What Is The Gospel? Part 1

Every student, scholar, and disciple of the word who has, at the very least, aspirations for Word and Sacrament ministry has some sort of hero. Or, if not a hero, then at least someone whom they admire for their wisdom, intellect, passion, or integrity, or anything else. They can probably list off several reasons why that particular person has been so influential. For myself one of them is Dr. Don A Carson. Every pastor brings their gifts to the table, and every congregation they serve benefits in some way from those gifts. My pastor in Grand Rapids, MI who served not only as Pastor but mentor to me as an intern, was very gifted in teaching through narrative. The beloved John Piper exudes such an enormous passion over Scripture, but (at least to my estimation) doesn't interact very much with competing philosophies, choosing instead to preach exegetically. While I can appreciate gifts and methods such as these, I happen to find myself among the types who think more propositionally and philosophically. That's where I've come to enjoy D. A. Carson's work. He's able to interact with alternative and secular ideas versus historic Christianity in ways that help discern that which is good and true, and that which is patently false. All that aside, however, one of the great pieces I've enjoyed from him most happens to be something rather elementary. It's his explaining of the question, "What is the Gospel?"




I want to mention I'm on a bit of an ongoing theme at the moment in case you haven't read the previous introductory post. As usual my posts are reflections of things I've learned over the years, but these next several in particular are about the gift of Truth. I use the word gift purposefully because, despite the enormous amounts of sophisticated arguments that shake our confidence thereof, it is truly a wonder that God has made himself known to us in such a way that we can enjoy his goodness and grace through a meaningful relationship. Christianity, by virtue of its nature, is inseparably linked to a view of epistemology that believes that people logically must be able to adequately understand and know of an objective reality outside of themselves, namely, God.

To put it simply, faith has an object. Does the object of our faith have any bearing on reality? If not, it's not only irrational, but just plain stupid. Consider the words of the Apostle Paul...

But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. (1 Corinthians 15:12-19)


This passage neatly demonstrates why a high view of Truth is so important to Christianity. Here we have something concrete and empirical for us, a genuine historical event. It becomes the very lynch pin upon which nearly everything else in Christian belief rests upon. What's more, it practically invites you to examine its credibility and explore its enormous implications.

This is why the Gospel becomes a fantastic starting point for understanding why we care so much about truth. It's not that people like myself have this nostalgic love for "the good ol' days" of modernism. Certainly not. Truth, in modernism, was determined entirely by man's own supposed enlightenment. Descartes' famous "Cogito ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am) became the bedrock foundation of knowledge in modernity. In this way, truth is discovered in the direction of man to God, not the other way around. Postmodernism, despite its criticism of modernity, does exactly the same thing. In fact, what many people think is postmodernism is often just re-hashed modernism all over again. Instead, it is God who comes to us, by revealing himself to us, giving sight to the blind, and restoring us to him.

Even if you don't care about modernism, postmodernism, epistemology, or anything of the sort (explicitly, that is) than you should at least care about what the Gospel is. The Dr. D. A. Carson did a plenary address at the Gospel Coalition conference back in 2007. In it he gave an excellent breakdown of what the Gospel is, beginning with what the gospel is not....

The Gospel is Not...
...a narrow set of teachings. It's not a list of instructions. It's not a list of "do's" and "don'ts" that are there to help tip people into Salvation, with a set of doctrines and other things to follow. It's not the first and second commandments, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbour as yourself. And they are not ethical teachings of Jesus devoid of anything doing with his death and resurrection. These things are all important. Hugely important. But they do not constitute the gospel.

We can all get excited about these issues. The danger is when the Gospel becomes the assumptions, and our passions are ignited over peripheral issues. Not to downplay the importance of them (e.i. good marriages, community, social justice, etc) but when the Gospel is ignored you risk reducing things to moralism--a works righteousness. But what makes the Gospel so important is its literal meaning, good news.

The Gospel by which you are saved is bound up in the fact that Christ died for our sins, was buried, raised on the third day and appeared to many people - the apostles and others. (D. A. Carson, paraphrased)


More on what the Gospel is to be continued...