The incomplete gospel.

Gideon300 · Mar 29, 2021

Many years ago, I heard a message on one of the best known verses in the Bible. It was John 14:6. Being a Baptist, the preacher kept his sermon to 30 minutes. He spent 29 minutes on Jesus "The Way", 50 seconds on Jesus "The Truth" and just managed to fit Jesus "The Life" into the 30 minute message.

This is pretty much the reality for many Christians. Many know Jesus to be the Way to God and will contend fiercely that there is no other way. Many will also acknowledge that Jesus is the Truth and that there is no truth apart from Him. Yet the message preached that day is symptomatic of a lack in the lives of many. The preacher did not know Jesus to be his life in experience.

"Life" is something insubstantial, yet it governs everything. A cat is a cat because it has "cat life". A dog has dog life, a tree has tree life. Humans have human life, imparted personally by God Himself. It's what sets us apart from other animals.

All who are born again know that they are sinners. We should know that we are sinners by nature. Some reject the concept of original sin. I'm not one of them. However, if we are honest, we know deep down that we are unable to meet God's standard of perfection. Something is desperately wrong. Knowing this led us to Christ so that we could be forgiven. But, like Paul, we seem unable to do what we know is right or evade what we know is wrong. So what is the answer?

Lord Jesus gave us the answer. John 10:10 is another well known verse that is not so well understood. The life that Lord Jesus spoke about is not what many people imagine. The NLT puts it this way: "The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life"

With due respect, that is wrong. The Life that Lord Jesus came to give is in Himself. When we receive Him, we gain Him as our new life. When we see this, it will revolutionise our lives. No longer will we try to live the right way. Trying will be unnecessary. An apple tree does not strive to produce apples. The branch bears fruit, it does not produce it.

Some years ago, I did a word study. I went through the NT and looked at the number of times it said "In Christ". I counted 50 before I gave up. I think the point was proven by then. All that we have spiritually is found only in Christ. Watchman Nee said that God is not a chemist, dispensing remedies for our ills. He will not give us a dose of patience to make up for our lack, or a peace pill when we are troubled. No, He gives us Christ, who is everything that we need already.

How do we get to experience the reality of this? I will address that in another post.

throughfaith · Mar 31, 2021

Why is this titled ' the incomplete Gospel ' ? John 14 .6 is not the Gospel

Deuteronomy · Mar 31, 2021

Hello @Gideon300, your OP broaches some very interesting and important points for discussion, so thank you for that

I have a couple of questions, but before I ask them, I thought that I'd add the thoughts from one or two of my favorite commentaries on John. Here's the first one.

John 14:6 Jesus now introduces a somewhat different topic. He has been talking about leaving the disciples, and it is with this that Thomas is concerned. But Jesus is to go to the Father (John 13:3; 16:5, 10, 17), and he now speaks of the way (“way” is emphasized by repetition, vv. 4, 5, 6).

He not only shows people the way (i.e., by revealing it), but he is the way (i.e., he redeems us). In this connection “the truth” (see Additional Note D, pp. 259–62) will have saving significance. It will point to Jesus’ utter dependability, but also to the saving truth of the gospel. “The life” (see on 1:4) will likewise take its content from the gospel. Jesus is both life and the source of life to believers. All this is followed by the explicit statement that no one comes to the Father other than through Christ.

“Way,” “truth,” and “life” all have relevance*, the triple expression emphasizing the many-sidedness of the saving work. “Way” speaks of a connection between two persons or things, and here the link between God and sinners. “Truth” reminds us of the complete reliability of Jesus in all that he does and is. And “life” stresses the fact that mere physical existence matters little. The only life worth the name is that which Jesus brings, for he is life itself. Jesus is asserting in strong terms the uniqueness and the sufficiency of his work for sinners. We should not overlook the faith involved both in the utterance and in the acceptance of those words, spoken as they were on the eve of the crucifixion. “I am the Way,” said one who would shortly hang impotent on a cross. “I am the Truth,” when the lies of evil people were about to enjoy a spectacular triumph. “I am the Life,” when within a matter of hours his corpse would be placed in a tomb.

*(The three nouns may form a construction that John Lightfoot quaintly calls “a Hebrew idiotism” signifying “true and living way” (HHT, p. 382). Cf. Moffatt: “I am the real and living way.” This is possible but does not carry conviction since elsewhere this Gospel uses other forms for “true” and for “living.” Some expositors find the emphasis on “life”: “I am the true way to life.” Another view has it that the words mean “I am the way to truth and life.” But it is better to see the three as coordinate, not as depending on one another)

~Morris, L. (1995). The Gospel according to John.

~Deut
p.s. - John 1:4, 5:26, 11:25, 14:6

Deuteronomy · Mar 31, 2021

Hello again @Gideon300, here is what commentary #2 has to say (this one talks about the POV that no doubt guided the message that you heard on v6 "many years ago").

John 14:6 The second half of this verse shows that the entire verse must be taken as the answer to Thomas’ question*. This means that way gains a little emphasis over truth and life. This is not to say that v. 6a should be interpreted as a semitism, the first noun governing the other two (‘I am the way of truth and life’, and hence ‘I am the true and living way’); the three terms are syntactically co-ordinate, and Greek has other ways of expressing subordination. Still, if Thomas’ question and v. 6a demonstrate that "way" is the principal theme, it follows that "truth" and "life" enjoy a supporting role:

Jesus is the way to God, precisely because he is the truth of God (cf. notes on 1:14) and the life of God (cf. notes on 1:4; 3:15; 11:25).

Jesus is the truth, because he embodies the supreme revelation of God—he himself ‘narrates’ God (1:18), says and does exclusively what the Father gives him to say and do (5:19ff; 8:29), indeed he is properly called ‘God’ (1:1, 18; 20:28). He is God’s gracious self-disclosure, his ‘Word’, made flesh (1:14).

Jesus is the life (1:4), the one who has ‘life in himself’ (5:26), ‘the resurrection and the life’ (11:25), ‘the true God and eternal life’ (1 Jn. 5:20).

Only because he is the truth and the life can Jesus be the way for others to come to God, the way for his disciples to attain the many dwelling-places in the Father’s house (vv. 2–3), and therefore the answer to Thomas’ question (v. 5). In this context Jesus does not simply blaze a trail, commanding others to take the way that he himself takes; rather, he is the way. Nor is it adequate to say that Jesus ‘is the Way in the sense that he is the whole background against which action must be performed, the atmosphere in which life must be lived’ (Sidebottom, p. 146): that assigns Jesus far too passive a role. He is himself the Saviour (4:42), the Lamb of God (1:29, 34), the one who so speaks that those who are in the graves hear his voice and come forth (5:28–29). He so mediates God’s truth and God’s life that he is the very way to God (cf. de la Potterie, p. 938), the one who alone can say, No-one comes to the Father except through me.

In the framework of this Gospel, this exclusivism is directed in at least two directions. First, it is constrained by the salvation-historical consciousness of the Evangelist: i.e. now that Jesus has come as the culminating revelation of the Father, it is totally inadequate to claim that one knows God, on the basis of the antecedent revelation of bygone epochs, while disowning Jesus Christ. Indeed, the test of whether or not Jews in Jesus’ day, and in John’s day, really knew God through the revelation that had already been disclosed, lay in their response to the supreme revelation from the Father, Jesus Christ himself, to which the Scriptures, properly understood, invariably point (cf. notes on 5:39–46).

Second, even if John’s language utilizes metaphors and images common amongst the religions of the Roman world and well attested in diaspora Judaism, he does not mean for a moment to suggest that Christianity is merely one more religion amongst many. They are ineffective in bringing people to the true God. No-one, Jesus insists, comes to the Father except through me. That is the necessary stance behind all fervent evangelism (cf. notes on 20:30–31). The meditation of Thomas à Kempis is often quoted:

Follow thou me. I am the way and the truth and the life. Without the way there is no going; without the truth there is no knowing; without the life there is no living. I am the way which thou must follow; the truth which thou must believe; the life for which thou must hope. I am the inviolable way; the infallible truth, the never-ending life. I am the straightest way; the sovereign truth; life true, life blessed, life uncreated.

Or, in a triplet of sonnets:

I am the way to God: I did not come
To light a path, to blaze a trail, that you
May simply follow in my tracks, pursue
My shadow like a prize that’s cheaply won.
My life reveals the life of God, the sum
Of all he is and does. So how can you,
The sons of night, look on me and construe
My way as just the road for you to run?
My path takes in Gethsemane, the Cross,
And stark rejection draped in agony.
My way to God embraces utmost loss:
Your way to God is not my way, but me.
Each other path is dismal swamp, or fraud.
I stand alone: I am the way to God.

I am the truth of God: I do not claim
I merely speak the truth, as though I were
A prophet (but no more), a channel, stirred
By Spirit power, of purely human frame.
Nor do I say that when I take his name
Upon my lips, my teaching cannot err
(Though that is true). A mere interpreter
I’m not, some prophet-voice of special fame.
In timeless reaches of eternity
The Triune God decided that the Word,
The self-expression of the Deity,
Would put on flesh and blood—and thus be heard.
The claim to speak the truth good men applaud.
I claim much more: I am the truth of God.

I am the resurrection life. It’s not
As though I merely bear life-giving drink,
A magic elixir which (men might think)
Is cheap because though lavish it’s not bought.
The price of life was fully paid: I fought
With death and black despair; for I’m the drink
Of life. The resurrection morn’s the link
Between my death and endless life long sought.
I am the firstborn from the dead; and by
My triumph, I deal death to lusts and hates.
My life I now extend to men, and ply
Them with the draught that ever satiates.
Religion’s page with empty boasts is rife:
But I’m the resurrection and the life.

~Carson, D. A. (1991). The Gospel according to John (pp. 491–493).

~Deut
p.s. - *Thomas' question:

John 14
5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?”

Deuteronomy · Mar 31, 2021

Gideon300 said:

And finally, my first question

While I certainly appreciate and agree with Watchman Nee, that our being "in Christ" is "everything that we need", how do we incorporate the sanctification passages into that thought, as well

(like Hebrews 12:4-11, with Nee's, "He will not give us a dose of patience to make up for our lack, or a peace pill when we are troubled.")

Thanks!

~Deut

Hebrews 12
4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;
5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,
“MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD,
NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM;
6 FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES,
AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.”
7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.
11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Nehemiah6 · Mar 31, 2021

Gideon300 said:

This pertains to the Gospel. The Gospel is to bring sinners to the Savior. But all Bible truth is to sanctify the saints. And that is what you are addressing. Not an incomplete Gospel, but insufficient teaching on sanctification.

The Gospel is primarily the preaching of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ (1 Cor 15:1-4) and that God commands (1) faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and (2) repentance for the remission or forgiveness of sins.

While you are correct in that Christ must be manifested in our lives, it is the Holy Spirit Himself who does the work of sanctification.

Gideon300 · Mar 31, 2021

Deuteronomy said:

I wrestled with the issues for years. I plan to do a post on this soon. Salvation is two fold. I prefer to think of "salvation" as deliverance. The word salvation has come to mean, "Going to heaven when you die". And that is so deficient a definition that it is an insult to God's true salvation that He won for us through the sacrifice of His Son.

The first part of God's salvation is the human spirit, which He imparted to the lifeless form of Adam. This spirit was clean and pure but empty. That is why the Tree of Life was placed in the centre of Eden.

Adam had a choice. He could eat from any tree, including the tree of Life. We know all too well that Adam chose the wrong tree. Adam chose to be completed by knowledge of good and evil, rather than life. God warned Adam against choosing the knowledge of good and evil. Note that God did not say that He would kill Adam. It was knowledge from the wrong source that was his downfall.

Adam's spirit man died as far as God was concerned. I can explain this if necessary. Adam's nature was imparted to all of his descendants. So every individual since Adam has lived by the principle of good and evil. This does not require faith or a relationship with God. Cain thought that his offering was fine, but God said otherwise. Cain's pride clashed with God's righteousness and murder resulted. Nothing has changed!

God's first work in salvation is instant. We need a new spirit man because the old is unacceptable to God, as we have seen. The cross is central to this work. We come into the world by birth and we leave by death. To gain the new birth we must die first. This God does bt including us in Christ when we receive Him. His death becomes our death. It is not some kind of airy fairy way of explaining a spiritual mystery. It is an actual event. I still recall that day 50 years ago, when this happened in my life. I had no idea what had happened. How many babies are born with an understanding of what has happened?

Now we have a clean spirit again. In a very real way, we are faced with the same choice as Adam. We can choose to live out of the new life (Christ in us) or go by the principle of good and evil. Since we are raised from birth to live by good and evil, it's a habit that is hard to break.

What usually happens is that our knowledge of good and evil changes as we discover godly principles in the word and preaching etc. Paul describes this experience brilliantly in Romans 7. Romans 8 is the answer.

So why do we need God's discipline? The life we receive from Adam is "natural life". It is embedded, for want of a better word, in the soul. We need to remember that Adam's spirit was empty. He could and should have chosen the Tree of Life. Since God is Spirit, He can only dwell in the spirit of man. The soul is meant to be the organ of expression, not the source. The problem we have is that we take a great deal of convincing that there is no spiritual worth in the life that is in the soul. God leaves to discover that ourselves. Most of what we suffer is self inflicted, especially while we are young in Christ.

Peace comes when conflict ceases. We are good at self delusion. We imagine that we are more spiritual than we are. For example, I told God that I was willing to do anything that He asked. My life was His, "I surrender all". Then a pastor I respected told me that God was calling me to full time ministry. I'd just left the Navy and I was looking forward to a normal life and normal career. I had zero desire for theological college, yet more study and becoming the target of every complaining Christian who thought that their miserable offerings meant that they owned me. I said no. So much for my boast.

It took me two years to take the steps of obedience. As it happened, it was not God's will. I was the happiest man on the planet the day that became clear. But I learned something valuable about myself.

God wants to bring us to the place where His will is our will. We start of with a rebellious will. We eventually gain an obedient will. That is not the ultimate. God want us to delight to do His will. He is pleased with every bit of progress that we make, but will only be satisfied when He sees Jesus shining through us.

This process is called the "salvation of the soul." For some reason, it is contentious. It is stated twice in the NT. If people used the word "deliverance" instead of "salvation". it may end the confusion. The confusion contributes to the pointless arguments about "once saved, always saved" or whether or not a Christian can lose their salvation.

Ignorance is not bliss. It is dangerous. God's people still are destroyed because of their lack of knowledge. Knowing God's purpose in allowing suffering is a great help. Unbelievers have no hope and no help. Christians have both.

Gideon300 · Mar 31, 2021

throughfaith said:

It is the basis of the gospel. If Jesus is not what He claims to be, then the gospel is a lie. How many gospel preachers us the text in evangelising? I don't know. However, in my 50 years in the Lord, I have heard many evangelists use John 14:6. I stand by my post.

Gideon300 · Mar 31, 2021

Nehemiah6 said:

Perhaps what I've said to Deuteronomy will make my point clearer.
The problem with what you've said is not that it is wrong, but that it misses a major point of the gospel. Lord Jesus tells us why He came - John 10:10.

I think it was GK Chesterton who said, "Jesus did not come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people live." The root of every problem of man is that he is dead in trespass and sin. Most truth about salvation focuses on sin. The truth that we need new life needs to be expounded as well, otherwise Christianity becomes just another religion of good intentions and no power to help live up to them.

Nehemiah6 · Apr 1, 2021

Gideon300 said:

And once again we go back to the power and work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who (1) regenerates, (2) baptizes into the Body of Christ, (3) renews the person so that he is a new creature in Christ, (4) leads and guides into all truth, and (5) empowers the believer to walk in the Spirit, which is also to manifest Christ.

The gifts of the Spirit and the fruits of the Spirit all tie into this. So what we see is that Christ the Savior has delegated the work of sanctification to the Holy Spirit.

Therefore e should not be preaching sanctification to sinners. The need to hear and believe the Gospel. Sanctification begins after one is saved and baptized by immersion (which symbolizes death to the old life) and walking in newness of life.

throughfaith · Apr 1, 2021

Gideon300 said:

Its the basis of the fact that Jesus is the only Way ,the truth and the life . And the only way to the father is through him . But 'how' is not there .
This is before the DBR .

p_rehbein · Apr 1, 2021

Gideon300 said:

What is Watchman Nee?

p_rehbein · Apr 1, 2021

Ok, so I see its not what is, but who is...........a guy from China that became a believer and seemed to do some good there............He also wrote a bunch of books......

Reading about him, I found this statement:

Nee was clearly manifested as a unique gift from the Lord to His Body for His move in this age

that seems to be a strange statement does it not?

anyway, thanks for the Post

Gideon300 · Apr 2, 2021

p_rehbein said:

Personally, I think the statement understates the impact that Watchman Nee had. He founded thousands of churches in China, he spoke at conferences internationally, he wrote a few books, much of his preaching and teaching was recorded and transcribed. The pity is that so few Christians were able to comprehend the depth of his teaching. There were few, if any Christians of his time who had such a profound knowledge of the the scriptures. I doubt that anyone in this generation comes close. For example, read "The Glorious Church" or "The Normal Christian Life". I've read a lot of his books and they are inspirational and challenging at the same time.

Gideon300 · Apr 2, 2021

throughfaith said:

What do you mean by DBR? And what do you mean by "how is not there"? Jesus is the "how". If you have Him in your life, you have the Living Way, the Living Truth and the true life of God Himself.

throughfaith · Apr 2, 2021

Gideon300 said:

Death, Burial, Resurrection.

Gideon300 · Apr 2, 2021

throughfaith said:

OK. You missed out ascension and glorification.

throughfaith · Apr 3, 2021

Gideon300 said:

.... and the giving of the Holy Spirit and an apostle to the gentiles

throughfaith · Apr 3, 2021

Gideon300 said:

There is nothing 1 cor 15 ,1-4 doesn't cover.

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The incomplete gospel.

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