A Great Summary of Gospel Ministry

There is so much right with this quote in so many ways . . .

We declare what has been accomplished, not what we would like to be accomplished.

It's on a live blog of the Desiring God National Conference for a talk by Doug Wilson.  Gospel ministry is all about what Christ has accomplished, yet it seems to me that most of what passes for life and ministry in the church is focused on what we would like to be accomplished, hence we miss Christ.

Of course I suppose you could argue that it is permissible, even necessary to discuss what could/should be accomplished based on what has been accomplished.  But it would help if we discussed this in reference to what Christ would like to accomplish, and then make sure we limit ourselves in this regard to what is revealed in the Word, to keep our own imaginations out of it. 

And of course there is one thing yet for Christ to accomplish - the second coming and the bringing in of the new heavens and new earth.

Comments

[Memphis Dwight]

You parrot the same error regarding Gen 4:7.
The sin lying at the doors refers metaphorically to a sin offering, the lamb. This was the perfect sacrifice and points forward to Christ who was the lamb of God and was "made sin". Sin can mean a sin offering.
The desire is not sin desiring Cain. It references Abel's respect to the elder brother. So this verse does not relate back to Gen 3:16 in the way that you claim. The woman is not told to desire to rule over her husband but rather that her desire would be subject to her husband.

This is what was said of Gen 4:7 by Wesley:
If now thou do well: if thou repent of thy sin, reform thy heart and life, and bring thy sacrifice in a better manner; thou shalt yet be accepted. See how early the gospel was preached, and the benefit of it here offered even to one of the chief of sinners. He sets before him death and a curse; but, if not well - Seeing thou didst not do well, not offer in faith, and in a right manner, sin lieth at the door - That is, sin only hinders thy acceptance. All this considered, Cain had no reason to he angry with his brother, but at himself only. Unto thee shall be his desire - He shall continue in respect to thee as an elder brother, and thou, as the first - born, shall rule over him as much as ever. God's acceptance of Abel's offering did not transfer the birth - right to him, (which Cain was jealous of) nor put upon him that dignity, and power, which is said to belong to it, Gen 49:3.

Dwight

[george]

hey dave. i was wondering what you think the word 'gospel' means? just wanted to pick your brain.

i came up with the aramaic word which simply means hope. i wonder if the evangelical spoke in the wheel of christendom has almost capitalized on maybe one version of the gospel, when hope is dependent upon the person experiencing the circumstance. e.g., the woman who can't pay the rent, hope for her is paying the rent... thoughts on this? thanks a lot bro! keep in touch.

[David Wayne]

George, wow, it's kind of funny, you ask a relatively simple question and as I sit here trying to answer, every time I try to answer I think of other issues and I could end up writing a tome on that. So, here's a couple of knee jerk thoughts on this.

When it comes to the meaning of the word itself I would be happy with whatever popped up in the standard lexicons. This leads to the question of what significance, if any, we give to the Aramaic. I know it is commonly thought that Jesus spoke Aramaic but I have seen a couple of things that suggest that they spoke at least some Greek. In any case, since the NT manuscripts are in Greek and we ascribe inspiration to them then we would want to lean on the Greek. I know that scholars will often pay a good deal of attention to more ancient languages on which more current languages are built - hence I have seen OT scholars who study the whole family of semitic languages to gain a better understanding of Hebrew. But since Greek is not a semitic language I don't think the Aramaic fed into the meaning of the Greek.

And if I may muddy the waters a bit more here . . . A friend of mine who is pretty familiar with languages mentioned to me this weekend that etymology is not meaning. In other words, even if we could trace the etymology of the word gospel back to some Aramaic or other linguistic root that wouldn't determine the meaning. I think it is John Frame (among others) who likes to say that meaning is use. The lexical definitions can help, but the best way to get at the meaning of the gospel is to look at entire passages that speak of the gospel. In that sense, I Corinthians 15:1ff is a great place to start, but I think it is useful to remember that we have four books that are called "gospels." I like to say that the gospel message is not a message of what you must do for God but of what God has done for you in Christ Jesus. In that sense the "gospels" do define the "gospel" for us as they are the story of all that God has done for us in Christ to secure our salvation.

I think you are right on that we tend to narrow our focus though. I do think that hope is an important aspect of the gospel, especially in light of 1 Peter 1:3.

[David Wayne]

Dwight - what in the world are you talking about and what does any of that have to do with this post?