I have been reflecting recently about ‘gospel’, what is it? what does it mean? I keep hearing people saying “share the gospel” , “preach”, and “proclaim” it. I have been asking these people what do you mean by gospel? And then I usually get the typical ‘evangelical’ penal substitution understanding of gospel in response to my question.

And in Steve Bell’s words (‘World Changers’, 2012) that model of the atonement is 1 of 9 others and is only a thin slice of the cake. Going on to speak about non verbal ‘proclamation’ of the ‘gospel’ Steve drew attention to the role of Christians displaying the richness of “Christ in us…the hope of glory”.

So when I think about gospel I think much like Bell on this and agree that what western evangelicals call ‘gospel’ is a thin slice of the cake. The court room analogy and penal substitution model is foreign to many cultures. The concept of guilt isn’t embedded into cultures such as middle eastern, african and even among most people in the UK. In fact, shame is perhaps more easily grasped and understood by such cultures. What if we thought about Christ’s death on the cross as an intercession. In Genesis at the fall Adam and Eve are first aware of their nakedness and then they feel shame. The prominence of ‘shame’ in the Bible would indicate that it is important for understanding the ‘gospel’.

When Jesus says he has come to “proclaim good news” it is first directed towards the poor, and then Jesus continues “liberty to captives”, “sight to the blind”…etc. He doesn’t say that He has come to preach the penal substitution model of the atonement. In fact Jesus’ concept of gospel in Luke 4 is much more socio-political orientated than it is eternal rest orientated. Jesus is concerned about transforming the globe and all people in it, and this is His mission because He has been anointed.

All of the models of atonement have something to offer and can give insight into a much more biblical and holistic understanding of what good news actually is. After all that is what ‘gospel’ means, “good news”. Each slice of the cake is valuable, but lets enjoy the whole cake not just the same old stale piece.