The Gospel: in 1 word, 3 words, & 30 words (@Bruxy Cavey)

HT: Tim Day

I got to spend some time with Bruxy at the North American Brethren in Christ General Conference this past July. When I asked him about what he has been reading lately, he responded “I’m reading everything I can get my hands on about the Gospel.” Here, Bruxy unpacks the broad scope of what he understands the core of the Gospel to be. He offers some great thoughts here.

What do you think? Where do you agree? How would you nuance things differently?

I think the one area that Bruxy didn’t touch on that is central to both Jesus and Paul’s gospel proclamation is one central way in which it functioned in the first century Jewish context. As Scot McKnight states in the King Jesus Gospel:

“The gospel for the apostle Paul is the salvation-unleashing Story of Jesus, Messiah-Lord-Son, that brings to completion the Story of Israel as found in the Scriptures of the Old Testament.” (61)

I’m fairly confident that Bruxy would agree with some variation of the Gospel as the “climax of the covenant” (to borrow a phrase from NT Wright). He alludes to it when he says “…to shut down religion,” but doesn’t ougt-right make the narrative connection in this video. Jesus is Israel and Jesus therefore fulfills and completes the Old Testament story. This is one point that I’d want to add to Bruxy’s devotional video. Otherwise, this basically sums up my view of the good news as described in the New Testament!