What Is the Gospel?
Posted by Isaac Butterworth | Filed under Gospel
Recent years have seen the release of a whole spate of books, each one of them seeking to clarify what the gospel is. Greg Gilbert’s book, entitled “What Is the Gospel?” was published in 2010 by 9 Marks and led the way for other authors who wanted to address the same issue. For Gilbert, the gospel consists of biblical teaching in four areas:
- God, who is worthy of our obedience
- humankind, who has rebelled against God and whose disobedience deserves divine wrath
- Christ, whose life of perfect obedience is credited to sinners and whose sacrificial death satisfies God’s wrath
- Our response of faith, the instrument by which we acquire a new standing with God
Mitchell Chase’s book, “The Gospel Is for Christians,” came out the same year that Gilbert’s book appeared. Its burden was to show that the gospel is not just for the beginning of life with Christ, at which time the penalty of sin is removed, but that it is also the means God uses throughout a believer’s life to break the power of sin.
Matt Chandler’s book, “The Explicit Gospel” was published two years later, in 2012. Chandler introduces two perspectives on the gospel:
- the gospel “on the ground,” which has to do with the personal dimension of the gospel
- the gospel “in the air,” which has to do with the global dimension of the gospel
According to Chandler, God is saving sinners (the gospel “on the ground”), and he is also restoring creation (the gospel “in the air”).
2012 also saw the publication of the book, “The Gospel as Center,” edited by D. A. Carson and Timothy Keller. Contributions by several authors combine to present the case of the Gospel Coalition that the gospel must be at the center of everything we do in ministry and life.
I welcome these books because they do two things and do them well:
- they clarify what the gospel is
- they stress the importance of the gospel not only for the beginning of the life of faith but also for the remainder of the journey
Have you read any books lately that explain, promote, and defend the gospel? What are your favorite titles?
Photo Credit: “Gospel Graffiti” by Peat Bakke
