{"id":687,"date":"2010-08-05T20:28:16","date_gmt":"2010-08-06T00:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/faculty.bbc.edu\/mstallard\/?p=687"},"modified":"2010-08-05T20:28:16","modified_gmt":"2010-08-06T00:28:16","slug":"gospel-centeredness-jesus-and-social-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/2010\/08\/gospel-centeredness-jesus-and-social-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Gospel-centeredness, Jesus, and Social Action"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently attended the Bible Faculty Summit conference on Christology which was held this year at Maranatha Baptist College.\u00a0 I delivered a paper entitled “Gospel-centeredness, Jesus, and Social Action.”\u00a0 In that paper I critique Richard Stearns’ recent\u00a0book A Hole in our Gospel<\/em> and the writings of N. T. Wright.\u00a0 In the former, I show that the definition of the gospel has been expanded wrongfully\u00a0to include the so-called social gospel.\u00a0 In the latter, I show that the implications of the gospel are inappropriately expanded in the social direction.<\/p>\n

In doing this analysis, I wanted to support social action for Christians (which I believe in) and not just have a knee-jerk response to liberal social gospel ethics.\u00a0 However, I wanted the Bible’s teaching to clearly draw the parameters and definitions.\u00a0 Although I greatly respect Stearns’ desire for more social action on the part of Christians,\u00a0 I do not believe that this need justifies expanding the biblical definition of the gospel.\u00a0 I have provided an excerpt below of my critique of Stearns.\u00a0 I am doing some additions to the paper.\u00a0 I hope to post a link to the completed work when I am finished.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A Cloudy Definition of the Word Gospel<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Early on in his book, Stearns shows the imprecise use of the term gospel<\/em> which will characterize his work.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The idea behind The Hole in Our Gospel<\/em> is quite simple.\u00a0 It\u2019s basically the belief that being a Christian, or follower of Jesus Christ, requires much more than just having a personal and transforming relationship with God.\u00a0 It also entails a public and transforming relationship with the world\u2026Embracing the gospel, or good news, proclaimed by Jesus is so much more than a private transaction between God and us.\u00a0 The gospel itself was born of God\u2019s vision of changed people, challenging and transforming the prevailing values and practices of our world.\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus called the resulting new world order \u201cthe kingdom of God\u201d and said that it would become a reality through the lives and deeds of His followers.[1]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0The simple idea of the book is appropriate in my judgment.\u00a0 One of the implications of following Christ is that it involves my relationship with God at a personal level and with others in the world at a horizontal level.\u00a0 We could perhaps discuss in more detail what the content of \u201ctransforming\u201d is for both the personal and public relationships.\u00a0 However, following Christ does indeed involve a full-orbed Christian worldview lived fully in loving God and others.\u00a0 This much is not problematic.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 However, notice that an embrace of the gospel is more than a private transaction between God and us.\u00a0 At this point I get concerned.\u00a0 Does this mean that what Jesus accomplished on the Cross is the basis for the redemption of all things, including creation and social structures?\u00a0 There may be room for a positive discussion if that is the point.\u00a0 However, there is the indication that Stearns is using the word gospel<\/em> to encompass the social action that is one of the implications of a life lived following Christ.\u00a0 There is no hint that the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, the good news that when embraced leads to the justification of the sinner (the Pauline definition of the gospel).\u00a0 Then the sinner from the vantage point of a right relationship with God can live in the world and love the world as he should including the proclamation of the gospel of eternal life and social engagement as appropriate.\u00a0 Instead of this summary, Stearns\u2019 words come across as the following message to Christians:\u00a0 \u201cyou need to do social action because that is part of what the gospel means.\u201d[2]<\/a>\u00a0 That such a reading of Stearns is what is meant can be discerned by his association of the gospel with the doctrine of the kingdom, a topic to be discussed later.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I find it quite interesting that many chapters of the book never mention the gospel.\u00a0 Beyond that, others simply attach the word gospel<\/em> to a discussion where it is not really needed.\u00a0 For example, in a chapter entitled \u201cThe Great Omission,\u201d Stearns appropriately challenges believers to give their lives for others in terms of justice and eliminating hunger.[3]<\/a>\u00a0 Then out of the blue, he brings in the word gospel<\/em> when the word does not occur in any of the passages which he surfaces:\u00a0 \u201cWhen we do<\/em> the gospel\u2014the whole<\/em> gospel\u2014the world takes notice and likes what it sees.\u201d[4]<\/a>\u00a0 It is clear that in Stearns\u2019 mind the gospel is something more than the good news of the Cross.\u00a0 It encompasses the obedience of the believer in carrying out the love ethic taught in the Bible.\u00a0 While proclamation of the obedience is good, the labeling of the obedience as part of the gospel is not.[5]<\/a>\u00a0 The gospel is not something that involves us doing something.\u00a0 It is something that God has done in space and time on our behalf.\u00a0 Our embrace of it by faith drastically changes who we are and what we can do in the world.\u00a0 We must say these things carefully.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Again, Stearns notes the expansive nature of the gospel when he says \u201cJesus seeks a new world order in which this whole gospel, hallmarked by compassion, justice, and proclamation of the good news, becomes a reality, first in our hearts and minds, and then in the wider world through our influence.\u201d[6]<\/a>\u00a0 While he accurately shows here that the vertical leads to the horizontal in our relationships, the gospel (more properly the whole<\/em> gospel) is something that becomes a reality<\/em> in Stearns\u2019 way of thinking.\u00a0 It is not something that God has done in space and time (although it no doubt includes that in Stearns\u2019 theology).\u00a0 The implication is that the gospel here is something that is done in the area of compassion and justice along with the proclamation of the good news (gospel?).\u00a0 The mention of the latter in this way makes one wonder if there is more than one gospel that is being discussed:\u00a0 the gospel of eternal life and a wider gospel that includes the narrow gospel plus the life lived out in social action.\u00a0 Such presentations lack clarity and, in my opinion, do not help to generate social action on the part of genuine believers.\u00a0 On the other side, they may lead to a lack of clarity in evangelistic appeals.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Ibid., 2-3.\u00a0\u00a0 [The page numbers are from Stearns’ book]<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Elsewhere Stearns says that \u201cthis gospel\u2014the whole gospel\u2014means much more than the personal salvation of individuals.\u00a0 It means a social revolution<\/em>\u201d (20).<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 186.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid.\u00a0 The emphasis is provided by Stearns.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid., 124.\u00a0 In this later chapter, Stearns cites Paul\u2019s words in 2 Corinthians 9:6-15.\u00a0 Verse thirteen is the crucial verse:\u00a0 \u201cmen will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ.\u201d\u00a0 It is quite easy to see that Paul is praising the Corinthians because their care and love for the poor helps to demonstrate to the world their attachment to a Christ who loves that world.\u00a0 Stearns would agree with this.\u00a0 But he goes further: \u201cThere\u2019s that \u2018whole gospel\u2019 again that is so attractive to people, giving evidence of the coming kingdom of God.\u201d\u00a0 The word gospel<\/em> is stretched to include not only what God has done through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, but also to include the positive behavior of Christians who prove their attachment to Christ by social action.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid., 243.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently attended the Bible Faculty Summit conference on Christology which was held this year at Maranatha Baptist College.\u00a0 I delivered a paper entitled “Gospel-centeredness, Jesus, and Social Action.”\u00a0 In that paper I critique Richard Stearns’ recent\u00a0book A Hole in our Gospel and the writings of N. T. Wright.\u00a0 In the former, I show that […]<\/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\/687"}],"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=687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/our-hope.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}