Skip to main content

Mere Orthodoxy exists to create media for Christian renewal. Support this mission today.

Defining the Gospel

August 4th, 2010 | 1 min read

By Matthew Lee Anderson

Talking about the Gospel is all the rage these days.

Everyone wants to know precisely how big it should be–does it include working for justice (which is invariably social justice), or not?

With that in mind, I decided to put down my own definition, just for kicks. 

The gospel is the good news that God’s plan to establish a people for himself has not been thwarted by sin, but that we have been adopted as sons and daughters of God through the merciful atonement that his son Jesus Christ offered on the cross on our behalf, and that our restoration is applied to us through the power of His Holy Spirit.

Of course, that’s a way of putting it that might have so many ambiguities that it dissatisfies everyone.  I’m okay with that.

Many of the debates about the content of the Gospel rest are trying to navigate the relationship between the individual and the social, and ultimately end up relying a false bifurcation between them–which I see lots of good reasons to reject.

Matthew Lee Anderson

Matthew Lee Anderson is an Associate Professor of Ethics and Theology in Baylor University's Honors College. He has a D.Phil. in Christian Ethics from Oxford University, and is a Perpetual Member of Biola University's Torrey Honors College. In 2005, he founded Mere Orthodoxy.

Topics:

Bible