The "Evangel" of Evangelicalism

In our modern world there is often confusion about what Christmas is all about. It's good to remember the Christ of Christmas as the "Evangel" of God. An "evangel" is a messenger of God, particularly one who is heralding the "good news" of salvation.  Jesus is the great Evangel of God, and the good news is his salvation by grace from our sins, through faith in him.

To be an “Evangelical” then is to proclaim this great truth as we discover from Scripture. We see in Luke 2:10-11, “And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”” These angels were the first to proclaim the good news that the Savior was Jesus born in Bethlehem. 

Evangelicals are those who rejoice in this good news that there is salvation in Jesus because he is the Christ, the Savior of all who call upon his name. Evangelicals also proclaim that Christ can sanctify us into his image and character. We can be transformed and strengthened by His Spirit from our sinful nature into a Christ-like nature in this life if we follow him in faithfulness. We can live a new Spiritual life in the grace of Christ in the here and now. 

Even more, we Evangelicals proclaim the good news that Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords over everything in the world today. We can only find peace amidst the changing times and chaos of our world in Christ because he has conquered death itself. In Christ, we find the truth that changes our worldview from the brokenness of this life to the vision of the majesty of God. Here we see that God is sovereign over all things, he is building a Spiritual kingdom, and he is working everything together for his glory. 

God is seeking his glory by bringing salvation into the world through the Evangel, Christ, and Savior of the world. We also see in Luke 2:13-14, “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”” The birth and life of Jesus still brings great glory to God. This “Evangel” is the Christ of Christmas, and eternal salvation is through faith in him.

Semper Reformanda

One of the great slogans that came out of the Protestant Reformation was the Latin term, "Semper Reformanda," or 'always reforming'.  The reformers of the sixteenth century Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Huldrych Zwingli, all saw the necessity of the reformation of the Roman church at that time.  They realized there was much church tradition that needed to be changed because it was blocking the truth of Scripture.  The truth of the gospel itself had been changed because it had been reinterpreted through church tradition.

Challenging the traditions of a church can be a dangerous business.  It can be erroneous too as everyone is imperfect and no one has a pure understanding of all doctrines.  We can make mistakes in trying to correct religious dogmas with our own dogmas.  And the business of hermeneutics is complicated in many ways, to say the least.  Who's to say that they understand the Scriptures better than anyone else?  Who's to say one interpretation is better than another's?

But it is precisely because we all are human and we all have limited understanding, and we all look through a glass dimly, that we all are prone to error.  We also have biases and distortions.  We may have personal agendas, seeking to advance a program or policy that we prefer and favor.  This is the reason why we all must be open to correction and possible errors that we have made.  We must all be teachable as no one has complete knowledge except God.  We must therefore never establish a policy that would block a correction to our perspective of Scripture.  On the contrary, we must all submit to God's Word to understand it and always be on the lookout for mistakes.

The key to a good translation or interpretation of the Bible lies with a truth hermeneutic.  We all must appeal to the Truth that is outside of us, and the truth of Scripture.  We must not seek to interpret the Scriptures with our own opinions, perspectives, or priorities.  We must let Scripture interpret Scripture, and let the logic of the law of non-contradiction guide us.  This law says that something cannot be in contradiction with itself and be true.  So it is with the interpretation of the Bible, there cannot be a contradiction from one part of Scripture to another.  The Word of Truth must be understood from a truth foundation and perspective.

So, in each generation, the people of God must seek to understand the truth of Scripture and be wary of personal opinions or influences from secular culture.  We must 'always be reforming' our understanding back to the original meaning of Scripture.  We need to constantly seek to conform our preferences to the truth of Scripture and not to conform the Scriptures to our own preferences or those of the world.  We must seek "Semper Reformanda" to Scripture for this is as vital for us as it was for the first disciples.

When difficulties arose in Jesus' ministry some of his disciples did not keep his perspective.  In John 6:66-68 we read, "After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.  So Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?"  Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life."  The twelve realized that the perspective of those who left Jesus was temporal, they did not see the eternal truth of his words.

The twelve disciples knew there was nowhere else to go but to the Lord and his word, even if it was unpopular.  So it is now, we must always return to the Scriptures to seek and understand its truth.  We must always be "reforming" our faith, perspectives, and agendas away from the world and be conformed to the Word of God.  These are the words of eternal life for us always.  It is in the truth of Scripture that we can find the greatest blessings in our lives.