The question that we're going to deal with now is this. Does the Bible speak of the Gospel in terms of honor and shame? Is that a root issue the Gospel is designed to deal with? And the answer is, 'Yes'.
Let's go back to the Garden of Eden and look at what happened when Adam and Eve sinned. Clearly there was guilt. They had disobeyed God's command. But there was also shame. The word 'shame' doesn't show up but neither does the word 'guilt'. But look at the actions of these two. Before this sin Moses wrote something that sets this up.
And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
This isn't about sex. It's about shame. There wasn't any. But then, there's this right after that sin.
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Something has changed. Before they were naked and not (a)shamed. But now they see their nakedness and attempt to cover it. They are shamed and are trying to deal with it with some fig leaves.
The sin of Adam and Eve brought guilt into the world. That is clear. But it also brought shame into the world. Jesus has come to deal with that guilt. He also came to deal with that shame. Shame is a root issue just like guilt is.
You know plenty of places in the Bible where the Gospel is explained in terms of guilt. But there are also places where the problem of shame is likewise dealt with by the Gospel. For example,
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
What does it mean to 'put on Christ'? Elsewhere the word for 'put on' is translated as 'clothe'. One example:
Now John was clothed with camel's hair ...
Christians are people who have been clothed with Christ. He deals with their shame. He covers it. This fits with what happened back in the Garden. Here's a prophecy in pictures.
And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed[!] them.
God clothed them. In so doing He dealt with their shame. And He did a better job than their attempts with those fig leaves. That's a picture of how Jesus does a better job dealing with our shame than our sorry efforts. And when you see that there had to be death so that there could be skins to deal with the shame it fits even better.
We can explain the Gospel in terms of dealing with the problem of guilt or we can do that in terms of the problem of shame. We have options when we talk with people. More to come.