There’s nothing free about the gospel
"The Gospel is Free". It’s a popular phrase, and there is an important truth in it. According to Christian thinking, you can’t buy salvation, you can’t earn or repay God’s love. God gives love and salvation freely, as a gift of grace.
There’s a problem inherent in this "gospel is free" idea, though (see related thoughts on the value of things that are free on Seth Godin’s "the thing about Free"). Because while in one sense it’s true that the gospel is free, it’s also true that there is no gospel – no good news about salvation – without a high cost on either side of the spiritual encounter.
The good news of God cost Jesus everything: his safety, his family life, his reputation, and in the end his life. And if it’s to become real in our lives, it’s going to cost us too, in commitment and in other ways too. When we speak of the gospel as "free", are we projecting the idea that it’s easy come easy go, not something of great challenge or great value? Do we imply that it matters, but not that much really?
There’s a paradox in the free gift of God and the grand scale of cost it will involve for us to accept the free gift and receive our own freedom. It’s free, but at the same time it will cost us everything.
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Maggi has kept a blog since September 2003, writing about theology and faith, the arts and literature, and a little about life and random nonsense...
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Hi Maggi … thanks for the hat tip. I’m open to suggestions and other imaginings! That’s the beauty of 3D tools, you can create pretty much anything!