The Gospel Changes Everything
December 22, 2008 If there's one thing I've learned (and am still learning) over the years it's that the Gospel Changes Everything! This includes (but not limited to) my understanding of 'Scripture. The Gospel is so comprehensive in its power to change everything that it frees me from my previous understandings of Scripture to understanding passages anew and afresh. In other words, as my understanding of Scripture changes, I am free to embrace my new understanding instead of being fearful that "I am rejecting what I've been taught all these years!"
December 22, 2008 If there's one thing I've learned (and am still learning) over the years it's that the Gospel Changes Everything! This includes (but not limited to) my understanding of 'Scripture. The Gospel is so comprehensive in its power to change everything that it frees me from my previous understandings of Scripture to understanding passages anew and afresh. In other words, as my understanding of Scripture changes, I am free to embrace my new understanding instead of being fearful that "I am rejecting what I've been taught all these years!"
If we are hesitant in switching our view on (any) subject that Scripture addresses because we think "Scripture CAN'T teach that because I couldn't believe in a God who would say or express that in Scripture" then we definitely do not understand the Gospel nor Its power to change verything.
And we have a caricature of what Scripture teaches rather than what Scripture actually teaches.
The Gospel frees us to believe what we see Scripture teach. The Gospel, properly understood, frees us to say, "Wow, Scripture teaches THAT? That's a shocking revelation! If I see that in Scripture, I must believe it because Scripture teaches it."
I am not saying that the struggle to understand Scripture is wrong, but that the Gospel frees us to believe what we see in Scripture even WHEN it changes our paradigm of life and rocks our world.
For example, the Gospel frees us to switch from Dispensational Premil to Historic Premil or PostMil to Amil. And this is just eschatology! The Gospel frees us to change our views on subjects without fear that we are apostasizing (well, outside of the orthodox doctrines which establish the Christian faith).
The Gospel frees us to believe what Scripture teaches without fear. For fear is not of God and God has given a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Yes, what we see in Scripture may rock our world and change how we view and interpret Scripture, but the Gospel frees us to embrace what we see so that we may bind our consciences to Scripture alone and not to what we think we ought to believe.
Yes, the Gospel changes everything.