March 8, 2007
The most common misconception relating to the Gospel is that its ultimate goal is salvation of people. Salvation is not its ultimate goal; neither is praise.
Paul explains, "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ... blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places ... to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved ... so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory" (Ephesians 1). Now the praise of God's grace is not ultimate. "Praise" is reflective reaction to what is ultimate, namely, the enjoyment of God. Praise is merely the inevitable and necessary reflexive response to seeing and savoring the glory of God. As C.S. Lewis puts it, "praise is enjoyment's consummation" of what is ultimate.
To understand the Gospel's role in ascribing to God the glory due His name, we must look through the lens of Who God is as Three in One - our Trinitarian God. T.F. Torrance explains within his book Trinitarian Perspectives, "God draws near to us in such a way as to draw us near to himself within the circle of his knowing of himself." In other words, God comes to us in order to draw us into the community of himself (HT: Derek Vreeland) that we may see the glory of God and find the satisfaction of our souls in his infinite worth. This is what makes the good news ultimately good.
For God Himself said, "For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off .... For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another" (Isaiah 48:9-11).
The goal of the Gospel is not the saving of souls, but saving souls by the Gospel is the means by which God is glorifying Himself for his own sake and his own sake alone. This is why he pursues sinners through the Gospel- for his glory and his glory alone.
"Only goodness and steadfast love shall relentlessly pursue me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever" (Psalm 23:6 alternate reading) to the praise of God's glorious grace.