When Ignatius devised the Spiritual Exercises, he had a lot of options. As he labored to create an experience, a “boot-camp,” that could lead clergy and laity to significantly deeper spiritual lives, he had many choices. Ignatius had centuries of church tradition and practice to select from. He had the entire canon of Scripture to focus on. And since he envisioned a period of 30 days for these exercises, he could have woven a wide variety of church tradition and biblical teaching into those 30 days.
But of all that was available to him, Ignatius settled on just one thing–what many of us would call the “gospel.” The birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Ignatius believed that if the people of God would spend 30 days dwelling in, meditating upon, and experiencing the gospel, their lives would be radically changed. He claimed that the single most transformative practice a Christian could engage in consisted of lengthy and unhurried contemplation of the gospel.
- Not reading the entire Bible.
- Not learning seventeen types of prayer.
- Not going out and serving the poor.
- Not attending high energy worship events.
- But 30 days of deep and reflective time in the gospel.
Ignatius was following Paul’s lead. Consider the perils faced by Paul’s congregations. The church in Rome? They were marked by racism. The church in Corinth? Sexual sin plagued their congregation. The church in Colossae? Those Christians were pluralistic. The church in Galatia? It would be hard to find a more legalistic group than them. Paul’s churches were in dire need of transformation.
And nearly every time, the same cure was applied to what ailed the church. The cure? Gospel.
Notice how Paul opens and closes his letter to the church in Rome:
“So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.” (Romans 1:15 ESV)
“25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26 but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— 27 to the only wise God be glory” (Rom. 16:25-27 ESV)
Paul believed that what this church most needed was the gospel. The gospel would strengthen them against the weaknesses plaguing them.
Same story with the church in Corinth:
“For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.” (2 Corinthians 11:4 ESV)
At the root of the sins rampant in the Corinthian church was a unwillingness to live out the implications of the one true gospel.
What about the church in Galatia? Once again, Paul brings out the medicine of gospel:
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel…” (Galatians 1:6 ESV)
The problem in Galatia stemmed from a lack of understanding of the gospel.
And to Christians wrestling with pluralism in Colossae, Paul brings the gospel:
“22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.” (Col. 1:22-23 ESV)
Part of the problem in Colossae stemmed from a falling away from the gospel.
What caused the deepest problems in the early church was a failure to grasp the meaning and application of the gospel. What resolved these same problems was a renewed focus on the gospel.
In the forward of the book Gospel-Centered Discipleship (Jonathan K. Dodson, Crossway, 2012) Matt Chandler writes about Paul’s practice of preaching the gospel to those who already know it (kindle loc. 186). Paul does this in Romans, 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. In 1 Cor. 15:1-2 Paul explains why:
“15 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.”
Paul writes that the gospel is something these Christians already received—it took place in their past. But this same gospel is something “in which you now stand”—this has to do with their present and future. And, the gospel is that “by which you are being saved”—this also has to do with their present and future. Thus, Chandler writes, “The gospel is good news for our past, it continues to be good news for the present, and will remain that way for all eternity.” In other words, the gospel is not something we need just one time–prior to our baptism. It’s what is needed at all times. Jonathan Dodson goes on to write that “As it turns out, the gospel is for disciples, not just for ‘sinners’…” (kindle loc. 248).
This is what Ignatius knew. And it’s what I experienced during these 30 days. 30 days in the gospel.
But not just part of the gospel. The whole gospel. Ignatius avoided the error many today make regarding the gospel. The “liberals” focus primarily on the life of Jesus and its call to serve the outcast and the poor. The “conservatives” focus primarily on the death of Jesus and its message of atonement and forgiveness. But what Christians and churches need is the whole gospel. That’s why Ignatius advised an entire week dwelling on the birth and life of Jesus, another entire week spent living with the death of Jesus, and still another week devoted to exploring the resurrection of Jesus.
Holy Scripture, church tradition and my own experience suggests that churches today would benefit immensely from regular and sustained reflection on the gospel–the whole gospel. What may be most needed today is not the latest and greatest technology, the hippest and coolest dress code, or the “old paths” of the way church was done in “our day.” What may be most needed is reflective time in the gospel–birth, life, death, and resurrection.
