“Gospel-Centered” Pitfalls Part 1-Defining Gospel-Centrality

We’ll get to the J-word next post. But I didn’t feel I could rightly discuss potential hazards and missteps of “Gospel centrality” without first laying a basic grid for what I mean by the term. After all, without knowing the destination, it’s hard to know whether course corrections are needed.

The idea of being Gospel-centered is scriptural. Essentially, it means that the joyful announcement that God has entered human history in the person of Jesus Christ to fulfill his promises, redeem his people, conquer sin and evil and death, and restore and re-create this world is not just the start but the whole of the Christian life. All of our fundamental human needs are addressed in the Gospel.  Everything we need to know Jesus and become more like him is addressed in the Gospel. We don’t ever move on. And here are some Scriptures where I see this:

Paul tells us in Colossians 2, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” Note the connection between the manner of our initial receiving Christ and the way we continue to live.

1 Corinthians 15- “”Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.” We received the Gospel and have taken our stand (baptism?)- Note the past tense. We also are saved (present tense- literally “you are being saved”). We don’t let go of the Gospel after becoming Christians like a torn movie stub after we enter the theater. 1 Corinthians 15, in fact, Paul goes on to remind them of the Gospel in order to address present shortcomings in their lifestyles. (And of course, he’s already done that throughout the letter as he deals with each topic under discussion.)

James 2- “”My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.” James? Who knew there was Gospel-centrality in James? But James often argues from the Gospel to ground his commands. Here, he’s claiming there is something inherent in the Gospel of Jesus that doesn’t allow us to show favoritism. And 2:1 isn’t the only place he argues in this way.

Hebrews. No proof texts here, but the entire book is a summons to continue faith in Jesus alone for salvation. It assumes that professing believer can drift away from the faith (2:1) and that faith is the only way to please God (11:1). Hebrews reminds us that our faith in the Gospel of Jesus isn’t a 1-time checked box that we can move on from, but that we persevere in faith because the Gospel tells us that Jesus is our faithful priest and sacrifice who has opened the throne room of God to us.

(And don’t quote Hebrews to me about moving on from the Gospel to “deeper things”, since the stuff the author wants to move on to is a fuller exposition of the Gospel in light of the Old Testament sacrificial systems.)

Revelation 12- “”They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” Much like Hebrews, in Revelation it is the death and resurrection of Jesus that enables believers to continue through persecution and suffering. The conquering Lion is the sacrificial Lamb who was slain. “The word of their testimony” likely refers to their repeated witnessing to the Gospel of the crucified and Risen Christ, not to their own personal conversion stories.

We don’t have time to go into every place where this type of exhortation rooted in the Gospel narrative occurs. I deliberately only used Paul twice lest I be accused of importing Paul’s style on the rest of the New Testament (hmmm…wonder if that will show up later?). But above you have a basic grid for why I believe that the Gospel narrative of the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus isn’t just an introduction to Christianity, but the mould into which our Christian lives should be shaped. It addresses all of our fundamental needs and is the only thing that will enable us to persevere in faith.

 So next time we’ll discuss the first pitfall of Gospel-Centrality, namely dealing with the J-word. Justification.