Reform the gospel

Dear brother:

That the evangelical world is painfully divided, nobody can deny it. It is true that many of the discrepancies are due to personalisms, traditions and purely subjective motivations. More worrying, however, is the doctrinal fragmentation: that having a faith, a Lord and a baptism (and a Bible, we would add), there is such a diversity of beliefs and practices. Thus, we have positions as diverse as those of Baptists and Paido-Baptists, Presbyterians and Congregationalists, charismatics and non-charismatics, Millennialists and Amileanists, Calvinists and Arminians.

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Of course, when we evangelicals recognize this discordant multiplicity, we quickly rush to emphasize the unity we enjoy in terms of the fundamental: the inspiration and authority of the Bible, the divinity of Christ and, most especially, the Gospel. "We have the same Gospel in common", we affirm, "we all believe in justification by faith alone".

So, at least, it should be. Since we do not have an infallible pope, and we believe in the free examination and freedom and dignity of the individual, in addition to recognizing the imperfection of our fallen state, we are not surprised by the error and dissension in secondary doctrines, while demanding a absolute minimum of beliefs to achieve salvation and carry the evangelical label. Although this minimum is increasingly reduced in modern confessions of faith ... when they exist!

In speaking of unity in the Gospel, however, we may be assuming too much. The terms "Gospel" and "evangelical" are used more and more lightly and, what is worse, they are increasingly empty of content. The theology of the Gospel is being lost. Moreover, for some, the Gospel and theology are antagonistic concepts: "I believe in the Gospel, but do not talk to me about theology," you hear people say sometimes.

But is there anything more theological than the Gospel? Of course, the Gospel is a spiritual and salvific experience for the believer, but if we divest the Gospel of its doctrinal framework, what remains but a subjective experience that is little different from any other religious experience?

When Luther discovered the Gospel, it not only transformed his heart, but all his theology, and it was the theology of the Gospel that shocked half of Europe. It is not an exaggeration to say that our interpretation of the whole Bible depends to a large extent on our exegesis of the Gospel.

But the Gospel that today is believed and preached, even in evangelical circles, is sometimes very far from the Gospel that rediscovered the Reformation. Faith alone and grace alone constitute the essence of the reformed Gospel. And although every evangelical would give his assent to this affirmation, many people actually fall into inconsistencies that distort the Gospel they profess to believe.

It is believed that there is grace in the Gospel, but a grace that does not intervene until the sinner shows interest or "decides" for Christ (as if a spiritual dead person could make decisions), when Paul speaks of "the grace that was given in Christ Jesus before the ages "(2 Timothy 1: 9), and God says:" I showed myself to those who did not ask about me "(Romans 10:20).

It is believed that in the Gospel salvation is by faith, but sinners are invited to "come forward", or "make a decision" or have an "experience", which gives a meritorious and subjective character to what It should be the opposite: an undeserved gift to sinners who, by nature, do not want to come to Christ to have life (John 5:40).

Dear brother, do not lose sight of the Gospel. We must reform the distorted Gospel of our days. Let us stand firm in the Gospel of the sovereign grace of God. There is no other Gospel.