Gospel: Rich and Sharp
Posted on 24. Nov, 2009 by stevehart in Uncategorized
Here are some thoughts from Tim Keller that are shaping my thinking along the lines of the Hirsch’s central confession of “Jesus Is Lord.” I felt like there was something “off” about his presentation of it, and I think Keller hits it on the head. The whole article can be found here and the audio messages are here. This quote comes from his message on Church and Culture.
“Where do we go from here? First and foremost, we need a richer yet sharpened understanding of the gospel. Evangelicals today are in turmoil over the nature of the gospel. Many look at the traditional evangelical gospel and complain that it has been individualistic, shallow, and ‘gnostic.’ A classic street version of it was ‘Jesus died for your sins so you could have a personal relationship with him.’ They argue that this older articulation of the gospel gives the impression that escaping this world into heaven is all that matters.
“In the place of this older formulation, many evangelicals say that the gospel is ‘Jesus is Lord, the kingdom is at hand.’ In this narrative, Jesus’ death doesn’t assuage God’s wrath against our sin so much as it absorbs the world’s evil and violence. In his death he defeats the powers of the world, shows the way of non-violence and service, and calls us to join his kingdom community and work for peace and justice in the world. Those who speak in terms of kingdom and overcoming the powers rather than substitution assuaging the wrath, want a gospel that shapes the practices of the Christian in the world. They see the effects of a more individualistic gospel on people who treat it as just a ‘get out of hell free’ card that does not transform their lives. In general, the counter-culturalists and many of the evangelical relevants lean toward this way of communicating the gospel.
“The trouble is, however, that this way of speaking often obscures the sharpness of the distinction between Law and Gospel that the Reformers expressed so well, and which was at the heart of the great awakenings. We are saved by grace through Christ’s work, not through our own work. If the gospel is mainly, ‘repent of living for yourself and join Jesus’ kingdom program’ it can be just one more legalism. The pietists and the conservative activists will rightly object that the law-grace distinction is often obscured in the efforts to show the gospel’s rich relevance to human life and problems. We must get to the place where we see both the richness and the sharpness of the gospel. Even more, we must see it is its sharpness that makes it so rich. The implications of the gospel of grace-not works can transform and reshape all attitudes, views, relationships, and cultural interactions. Look at how this works out in the Corinthian letters. When Paul denounces the Corinthians’ divisions and party spirit (1:10-17) he says that they comes from pride and boasting, a betrayal of the gospel of sovereign grace (1:26-31.) When Paul deals with the issue of sexual sin and discipline in chapters 5-6, he gives directions for behavior and grounds his appeal in the gospel of justification (6:11) and the fact that they were ransomed by the death of Christ (6:19- 20.) In 2 Cor 9:13 he says that radical, humble generosity is being ‘submissive to the confession of the gospel’ (i.e. materialism fails to take seriously the gospel of Christ’s sacrificial death for us.)
“Similarly, in Galatians 2:14 Paul challenges Peter’s racist attitudes toward Gentile Christians by insisting that he was not ‘walking in line with the truth of the gospel,’ that truth being the gospel of forensic justification. Gospel ministry, then, is not only proclaiming it to people so that they will embrace and believe it, it also teaching and shepherding believers with it so that it shapes the entirety of their lives, inside the church and out in the world. For evangelicals to move forward, they must be able to come together around a richer understanding of God’s will for a renewed world without losing the sharpness and power of the classic Protestant understanding of the gospel. If our strategy does not arise out of our grasp of the gospel, then will be just one more effort to control culture through some technique. We will then just be like everyone else.
“If we do arrive at a consensus, and together hold a rich and sharpened understanding of the gospel, what will our strategy for engaging culture look like?”
