Yes, I realized afterward just how cryptic it may sound. I called it "The Gospel No One Knows" for several reasons. For one, if it is a mystery, you can't really know it. The mystery of Christ surpasses what we know of Christ and ourselves, which seems to be why Christ's work through us is called a mystery in the Epistles. Two, the majesty aspect refers new creation, which no one truly knows. We know ABOUT new creation of the new heavens and new earth, we know about glorification, but we do not know it, we do not have experiential knowledge of it (even though it begins now). So our faith is largely built around these parameters that are beyond our grasp, our theology (faith seeking understanding) rests on these mysteries. Yet, we as Protestants do not emphasize this at all, from what I can tell. Mystery should a point of emphasis, it should foster a more irenic, harmonious approach when it comes to Church unity.
Three, humility is often not considered necessary to the faith in Protestant traditions. But I contend that it is. It's part of growing and persevering in Christ to be like Christ. It's the opposite of pride, which is, more or less, the root of all sin/evil. With that in mind; arrogance is often painted as a know it all and humility is often thought as someone acknowledging what they do not know. But this is a false dichotomy, in my view. By knowing what you do not know, it emphasizes your objective sense of accuracy which is a form of knowing; but that knowing is not for knowing now, in the Christian sense of things, it is for knowing what is to come, which will one Day be revealed. So, in a sense, humility is a 'know it all', so to speak, it is knowledge knowing itself. In simpler words, humility is the path that leads to true knowledge, not agnosticism, skepticism, detachment or indifference – which seems contrary to what we traditionally think of as humility today. Humility is not detached or self-deprecating, it's intimately engaged, it comes from love to love. All in all, humility is not a point of emphasis in the Protestant Church today, from what I can tell, and it should be. It's there, but not emphasized. And it needs to be.
So, short story long, I supposed I could have called it Some Parts of the Gospel No One Knows, but that's a less catchy title.
Would you mind clarifying your meaning behind the title of this post?
Yes, I realized afterward just how cryptic it may sound. I called it "The Gospel No One Knows" for several reasons. For one, if it is a mystery, you can't really know it. The mystery of Christ surpasses what we know of Christ and ourselves, which seems to be why Christ's work through us is called a mystery in the Epistles. Two, the majesty aspect refers new creation, which no one truly knows. We know ABOUT new creation of the new heavens and new earth, we know about glorification, but we do not know it, we do not have experiential knowledge of it (even though it begins now). So our faith is largely built around these parameters that are beyond our grasp, our theology (faith seeking understanding) rests on these mysteries. Yet, we as Protestants do not emphasize this at all, from what I can tell. Mystery should a point of emphasis, it should foster a more irenic, harmonious approach when it comes to Church unity.
Three, humility is often not considered necessary to the faith in Protestant traditions. But I contend that it is. It's part of growing and persevering in Christ to be like Christ. It's the opposite of pride, which is, more or less, the root of all sin/evil. With that in mind; arrogance is often painted as a know it all and humility is often thought as someone acknowledging what they do not know. But this is a false dichotomy, in my view. By knowing what you do not know, it emphasizes your objective sense of accuracy which is a form of knowing; but that knowing is not for knowing now, in the Christian sense of things, it is for knowing what is to come, which will one Day be revealed. So, in a sense, humility is a 'know it all', so to speak, it is knowledge knowing itself. In simpler words, humility is the path that leads to true knowledge, not agnosticism, skepticism, detachment or indifference – which seems contrary to what we traditionally think of as humility today. Humility is not detached or self-deprecating, it's intimately engaged, it comes from love to love. All in all, humility is not a point of emphasis in the Protestant Church today, from what I can tell, and it should be. It's there, but not emphasized. And it needs to be.
So, short story long, I supposed I could have called it Some Parts of the Gospel No One Knows, but that's a less catchy title.