The 8 Marks of a Robust Gospel

Scot McKnight writes,

I sometimes worry we have settled for a little gospel, a miniaturized version that cannot address the robust problems of our world. But as close to us as the pages of a nearby Bible, we can find the Bible's robust gospel, a gospel that is much bigger than many of us have dared to believe:

The gospel is the story of the work of the triune God (Father, Son, and Spirit) to completely restore broken image-bearers (Gen. 1:26–27) in the context of the community of faith (Israel, Kingdom, and Church) through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the gift of the Pentecostal Spirit, to union with God and communion with others for the good of the world.

The gospel may be bigger than this description, but it is certainly not smaller. And as we declare this robust gospel in the face of our real, robust problems, we will rediscover just how different it is from the small gospel we sometimes have believed and proclaimed.

McKnight's 8 marks of a robust gospel are

1. The robust gospel is a story
2. The robust gospel places transactions in the context of persons
3. The robust gospel deals with a robust problem
4. A robust gospel has a grand vision
5. A robust gospel includes the life of Jesus as well as his recurrection, and the gift of the Spirit alongside Good Friday
6. A robust gospel demands not only faith but everything
7. A robust gospel includes the robust Spirit of God
8. A robust gospel emerges from and leads others to the church

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