The Paradoxical Gospel

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is both a simple and a complex message wherein there lies a paradox that gets to the very nature of who we are as human beings. It is simple in that Paul can give it in one sentence: "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,  that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,  and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve" (1 Cor. 15:3-5).
A very simple message indeed. But, at the same time it is very complex. The intricacies of justification as a result of the Gospel are manifold in their action. Christ's blood working through the Holy Spirit on people who "confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead" (Rom. 10:9) is efficacious for regeneration, adoption, ongoing sanctification, future glorification and redemption, being empowered to witness, and the list could go on. The Gospel message is also very complex when considering the person and work of Christ. This is abundantly evident when looking at Peter's speech on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell. As the Jews in Jerusalem from the Diaspora heard the "mighty works of God" (Acts 2:11) and then mocked the disciples for being filled with "new wine" (Acts 2:13), Peter stood up and declared that "God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified" (Acts 2:36). While this may seem like a simple statement as Peter wraps up his argument, it is hardly that. He cites Joel 2:28-32 to indicate that the Kingdom of God is at hand based on Joel's prophecy that the last days would be when the Spirit was poured out. He cites Psalm 16:8-11 to show that Jesus is the Messiah and was not bound by death. He cites Psalm 110:1 to show that Jesus is the King the Jews have been awaiting. In verse 36, quoted earlier, he says that Jesus is both Lord and Christ. The word Lord in the Greek is kyrios which is how the Septuagint writers translated adonai from Hebrew to Greek. Adonai is the Hebrew word for lord or master and is what the Hebrews said in place of God's personal name. So what we have is the chain from Yahweh (God's personal name) to adonai (lord in Hebrew) to kyrios (lord in Greek). He also calls him Christ which is the equivalent of Messiah, Christ being from the Greek and Messiah being from the Hebrew and both of them meaning "anointed one". Peter is saying that Jesus is God and that he is the long awaited Messiah of the Jews. This is anything but a simple message.
The other part of the Gospel message concerns us as human beings. We have a nature and it isn't a good one. We need saving but we are infinitely not worthy of being saved. You could say that in a way we are worthless to God. He is anything but pleased with our actions that are contrary to his very nature and stand in open rebellion to him. In fact, Psalm 11:5-6 says: "The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup." That's right, the Lord's soul hates the wicked. He hates the sinner. Destruction is our portion when we are living in disobedience to a holy God. In the book of Romans Paul quotes Psalm 14:1-3 and 53:1-3 that says: "as it is written: None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one" (Rom. 3:10-12). Those are universal statements: none, not one, no one, all, not even one. None of us are following God and all of us are worthless.
Yet, at the same time, we are of inestimable value in God's sight even though we rebel against him. We are made in his image (Gen. 1:26-27) and he is concerned with our every need (Matt. 6:25-32). Even though we are his enemies he has sought us out in order to reconcile us to himself through the blood of our Passover lamb, Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:6-11). At the end of the book of Hosea, God shows his love for his people, the Israelites who were under a lesser covenant than the one inaugurated in Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. God says in Hosea 14:4-7:
"I will heal their apostasy;
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.
I will be like the dew to Israel;
he shall blossom like the lily;
he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;
his shoots shall spread out;
his beauty shall be like the olive,
and his fragrance like Lebanon.
They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow;
they shall flourish like the grain;
they shall blossom like the vine;
their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon."
What beautiful imagery that God uses to show the Israelites how much he loves them even though they had committed "great whoredom" (Hosea 1:2) by turning from the Lord to useless idols. Like the Israelites in Hosea's day, we stand in the same position. Turning away from God at every moment only to have him shower his mercy on us through Jesus Christ. And that is the paradoxical message of the Gospel. The simple but complex person and work of Jesus Christ and the worthlessness of all human beings that God pursues as though we are worth something that can never be valued and for which he paid the ultimate price on the cross:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." (John 3:16-17)