Knowing the Gospel as a whole helps us to constantly go deeper in understanding God’s love and what Jesus has done on the cross for us. However, we may view our relationship with God as a transactional relationship, expecting Him to bless us if we read the Bible everyday or pray to Him every so often. Or perhaps you find it hard to fully surrender and trust in how God has created you. Oftentimes this is because people fall into the danger of a truncated Gospel. Truncated means ‘shortened’ or ‘without its top or end section’. Thus, a truncated Gospel means partial, incomplete, broken understanding of the Gospel. When we only focus on a truncated Gospel, our view of God will be distorted as we are not understanding His Word in its whole perfection (Timothy 3:16-17).
One example is a ‘Vertical’ Truncated Gospel. If we only focus on the Fall and Redemptive part of the Gospel and fail to see any connection with Creation and Restoration, we will forget the real purpose of God’s heart for us. This truth is that He had an amazing and perfect plan for us and the world, and continues to fulfill that until all on earth can know Him and see His invisible qualities (Romans 1:20). In our sinfulness we can mistakenly view the Gospel as a ‘salvation-only’ solution. Either we will constantly feel we are unworthy and can not measure up or we will take salvation for granted thinking we are redeemed and forgiven no matter what we continue to do. This understanding of the Gospel only focuses on our vertical relationship with God, how we sinned and how he saved us, end of story, which is not the case.
Few examples of how ‘Vertical’ Truncated Gospel plays out:
Scenario 1:
A accepted Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior 3 years ago. Since accepting Christ, A has grown to be comfortable in their own Christian bubble and becomes very cautious to befriend pre-Christians, because A thinks that they are not good enough and hence they are not saved. A also sees them as a bad influence and potential threat for personal holiness.
Scenario 2:
B is really diligent in doing SOAP. B never misses a day. B likes to make comments about how other people’s SOAPs look, and also easily gets triggered when people miss doing SOAP for a couple days. However, when other people bring up B’s issue, B gets really offended.
Scenario 3:
C is serving faithfully in church but is just going through the motions with things. C also falls into the mindset that if they do not serve, they are not ‘right’ with God. C does not think what Jesus has done on the cross is enough to make them feel worthy and loved.
Another example is a ‘Horizontal’ Truncated Gospel. This is where we only focus on the Creation and Restoration part of the Gospel and fail to see any connection with Fall and Redemption. Thus, we will overlook the reality that we cannot save ourselves and try to work things out in our own strength. As a result, we become more focused on altruistic characters such as goodness, justice, equality, do a lot of good deeds to be all those qualities, yet, fail to see that there is a God who loves us and only He has the power to redeem and give our suffering world eternal hope. Therefore, we must understand God’s heart in wanting to redeem us despite our sins as this will encourage us to witness to others so that they can experience the same (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Few examples of how ‘Horizontal’ Truncated Gospel plays out:
Scenario 1:
X is very passionate about domestic issues, especially when it comes to topics that touch upon women empowerment. X is active and engaged in the social movements related to women empowerment. However, X gets really defensive and judgmental when people do not agree with the same views or challenges them in any way.
Scenario 2:
Y grew up in a stable Christian family, except that Y’s parents were very demanding, which made Y an overachiever. Whenever Y did not get good grades, it was very much expected that Y would hear a lot of criticism. Y is now working in a multinational company, in a good career on track to being a top performer. However, Y is constantly anxious and fearful, especially when someone makes a comment about Y’s work. Y is never satisfied and constantly seeks for affirmation by trying to work harder and achieve more.
Scenario 3:
Z thinks being a Sunday Christian is enough, as long as Z is being kind and doing good things in several context of his life, for example in family, friendships and workplace. Z only holds on to the idea that he is sinful and Jesus died for his sins, but do not see Christianity beyond that. Z cannot explain the Gospel to people or see the need to invite people to get to know Jesus.
As displayed above, when our view of God is distorted due to holding on to a truncated Gospel, we will not fully understand the power of the Gospel and how it can impact not only our lives but others. Thus, we must view scripture in the light of Creation, Fall, Redemption and Restoration for all these stages are highlighted in his word. For because He created us and loves us, He sought to redeem us and restore us to His original plan and what separated us from Him was the fall. Therefore, as we understand His will to see us have a relationship with Him we align ourselves to His heart and also want to bring others into His kingdom, fulfilling the great commission He calls all of us to (Matthew 28:16-20).
Other related posts on Gospel Fluency: https://hmcc.tv/gospel-fluency/