Defining Love and Submission in Marriage

The Bible speaks in many different places about the issue of “submission” & it does so in many different contexts not only in a marriage context (e.g. 1 Pet 2:13… i.e. submission to one another, submission to rulers, submission to masters or employers etc.), you may also see Eph 5:21 (submit to one another out of reverence for Christ). The two intertwined commands for spouses are:

1.      The command to submit
2.      The command to love

Wives are to submit & husbands to love. The posture of submission is a general pivotal principle that undergirds Kingdom life, i.e. kingdom life is a life of submission to God and to those God has placed around us and so perhaps the subject of submission can not be viewed primarily as an issue for wives but as a general kingdom principle that applies to all who are sons of the Kingdom of God – again Eph 5:21 applies here, “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ”. Coming back to the issue of marriage, love of wives for their husbands is expressed in the nature of their SUBMISSION to them and the extent to which husbands submit (i.e. subjecting themselves to their wives because essentially they are now one flesh with their wives) is expressed in the nature of their LOVE for their wives.

The nature of that SUBMISSION & LOVE is expanded upon in the verses that follow the command, as outlined in Ephesians 5 below.

Ephesians 5:22-29

22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church- NIV. 

According to Biblical definitions, LOVE places one in a position of serving and developing the one they love. Husbands are to love just as Christ loved the church (so Christ is the standard and example of how to LOVE). The question then is how did He love the church? He loved it by giving Himself to its service (John 3:16), developing it to a place of radiance and blamelessness, so that it can be without stain or wrinkle (Eph 5:27). So where there is true love there will always be personal development. Love in God is developmental, it is not only romantic. An “undeveloped wife”, in character, mindset and otherwise is not yet experiencing the fullness of her husband’s LOVE.

Defining Submission: The word “submit” means the ff. in the Greek dictionary: to place in order, to place under in orderly fashion. The word does not imply that the wives should be “inferior” or not participate in leadership at home. The word also does not define certain external duties that a wife must or must not do. The issue of household duties is a matter of choice that each couple can decide upon. Husband and Wife are both leaders especially when they have kids at home. The word emphasises the establishment of an “orderly marriage and household”. The whole issue of submission also carries with it the idea of “finding protection under the headship of your husband”. This is spiritual and emotional protection that the husband must provide to his wife and children. For the husband to provide this protection, he needs to be occupying a certain spiritual ranking, wisdom and mature character that enable him to be a protector. The ability to protect does not come from a big-built body (physique), strong personality, mere experience, or natural intelligence. It comes from spiritual ranking and maturity in Christ.  

1 Pet 3:1,4-5 talks about the need for wives to develop “a gentle and a quite spirit”. This means that submission does not begin with adjusting external behaviour but it really is an “internal quality, position and state” that is arrived at through a deliberate process of personal adjustment and development in Christ. Verse 4 here continues to say this should be the nature of our “inner self, our unfading beauty”. Submission therefore is primarily a “state” and not an “act” or a “position” within the family structure. It can not be defined by how often we wash the dishes or cook. We can easily do all these household duties without that inner gentleness and quietness. It is this inner beauty that attracts our husbands to come even closer to us spiritually and emotionally, becoming our companions and friends. When we lack this inner beauty, our husbands then occupy a position of defence, seeking to prove their manhood all the time and this in turn becomes a good recipe for “distance and conflict”. In the same way that physically, our husbands get attracted to us, the principle is true also spiritually. As a matter of fact, within the household-marriage context, spiritual beauty carries more weight than physical beauty. The inner beauty has attraction power to our husbands that far surpasses our physical beauty. A husband will rather live with an internally developed woman who may not be so “beautiful” according to world definitions then living with a “beauty queen” who has no internal quietness and gentleness. And so development in Christ feeds back to our intimacy with our husbands.

These commands (LOVE and SUBMISSION) go beyond just an observable cosmetic act of either submission or love. They are POSTURES from which spouses should interface & partner in building their marriage. This means that submission is premised on a deeper & invisible INTERNAL CONFIGURATION that ought to characterise us as wives. So, although submission & love are general pivotal Kingdom principles that are expected from both spouses, for us wives, submission goes beyond that. It becomes a pre-ordained “allocated sphere” for our existence within the context of marriage. This means that all that we do or express should be characterised by a sense of being subject to an embraced authority & reflexive obedience for our husbands. This should be evident at all times, even in instances where we know we are right & they are wrong or when we feel offended etc. Our husbands shouldn’t have to doubt it at any point in time. This obviously speaks into areas of conduct etc. e.g. how you address your husband, how you respond to confrontation, how you relate to him during “mis-understandings” etc.

Eph 5:33  Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
This is a skill we need to train and build ourselves in. We don’t just arrive at it automatically. These things are taught. See scripture below...

Tit 2:3  Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.

Tit 2:4  Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children,
Tit 2:5  to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

The word “train” in the Greek means: to train to think and act soberly, discreetly and in moderation; to be of sound mind; to disciple, to correct, to teach to be sober. The root meaning of the word is: to be sound in mind; to be moderate as to opinion or passion; to be self-disciplined in one’s freedom; to be self-restrained in all passions and desires.

This word “train” deals with the formation of mindsets, approaches, postures and or attitudinal positions that help the wife better manage her family dealings within the household. For the “older women” to do this (i.e. train younger women), they themselves must have been taught first (vs.3), so that what they teach is not simply experience but sound principles coming from the Word of God, coupled with consistent application of the same principles in their lives.

What we also learn from this scripture is that “love” is a skill that gets developed through training. A lot of marriages get destroyed simply because people do not know how to love one other.

The phrase, “love their husbands” is defined as: to be fond of man, to be affectionate as a wife. The phrase is made up of two words: “philos” (which is “love” in English and “aner” which means “a man”. The word “philos” is also used in the word “philosophy”. The word “philosophy” is made up of two words “philos” and “sophos”; its literal meaning is “love for wisdom”. We said the phrase is made of “philos” and “aner”. The word “aner” means “a husband, a man”. “Philos” means the ff: to be friendly, to be a companion, to be kind. The word is used to describe a friend, an associate, a neighbour. And as such, the word describes companionship and intimacy.

It is very easy for a married couple to grow apart over a period of time. A couple may love each other, have an active sexual relationship, do a lot of activities together and yet still be far apart from each other. This “gap” in marriage is caused by “lack of common platform” from which a couple develops conversation, makes jokes, sees life etc. This “gap” is also caused by lack of “shared pursuit” and the inability to “skilfully merge as one” by deliberately killing elements that cause distance. The “gap” can also be caused by individualistic tendencies that come from Western Lifestyle positions which define 21^st century lifestyle (when it comes to this, we are warned in Rom 12:2). The truth is that for intimacy and companionship to be built, both parties must undergo “death to self” and choose to occupy more mature character positions. Gen 2:24 says “then the two shall be one” which means that intimacy is an ordained order in marriage. This verse (Gen 2:24) also means that intimacy is a journey and a process, a state in marriage that is arrived at. Many begin this journey and abort it on the way. The “gap” is therefore not of God and in fact God is establishing a system here of training young wives on how to secure intimacy in their marriages. We can then see that intimacy and companionship is arrived at through a skilful process of handling your life and choosing certain postures and approaches in conversations and general dealings that keep the heart of your husband open. This takes a skill and training. This does not mean that husbands do not have any responsibility in this process, we know from other scriptures like Eph 5:25 that they do. We are just emphasising the role of the wife in this context.

It is important to emphasise that the first scripture that was quoted here (Eph 5: 22-29) explicitly outlines the husband as the head. This means that he is the one who carries the architectural design of his wife. This is a direct parallel of Christ’s Headship over the church. So, in the same way that Christ does to the church, the husband loves, preserves & develops his wife & the wife pre-occupies herself with discovering her husband, presenting herself willingly to development & aligns herself to whatever he has presented & put in place for building. This does not mean that the husband dictates & the wife has no say. They are both leaders & builders together but stand on different platforms.

For us wives, this “allocated sphere” of submission is not & should not be inaccurately viewed as an inferior position of disempowerment. It’s just different but just as inherent with capacity to change & build things in our marriages. The below scripture gives that sense...

1Pe 3:1  Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives,

1Pe 3:2  when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear.

This means that, to influence situations or even alter & build correct patterns of life within our households and marriages, we shouldn’t & never even have to cross our God-allocated “boundaries” & assume “headship” in order to steer the ship correctly for some reason.. From that same platform of “submission” expressed in our chaste conduct accompanied by fear, we are also able to build & assume positions of leadership by “winning” our spouses over to whatever dimension of understanding we are seeking to put forward. The trick is to overcome that deceitful temptation of “forsaking” our “allocated sphere”. It doesn’t accomplish our intended objectives & ends up “dis-figuring” the whole arrangement of our marriage in the eyes of both our spouses & outsiders. We definitely don’t want that!

Jesus: A Pattern of Submission

It is therefore important to clarify that the Biblical definitions of “submission” have nothing to do with being inferior and or not adding value to the leadership process at home. It has everything to do with establishing “orderly marriage and household”. The best way to understand submission is to look at the Godhead. Jesus clearly declares in the scriptures that He submits to the Father and yet Jesus was highly functional.

Jesus does not fight for a position of significance:

Philippians 2:5-11

5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

7 but made himself nothing,

taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

8 And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to death-

even death on a cross!

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

NIV

· The position from which we begin is that Jesus is equally God (vs.6): there must be a certain level of “security in who the wife is” that allows her not to compete with her husband.

· “He humbled himself and became obedient to death”: submission is a deliberate conscious process that the wife must reflect in her attitudes, behaviour and interactions with her husband.

· “Therefore God exalted Him”: a good mature and submissive wife will often find that the husband gives her more space to function in the household. “Submission” allows us to be trusted and released to function, however we should not submit because we want to function.

Jesus functions out of correct alignment:

John 5:19

19 Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. NIV

This verse (John 5:19) simply means that Jesus’ functionality was subdued under the authority of the Father. “He does nothing except He sees first”: means that functionality and activity must proceed out of “sight” (understanding) of the intended objectives and design coming from the one who functions as a head. This allows activity by the wife to be correctly aligned to the general direction taken by the household. This practically means that the wife can discipline a child in the home because he understands what kind of a child is being produced in her household. For the wife to have this sight of the direction of the household there must be a lot of conversation between the spouses aimed at bringing illumination concerning the direction and pursuit of the household. This further implies that the couple must know how to converse and what to converse about. There must be discipline so that the couple refrains from always talking about Politics, Sports, Celebrities and general externalities of life. The couple must learn to talk about issues that have to do with them (as human beings). They must talk about their pursuits, what they believe to be the purpose of God for them, areas of strengths and areas of weaknesses in their lives (character, personality, structure of thinking) that need attention. They must “help one another” grow in Christ. These conversations then become the foundation upon which decisions are taken. Most importantly, these conversations empower the wife in her submission process. So then the thing we learn from Christ is that submission is a matter of “correct alignment”. One cannot submit (or be correctly aligned) until one understands what her household is all about.

Love as a Function of Spiritual Maturity

Ephesians 5:25-26

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, NIV

There are some things we have to see out of this verse:

· This verse is a command and not a suggestion: When husbands begin to walk in the area of love, they are really fulfilling a command.

· Christ is set as an example of true love: a husband cannot begin to love until he has come to personally know Christ first, the Lover of the Church (this means that the husband as a believer, must ensure he has an understanding of the processes and approaches Christ is adopting to bring growth to His bride, the church). That is, understanding of love is a spiritual process of revelation of both the nature and the ministry of Christ inside the church.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. NIV

According to 1 Cor 13, love (agape) has both character and principles.

· Love is defined by patience.

· Love is defined by kindness.

· Love is defined by correct identity free from a competitive spirit (it does not boast).

· Love is defined by a spirit of selflessness that is free from pride. That is, it has no sense of self-importance.

· Love is defined by a position of being considerate of others. It is not self-seeking.

· Love is defined by a long-suffering spirit that has self-government or self-control.

· Love is defined by a redemptive spirit that is not critical etc.

In other words, the command for husbands to love their wives actually means that the husband must possess the qualities listed above in an exceeding measure. We all know that things like patience, kindness etc. are not things we are born with but must be developed by Christ in us. Since these qualities are not a man’s default positions and since they are often or mostly not evident (or present) at the point of initiation of love, what then should a woman love in a potential husband? The thing the woman should love is the “spirit of pilgrimage” (of journey, development or transformation) in a man that allows him to constantly migrate to new life and character positions in Christ – the Word says “blessed is a person (in this case, a husband) whose heart is set on pilgrimage, he will grow from strength to strength…” (Ps 84:5-7). Any man who shows tendencies of rigidity in character will fail to become the kind of husband Christ requires. This “personal pilgrimage” allows us to progressively develop character positions like the ones listed in 1 Cor 13. Until these character positions are developed, we do not have the capacity to fully love our wives. So as husbands we should be able to measure our love by assessing ourselves against the principles listed in 1 Cor 13.

So we therefore realise that love is not only emotional feelings and romance, love is the ability (by husbands) to display a character, behaviour and attitudes that reflect the principles listed above. That is, love is the ability (by husbands) to display a character, behaviour and attitudes of Christ toward their wives. So therefore Love is an Acquired State. It is one thing to declare love to a person and truly have emotional chemistry but it is another thing to develop capacity to love the person. A couple can enjoy good romance and sex, be in a position to afford good restaurants etc. and still have the wife filled with unhappiness, pain, fear, hurt etc. simply because the couple lacks the agape element defined above. A good husband who wants to love his wife will begin to emphasise and prioritise his real spiritual growth in Christ that produces a mature character. On the other hand, a good and a wise wife who wants to build an environment where she is loved will ensure that her husband is growing in Christ and will even support him in the process. There is something about a mature man (husband) that brings peace, joy, stability, a sense of protection and a sense of expectation at home. An immature man can sincerely love his wife but lack the capacity to demonstrate that love (that’s when we begin to hurt those we love and live with regret and condemnation – this condition of self-condemnation results in lack of confidence to grow in character and in the things of God. It also produces a situation where wives become cynical, develop hopelessness and unhealthy attitudes toward their husbands and the broader institution of marriage, that is, they begin to view every other man in this light). Basically, what 1 Cor 13 is saying to us is that love is displayed through a mature character. Love is not just in the bedroom; it is not a moment of romance but it is in how the husband behaves himself, how he communicates with his wife, his selfless character in his dealings with his wife, the way he corrects his wife when she is in the wrong etc. For the husband to get this right, he needs to grow and develop. Many have divorced out of “irreconcilable differences”. The reality is that many can go for counselling for days and years and still not find a solution. The solution often is not in the wisdom of the counsellor, the solution is often in the next phase of their development. That is, the solution often lies with the next person a husband needs to become in God.

Ephesians 4:17-25

17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21 Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. NIV

When a couple is in a marital crisis without any tangible issue like marital unfaithfulness, often the answer is in their need to become a new person in God. Here are some principles we can extract out of Eph 4:

· The old self produces a certain conduct of life, perspective (e.g. futility in their thinking…darkened in their understanding etc.).

· It is impossible to step into new behavioural practices and positions of a mature life in your immature state. For behaviour to change, the person (character) must change. It is not behavioural practices and tendencies that change first but the very character of the husband. That is, couples often demand of each other what they do not have capacity for in their character. Even if one really wants to begin to demonstrate mature behaviour, they will not be able to until they allow God to redesign their character.

· The new self is created to be like: That is, new character positions in God produce a certain behavioural and lifestyle positioning that allows the spouse to step into new behaviours that are consistent with the new person they have become.

2 Corinthians 5:17

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! NIV

“New creation” here does not simply refer to initial salvation stages but the ability to progressively grow in Christ by stepping into new and more mature character positions. Often, what a wife may cry for in terms of being loved is locked up in the new man that the husband must become. There comes a time when a couple exhausts a certain character position. Or put differently, a couple is limited by its own level of character growth. The more the couple grows in Christ, the more there will be life and love in the household. The mistake couples make is to over-invest in economic means and processes, thinking that the more money they have is the happier they will be – this is what Jesus refers to as “deceitfulness of wealth”, it chokes our spiritual growth and therefore our character transformation process (see Matt 13:22). And so with time couples sink into riches but being unhappy and unfulfilled on the inside.

Love is the ability (by husbands) to display a character, behaviour and attitudes of Christ toward their wives. Christ is therefore the platform from which husbands express love.

Often, what a wife may cry for in terms of being loved is locked up in the new man that the husband must become. It’s like, the husband “you got married to” comes to a ceiling in his ability to love, that is, if he stays unchanged and untransformed. As years go by and challenges of life present themselves, they then demand new capacity on the husband to love and lead his family. Kids, for instance, bring in a new demand that can not be faced by the same old husband. There is a “Noah Principle” that husbands must tap into, that of developing themselves for the challenges that lie ahead. At the time that the Ark was built, there was no flood. Often by the time challenges come, couples are found having not built the ark. The “Ark” represents capacities and competences that must be developed now for perceived future challenges. For example, you don’t start learning about parenting when you have a baby. You start learning about parenting long before you have a baby. This therefore means that your spiritual process in Christ is not determined by the lack of challenges now but by the demands you foresee in God in the future.

Some Key positions of love from God:

· For God so loved that He gave (John 3:16): love must be accompanied by the provision of resource that helps the one who is loved come to a position of maturity and empowerment.

· For God so loved that He gave: the character of love is in giving and not just demanding a lot for yourself. There must therefore be an element of selflessness in the process.

· For God so loved that He gave: the one who loves must be in a position to resource the one he loves.

· God loved us while we were still sinners (Rom 5:8): love is expressed unconditionally. We don’t wait for wives to grow and become better humans before we offer the fullness of our love to them.

· Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (Eph 5:25): This refers to Jesus dying at the Cross. This therefore means that when there is love there will be a spirit of sacrifice. “Sacrifice” basically means doing something that will resource the next person without expecting a return.

· Christ loved the church to make her radiant (Eph 5:25-27): love is developmental. It allows the one who is loved to grow into new positions of life. Husbands must therefore learn to stop complaining about the weaknesses of their wives but instead “to journey with their wives” as they bring them to new positions of life and maturity.

Understanding Headship

Ephesians 5:22

22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. NIV

1 Corinthians 11:3

3 Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. NIV

· The kingdom of God has structure and ranking to it. We have the angels and arch-angels. We have the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and so the very nature of God reveals the reality of ranking. If one has seen God, then they need to also see this very important aspect of God, which is rank.

· According to Matt 8:9-10, understanding of rank is a mature position of faith.

· True headship by husbands proceeds from a platform of submission to the primary head, Christ. That is, before the husband becomes the head of the woman, Christ must be the head of the man.

· Submission to Christ means that the “headship of man” allows the husband to exercise authority not out of his sense of what needs to be (not out of his sense of life, preferences, impatience and wishes) but out of the government of God inside his heart. For example, sometimes a husband (as a father) may shout at his kids only to be rebuked by Christ in his heart later. So, this headship of the husband is and must be “subdued authority”.

· If Christ is the ultimate head, then the “headship of husbands” must take on “the character of Christ”. The way husbands govern their households must reveal the character of Christ. So true authority must provide sight of the ways of Christ to the wife and kids. The way the husband disciplines his kids must reveal Christ’s ways to them and not just the passionate anger of their father.

· Wives must therefore trust in their husband’s ability to exercise authority under the government of Christ, not in the husband’s raw carnal nature.

· One can therefore not touch and exercise authority unless one is submitted to, has relationship with and an understanding of the nature of Christ. That is, just as submission is a state acquired out of a process of growth, so too is headship exercised out of an acquired understanding of and submission to the ways of Christ.

· Essentially, this submission by husbands is not rooted merely in their “male-ness” (it is not simply a gender privilege), it is rooted in Christ, and so it is a spiritual responsibility.

Headship proceeds from a platform of Sacrifice

Ephesians 5:25-27

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. NIV

As mentioned above, sacrifice is the ability to add value without expecting a benefit. Every husband needs to ask themselves how are they “giving themselves up” for the development of their wives. If there is no clear answer to this question, then headship is not be exercised correctly.

Headship is Service and Servant-hood

Luke 22:26-27

26 But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. NIV

Headship is not privilege. It has nothing to do with being served. Headship is a responsibility to serve and or add value to the household. This means that husband must cease to be self-centred and begin to relate to their environments from a serving-giving platform. Husbands cannot live to take from their environments but to give.

Headship is about becoming a Character Standard in the Household

Ephesians 4:15

15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. NIV

For a husband to fully play his headship role in the family, he needs to be in the forefront in terms of spiritual development so that he establishes character positions that the wife and kids can learn from. Traditionally in the church, husbands have tended to take a back-seat when it comes to providing spiritual leadership to their households. This is not Biblically correct:

1 Timothy 2:11-14

11 A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. NIV

Paul here is not forbidding women from participating in the developmental process within the church. There are many scriptures in the Word of God that reveal that women are co-heirs and sharers in the work of the kingdom. In fact in the beginning, God commissioned both husband and wife to “rule in the earth” (Gen 1:28). Paul is addressing the issue of provision of spiritual leadership. Adam (husband) was formed first. The “first-ness” of husbands places them in a position of spiritual pioneering to walk into dimensions of Christ and also bring or lead their families into the same. When the husband is lagging behind, how is he going to hear God’s voice and sets the path for his family. That is, an undeveloped husband costs the entire family. Husbands must therefore grow not only for their sake but also for the sake of their households.

Headship is about the ability to Bear Life (Reproductive Ability)

1 Corinthians 11:8

8 For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; NIV

Adam was formed first. We have said that this principle implies that husbands must be spiritual pioneers in their households. Not only so, we also see here that the woman came from man. This is the ability of the Husband not only to be a character standard in the home but to also have the creative-reproductive ability to produce after their kind. Sometimes you find husbands pressing into God and growing but only to realise there is a huge gap between them and their wives. This gap is caused by the fact that husbands do not understand their responsibility to not only grow but to reproduce their spiritual process inside of their wives. This takes a skill from the side of the husband.

The reproductive process means the ff:

· The husband must conceive character positions in God inside of his heart. These come through the convictions of the Spirit in the heart that seek to challenge the status quo in terms of the character state of the husband, pushing him to new positions in God.

· The husband must allow a “conceived seed” (convictions) to define him to the point where this is visible to the wife. The wife must be able to tell when her husband is growing.

· The husband must allow this process of conception to come to maturity so that there is then a birthing process that allows him to be born in the new demands of God inside his heart. The birthing process is nothing but “phases of transformation” in the husband’s life and character.

· The husband must then stand as “a pattern of growth” before his wife and teach his wife (not by having “lecture sessions in the home”) but by engaging in a conversation that allows the wife to see into the husband’s process in God and follow in the same pathway – like the Word say, “imitate the faith of your leaders” (Heb 13:8). For this to happen, the husband must let his “shield” down and be vulnerable before his wife, sharing on his weaknesses and how Christ is expressing Himself inside his heart. How he is being challenged to come to new positions of life and character. Since the home is not a battlefield, there should be no need for the husband to carry his shield (at home). The husband should only have to take his sword and shield when he goes out to interact with life.

So when one is a head, it means that they have the ability to reproduce life (not just biologically) but spiritually.

All of this means that both husband and wife are given a responsibility to display different and complementary dimensions of Christ, one is His headship (His authority, government over the church) another one is His submission (to the Father). It is in this context that Paul says marriage reveals the relationship of Christ and His church (Eph 5:32). In other words, marriage as an institution, must display the character of Christ as well as the nature of Christ’s relationship with His church. Therefore, entering into a marriage goes beyond the two who are in love. It must proceed from platforms of (a) commitment to progressive growth in (or learning of) the nature, ways and character of Christ and (b) commitment to display and represent the nature and dimensions of Christ (headship and submission).

Defining Church, Part 8(B): Reviewing the GOSPEL

Defining Church, Part 8(B): Reviewing the Gospel

Considerations and Context for Church Building

1) Understanding the “whole counsel” of God

2) The Issue of Leadership

3) The Issue of Vision

4) Reviewing the Gospel (Part 8B)

Last week we laid some thoughts and definitions around the whole issue of the Gospel. It became clear that the issue of understanding the gospel is critical for the development of church. Here are some of the things that we identified:

· The word “gospel” simply means “a good message”.

· The Gospel is the Total and Collective Instruction of God to Humanity (a message from God), established progressively throughout generations through the mechanism of revelation of Christ.

· Almost every time we see the word “gospel” (in the Bible) we also see the word “kingdom”. It is therefore impossible to separate the reality of the kingdom from this issue of the Gospel.

· The point of departure in proclaiming the gospel is not the ability to preach but it is the possession of an understanding of the kingdom of God.

· The kingdom of God is a governmental system of definition, regulation and development of human life through Christ.

The Gospel is Universal

Revelation 14:6

6 Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth-to every nation, tribe, language and people. NIV

The Gospel is not the instruction of God designed for the Third World Societies or for those who are economically poor. The Missionary Mindset has seen people leave “the first world” unattended to come to Africa and other poor parts of the Globe to proclaim the Gospel.

The Gospel is God’s Instruction to Humanity concerning the correct pattern of human existence. “Correctness” here is defined by God Himself. Everything built must be consistent with His own nature (Rom 1:20). And so it is the Materialistic-Missionary mindset that assumes that it is only the poor who need to hear the Gospel. In this season as God appears in what is regarded as “Third World Nations”, we shall see again the Gospel being sent back to Europe and America. The Gospel is not a pack of material hand-outs from God to the poor; the Gospel is the proclamation of correct design of life. In this context, the proclamation of the Gospel is an apostolic mandate because the apostolic grace allows us to stand as God’s Architects (1 Cor 3:10) to comprehend correct design of life.

All nations, rich and poor need to understand correct design of life. In fact within the context of Global Political Balance, the rich nations are responsible directly or indirectly for the conditions of poor nations. If the rich nations understood correct design of life, we would be seeing a more just Global Humanity.

2 Corinthians 8:13-15

13 Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. 14 At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, 15 as it is written: "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little."

NIV

Luke 3:10-11

10 "What should we do then?" the crowd asked.

11 John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."

NIV

The Kingdom proclaims the principle of redistribution of resource from the rich to the poor (this is one important portion of “kingdom ideology”). And so therefore the proclamation of the Gospel to the rich nations must serve to “judge” them of their reluctance to release resource and ensure fair conditions in the development of Global Humanity. It is in fact important for those proclaiming the Gospel to understand that the kingdom is not looking into particular interests of certain nations; the kingdom of God is focused on Equitable Development of Global Humanity. So kingdom ideology does not proceed from nationalistic interest but from a position of developing Global Humanity. Positions of Nationalism (no matter how good they may seem) produce things like xenophobia (as we saw right inside of our country, South Africa) and hinder Global Development of Humanity.

1 Peter 3:7

7 Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

NIV

Just as we see in 1 Pet 3:7, Kingdom Ideology proclaims a world in which the strong and the weak can co-exist without the strong using their power to oppress and deprive the weak of their resources. In a sense, the message here is that the weak does not exist to serve the interests of the strong nations. The rich nations of the 21^st century need to understand this Gospel in order to restructure their international relations orientation and policies.

Ezekiel 34:20-23

20 "'Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says to them: See, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, 22 I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. 23 I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. NIV

According to Ezek 34, God actually takes keen interest in human and nations relations, to see if those strong nations (fat sheep) are using their strength to deprive the weak nations (lean sheep) of resources. There is a lot of Kingdom Education that needs to take place in what is known as “the first world” nations. This demands a people (Prophets and Apostles) who will go into these territories to proclaim the Gospel – to do something more than just a Tent Outreach, but to actually establish Systems of Kingdom Education with a view of ushering in a new political dispensation.

So the Gospel is universal and speaks into all areas of human life (politics, economics etc.) and not only on “spiritual matters”. We will see later that the prophets declared the Gospel by talking about issues like Justice.

The Gospel in the Abrahamic Dispensation

Galatians 3:8

8 The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you." NIV

In our effort to broaden and purify our view of the Gospel, we have to go back to the Old Testament and see some realities that existed long before this thing called church existed and long before we heard somebody proclaim a message of salvation to us.

Gal 3:8 is making reference to a series of God’s utterances to Abraham. It therefore is important to go back and look at what God said and how did Abraham interact with the Gospel?

Defining the Gospel - Let us see what God said to Abraham:

Genesis 12:1-4

1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

2 "I will make you into a great nation

and I will bless you;

I will make your name great,

and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you,

and whoever curses you I will curse;

and all peoples on earth

will be blessed through you."

4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. NIV

Since Paul says (in Gal 3:8) that God announced the Gospel to Abraham, let us then see what exactly did God announce?

· Embracing the Gospel begins with leaving (not just sin) but “your country and your father’s household” (vs.1): God expects that we build a church that does not only emphasise departure from sins but also from the very cultures, perspectives, values, ideologies and philosophies prevalent in our land (Rom 12:2). Our traditional spiritual orientation as believers says that we can leave sin but sit comfortably in our native cultures (Zulu, Xhosa, English, Afrikaans etc.), this goes against the fundamental principles of salvation (1 Pet 1:18). The preservation of these cultures inside the church is what has caused segregation that we are seeing. In South Africa particularly, we have a church that is built along ethnic, racial and class lines. People associate in the church based on the colour of their skin, their socio-economic class etc. Eph 2:14-16 tells us that one of things God wants to do is to remove “the dividing wall of hostility (e.g. cultural differences etc.) and produce one new man (i.e. an integrated global human existence) in the earth. Eph 4:13 says that we must come to “the unity of the faith”. This does not only speak of a people who believe in the same Jesus but it actually defines an integrated life in Christ. The way we receive new converts in the faith cannot just focus on behavioural sins, this is a limited shallow gospel. The way we receive new converts in the church must look broadly into the cultural and ideological orientations of these, so that we usher them into kingdom culture, perspective and ideology.

· I will make you into a great nation: the Gospel is focused on the formation of a NATION (1 Pet 2:9) in the earth and not simply a group of church organisations whose people meet on Sunday. Although the church is not a Geo-Political Nation, it is however a nation. This “nationhood” of church implies that we have to build an entire System of Citizenship in the earth that is consistent with Kingdom Principles. We have to build to the point where church is recognised outside of the church service. We have to build such that even if church services were to be banned church would still exist. The building of a nation of God brings us to the reality of kingdom politics for it is a political function. This basically means that the grace (resource, wisdom or capacity from God) we need to build a nation is different to the grace to build a church organisation. As mentioned before, nationhood means that we have a mandate to establish an entire system of human existence, an entire system of Citizenship in the earth whose “way of life” is consistent with the very nature of God. This is our mandate and until a church rises in the earth to fulfil this, Jesus cannot come back (Acts 3:21).

· I will bless you and make your name great: the first thing we have to note about God talking about “blessing us” is that there is a context of the blessing. The context is in fulfilling the demand of God to “come out and become a nation among nations”. The issue here is not God just blessing our individual ambitions. The second issue is that blessing is not primarily a release of material-financial resource, “blessing” is about God allowing us to occupy correct positions of life in the earth, that make us to be in a good standing before God. For example, Jesus said “blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness” (Matt 5:10). That is, blessing is seen in one’s state of life and not primarily in his material resources. Thirdly, the blessing is about God releasing grace that allows us to build stable and sustainable life in the earth. The word translated as “prosperity” in Jer 29:7&11 actually means “to lead a stable life, welfare”. Stability of life is not achieved primarily through possessing a lot of money but through the application of God’s principles. Lastly, it is true that this “blessing” will also manifest itself materially but again the issue in God is never greed and self indulgence but to meet our collective need. A few individuals can be rich only to find that collectively we are still poor, just as we have some few rich nations and yet a crisis-stricken relatively poor global humanity. Luke 3:10&11 says “if you have two tunics share with the one who does not have; if you have food share with the one who does not have”. The implication here is that God can never bless one person for the sake of highlighting just that one person, whenever God releases a resource (money, food), He is thinking about the wider community of people (see 2 Cor 8:13-15). The grace (resource) is given to one individual so that it may be distributed to many (Eph 3:2). We therefore have not understood the concept of “blessing” until we have understood our obligation to the wellbeing of others (Luke 3:10&11). This kingdom principle and ideology goes against the basic principles of Capitalism. Those who have taken it upon themselves to teach on blessing and prosperity should be careful that they are equally teaching on kingdom communal obligations, that God sees not just individual needs but our collective need (for God so loved the world, John 3:16). If this balance is not in place, we are teaching nothing but an anti-Christ position. In a sense, the end result is not when we are blessed; it is when we become a blessing. As a matter of fact, God’s word clearly says it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). Preachers of prosperity have been quick to proclaim this principle to audiences during offering times but they themselves have not practiced the principle.

· All People’s on earth will be blessed through you: this clearly means that the church (as a nation in the earth – and not just as a group of church organisations) has a socio-political responsibility over Global Humanity. Clearly, the mind of God is set on producing a NATION whose existence in the earth bears fruit not only spiritually but also politically, economically and socially. The problem currently is that churches stand begging from companies and governments when they should be adding value to the nations of the earth.

This is the gospel that Abraham heard, that saw him leave his father’s household and country.

Hebrews 11:10

10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

NIV

Heb 11:10 says that God actually revealed a city to Abraham. “A city” is a metaphor for “a system of citizenship”.

Revelation 21:1-3

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. NIV

Ezekiel 40:1-3

1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the fall of the city-on that very day the hand of the LORD was upon me and he took me there. 2 In visions of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, on whose south side were some buildings that looked like a city. 3 He took me there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze; he was standing in the gateway with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand. NIV

Hebrews 12:22

22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, NIV

Church is referred to in the prophetic scriptures as a City of God. A “city” is a metaphor for Citizenship. God sees church as a System of Citizenship, not only as a place of personal salvation. This prophetic reality was revealed to Abraham (Heb 11:10). It became part of the package of his revelation. This was the gospel that was proclaimed to Abraham. In a day when the city of the world is collapsing, we need to pray to God to show us a city in His mind (Ezek 40:1-3).

Galatians 3:16

16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ. NIV

Galatians 3:29

29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

NIV

These prophetic realities were revealed to Abraham. They became part of the package of his revelation. This was the gospel that was proclaimed to Abraham. According to Gal 3:16&29, we – the church, as the heir of Abraham must fulfil the promise initially given to him (Abraham) by God.

We therefore have to consider these historic prophetic realities before we even start to teach and define church on Sunday morning.

The Gospel was proclaimed by the Prophets

Romans 1:1-4

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God- 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. NIV

An understanding of the Gospel requires that we become familiar with the declarations of the Prophets as reflected in the Old Testament. It therefore requires that we cease to be just New Testament students and begin to look into Old Testament writings not as something that is now irrelevant to us.

What did the Prophets declare? A Scan through Isaiah:

· Isaiah proclaimed that God was not motivated primarily by religious gatherings but by a people who had a sense of Justice. Isaiah declared that when a people of God neglect issues of Justice, then they have fallen away and need serious repentance before God (Isa 1:10-17).

Matthew 23:23

23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices-mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law-justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. NIV

· Isaiah proclaimed that the building of church in the earth would have to be connected with a Socio-Political Cause that is Global in nature, where church begins to define correct patterns of human existence (Isa 2:1-4).

· Isaiah proclaimed the Lord’s intent to cut down and destroy His own people in the earth “until the cities lie ruined and without an inhabitant…” Isaiah continues to say “but as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land” (Isa 6:8-13). God’s intent is to shake the church first (Heb 12:25-29, 1 Pet 4:17), it is to shake the pillars of the temple (Amos 9) before He shakes those of the nations so that we can have “the holy seed” again inside the church. God is not driven by numbers (even though He desires for many to be saved) but by correct representation inside His church. He could destroy an entire generation of Noah to only be left with 8 people (1 Pet 3:20). The Lamb must appear on Mount Zion (a place of perfection and correct human life) with the 144000 who have His name (i.e. His nature) on their foreheads (i.e. correct kingdom mentalities), Rev 14:1. It is time to put a seal on the foreheads of these servants of God (Rev 7:3), who even though are 144000 (remnant) but cannot be counted (Global), Rev 7:9. This is a “Global Remnant” that must emerge as a Correct Representation of God in the earth. These are they who come from every tribe of Israel (James 1:1), the true spiritual Israelites (Rom 2:28-29, Zech 8:23) who understand the principle of “battling with God until they are transformed into His nature” (Gen 32:26-28). This “Global Remnant” comes from “all tribes of Israel”, i.e. they have the fullness of the prophetic seed that Jacob and Moses spoke of when they prophesied to the tribes (see Gen 49 and Deut 33) or the fullness of the dimensions of Christ (Eph 4:13). This “Global Remnant” is getting ready to come to a “Point of Convergence” in Zion, the City of God (Ps 122:3-4). This remnant, the Holy Seed, is the Hope of the Nations.

· Isaiah (like other prophets) proclaimed the God of Justice. Our God is known as the God of Justice (Isa 30:18). God is raising a church that will administer justice (Isa 42:1).

Isaiah 42:1

1

"Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen one in whom I delight;

I will put my Spirit on him

and he will bring justice to the nations.

NIV

The psalmist confirms this:

Psalms 72:1-2

1 Of Solomon.

Endow the king with your justice, O God,

the royal son with your righteousness.

2 He will judge

your people in righteousness,

your afflicted ones with justice.

NIV

Justice defines equitable human existence. God is putting “His Spirit on us” so we can begin to see Him as a God of Justice. There is new fresh revelation coming from God that empowers us to begin to step into realms of kingdom politics so that we can go out to the nations and proclaim His word. This is the Gospel, to proclaim Justice to the nations (see also Isa 33:5). Justice must dwell in the desert, i.e. places that are known for political, economic and social injustice must be transformed through the proclamation of the Gospel of Justice to the nations. (Isa 32:16).

Isaiah 51:4-5

4 "Listen to me, my people;

hear me, my nation:

The law will go out from me;

my justice will become a light to the nations.

5 My righteousness draws near speedily,

my salvation is on the way,

and my arm will bring justice to the nations.

The islands will look to me

and wait in hope for my arm.

NIV

These high voltage prophetic declarations demand a new spiritual orientation and a transformed church generation that has the capacity to hear God afresh as He redefines us in the earth.

* For more clarity on this article, it is advisable to revisit Parts 2&3 of this series.

Defining Church, Part 8(A): Reviewing the Gospel

Defining Church, Part 8(A): Reviewing the Gospel.

Considerations and Context for Church Building

1) Understanding the “whole counsel” of God

2) The Issue of Leadership

3) The Issue of Vision

4) Reviewing the Gospel

The issue of understanding the gospel is critical for the development of church. It is an issue that is at the centre of church building. There has been a tendency in the past dispensation of the church, that those who find themselves occupying positions of leadership and speaking into the spiritual consciousness of believers every Sunday, are those who are gifted (in the 1 Corinthians 12 gifts of the Spirit). This kind of leadership has not necessarily been characterised by an acute understanding of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God on the contrary, they have really been characterised by two major things, one being “spiritual giftedness” in the area of the manifestation of the Spirit and the other being “the ability to package and deliver a sermon” on Sunday in a way that stirs the masses. The emphasis here being on “the delivery of that sermon” and not on the content of the sermon. I refer to this emphasis on “delivery” (as opposed to content) as “sermonising” the saints. The saints are sermonised in that they have come to appreciate delivery at the expense of content and exact meaning of what is being said.

Now it becomes important for us to highlight that there is nothing special (as far as church leadership is concerned) about 1 Corinthians 12 gifts of the Spirit. These were intended for the Body of Christ or believers and not solely for leadership. That is, a gift of prophecy, miracles, faith, word of knowledge etc. does not in any way define leadership ability. One may manifest a word of knowledge under the unction of the Holy Spirit on Sunday morning but go home and fail to lead his wife and kids into God’s purposes and positions. These gifts were meant for the Body of Christ, they therefore cannot be the basis upon which we build leadership profile. Leaders can not be known simply for their gift of Word of Knowledge, they need to be known for their sight of Christ and the extent to which they build and represent before the saints what they are seeing.

Acts 18:24-28

24 Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.

27 When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. On arriving, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. 28 For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

NIV

Apollos was a great preacher and teacher of the Word of God. We are however told that he was limited in what he knew and this obviously limited his own sense of what the gospel was at that point in time.

Priscilla and Aquila heard him and identified areas of limitation in his message and understanding. This led to a lunch or supper between this couple and Apollos where the couple brought more understanding of the Gospel. The end result was a much more effective Apollos who could argue with the Pharisees in public debates, proving from the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. The issue of “Jesus being Christ” was the current revelational emphasis of the time that the Pharisees sought to negate at all cost. People actually died for this truth. New positions of Anti-Christ were formed by those who began to deny this truth (read the Books of apostle John: 1,2&3^rd John). Here John tells us that anti-Christ will come but has already come. Note that this statement is made by John back in the early days of the faith, meaning that it has been 2000 years since this statement was made (see 1 John 4:3). John tells us that anti-Christ is a spirit (and not a man). It’s a spirit that denies truth coming from God (1 John 4:1-6). Anti-Christ is therefore positions of understanding that deny truth positions of Christ. Paul calls anti-Christ “a man of lawlessness” who will oppose everything called God (truths) so that he sets himself up in the temple, proclaiming himself to be God (see 2 Thes 2:1-4). Now if we are going to interpret correctly what Paul is saying here, we have to understand the broader reasoning of the scripture that is found elsewhere in the Bible. For example, the New Testament understanding of “the temple” is never a physical building but people called the church (see 1 Cor 3:16, 2 Cor 6:16). If this is true of 1 Cor 3:16 and 6:16, then it must be true of 2 Thes 2:4. It therefore would not make sense to think that a physical man will set himself up in people. Not only so, the use of the word “man” e.g. “man of lawlessness” etc. in the prophetic scriptures often emphasises or means “the state of human life”. For example, according to Eph 4:13, the church must come to a position called “mature man” (this “mature man” speaks of a certain “state of human life” God wants us to reach in Christ). I have never heard any preacher interpret Eph 4:13 to mean a literal physical man. If this is true of Eph 4:13, it is also true of 2 Thes 2:4. The “man of lawlessness” is a certain “state of human life” that is establishing itself right inside the temple, the people of God. This represents false positions of understanding or a false gospel that has infiltrated the ranks of the church over time. In other words, there is a lot of anti-Christ inside the church masquerading as the gospel of truth. It is noteworthy that Paul actually says this is a “man of lawlessness”. This is noteworthy because we do live in a lawless or liberal age that seeks to remove all boundaries so that man can have licence to indulge in their lusts (Paul deals with these issues in Romans ch.1:18-32). The issue then is, to what extent is our pulpit message advocating principles of self-indulgence and lawlessness.

I am highlighting issues of anti-Christ to reveal that the issue of the Gospel is a very serious issue that many have died for. It is one issue that the enemy will keep on attacking with the hope of confusing the church. Jude encourages us to content for the faith (Jude 1:3) and so this will remain a battle until the end comes. The one important way by which we can safeguard ourselves against the spirit of error (anti-Christ spirit) is by following the example of Apollos, that of having discussions concerning the advancement of the Gospel. Even though Apollos was a teacher and a leader within his disciples, he maintained a teachable spirit of a disciple that allowed him to develop into new positions of understanding. We need more conferences that focus on defining the Gospel so that we can purify ourselves (as church) from false positions coming from worldly humanistic positions of understanding.

Defining the “Gospel”

Matthew 4:23

23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news (or the Gospel) of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. NIV

The word Gospel appears for the first time in the Gospel of Mathew in Matt 4:23. The NIV translates it as “good news” and the NKJV as “gospel”. This word simply means “a good message”. So Christ came preaching a “good message”. We will notice already that the definition “good message” carries no real meaning until it is qualified. That is, it must be a good message concerning something. The word “gospel” has no real meaning until it is put in relation to something else. Matt 4:23 says Christ was preaching “the good message of the Kingdom”. The “kingdom” qualifies and defines “the good message”.

We therefore cannot proclaim the “gospel” until we have understood “the kingdom”. That is, the point of departure in proclaiming the gospel is not the ability to preach but it is the possession of an understanding of the kingdom of God. The pathway to preaching the gospel is sight of the kingdom of God. In most scriptures, whenever we see “gospel” we also see “kingdom”.

The word “gospel” is also used interchangeably with the word “message”:

Hebrews 4:2

2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. NIV

Matthew 13:19

Matt 13:19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. NIV

John 17:20

20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, NIV

The word translated as “message” in the NIV (in the scriptures above) is the Greek word “logos”. It is the same word used in John 1:1,2&14 concerning Christ (in the beginning was the Logos). Logos is not simply a written word. The word “logos” is defined as: something said including the reasoning implied; words as an expression of intelligence; reasoning, computation, a motive behind an action, doctrine etc. The word “logos” therefore draws us beyond the actual utterance to positions of thought and motivations represented by the utterance coming forth. This implies two things: (a) the message is never just the utterance believers are receiving but it is really the reasoning represented by that utterance. A good teacher of the word therefore focuses not just on the actual body of the message but on thought positions a message represents. In this context, it is highly possible to preach right content but represent wrong reasoning. The one practical example is the message on “prosperity”. In trying to build a doctrine on prosperity, its teachers have moved to extreme positions and have thus produced exactly what that message (in its extreme form) represents, which is indulgence, greed, spiritual competition and individualism. (B) The second implication is that if the message is “reasoning” represented by utterance, then the message is and can be preached through many other platforms beyond the actual pulpit. The message is also preached through the conduct and behaviour of leaders etc. For example, things like carrying the Bibles of leaders create an impression in the minds of the saints that to be a leader is a position of privilege; and so while the underlying motivation may be sincere service in other contexts, it generally has a danger of sending wrong signals to the saints, producing a situation where people come to positions of leadership for wrong reasons. The position of Christ was that He came to serve and not to be served (Mark 10:43-45, Luke 22:25-27). After all, carrying your own Bible should not be a big issue. There is a reason why Christ for instance would wear such that you would not easily identify him among his disciples. Remember that when they wanted to kill Him they needed Judas to identify him with a kiss (Matt 26:47-50, John 18:1-8). This means that Christ was a normal man who identified with the people He led.

We therefore can describe the Gospel as the Total and Collective Instruction of God to Humanity (a message from God), established progressively throughout generations through the mechanism of revelation of Christ.

The gospel gets accumulated and refined as Christ is progressively revealed in the Church. The scripture says that as we see more, the imperfect disappears (1 Cor 13:9-12). Christ Himself says “you have heard that it was said…but now I say” (Matt 5:21&27). This principle points to the fact that the progressive revelation of Christ clarifies past positions of understanding and so in this sense, the gospel gets refined. Christ continues by saying “I have not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfil them” (Matt 5:17). Paul says that there are things that were not revealed to past generations that have now been revealed to apostles and prophets (Eph 3:5); meaning that the Gospel is progressive. In the example of Apollos, we realise that there is something called upgrading yourself to understand new elements of the Gospel in order to become much more effective in kingdom work.

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God

Almost every time we see the word “gospel” we also see the word “kingdom”. It is therefore impossible to separate the reality of the kingdom from this issue of the Gospel.

Matthew 3:1-2

1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea 2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." NIV

Matthew 4:23

23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. NIV

Matthew 10:7

7 As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' NIV

Acts 1:3

3 After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. NIV

Acts 8:12

12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. NIV

Acts 28:30-31

30 For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. 31 Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

NIV

Matthew 24:14

14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

NIV

Matthew 6:33

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. NIV

Colossians 1:13

13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, NIV

We cannot separate the kingdom from the proclamation of the gospel. As mentioned above, the point of departure in proclaiming the gospel is not the ability to preach but it is the possession of an understanding of the kingdom of God. It becomes a tragedy when we have gifted preachers who can construct a message without an understanding of the kingdom they have to preach.

If we are proclaiming the message about the kingdom of God then we have to ask the question, what is the kingdom of God? This question is important because if, for example, one is commissioned to preach about South Africa, the first thing they would have to establish themselves in is an understanding of the nation of South Africa before they even think about their presentation skills or their ability to address an audience. We have perfected our presentation skills but have not looked into the subject of our message, the kingdom of Christ.

What is the Kingdom of God?

In the natural, a kingdom is really a system of regulation and development of human life. A Kingdom will have systems of authority (e.g. a king), laws, value system, culture etc. and all these are important elements of the kingdom that help in the regulation and development of its people. We know this general principle that the natural always helps us understand the spiritual, hence Jesus taught about the kingdom through parables (Mark 4:33-34). A parable is really a similitude or a fiction specially constructed to communicate something.

The word “kingdom” is defined as: a rule, a realm, royal dominion. The word “kingdom” therefore carries the idea of a systematic expression of ruler-ship over a territory or a people. The kingdom is therefore a well organised system of ruler-ship by which life is regulated.

Colossians 1:13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, NIV. The kingdom is a system of life by which we live and arrange life at all of its levels.

John 3:3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." NIV. It is important to note that Jesus is not saying “no one will see”, i.e. He is not talking about a future experience but something immediate. If the kingdom can be seen then it means it is a real structure or system of life that can be understood by men.

Daniel 2:44-45

44 "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands-a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.

"The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy."

NIV

Dan 2:44&45 brings us to another side of the Kingdom of God:

· The kingdom of God is a system of life that can be perceived, discussed and established in the realm of man.

· The kingdom of God cannot co-exist with the kingdoms of this world, i.e. humanistic principles that regulate and govern human life.

· The kingdom of God is therefore confrontational.

· The kingdom of God is a system of life that will and which is being established in real time hence it says, “in the time of those kings…”

Matthew 6:9-10

9 "This, then, is how you should pray:

"'Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

10 your kingdom come,

your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

NIV

Matthew 3:2

2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." NIV

The kingdom seeks to express itself in the realm of man through the life of the “sons of the kingdom” (Matt 13:36-43).

The kingdom of God is a governmental system of definition, regulation and development of human life through Christ - it is the Kingdom of Christ (Col 1:13). For the kingdom of God to be actualised, there are several things that must be in place:

· There must be an acknowledgement of the authority of God over human life.

· There must be willingness to obey the commands of God, the King.

· There must be an understanding that the kingdom is not simply a spiritual encounter on Sunday morning but a system of life that must be established in the lives of the people through systematic instruction on its principles and positions.

· There must be an understanding that the establishment of the kingdom of God takes a little more than just a wonderful service on Sunday morning, it demands the establishment of various platforms by which God’s government can come into the realm of man, e.g. properly constructed families, parenting, community life etc.

The kingdom of God is realised when the government of God defines the arrangement of human life in its totality. The kingdom therefore speaks into different aspects of human life, for example:

· The kingdom of God regulates our inner life through the mechanism of the conviction of the Spirit (Luke 17:20&21, Rom 14:17, John 16:8). In this sense, the Holy Spirit has come to re-establish the government of God inside human heart.

· The kingdom of God takes us on a path of personal transformation and development, “the born-again experience” (John 3:3-5).

· The kingdom of God brings us to positions of just interaction and relationship with other humans (Matt 7:12, Matt 22:36-40), i.e. the kingdom of God seeks to establish correct and just platforms of community.

· The kingdom of God also speaks into broader macro issues of justice. Prophets like Isaiah spoke a lot about issues of justice.

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God (cont…)

Here are some of the things we have established so far:

· The word “gospel” simply means “a good message”.

· The word “gospel” always goes hand in hand with the kingdom of God; it is the gospel of the kingdom of God.

· The Gospel is the Total and Collective Instruction of God to Humanity (a message from God), established progressively throughout generations through the mechanism of revelation of Christ.

· The kingdom of God, on the other hand, is always defined by Christ. It is His kingdom.

· The kingdom of God is a governmental system of definition, regulation and development of human life through Christ.

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God is therefore a Message concerning God’s System of Government over human life. The Gospel has traditionally been proclaimed as some form of benefits and hand-outs from God to man. So the message would go along the lines of, “come to Jesus and this and that will happen”. Essentially, we come to Jesus for wrong selfish reasons that have to do with our personal needs and not from a position of serving Him as a Lord and Saviour. In preaching the gospel, we highlight benefits as if we are engaged in some Marketing exercise. The Gospel is the proclamation of God’s position and instruction over human life. The proclamation of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is not premised on the needs of people but rather on God’s purpose, definition and intentions for humanity. Healing and miracles happen within the context of God’s purpose. That is, even though God is a Healer, He does not always heal everybody. He refused to deliver Paul (2 Cor 12:7-8). He did not heal Job for sometime. In John 5, Jesus went to a group of paralysed people and healed only one of them (John 5:1-8), later He would say that “He only does what He sees the Father do” (John 5:19). The kingdom of God does not get established in the earth because people are being healed – this is only an attraction point to the kingdom. Israel is a classical case here, they were the church in the wilderness (Acts 7:38). Israel as a nation was healed and was protected by God from diseases, they saw the glory of God in the form of various manifestations, they sat under great leadership (Moses) and yet there was no kingdom that was established through them. They failed to establish the kingdom even though they had all the necessary elements that make up a “dynamic church”, instead they were scattered in the desert and became an example of what not to do (1 Cor 10:1-6&11). People can be saved, delivered, healed from sicknesses and still have the kingdom of God not established in the earth.

For example, let’s say an old man (who has a wife and kids) walks into the church meeting for the first time sick to a point of death and broken because of the crises of life - and have the church pray for him, eventually getting saved and healed. The question then is, has this man seen into God’s design for human life? The answer is obviously no. In terms of our current church orientation, we would celebrate the fact that the man has been saved and healed and has joined our church and is a “loyal member”. The thing is, who in their right mind wouldn’t be loyal to people who took away his life problems. It is for this reason that people can even join cults (as long as those cults meet their needs or take away their problems). The healing and the salvation of this man would not see him possessing the kingdom of God in his life until he is taught about God’s system of life (the kingdom of God). When this man gets to know about and embrace God’s design of life then he would have possessed the kingdom. For an old man, like this one, who has a wife and kids, possessing the kingdom would include teaching this man on correct manhood, teaching him on how to lead his family into God’s principles and purposes, teaching him how to be a good husband and a father, teaching him on how to raise his kids etc. Only after this man has been taught and possessed these things can we say that the kingdom (a system of life) has been established in his life and family. It is in this context that this man can begin to impact his own neighbourhood with the gospel. Otherwise if all he has to tell is that God healed and saved him, this brings impact but with no lasting results. Sustainable impact is not miracles; sustainable impact is in transformed lives. This is why Revivals never produce lasting results. According to Prophet Isaiah, people want to see human transformation and a people able to model a different system of life (Isa 2:1-4). This is the core reality of the Gospel of the kingdom of God.

God has a position about how human life must be built, how marriages must be built, how families must be constructed, how kids must be raised, how humans must relate, how businesses must be run, how nations must be run and how nations must interact etc. all of these things constitute the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. In other words, the Gospel is not simply or only evangelism; the gospel is not limited to the message of salvation. The Gospel is the total instruction of God to humanity which includes but does not end with evangelism and salvation.

The Gospel is the proclamation of God’s position and instruction over human life. It is the proclamation of God’s system of life. People should therefore embrace the Gospel not simply for benefits but because they perceive its message to be presenting them with a superior and better system of life (the kingdom of God).

1 Peter 1:18

18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, NIV

God’s position is that when people embrace the Gospel, they need not only come out of sins but also out of the systems of life (cultures, philosophy, ideologies, values etc.) they have been part of (this is the Abrahamic principle of salvation, see Gen 12). Through the Gospel, we are saved not only from sins but also from our Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Afrikaans, English orientations and worldviews and are brought into kingdom culture and worldview (we saw in Dan 2 that the kingdom does not co-exist with humanistic positions). Colossians 1:13 talks about two very important spiritual processes: the first one is deliverance from the dominion of darkness and the second one is coming into the kingdom of God. Traditionally, most churches are design to bring deliverance and salvation to people but often fail to build systems that allow people to enter into the kingdom (a system of life). The issue is, after people know a whole bunch of wrong things then they need to know correct positions of life. They need to know how a correct life looks like (this is a true and a complete kingdom process). The whole issue of bringing them out of sin and keeping them in the church service produces a people who although love God but are empty in their lives.

So it is true that God will use miracles, signs and wonders to draw people to Himself but after they have been drawn (as in Phillip’s case in Samaria, Acts 8), then they need to be brought into the kingdom (a system of life).

What the church has tended to do generally is to proclaim salvation (through evangelism), release the divine power of God (signs, wonders and miracles) and bring people to a system of worship and personal growth. These are important but only foundational positions of the Kingdom. Hebrews 6:1 talks about leaving the elementary or foundational positions of Christ and moving on to maturity. This therefore means that our Gospel must be broadened beyond the message of salvation if we are to proclaim the fullness of the kingdom of God.

Some Components of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God:

· The Gospel brings redemption from sin.

· The Gospel brings man to the reality of relationship with God.

· The Gospel emphasises the issue of On-going Personal Transformation.

· The Gospel establishes a new and correct value system, cultural positions, Mentalities and Kingdom Perspective.

· The Gospel brings man to an awareness of correct positions of relationship and interaction with other humans by establishing principles of justice and equality in human heart.

· The Gospel establishes kingdom ideological positions and a correct kingdom worldview.

· The Gospel reveals the role of man in the advancement of the kingdom of God, thus bringing man to kingdom functionality.

· The Gospel speaks into broader issues of Global Citizenship in terms of how nations need to interact.