Dear Editor,
I should like to comment on the article on ‘The contextualised gospel’.
Mr Wells refers to the three main worldviews – truth and justice, shame and honour, fear and appeasement. In the same way that any people group does not choose the language they grow up speaking, neither do they choose the cultural world view of their society. Languages can change over time, but the basic structure stays the same. In the same way the cultural worldview of a people can change a little over time, but the fundamental things that influence it remain the same. The cultural subdivisions that the article mentions can be better categorised as lifestyle choices rather than a worldview.
My husband and I lived and worked for over 25 years among a minority people whose culture was dominated by fear and appeasement of evil spirits. They had no background of any teaching about God and no Scriptures translated into their language.
The starting point for the gospel is not determined by their culture, but by where the word of God begins. And so, after becoming reasonably proficient in their language, we started teaching from Genesis, where the foundation of the gospel begins. God created man perfect and he lived in a perfect world, in harmony with God. God commanded Adam not to eat from the tree in the middle of the garden. The day he eats from it he will die.
Genesis 3 then introduces Satan. He lies to Eve, tempting her to disobey God. She disobeys and so does Adam. What is the result of this disobedience? Firstly: their relationship with God is broken. Just as a branch that is severed from the life of a tree withers and dies, so they are severed from the life of God and will die. They are driven from the garden. Secondly: they now have yielded to Satan and his power. All their descendants are sinners in Adam and under Satan’s power. Thirdly: they now live under the curse (of the ground, and pain in childbirth.) But Genesis 3 also gives the first promise of a Redeemer, who will crush the power of Satan. God in His grace provides clothing of skins for Adam and Eve, so that their relationship can be restored through the shedding of blood to cover sin.
As we taught from Genesis, they understood why they were living under the power of Satan. They knew they had inherited a disobedient heart from Adam and needed to be reconciled to the God who made them. We traced God’s promise of the coming Redeemer through the Old Testament and to its fulfilment in Christ. We taught how God’s promised Redeemer took our sin on Himself and died in our place so that we can be reconciled to God. He rose from the dead, breaking the power of Satan and of death.
We translated Hebrews 2:14-15: ‘Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.’ When they heard this their faces lit up, they understood perfectly.
We have an amazing God, who speaks to us where we are, in a way we can understand. Paul says in Romans 10:9: ’If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord”, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.’ God’s grace in the gospel brings life to all who trust in Him.
Yours sincerely,
Rosemary Griffiths Truro
