Ironically, actually, Jesus is God's "Yes"

I caught in Christianity Today where Rob Bell tries twittering the Gospel. Actually, I caught the aftermath. Apparently he had trouble the first time around, people complained, and he then came up with this (which is where I came in):

The gospel is the counterintuitive, joyous, exuberant news that Jesus has brought the unending, limitless, stunning love of God to even us.

I find this interesting because I believe in Jesus, and I have this sense that if I were to adopt a strongly religious public persona (i.e., be an evangelist), I would end up looking like Rob Bell. And I think Rob Bell looks kind of silly, to be honest. What he's trying to do is capture the sort of deeply searching, awestruck reality of his lived faith experience as a person—he's trying to bottle that up, take it on tour, and sell it. I'm sympathetic with that desire of his. But I think he looks silly because you can't bottle it up and sell it. Faith is only fully real at the personal level. He needs more ironic distance.

That said, I do think there is a Gospel, and I have been trying to figure out how to put it into words. My criteria are:

• It must be really short.
• It must be actually from the Bible.
• It must actually capture the Gospel.
• I have to actually be willing to say it.

This is essentially an exercise in abstraction, by the way, which means that these words needn't exhaust the Gospel. There will be room for nuance. But can I actually answer the question, what is the Gospel?

I think I can. Here's the passage of scripture that I'm going to use:

As God is true, the language in which we address you is not an ambiguous blend of Yes and No. The Son of God, Christ Jesus, proclaimed among you by us (by Silvanus and Timothy, I mean, as well as myself), was never a blend of Yes and No. With him it was, and is, Yes. He is the Yes pronounced upon God's promises, every one of them. That is why, when we give glory to God, it is through Christ Jesus that we say 'Amen'. And if you and we belong to Christ, guaranteed as his and anointed, it is all God's doing; it is God also who has set his seal upon us, and as a pledge of what is to come has given the Spirit to dwell in our hearts. [2 Cor 1:18-22, NEB]

I like this passage for a few reasons. It's got the whole Christian package in there. It's Trinitarian. It points both back to the Old Testament ("God's promises") and forward ("what is to come"). It's got the reference to Silvanus and Timothy, real names of real people. It's clear and confident, "never a blend of Yes and No." This is great. But it's still too long. Can we boil it down even further?

How about this:

I love the idea that Jesus is God's Yes. It's clear and confident, but it's also ambiguous in just the right way. It says that there is something unique and central about Jesus, and it's optimistic, it's open. Jesus is "the Yes pronounced upon God's promises, every one of them." Jesus is the Yes pronounced upon God's promise of a good creation. Jesus is the Yes pronounced upon God's promise of a peaceful and just society. Jesus is the Yes pronounced upon God's promise of friendship and belonging. Jesus is the Yes pronounced upon God's promise that all nations/tribes/religions/parties have a part to play. Jesus is the Yes pronounced upon God's promise that death is not absolute.

And the Spirit seals the deal. Because you can't bottle it and sell it. You have to experience it personally for it to be real. Approached from our subjective consciousness, it can seem that the Spirit is at best a name we give to a certain materialist churning. The philosophical exploration is appropriate, but so is actually experiencing the Spirit. Analyze game tapes, and play the game. Think, and also actively participate in God's "Yes" in your life.

So what do you think? Does this capture the Gospel? Or do I need more ironic distance?