“I formulate the Gospel this way: it is information issuing in invitation; it is proclamation issuing in
persuasion. It is an admonitory message embracing five themes. First, God: the God whom Paul
proclaimed to the Athenians in Acts 17, the God of Christian theism.
Second, humankind: made in God’s image but now totally unable to respond to God or do anything right
by reason of sin in their moral and spiritual system. Third, the person and work of Christ: God incarnate,
who by dying wrought atonement and who now lives to impart the blessing that flows form his work of
atonement.
Fourth, repentance, that is, turning from sin to God, from self-will to Jesus Christ. And fifthly, new
community: a new family, a new pattern of human togetherness which results from the unity of the Lord’s
people in the Lord, henceforth to function under the one Father as a family and a fellowship.” (44,
emphasis added)
- Packer, J.I. Serving the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings of J.I. Packer. Vol. 2. Carlisle,
UK: Paternoster, 1998.
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