The Gospel is the Main Application of the Bible

Two week ago, I argued that Jesus is the main character of the Bible. Last week, I argued that grace is the main theme of the Bible. This week, I will explain how the gospel is the main application of the Bible.

      What is the gospel? 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 says, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.”

      The gospel is the news of God’s redemption in his Son Jesus Christ, who, through his perfect life, substitute’s death, and glorious resurrection, saves his people from their sins, taking the wrath of God upon himself and making atonement with God by his blood. Now, all who receive Christ’s redemptive work have a promise of everlasting life in a renewed and restored creation.

      No matter where we are in the Bible, this gospel message can be found. (See Appendix G.) In fact, it must be found to understand it properly. In his book The Unfolding Mystery, Ed Clowney said, “If you tell a particular Bible story without putting it into the Bible story about Christ, you actually change the meaning of the particular story…Because the story becomes a moralistic exhortation to try harder to live up to the example of the person in the story instead of a call to live by faith in Christ.”[1]

      Think about David and Goliath. What is the story about? David, representing Israel, fights Goliath, representing the Philistines. Whoever wins that battle wins it for his nation. Goliath is much bigger than David. He’s stronger and better armed. Goliath is a professional soldier. David is a little shepherd boy. But David wins, and through him, Israel wins.

      Now, what can we apply from that story? We could say, “We shouldn’t be afraid, but have faith like David in the face of our fears.” But is that where we need to stop? What if we can’t muster up that faith? Where does that leave us?

      So, let’s dig a bit deeper. Where are we to find ourselves in the story? Are we really David? Or are we more like the Israelites cowering in fear on the sidelines, waiting for a savior? Is God calling us onto the battlefield to face the giant? Or is he showing us how the giant has already been slain on our behalf? Is David an example or a savior?

      Now, put this story into the larger story. Factor Jesus into it. Who is David? David is like Jesus. Jesus faced a giant too, but it was much scarier. And he faced it not for himself but on behalf of his people. If he won, they won. David faced Goliath, and Goliath could kill him, but Jesus faced sin, and he let it kill him. Jesus didn’t just risk his life; he gave his life. As Tim Keller said, “Jesus is the true and better David whose victory becomes his people’s victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.”[2]

      The main application is not to “be like David” but to receive the victory won for you. Yes, we should be brave by faith in the face of our own giants, but doing that isn’t what saves us. We need to receive and believe the gospel. We need someone to fight for us because we all have giants we can’t fight and win. And if we can’t win, then what hope do we have? But if someone fought the only things that can really kill us—sin and death—and won the battle for us, that makes all the difference. If Jesus loved us and died for us to save us from all that can truly destroy us, what now do we need to fear?

That insight changes how we apply the Bible. It’s not just an intellectual pursuit that hits our heads but not our hearts, which could make us prideful of our knowledge. It’s not just a devotional pursuit that hits our hearts but not our heads, which could make us slaves to our circumstances. It’s not just a pragmatic pursuit that reaches only our will to change, which could lead to self-righteousness.[3] It’s far deeper than that. It reaches all the way down. We are all weak and broken and in need of a savior, and the gospel is the only solution that gets down to the very bedrock of our souls. Everything else is ancillary to that one main thing.

[1] Clowney, Edmund P., The Unfolding Mystery.

[2] Keller, Timothy J., “The Bible is Not About You”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq1kJLN-izE

[3] I owe these insights to Tim Keller and Ed Clowney in their seminary class at Reformed Theological Seminary, “Preaching Christ in a Postmodern World,” https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/course/preaching-christ-postmodern-world/#introduction-to-the-course