{"id":1046,"date":"2012-06-28T13:50:56","date_gmt":"2012-06-28T17:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/?p=1046"},"modified":"2012-06-28T14:02:54","modified_gmt":"2012-06-28T18:02:54","slug":"the-words-of-the-gospel-of-eternal-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/the-words-of-the-gospel-of-eternal-life\/","title":{"rendered":"The Words of the Gospel of Eternal Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I appreciate the recent article by Duane Litfin in Christianity Today<\/em>, May 2012, entitled “You Can’t Preach the Gospel with Deeds and Why It’s Important to Say So.”\u00a0 In some earlier posts and previous articles I have lamented the problem of expanding the definition of the gospel of eternal life to include within the umbrella of the definition the social implications of that gospel.\u00a0 Hence, attempts are made to place what has been termed the “social gospel” under the definition of what the Bible means by the word gospel<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0Litfin’s article assists us in the direction that I would like to see us go.\u00a0 It is the biblical direction in my view.\u00a0 It is also not a denigration of the responsibility of Christians to do social action as a witness to the gospel or an act of love in Jesus’ name.\u00a0 But Litfin articulates with clarity the importance of the out loud declaration in words of the content of the gospel of eternal life.\u00a0 Note this paragraph from his article:<\/p>\n

“So let us say it again:\u00a0 The belief that we can ‘preach the gospel’ with our actions alone represents muddled thinking.\u00a0 However important our actions may be (and they are very important indeed), and whatever else they may be doing (they serve a range of crucial functions), they are not ‘preaching the gospel.’\u00a0 The gospel is inherently verbal, and preaching it is inherently verbal behavior.\u00a0 If the gospel is to be communicated at all, it must be put into words.”\u00a0 (p. 41)<\/p>\n

I have not yet read Litfin’s new book Word versus Deed: Resetting the Scales to a Biblical Balance<\/em>.\u00a0 However, in light of the CT article, I think I would find it agreeable and useful.\u00a0 Beyond that, the expected harmony with Scripture makes the book an attractive purchase.\u00a0 Interestingly, Jesus said in John 5:24, “…he who hears My word<\/strong> and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life…”\u00a0 Our good deeds may point people to God\u00a0so they can consider His work\u00a0(Matt. 5:16), but salvation comes by believing in the words of eternal life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I appreciate the recent article by Duane Litfin in Christianity Today, May 2012, entitled “You Can’t Preach the Gospel with Deeds and Why It’s Important to Say So.”\u00a0 In some earlier posts and previous articles I have lamented the problem of expanding the definition of the gospel of eternal life to include within the umbrella […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1046"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1050,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046\/revisions\/1050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}