The Gospel Deals with Fear

The Gospel is the solution to the problems of life. It deals with the guilt of our sins. That is what has been the focus of the Church in the West at least since the Reformation. Thus the prominence of justification by grace through faith in our presentation of the Gospel. But the problems of life go further than just guilt. There are also the problems of shame and of fear. A look at certain other cultures will show that this is true. This is reflected in the Scriptures. The problem of shame is dealt with by the offer of complete forgiveness and the adoption as a son. And the problem of fear is dealt with by the reminder that we are to fear nothing except God and as we do that there is nothing else we need fear.

I wonder if our culture is undergoing a shift so that the stress in the thinking of many is less on guilt and more on fear. Is this some of what is behind God sending this virus? It certainly has revealed how fearful we are as a culture.

If this is the case, then the Church in the West will need to adjust its presentation of the Gospel. It may well be that instead of stressing as much as we do how the Gospel deals with the guilt of sin we ought to stress more how the Gospel deals with the fear that sin brings.