us from sin in order for us to become the temple that God cohabits. Furthermore, sin kept us from wanting to be with God, not vice-versa.
Even though God cannot cohabit with sin itself, He always loved sinners and separated them from their sin. Ultimately, it is not even sin per se, but rejection of God through unbelief that brings condemnation since sin has been dealt with through the cross. As Robert Capon said, “Both Heaven and Hell are full of forgiven sinners.”
But if you want to talk about escaping something, there is something that we desperately needed to escape. If not hell, was it the devil or the end time great tribulation? No, rather Peter talks about escaping the hellish nature in order to take on the divine nature.
…He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust (2 Peter 1:4).
We have escaped the old nature that was attached to the lusts of this present age. Lust has been defined as trying to gratify one’s needs at someone else’s expense. Love, the essence of our new divine nature, will always give at its own expense instead.
The Modern Day Gospel Perversion
Many modern churches have caught on to the notion that making it all about heaven and hell is probably not the best idea. However, another distortion has come about to where we say that Jesus came to save us from trouble rather than sin. This gospel emphasizes the fact that God meets our needs but fails to mention that the cross has dealt with the need-oriented nature we used to have. As I just mentioned, the old man operated in lust. It was focused on meeting its own needs above giving to others out of love. It left us feeling orphaned and needy inside.
While it is true and necessary to know God provides our needs, the emphasis should, again, be relationship with Jesus. Jesus meets my needs just like Jesus fulfills my purpose, heals my past wounds, etc. Its about receiving Jesus, not escaping trouble. Jesus is the One who has overcome the world for us and we can overcome through Him as well. This happens as He lives through us. He is not flying above us in a heavenly helicopter throwing out ropes to His helpless needy children below. He is dwelling in us and wanting to live through us to demonstrate His nature and power.
But in this rendition of the gospel, Jesus becomes like a life coach, here to help you be the best you and simply gain earthly success. But the good news states that we are united with Christ and He IS our life (see Col. 1:1-4). He did not come to save you from trouble through self-improvement, but came to remove the old nature of sin so you could then experience the Christian life by nature, not by effort.
We Cannot Make the Good News Any Better
Be assured that being saved from sin is indeed good news; more so than just being saved from eternal hell or temporary troubles. Thus means being free from the struggle of trying to be good but desiring evil. It means becoming new, rather than trying to modify my behavior.
The gospel has always been about receiving God, not escaping punishment. The point is, sin makes for a miserable existence now. We are to show forth God’s goodness and love to where people realize that He is what they were made for. Those who reject God are self-condemned already and Jesus clearly states that He (representing the Father) came to save and not condemn.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16-18).
God is restoring the truth of the gospel and removing the mixture and distortions that have infiltrated it. The goal of the gospel is manifesting God in the here and now rather than future rewards vs punishment. It is God fulfilling His ultimate plan to live in union with man, not just relieving our troubles so that we won’t “have to worry”. This, my friends, can only be accomplished by Him living in and through us and that, the result of being saved from sin.
John Long
SOARING IN GRACE / GROUNDED IN TRUTH 
Great Truth!,
Thank you,
Des D. Harms
Hey John, Very well stated. I would just like to add, though, that in being saved, one does escape “punishment”. That is, add verse 19 to John 3:16-18 – “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Jesus didn’t come to condemn because men already was. I’m equating punishment and condemnation if you take what Jesus will do on that glorious and awful day. Glorious in that the saved will walk by sight and awful in that – as Jesus said in Matthew 25 – And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. It seems to me that isn’t either or, but a message of both. God opens our eyes to His Light and want to be drawn away from darkness. Part of that Light is being rescued. It is also, as you stated above about removing that old nature and walking in the new life.
Hi Jim, thanks for commenting. Yes, it is as if Jesus, in John 3, is saying, “reject the good news and what do you have left? Bad news.” There is definitely the aspect of escaping doom. This is the doom that remains when we reject Jesus and His work. Just like our faith becomes sight, so also, the punishment or condemnation is a culmination of unbelief; the rejection of love and life.
As I wrote this post, I thought of and reviewed many of the instances in the NT where the gospel was proclaimed and in very few will you find the after-life mentioned. I believe the emphasis should be the good news of Jesus and not only with words, but we as believers have the privilege of making Him look good (through Him living through us). I will address these topics some more in future posts.