Daily Help

(Book Installment)

The Duty of a Man:
Keeping a Family in Jesus Christ and the Bible

Chapter 3: The Forgotten Gospel of Jesus Christ

Increasing secularism has resulted in a post-Christian world. Wikipedia defines it this way:

Post-Christianity is the loss of the primacy of the Christian worldview in public affairs, especially in the Western world where Christianity had previously flourished, in favor of alternative worldviews such as secularism, nationalism, environmentalism, and organized atheism…

Even in a post-Christian world, the influence of Christianity continues to decrease…and at an increasing rate! It holds dramatically less public sway in 2023 as I write this than it did in 1978 when that fellow told me over lunch that Jesus Christ was personally knowable. What then are those knowable things that are slipping further from our grasp?

The Institution of Christianity

Organized Christianity today exists in three major branches:

• Eastern Orthodox churches (EOC)
• Roman Catholic churches (RCC)
• Protestant churches

All three branches trace their roots to the original Christian movement launched by Jesus in the 1st century. How did there come to be three branches?

After the last of Jesus’ apostles passed the scene in the late 1st century, churches institutionalized. Typically, they coalesced around a bishop in each city or region…communicating with each other but operating independently. In the 4th century, when the Roman Empire legalized Christianity, these bishops began meeting in periodic ecumenical councils to vote on contentious issues, but this conciliar authority extended no farther than the issues it decided upon. The Christian movement continued with this loosely-affiliated collegial management by bishops until…

• the 11th century, when the movement split in two:
  • East – the EOC
  • West – the RCC
• and then the 16th century, when the Protestant Reformation broke ranks and went their separate ways.

We don’t need to delve into the reasons for these splits. The point for us is that Christianity existed and spread for a thousand years before it divided into these three branches, long after its Scriptures had been finalized.

The Christ of Christianity

The word “Messiah” comes to the English language by way of the Hebrew language, and the word “Christ” comes to English by way of the Greek language – but their meaning is identical. Both mean “anointed,” which was ancient Israel’s way of designating its king. That is, as some nations crown their kings, ancient Israel anointed theirs…with oil applied to the man’s head as a sign of hope that God’s guidance and blessing would permeate his mind and his kingdom. Therefore, these three terms – Messiah, Christ, and the Anointed – are interchangeable and all refer to God’s promise to the descendants of Abraham of a great king.

It turned out that Messiah had come not to merely solve the kind of mundane issues that occupy earthly kings, but also to solve humanity’s previously unsolvable problem of death, which had prevailed because of human sin. Life after death was his signature gift to humanity. Having risen from the dead himself – after having been crucified for doing good deeds and telling the truth – Jesus rose to heaven and sat at the right hand of God. From there, he was to come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom would have no end – usually called the second coming of Christ. And Messiah came to do all these things, not merely for the descendants of Abraham, but for all the descendants of Adam. These claims about Christ are collectively called the “gospel” – a word meaning proclamation of good news.

The Textbook of Christianity

So much for the gospel that America has largely forgotten. But what I’ve said so far only tells half the story of Jesus Christ. There’s more…and you’ll find it unforgettable.