Great Gospel Issues

By Peter Bloomfield

The gospel’s great issues all mesh together. To be wrong on one issue inevitably means errors in the others, resulting in a false gospel. Although these great issues were clarified in the Protestant Reformation, that is often ignored today. Were the Reformers right about issues like total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the eternal perseverance of believers?

Why is ‘free will’ a myth? Is predestination like fatalism? How should we understand “God is love”? Can we tell everyone ‘God loves you’? What about God’s wrath? How can he be both love and wrath? What is the “great mystery” of Christ? Did his incarnation mean a loss of some divine attributes? What does “he emptied himself” mean?

In a fresh and engaging style the writer explains these and other gospel issues. This book aims to shed light in our pragmatic age where truth is often ‘dumbed down’ in the embrace of ecumenism. Dislike for doctrinal precision and confessional integrity is widespread. Any doubts about that are demolished by checking the myriad ‘Christian’ internet sites promoting a vast array of contradictory gospel views.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781470951351

Peter Bloomfield

After completing an Economics degree at ANU, Peter Bloomfield taught at several high schools.  He then went on to study at Reformed Theological College in Geelong, and after graduating with a BD Hons, he was ordained in 1982.  He served 27 years as Pastor and Preacher, including 20 years teaching Homiletics at Theological College.

Book preview

GREAT GOSPEL ISSUES

Peter Bloomfield

B.Ec., B.D. (Hons), Dip Ed.

© Peter Bloomfield, November 2022.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, critique, or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author. 

Other books by the author:

- The Guide to Esther (Evangelical Press, 2002)

- The Guide to Job (Evangelical Press, 2003)

- The Guide to Judges (Evangelical Press, 2005)

- What the Bible Teaches about Guidance (Evangelical Press 2006)

- Guidance – the Big Picture (Lulu 2016)

- What the Bible Teaches about the Future (Evangelical Press 2009)

- What the Bible Teaches about the Future eBook (2020)

- What the Bible Teaches about the Future (Lulu 2021)

- Tough Texts (Lulu 2020)

- Esther – the right person for the right time (Lulu 2020)

- Hebrews – Eclipse of Judaism (Lulu 2021)

- Hebrews – Eclipse of Judaism eBook (2021)

Acknowledgement.

Sincere thanks to my good friend Stan Hunt for the considerable time he spent in proof reading the draft.  His Christian convictions, care for detail, and practical suggestions, have been very helpful. 

Contents

Page

  1.      This is the gospel (Colossians 1:23)                   1

  2.      The logic of the cross (1 Corinthians 1:18)             8

3.      The impact of the cross                   16

  4.      Three deaths at Calvary (Matthew 27:50-54)            22

5.      The curse-ending curse (Galatians 3:10-14)             32

  6.      I find no fault in him (John 18:38)                   39

  7.      He emptied himself (Philippians 2:7)                   46

  8.      Christ cried too (Hebrews 5:7)                        53

9.      How radical is sin?                              60

10.      The myth of free will                              67

11.      What about divine election?                        75

12.      Questions about election                         83

13.      What about the atonement?                        97

14.      Saviour of all, especially of some                  104

15.      How resistible is God’s call?                        112

16.      How secure is a believer?                        119

17.      Haven’t they lost it?                              126

18.      We are all responsible                         135

19.      How to be right with God                         143

20.      The wrath of God                              151

21.      The two Adams                              166

22.      God’s attitude to the doomed                        177

23.      What is repentance?                               186

24.       Excuses, excuses, excuses (Luke 14:15-24)            200

25.      Complete in Christ (Romans 8:33-37)                   205

Appendix:       Mega mystery (1 Timothy 3:16)             212

Mega mystery (Part 2)                   222

References                                          228

1.  This is the gospel

(Colossians 1:23)

Smile, God loves you!  Is that the gospel?  God has a wonderful plan for your life!  Is that the gospel?  These typify many other expressions used in evangelism.  They may be well-intended but they are not ‘the gospel’. 

What is the gospel?  We have to know the right answer before we consider any of the ‘great gospel issues’.  There is only one true gospel but there are many false versions, and we need to know the difference.  Counterfeits have always existed and are still being produced.  So what is the gospel?  Paul’s answer is emphatic – This is the gospel. What does "this" designate? 

It refers to the message about Christ preached by the Apostles among the nations – This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant (Colossians 1:23).

The gospel is not a set of mere human opinions where ‘close enough is good enough’. It is a precise set of historical facts and their inspired interpretation. Getting this wrong is no minor thing.  The result is not ‘less gospel’ – it is no gospel! To change any part is to change the whole gospel. There is so much at stake here because the blessings of the gospel are huge. Notice Paul’s summary of them:

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour.  But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation (Colossians 1:21-22). 

Without the gospel humans are the alienated enemies of God. That means we cannot escape his accusation (judgement). But through the gospel we are reconciled to God by the death of Christ. He presents us acceptable to God – holy, without blemish, and free from accusation. It is essential that we stand firm on the true gospel – neither adding to it nor detracting from it.

But there is an "if" word – the gospel blessings are ours "if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel". The same Bible that teaches true believers will persevere to the end, also teaches that there are false Christians who depart from the truth.

Satan loves falsehood, especially ‘gospel’ falsehood.  He specialises in mass-producing false gospels, tempting us to fall for them. He constantly tries to make us unorthodox. We need to be certain about the truth and discern the errors. That’s what Paul is concerned about as he writes to the Colossians. The same concern applies to us. 

Are we continuing in orthodox gospel faith? Or are we moving away from the hope held out in the gospel? We’ll never know unless we are crystal clear on what the gospel actually is. So again, what is it? While Colossians 1:23 isn’t exhaustive – it doesn’t say everything – in context it does spell out three core gospel truths.  This is the gospel means –

1. Christ is God

2. Christ is man

3. Christ is sufficient

1. Christ is God

The divinity of Jesus Christ is absolutely basic. Paul indicates four truths about Jesus, each of which means he is divine – He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Colossians 1:15-17). The four truths are –

Christ is God by nature

Christ is God who creates all things

Christ is God who pre-exists all things

Christ is God who sustains all things

First, Christ is God by nature.  Divine revelation is not limited to the words he spoke – Christ himself is divine revelation.  He is the visible image, the ‘icon’ (eivkw.n) of the invisible God.  To come face to face with Christ is to come face to face with God.  Jesus himself said so – Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father (John 14:9).

The advent of Christ is the advent of God. Being near to Christ is being near to God. To be approved by Christ is to be approved by God. To be rejected by Christ is to be rejected by God. To oppose Christ is to oppose God.  To honour Christ is to honour God. The Father (God) has entrusted all judgment to the Son (Christ), that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father, who sent him (John 5:22-23).

Second, Christ is the Creator of all.  This is a very emphatic way of saying that Jesus is Elohim.  The first line in the Bible says In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). He created the universe out of nothing.  And Paul says of Jesus by him all things were created (Colossians 1:16). To end all doubts he immediately adds things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities. Therefore Jesus is God. 

And, to underscore it further, "all things were created by him and for him". Anyone who rejects the doctrine of Creation is rejecting the gospel!  Let’s be very clear on that.  It is not possible to be a Christian while holding to a different explanation of the universe.  The theory of macroevolution is blatantly anti-gospel because it rejects Christ the Creator.  It actually rejects the very idea of creation. 

You cannot have both Darwinian evolution and Christianity.  Why?  Because Christ the Saviour is Christ the Creator.  The Apostle John says the same thing about Christ – Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made (John 1:3).

Third, eternal pre-existence is attributed to Christ. He is before all things. That follows from the fact that he is the Creator. 

In order to create something you must exist before it. In order to create everything you must pre-exist everything.  This is parallel to the opening words of John’s gospel – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Fourth, Christ is the one who sustains and maintains all things. In him all things hold together. This means he must be God because only God can hold the universe together. It is God who controls time and tide, sunshine and rain, springtime and harvest.

God governs all events, all plans, all kings and armies, so that his purposes prevail and his counsel shall stand. So when Paul says that in Christ all things hold together he is again asserting that Christ is God. The conclusion is inescapable, namely –

The divinity of Christ is non-negotiable! There is no gospel without it. Let us hold fast to this truth. Jesus is God – God with us, God for us, and God over us. He is to be worshipped as God. Like Thomas, we rightly acknowledge Jesus as my Lord and my God (John 20:28). That is orthodoxy. That is the gospel. That is true Christianity.

2. Christ is man

It is obvious from the Bible’s language that Christ is truly human. It refers to Christ’s human body and his blood – God has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death and his blood shed on the cross (Colossians 1:20 and 22).  Paul calls him the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead (v 18).  Christ the man died.  Then he conquered death by rising on the third day.

There is no need to labour the point that Christ was truly human, though for centuries a group called ‘Docetists’

¹ denied it. But various implications of the incarnation do need to be emphasised today. For example, neither of Christ’s two natures was compromised. There was no mixing, no confusion, and no merging of the human and the divine natures. The manhood of Christ was the same as ours – except for sin. 

The divinity of Christ is total – all the fullness of divine nature (Colossians 2:9). Christ was not part God and part human, but fully God and fully human. This is the gospel!

Professor John Murray summarized this truth brilliantly … The Son of God became in time what he eternally was not.  He did not cease to be what he eternally was but he began to be what he was not.

² In other words the incarnation was an addition not a subtraction. 

The Son of God gained a human nature without losing his divine nature.  He became more without becoming less.  God the Son became what he eternally never was (man) without ceasing to be what he eternally always was (God). The second Person of the Trinity was eternally God, but at the fullness of time he took on our human nature to deliver us from hell.  This is the gospel! 

We must maintain our stand on this. It is a great mystery, the greatest mystery. Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, and was taken up in glory (1 Timothy 3:16). A more detailed treatment of these truths is given below in the Appendix Mega Mystery, pages 212-227. 

3. Christ is sufficient

A major point in the preaching of the Apostles is the sufficiency of Christ.  They repeatedly asserted Christ is the only way of salvation –

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). 

To have Christ is to have all you need.  To have everything except Christ is to lack everything you need.  Many statements in the letter to the Colossians make it clear that Christ is sufficient. 

To have Christ is to have eternal hope that cannot fail – Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). The next verse says "We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ".

You can’t get better than ‘perfect’ and since Christ brings us to that level, there is nothing more.  He is sufficient!

There is no extra blessing beyond Christ or outside of Christ.  So Paul says "My purpose is that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (2:2-3).  He is sufficient! This is orthodox Christianity. 

Beware of anything that urges you to seek experiences and blessings over and above what faith in Christ brings.  Beware of any opinion suggesting that just being a true believer is not enough.  Many people are going wrong here.  They frantically run around looking for the latest spiritual ‘buzz’.  But there is nothing more!  Christ is the fullness of all God’s treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3). 

Again Paul is emphatic about Christ’s sufficiency – "In him you have been made complete, and he is the head over all rule and authority" (Colossians 2:10). 

Likewise – Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). 

Our 21st Century abounds with subtle errors contradicting all this.  Instead of fixing their eyes on Jesus many people fix eyes on the Holy Spirit.  They hanker for experiences of the Spirit – ‘baptisms of the Spirit’, movements of the Spirit, second blessings of the Spirit, fire of the Spirit, miracles of the Spirit, or ‘slayings in the Spirit’.

Regardless of the words used, the bottom line is the same – they are not content with Jesus. He is not sufficient for them. They don’t realize that the role of the Holy Spirit is not to draw attention to himself.

On the contrary, he focuses people’s attention upon Christ.  Jesus asserted that!  Before ascending to heaven he promised to send the Holy Spirit.  For what purpose? 

He will not speak on his own initiative; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you (John 16:13-15).

Another excellent summary of the sufficiency of Christ is found in Philippians 2:9-11 … Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Christ is absolutely sufficient for all of us because he holds the highest rank in the universe.  What a tragedy to pray through some other mediator.  Mary-worship is a denial of the gospel!

- ‘Hail Mary, mother of God’ is anti-gospel error. 

- ‘Hail Jesus, Son of God’ is gospel truth. 

With the Apostles we say that Christ is God, Christ is man, and Christ is sufficient. This is the gospel. 

It will bless you eternally "if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel".

May God grant us discernment to see and reject every error that would move us away from these gospel truths. 

2.  The logic of the cross

(1 Corinthians 1:18)

An important issue is expressed by Paul – The logic of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18).  English Bibles translate the key term

³ as the word of the cross or the preaching of the cross or the message of the cross.  While these are legitimate translations, the context favours the more precisely nuanced term which embraces them all – ‘logic’ – the logic of the cross.  Why? 

Paul is focussed on what makes the gospel both sensible and powerful.  He is describing the rationale of the cross, the explanation of all the facts involved at Calvary.  It was the message preached by the Apostles.  The great gospel issue here is gospel logic – The logic of the cross.

This is reinforced by the text’s description of contrasting responses to the gospel message.  Some people regard it as foolishness (moria, mwri,a) which means ‘intellectually weak’ or ‘irrational’.  They hear it but they just ‘don’t get it’ – they think it is trivial.  They don’t necessarily dispute any of its key facts, but they can’t see the significance.  They just shrug it off as no big deal – ‘so what?’ 

But others are profoundly changed by it.  It is the very opposite of foolishness to them.  They are powerfully affected by the theology, the logic, of Christ’s actions.  This gospel logic is Paul’s emphasis, and it needs to be understood and appreciated.  Before doing that we should not miss an important implication. 

No one can be content with only the ‘facts’ of Calvary.  To merely believe the bare facts saves no one.  It is a historic fact that the Son of God was crucified between two thieves – but that is not ‘the gospel’.  That is not the power of God.  It is pointless to settle for the bare unexplained fact that ‘somehow’ God’s love was supremely manifested in Christ’s death.  Calvary makes no sense by merely saying that ‘somehow’ those facts deal with human sin, and ‘somehow’ people are eternally saved by them.  There has to be a logical connection between all these facts. 

The ‘somehow’ has to be explained!  By themselves, the facts of the cross are very difficult for us.  As shown below they are incongruous and quite shocking!  They need to be rationally clarified. They demand a logic of the cross. 

So the inspired text is saying ‘the message of the cross – its logical explanation – is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God’.  The two key issues are …

1. The bare facts

2. The interpreted facts

1.  The bare facts

Of the many facts at Calvary, four especially cry out for a logical explanation … 

Fact #1: The Person on the cross

The man on that cross is God’s Son!  Jesus is God Incarnate – the second Person of the Trinity dwelling in the flesh.  He is Emmanuel, ‘God with us’.  They crucified the God-man!  What an astonishing fact!  The man on that cross is all the fullness of God dwelling in bodily form (Colossians 2:9). 

Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being (Hebrews 1:3).  Christ is 100% Deity minus nothing.  Jesus is full of God’s glory, grace, and truth: We have seen his glory, the glory of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).  Keep this fact in mind.  Surely it demands an explanation! 

Why would the Most High God humble himself in human nature to be hung up on a criminal’s cross?  How can that be good news?  This gospel fact needs gospel logic to explain it. 

Unless there is a rational answer it is mindless singing hymns like In the cross of Christ I glory.  But there are more difficult facts …

Fact #2: The suffering on the cross

The cross was the climax of many sorrows for Jesus.  He was hated by Jews and Gentiles and treated with the greatest indignities.  He was punched, mocked, and spat upon.  He was denied by one friend and betrayed by another.  He was falsely accused and undeservedly flogged.  Then he was impaled on a cruel post and left to die.  Those who put him there had no legitimate reason.  They insanely and insatiably wanted his blood.  Even Pilate tried to reason with them – Why?  What crime has he committed?  But they shouted all the louder, Crucify him! (Matthew 27:23).  He suffered. 

Isaiah revealed these facts 700 years earlier.  He prophesied that the innocent God-man would be ‘despised and forsaken, afflicted, bruised, crushed, pierced through, unjustly oppressed and cut off from the land of the living’ (Isaiah 53).  These terrible facts are described from the mouth of Jesus himself – My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death (Matthew 26:38). 

Luke vividly records more details … And being in agony he was praying very fervently; and his sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground (Luke 22:44).  Yet Jesus knew his suffering would be worse tomorrow. 

He dreaded the bitter cup appointed for him to drink, the cup that God the Father refused to remove from him.  Surely this fact of Christ’s suffering demands a logical explanation.  Even more, when you combine both these bare facts – it was God incarnate who suffered at Calvary – there has to be a logical reason.  There has to be a rationale to explain the crucified God!  These gospel facts require gospel logic.

Fact #3: The penalty on the cross

Scripture adds another complicating fact.  Jesus not only suffered on the cross, he suffered a penalty!  That means he was receiving a justified punishment.  He wasn’t suffering accidentally but legally.  He hung in agony on that cross because of the verdict of a properly qualified judge.  The death of Christ was penal.  How do we know that?  Just ask what is death?  The Bible answers – death is penal. 

It is the penalty for sin.  The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).  Death is the penalty God rightly and justly imposes upon sinners.  Whoever sins shall die (Ezekiel 18).  But here is the only man who never sinned – so why did he die?

He never earned the wages of death, so why is he being paid out?  Here is the only man who never deserved any penalty, being holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners (Hebrews 7:26).  He always pleased the Father.  He was tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin (Hebrews 4:15).  But at Calvary Jesus suffered penal justice.  Why? 

We are facing a moral dilemma here.  This matter should agitate every thoughtful human.  This fact of the cross demands a logical explanation.  How can the only sinless man suffer the penalty of sin? How can a perfectly obedient life be paid with the wages of death?  The bare facts cannot stand without a logic to harmonize them. 

Fact #4: The source of the penalty

From what source did Christ’s terrible penalty come?  The staggering answer makes the dilemma complete.  It was God the Father who inflicted Christ’s bitter agonies upon him.  He was stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted … it was the Lord’s will to crush him, putting him to grief (Isaiah 53:4, 10). 

That was