Gospel-centricity: a warning and a recommendation

How do we move on to something new without straying from the Gospel? On the other hand, if the Gospel is so important, do we need to «go beyond» the Gospel in any sense?

These are two questions that arise in the context of the growing gospel-centric movement among evangelical Christians.

In this article, I will try to answer these two questions. The first one gives a recommendation, the second one a warning.

First, I want to point out that I think the growing focus on the gospel among evangelicals is a wonderful trend. These many voices are right in arguing that the gospel is central to sanctification, that the indicative justifies the imperative, and that we are not going beyond the gospel but rather into the gospel. All of these arguments have a deep biblical foundation.

Two Evangelical "isms": Essentialism and Reductionism

But perhaps someone will ask, «If the Gospel is so important, do we need to «go beyond» it in any way?»

Evangelical Christians are deeply essentialist. For various historically determined reasons, we like to reduce things to their bare essentials and get on with life. As I have often heard, we tend to have two modes: the essential and the insignificant.

One of the dangers of this new movement is that if the Gospel is «essential» (as it should be!), everything else will be relegated to the «minor.» I sometimes hear this hinted at in the warnings not to allow anything to overshadow or marginalize the Gospel in our lives and churches. Such warnings are necessary and accurate, but if we do not find a third space between the essential and the minor, the Gospel itself will be at risk. You cannot save the Gospel by focusing only on it. There are many doctrines and practices given by God that are necessary for this, and neglecting them threatens our safety.

For example:

• The doctrine of the Trinity is integral to the Gospel. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit play distinct roles in salvation, so any distortion of the understanding of the Trinity is a distortion of the Gospel itself.
• The truth of Scripture is a solid epistemological foundation for the Gospel. Our trust in Christ is based on the truth and reliability of God's Word.

Regarding practices that protect the Gospel, it is worth considering church membership and church discipline. As Jonathan Lyman has pointed out, church membership shows the world who represents Jesus, and church discipline guards the name of Jesus.

• Church membership defines a community of people who belong to the Gospel. It says to the world, «These are the people of the Gospel. These are the new people who are doing the Gospel.».
• Church discipline guards the image of the Gospel that the church presents to the world. It prevents the church from presenting a false image of the Gospel to all nations. This is achieved by reminding us of what a Christian is not: "This is not the life that flows from the Gospel.".

Moreover, as someone has said, church discipline is the Gospel in action. In Christ, God does not leave us in our sin. And we should not leave our brothers and sisters in their sin. Instead, we should approach them with loving rebuke and the free offer of forgiveness from Christ.

These doctrines and practices, along with many others, are closely related to the Gospel. They are organically connected with it. We cannot neglect them without harming our understanding and witness to the Gospel.

So my warning: Don’t let your gospel-centricity turn into gospel essentialism, which leads to gospel reductionism. Yes, make the gospel the center of your life and the life of your church. But don’t try to make it the only thing that matters.

Connect the dots

Now let’s move on to the first question: How do we go beyond the Gospel without leaving it? In other words, how can we preach and practice these things without leaving the Gospel behind?

Here is my recommendation: We do this by constantly connecting the dots between the Gospel and our doctrine and practice. We have already done so in this article. The Trinity, biblical authority, church membership, and church discipline are all organically connected to the Gospel. So are dozens of other important doctrines and practices.

The way a church leader can move beyond the Gospel without abandoning it is to make these organic connections clear in your preaching and teaching. The way you can focus on other issues without losing focus on the Gospel is to trace their connection to the Gospel.

So teach about church elders, child rearing, eschatology, dating, and baptism in the context of the Gospel and in a way that shows how each of these things relates to the Gospel. That way, other doctrines and practices will not compete with the Gospel. Instead, they will go hand in hand with it.

Don't let your Gospel-centricity turn into Gospel reductionism. Instead, connect the dots between the Gospel and everything else, including the structure and communal life of the local church.