The Gospel According to Paul # 27

In His Letters to the Thessalonians

The Summing Up of the Whole Matter

But where shall we sum it all up? We have always sought to find a little fragment in which it can be all concluded, and I think we have it here:

"Faithful is He that called you, Who will also do it" (1 Thess. 5:24).

Here is the conclusion and summing up of the whole matter. Yes, beloved ones are dying, going to the Lord. Time is dragging on. The devil is apparently gaining power and doing his worst. We, the Lord's people, are in suffering: nevertheless, God is able to see us through. "Who will also do it." What more do we want? Over against everything else - "He will also do it." That is good news! After all, and in the final summing up, the good news is that it is not left with us. It is the Lord's matter. What is left to us is to believe God, to seek to understand His ways, to be steadfast, to hope unto the end, and then the Lord takes over. "Faithful is He that calleth you, Who will also do it." Good news!
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In His Letters to Timothy

"... the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust" (1 Timothy 1:11).

"Be not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but suffer hardship with the gospel according to the power of God ..." (2 Timothy 1:8).

" ... our Saviour Jesus Christ ... abolished death, and brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel, whereunto I was appointed a herald, and an apostle, and a teacher" (2 Timothy 1:10).

"Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the seed of David, according to my gospel ... " (2 Timothy 2:8).

We come now to our closing thoughts on what Paul called "the gospel which I preach". "The gospel of the glory of the blessed God." We need, in the first place, just to note the correct translation of these words, because the different versions render them in different ways. The Authorized Version from which I have quoted above. The latter - the Revised - is the correct rendering of the statement, and the point in getting it right is this. Paul is not speaking of what the gospel is about - the content of the gospel. He is speaking of the gospel which has to do with the manifestation of the glory of God. That may sound a little technical, but it is very important. Let me repeat: what Paul has in mind here is the gospel, or the good tidings, which is concerned with the manifestation of the glory of God. The glory of God in manifestation - that is the gospel.

Note another thing: "the gospel of the glory of the blessed God". There is a translation which changes that word, and used the word "happy" in the place of "blessed": "the gospel of the glory of the happy God." But that does not sound quite right, does it, in our ears? And yet, if we understood the real meaning we should realize that that is not an altogether inappropriate word.

There are two Greek words translated "blessed" in the New Testament. One, which is much the more common, literally just means "well spoken of." That is its literal meaning, but in the New Testament it is almost exclusively used in the sense of "blessed," and is so translated. That, however, is not the word that is used here. The word here - the second of the two words to which I have referred - is one that occurs far less frequently. It is a word which expresses that which properly speaking is true of God alone: that is, the uniqueness of God as to what He is in Himself, altogether apart from what men think of Him or say about Him. It is just what He is in Himself. You may thing what you like, and say what you like, but God is this. This is the word here translated "blessed." The word really means that solemn, calm, restful, perpetual gladness that fills the heart of God. If you can get the feeling of that definition, you have got somewhere near understanding the meaning of the word here translated "blessed". It is the gospel of the glory of the calm, restful, confident gladness of the heart of God; the good news, the good tidings, of that.

~. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 28 - "The Good Tidings of the Glory of God" )