Jayson Georges states, “The gospel is a many-sided diamond, and God wants people in all cultures to experience His complete salvation.” In his concise book, The 3D Gospel, Georges explains that world cultures are oriented towards one of three cultural categories.
Our Western world is oriented towards a guilt-innocence culture. We feel guilty when we have done wrong by breaking a rule; therefore, we uphold a system of justice that brings about restitution and forgiveness.
Another culture category is shame-honor. These cultures feel shame when they violate family or community expectations. Each individual has a desire to bring honor to their community and to be honored by their community.
A third category is a fear-power culture. These animistic societies are afraid of evil and spirits in the unseen realm. They are seeking power through rituals that will control the spirit world. All of these three cultures are seeking to find resources for life in different ways, and thus they are rewarding or punishing their members differently.
Georges proposes that “the Bible is one narrative in which forgiveness, honor, and power are woven together.” This is to counteract the human problems of guilt, shame, and fear which all started in the garden of Eden—all results of sin. Georges gives a short theology from each culture’s perspective, highlighting key facets of the biblical story that connect with people from that culture. When we understand the Bible from each culture’s perspective, we get a fuller understanding of this multi-faceted diamond that we call the gospel.
When taking the gospel to another culture, Christians often assume that they can copy and paste evangelism and discipleship strategies from their home culture. While they may say that they contextualize their message, their theology and missiology may only reflect one side of the diamond. Perhaps the missionary only communicates the side of the diamond that his home culture emphasizes; then his target audience understands very little of the gospel. Georges explores each cultural category and presents an example from Acts to show how each culture can best be reached with the reality of the gospel.
In his conclusion, Georges recommends that we all take a look at the other sides of the diamond. We may have tunnel vision that is focused on the side that connects best with our culture, but all Christians would benefit from taking a look at the 3D gospel. “As we grasp all dimensions of the gospel, we can more effectively know God and make him known.”
I’d recommend reading The 3D Gospel for yourself. It is a short but informative read of 74 pages that can be purchased here.
–DS