The Love Wins Companion by Rob Bell

Author:Rob Bell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins

Group Exercise: What Is the Gospel?

Sometimes words and symbols can become overfamiliar and lose their meaning and impact for us. To recapture some of the power of the gospel message, have your group construct a statement of what the gospel is without using the words “Jesus,” “Christ,” “Christian,” “cross,” “sacrifice,” “sin,” or any other word only those who have been to church would know.

Discussion Questions

When you think of Christ’s “sacrifice” for us, what do you think was the actual transaction that occurred?

How would you describe to others what Jesus accomplished on the cross and how it affects us today?

How meaningful to you are some of the words the Bible uses to describe Jesus’s work on the cross—“sacrifice,” “atonement,” “justification,” “redemption,” “victory”?

What do you think of Rob’s argument that the metaphor of sacrifice was more relevant to people during the time of Christ and immediately after than it is today? Do you think the message that there was no further need for sacrifice could have been misunderstood or considered unsettling for early Christians?

On p. 129 of Love Wins, Rob states, “The point then, as it is now, is Jesus. The divine flesh and blood. He’s where the life is.” What does this mean? How does this change how we view the cross and Jesus’s sacrifice?

How does Jesus’s death and resurrection relate to the basic pattern of life, death, and rebirth we witness in all of life? Is the resurrection just for people or for all of creation?

Do you agree that we are in the first day of a new creation? Is John telling a story about God rescuing all of creation? What does that mean for us?

What comes after Christ’s death? How has resurrection been a concept that sustains life throughout the universe? How was Christ’s resurrection the same and different from other examples of life sustained through death?

How are the cross and resurrection personal? How do the cross and resurrection impact every one of us every day?

What changes if we accept a more “cosmic” or “grand” understanding of Jesus’s accomplishments and goals?

What does the cross mean to you after reading this chapter? Has it changed or grown in its meaning?

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