At T4G last week, Mark Dever’s session was on the all-too-common attempt to “improve” the Gospel beyond what it is. Tim Challies summarizes it very well:
His talk was built upon five “calls” that are dangerous to the gospel—five ways churches may be tempted to adapt or shrink or expand the gospel message in order to make it more palatable.
In short, the 5 dangerous “calls” are:
- Make the Gospel public
- Make the Gospel larger
- Make the Gospel relevant
- Make the Gospel personal
- Make the Gospel kinder
For more detail, read all of Challies’ overview here, or download the audio here.
What precisely is “the Gospel” Dever is referring to in his polemic? Does he ever clarify which specific “good news” he is referencing?
The Apostle Paul declared his “gospel” in 1 Corinthians 15.1-4.
1) His gospel is not according to man (Galatians 1.1 & 11)
2) His gospel involves the proclamation of the living resurrected Christ (Romans 16.25 & 2Timothy 2.8)
3) His gospel is illuminating of the glory of Christ (2Corinthians 4.4 & Hebrews 1.5)
4) His gospel involves the grace of God in Christ (Galatians 1.6 & 2.21)
5) His gospel was announced of necessity and constrained by the love of Christ (1 Cor. 9.16 & 13.1-3)
bruce wrote on December 1st, 2008 at 6:01 pm
With all due respect, Bruce, your questions would be more easily answered by Dr. Dever’s talk itself. (There is a download link in the original post.)
Barring that, Dr. Dever’s view of the gospel is well-publicized, starting with the 9 Marks website.
Also, several sites have recently posted a series of video interviews from Desiring God with Dr. Dever on the Gospel and evangelism.
Lastly, I would highly recommend the excellent book The Gospel and Personal Evangelism.
James Kubecki wrote on December 1st, 2008 at 9:54 pm