Why the Gospel Will Always Be Relevant

Recently, I had a conversation with a friend from work about the message of the Gospel. As I was answering some questions he had about the Christian faith, he asked me, "Travis, with all of the advances in scientific knowledge, how relevant is the Bible? How long will it be relevant?" This is something that I know has been asked before, although I have never been asked this question directly prior to this conversation.

My friend's question is based on a bad assumption. This bad assumption ostensibly led him to his misunderstanding about the relevance of the Bible. That is, scientific advancement has nothing to do with the relevance of the Bible, just like scientific advancement does not make the rules of logic irrelevant.

The simple answer to my friend's question is that the Bible will always be relevant because, no matter how much we advance scientifically, the human condition before God will always be the same. I remember hearing a story a few years back that helps illustrate the point. It goes something like this:

One day a scientist told God that He was not needed anymore. "God, we have learned how to make people from dust, just as You did. We don't need You anymore." "Can you show me?" replied God. The scientist began to pick up some dirt when God interrupted, "Hey! Get your own dirt."

The point is that we are all finite, sinful human beings. Not only are we dependent upon God for every breath that we take, but we are also dependent on Him for everything else, as well, including the salvation of our souls. Nothing we ever do will change this fact. It is pointless to fail to humble ourselves before Him.

For this reason, the message of the Gospel will always be relevant. It will be relevant to every generation, every nation, every person in every language, at all times. In fact, it is even more relevant than the scientific knowledge that we have today, since what we understand of the scientific worlds of biology, chemistry, physics and so on may be outdated tomorrow. A new theory may replace an old one, or new information may come to light. The same is not true of Scripture or the message of the Gospel. In it we have a unified message about Who God is and how we can be restored to a right relationship with Him. Since our culpability for sin will not change based on the advancement of mankind, the message stays relevant. In short, it will always be relevant because of who we are and because of Who God is. Any notion that the Gospel will become outdated is simply wishful thinking.

Recommended Resource: How To Be Born Again by Billy Graham