The Gospel of the Kingdom

Gospel is a word we often hear. But what does it mean? This book looks at gospels in the ancient world, and seeks to understand Jesus' gospel and the proclamation of the first Christians. The gospel is the instrument God uses to save lives; fuzzy thinking can be dangerous. The author argues that Jesus' gospel defines a new reality, requiring a new response in human behaviour. It is truly revolutionary.

David Seccombe led George Whitefield College (GWC) in Cape Town, South Africa through the post- apartheid years of political transition, to becoming a significant theological centre for the African continent. He studied at Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia, and holds a PhD from Cambridge University, England. With his wife, Lorraine, children and grandchildren he lives in Perth, Western Australia, and continues to serve as Roving Ambassador for GWC.

Inhalt

Why I wrote this book 1 Part 1 What is the gospel? 5 Chapter 1 Gospel confusion 6 Gospels galore-6 "Gospels" in the ancient world-8 Gospel: Momentous news-15 Chapter 2 The Old Testament and the kingdom of God 17 Foundational promises-17 Blessing and covenant-19 A nation under God-20 Prophets, priests, judges and kings-22 A disappointing dynasty-25 Exile-26 A kingdom beyond the Exile-28 Chapter 3 The gospel according to Isaiah 31 Isaiah of Jerusalem-31 Indictment-33 Catastrophe and beyond-33 Comfort-35 The gospel of the coming King-35 The gospel is future-38 Chapter 4 Jesus' gospel of the kingdom 41 Jewish hopes at the time of Jesus-41 Jesus at Nazareth-43 An historic moment -48 The gospel of God-51 Spreading the word-53 The kingdom is rejected-55 A new phase-56 Chapter 5 The gospel under fire 59 Controversy-60 Jesus' enemy-61 The struggle with flesh and blood-63 Kingdoms in conflict-66 The victor-70 Chapter 6 The gospel breaks out 72 The World War II gospel-74 The gospel in Acts-76 Gospelling Jews-77 A greater King-79 The apostles' gospel-80 The defence of the gospel-81 Response-82 Gospelling Gentiles-83 Too narrow a view?-87 The gospel of salvation-87 Part 2 Proclaiming the gospel 91 Chapter 7 The kingdom's King 94 Jesus is Lord-95 The face of Jesus Christ-96 Storytellers-97 Peter and Mark -99 Portraits of Jesus-101 Hidden treasure-105 Using the Gospels-106 Chapter 8 The crucified King 111 Crucifixion-111 The wounded face of Christ-113 The preaching of the cross-114 Power in weakness-115 Principalities and powers -117 A ransom for many-120 Why redemption?-123 Why slaves?-125 Sacrifice-126 Law-128 The reach of the law-131 Christ's people-138 Vicarious penalty-139 In Christ-141 Dead to the law-141 Reconciled-142 The prodigal tax collector -145 The cross and the gospel-147 God so loved the world-148 Chapter 9 Proof of the gospel 151 Acts facts-152 A remarkable miracle-157 Jesus on trial-159 Enthronement-163 The kingdom has come-166 The power of the cross and the power of the resurrection-167 A great omission-171 What happens when you die?-174 Eternal life-177 Preaching resurrection today-182 Chapter 10 Your kingdom come 187 The problem of evil -187 Our Lord come-189 Hope-193 The climactic events-194 The new world-199 Christ's mission-203 Chapter 11 The kingdom now 206 Where is Jesus?-207 Dealing with enemies-209 The coming of Islam-214 Building his Church-215 The Holy Spirit-221 The mission-224 Our great High Priest-225 Making war-229 Gospelling the ascended King-233 Chapter 12 Justification by faith 235 The gospel concerning his Son-237 The need of righteousness-239 The failure of righteousness-241 Free forgiveness-243 Justification and the gospel-244 Why justification by faith?-248 Does justification by faith matter?-250 Justification by faith and Christian life-253 Preaching justification by faith-256 Chapter 13 Gospel life 263 Good news to the poor-264 Walking the talk-265 What is ethics?-266 Old Testament ethics-267 Is morality relative?-271 New covenant-272 Wisdom-273 A new era-275 Jesus' words-277 The apostles' teaching-278 Ethical principle-279 A missionary life-280 The Sermon on the Mount-281 Back to Nazareth-282 Church-284 New world -287 Appendix 1 The meaning of "gospel" in the Bible 288 An angel gospels some shepherds-291 Appendix 2 The righteousness of God in Paul 292 Righteousness on trial-296 A new righteousness-298 The meaning of justification by faith-302 Works Cited 305 Index 309 About the Author 312 Also by this author 313