Over and Under

​Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners

​Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We can over and under shoot in sports, hunting and when driving. All of these can be detrimental. What is more detrimental is when we over or undershoot in the presentation of the Gospel. What I mean is when we diminish the Gospel by limiting it or when we embellish it by enlarging it; when we bring the question of the extent of the atonement into its proclamation.

When this happens, I confess, my neck twitches, my skin crawls and my head shakes because of the biblical and theological imprecision both over and undershooting the Gospel reveals. (It is also insensitive to those Christians who hold a different view; rather let us be united in the Gospel).

I have met and heard (both historically and present day) of those who only preach the Gospel to God’s elect, or refrain from offering the Gospel or calling sinner’s to repent for fear of preaching to the unelect. (Yet we show we are among the elect by believing the Gospel!).

This paralyzes hearers from believing the Gospel because they are left wondering…

Though the Bible speaks about election, NO WHERE does it tie it to the Gospel in its proclamation.

I have met and heard (both historically and present day) of those who preach the Gospel and insist, even base it solely or rest it heavily upon, the claim that Christ died for everyone (in a specific sense) or that Christ died for you (in a specific sense, and that all you need to do to be saved is to realize this). (Certainly there is universal value in Christ’s death and the Gospel is to be published to everyone).

This immunizes hearers from truly believing the Gospel because they think they’re ok because of Christ’s death or because they passively accept this message.

Though the Bible speaks about the extent of the atonement, NO WHERE does it tie it to the Gospel in its proclamation.
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What then is the Gospel? It is a message of repentance and faith rooted in the person and finished work of Jesus that offers forgiveness and eternal life. It, in itself, does not touch on the extent of the atonement. To do so is to overshoot and undershoot the biblical Gospel.