7 Pictures Of The Gospel: Healing Gospel, Grace Gospel, Penal Sub, Defeat Of Satan, And Social Gospel

We all have a certain way we explain the gospel to ourselves and to those who need it. I've heard the various formulas many times. Which one is most accurate? How do they fit together? Let's take a look.

Hurt/Healing Gospel

This is a popular gospel for the post-modern age. Common in megachurches. It goes something like this: You're in pain, you're hurting, you're discouraged and depressed and life seems meaningless. So turn to Jesus and he will heal you, he will help you, he will turn your life around, he will give you a new purpose. Jesus understands what you're going through and he's going to help you and heal you and carry you through. Believe in Jesus and you'll come out of darkness and into the light.

This is certainly an aspect of the gospel, isn't it? But it's not the whole gospel. It's just a part of it. It limits Jesus to a sort of self-help guru who came to give you a better life. Of course that is somewhat true of Christ, he does give us a purpose and new desires and light to see the world as it truly is. But that's just part of the gospel.

Works/Grace Gospel

This is a popular gospel in baptist and non-denominational churches. It focuses on the dichotomy between grace and works. It goes something like this: The main problem we face as humans is that we try to do good works instead of believe in Jesus. Your good works are as filthy rags before Jesus. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ, his crucifixion can save you. Only Jesus. Only grace. Any works you do are simply trying to do good works for your salvation instead of trust in Jesus. So only grace is allowed, and any works are immediately suspect, viewed as a believer attempting work for what God has already done.

This is a generally valid angle on the gospel, the idea that for some, they will be obsessed with doing good works to try to appease God, which is completely useless. So they need to instead rest in Christ, by faith. But this concept does not necessarily apply to all people. This is again an aspect of the gospel, but not the whole gospel. And when we over-emphasize it, we end up distorting scripture.

Courtroom Gospel (Penal Substitutionary Atonement)

This is by far my favorite depiction of the gospel, I think it outlines it in the clearest form. Fairly common in reformed churches. It goes like this: You owe a debt before God that you can never repay. That is the list of sins that you have committed over your life. You can't do any good deeds to repay for these sins. So you stand condemned before God, to hell. But Jesus Christ the God man came in human form, lived a perfect life, died, and rose again, to give you new life. Jesus paid off your debt before God, on the cross, and if you will believe in Him and repent of your sins, you will enter into the "great exchange" your sins are transferred to Christ on the cross and Christ's righteousness is transferred to you. You are born again, and begin a whole new life.

Once again, this is an important part of the gospel, I would argue the most important, never-the-less it's not the complete gospel, there are other aspects to consider. And if we over-emphasize this portion of the gospel we can end up having believers thinking Jesus died for them but doesn't live for them, and doesn't bless them in any way apart from paying on their behalf.

Defeat of Satan Gospel (Christus Victor)

This is a less common angle of the gospel but non-the-less it's quite valid, it goes like this: Because Adam and Eve rebelled against God, this put Adam and Eve, and the entire human race in bondage, caught in slavery to sin and death under the control of Satan the god of this world. Jesus Christ came to defeat the works of the devil. By Jesus life, death, and resurrection, Satan was defeated and Jesus took from him the keys of death and hell. When we believe in Jesus, we are transferred from the tyrannical kingdom of Satan to the victorious liberty of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Jesus bought us from the devil with his own blood.

When's the last time you heard the gospel described in this way? Pretty interesting, but once again it shouldn't be taken in isolation. Yes, fundamentally when we believe in Jesus we become part of the kingdom of God instead of the kingdom of Satan. This is a great gift, but shouldn't be overemphasized over the other realities. (Similar to this perspective is the "moral government" view, that Christ was slaughtered as a display of God's righteousness and to show just how evil sin really is, though it's fairly uncommon these days as well.)