The following article weaves together several posts from our friend Richard Murray. You can follow his writings on the all-surpassing goodness of God on Facebook or go to his website www.thegoodnessofgod.com.

Let’s de-clutter our theology. Here is how.

Only Jesus can perfectly translate God.

Better put, Jesus is the perfect translation of God.

Jesus is also the perfect translation of Scripture.

And here is another wonderful piece of related news:

the Holy Spirit is the perfect translation of Jesus.

What is the Gospel?

Ever feel baffled by what exactly makes up the Gospel message?  How do we describe it, share it, and, most of all, live it?

Paul said the Gospel was so simple, yet it remains “veiled” to the eyes of so many.

What exactly is the Gospel message that is being veiled?

The answer might shock many.

“THIS IS THE MESSAGE we have heard FROM HIM and announce to you,

that GOD IS LIGHT, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”

(1 John 1:5)

The Gospel is the good news of a good God. Only good and perfect gifts come down from the Father of lights (James 1:17). God never gives us jagged stones of condemnation, serpent bites of affliction, or scorpion stings of sickness. Instead, the Father always and only gives us blessings of daily bread, beneficial fish, and nourishing eggs (see Luke 11:11-15).

Jesus is the personification of the Father’s light, His bright nature, His illuminating character, and His luminescent love. To receive the Gospel (the “message”) of Jesus is to receive the indwelling light and love of God.

But, how is this wonderful Gospel veiled to the eyes of so many?

Again, the answer is shocking.

The Gospel is partially veiled by our own inner wrath which causes us to project our own hate and hostility onto our image of God. We then see God as the dispenser of both good and evil, love and hate, inexhaustible forgiveness and unending wrath. This dualistic image of God makes Him a nullity, and oxymoronic deity that makes no sense. And never will.

Jesus said to rightly see His Father, we need only see His Son.

Jesus explains and models a non-dualistic God.

Rather, Jesus IS the explanation of His heavenly Father.

God NOW makes perfect sense, perfect light, and perfect love.

Jesus IS the Gospel.

All light.

No darkness.

At all.

A Disturbing Dynamic

But here is a disturbing dynamic I frequently encounter.

Whenever I cite a New Testament verse which says without qualification that God is ONLY light, love, and goodness —”dead-letter” literalists THEN accuse me of improperly cherry-picking Scriptures. (Editor’s note: This refers to those who read the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, in a strictly literal fashion—despite the fact that Paul warns in 2 Corinthians 3:6 that such a reading, without the Spirit’s illumination, brings death). The will quickly cite Old Testament verses which, when read by the surface letter, appear to say God IS dark, wrathful, and the ordainer of ALL evil.

For instance, if I say, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5), then they will respond by saying I am cherry-picking the Scriptures because God DOES indeed have darkness and evil in Him because Isaiah 45:7 says He is the “creator” of all “darkness” and all “evil.” So, they avoid 1 John 1:5 by theologically dumping it in the garbage bin.

Similarly, literalists also accuse me of cherry-picking whenever I say that God does not ordain, allow, or tempt us with evil, which I base on the authority of this following passage : “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man…. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:15-17).

These critics respond to my claim by quoting Amos 3:6’s assertion that, “Shall there be evil in the city and the Lord has not done it?” These critics again just dump into their theological trash can the very clear and precise language of James 1:15-17.

Finally, these literal minded critics claim that I am also cherry-picking Scriptures when I claim, on the authority of Jesus’ statement in John 10:10, that Satan is the oppressor, destroyer, and killer of men, not God. “The thief comes not, but for to steal , and to kill, and to destroy: I have come that  they might have life , and that they might have it more abundantly.”

These critics are quick to cite to me Deuteronomy 28 for the proposition that the Old Testament LITERALLY says God “delights” to afflict us with “marvelous…plagues,…enemies, …famines, …destructions…and many other curses.” God happily sends these oppressions directly our way straight from His wrathful hand until we are “utterly destroyed” (see Deuteronomy 28:15-68). The passage I cited, such John 10:10, must mean something different, these critics maintain, as it dares to contradict the Old Testament letter.

These literalists accuse me of being a cherry-picking heretic and that my cited verses carry absolutely no weight whatsoever because THEIR chosen verses clearly say otherwise.

A More Excellent Revelation

But here is the thing.

These “dead letter” literalists usually refuse to acknowledge my New Testament passages—AT ALL. They offer no proposed, alternate explanation of my passages, just that these verses can’t mean what I say they mean because their Old Testament passages “literally” say God IS dark, wrathful and violent.

Despite the fact that the book of Hebrews says that WE, as New Testament believers, have a “better covenant” with the “better promises” which produce a “more excellent” revelation of God (Hebrews 8:6-7), these literalists NONETHELESS prioritize the Old Testament “letter” over and above the New Testament “better.”

Despite the fact that this same Hebrews passage (8:6-7) says that the “dead letter” Old Testament was “NOT faultless” in its revelation of God, a fault which is what made the New Testament necessary in the first place, these “dead letter” literalists NONETHELESS believe the Old Testament trumps and/or nullifies ANY and EVERY New Testament passage which dares to paint a NON-wrathful image of God.

Despite the fact Paul warns us in 2 Corinthians 3:6 that “the letter (written on tablets) kills” us with lethal literalism, but that the “Spirit (of Scripture written on human hearts) gives life,” these critics still insist the Old Testament is the plumb-line of truth, not the New Testament.

Here is my bottom line: JUST as light trumps darkness, so too does “New Testament better” trump the “Old Testament letter.” JUST as stadium floodlights are far better than disorienting strobe lights which only offer partial and choppy vision, so TOO is the “better floodlight” of the New Testament always brighter and righter than the “lesser strobe-light” of the Old Testament.

Editor’s Note: If you’re ready to explore this concept further and look at a specific example of putting the floodlight to a very difficult Old Covenant text, check out the next article: The Sword that Pierced the World.