Demythologizing the Gospel

by Rance Darity

"The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to

preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim
release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at
liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of
the Lord" (Luke 4:18,19).

Judged by the standards of traditional teaching, we might wonder

what these socially-laden terms have to do with preaching the gospel.
Doesn't the gospel simply deal with what we hear in church about
going to heaven, possessing assurance, and overcoming personal sin?
Isn't there a world of difference between the "real" gospel believed by
Christians and mere social concern for injustice?

Poverty, oppression, and captivity are most often interpreted by

conservative Christians in spiritual terms only, describing an inward
bondage to sin and corruption. On the other hand, liberal Christians
have a reputation for believing in a social gospel that plays down
spiritual conversion and interprets Jesus in predominately naturalistic
terms. But are either of these opposite approaches truly biblical? Are
we permitted to divide the social and spiritual sides of human
existence and limit the concern of the gospel to one dimension only?
Is the gospel spiritual, or is it social, or is it holistic?

To ask such questions may be too uncomfortable for some Christians.

To reexamine such basic issues may seem unnecessary and even
threatening. It is even likely that some will resist the challenge to
think through familiar paradigms and potentially discover just how
comprehensive the gospel really is. Nevertheless, serious Christians
ought to resist any traditional boundaries and rediscover the gospel in
its biblical wholeness.

In the following discussion, the case is made for a unified gospel that
encompasses the spiritual as well as the social. We maintain that to
believe in Jesus is more than a matter of getting into heaven. In fact,
we will challenge this common portrayal of the gospel as being
fundamentally flawed and mythical. However, our ultimate goal is to
be fully biblical and, if need be, to disabuse our minds of a conflicted
gospel that leads to the tragic loss of spiritual power, on the one
hand, or the disastrous depletion of compassionate concern for the
world's poor and oppressed, on the other.

1
Myths of Optional Concern

Myth # 1: The central concern of the Christian faith is the salvation

of individuals from eternal torment. The sinner who simply "accepts
Christ" is instantly assured of a place in heaven. This concern for the
saving of a person's soul is the essence of the church's missionary
mandate. Social justice and the improvement of society are temporal
matters that are important by virtue of our love for mankind;
however, they are secondary issues and concerns, peripheral to the
gospel.

Fact: The traditional gospel has remodeled the concrete and earthly
reality of God's plan for man into the one-dimensional world of the
spirit. The church needs to recover the essential historic nature of the
biblical message and to that extent surmount the over-spiritualization
of its message.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the unifying theme of the New Testament
and the foundation of the Christian faith. Jesus announced a gospel of
the kingdom, and the early church proclaimed Jesus as the Savior who
died for sinners and was raised to rule as Lord at God's right hand.
The thematic center of this gospel does not revolve around the limited
concern to save men's souls and transport them to heaven.

Rather than despising the world and looking for redemption

elsewhere, Christians are to pray for the arrival of God's kingdom and
the flourishing of His will on earth as it is in heaven. Believers are
given a heavenly calling for an earthly task. They are to seek those
things which are above, not as far-off contemplations, but as down-to-
earth necessities for flesh-and-blood existence.

From the start, in the preaching of Jesus, the various expectations of

salvation are concentrated into a single major focus: the dramatic
entrance of the "kingdom of God" into the dark shadows of human
history. Christian salvation derives its source and hope from the
restoration of all things under the lordship of Christ. The whole of
creation will, at Christ's return, partake of the glorious liberty awaiting
the children of God.

In his cross and resurrection, Christ established shalom/peace,

reconciling mankind to God and to one another. This reconciling work
begins in the church and foreshadows the wholeness of salvation in
the age to come. Placed in the setting of the present darkness, a new
community of believers shines forth as light, models the future and
engenders improved social change in the present. Through its
endurance and faithful service, it fills up the sufferings of Christ for
the sake of the world.

2
Thus, the gospel of the kingdom focuses holistically upon man's
plight, demanding both spiritual repentance and social renewal. The
mistake of removing the substance of the kingdom from the earth to
the ethereal space of heavenly dwellings is to disengage the
conscience of the church from vital concerns of man's existence and
limit the lordship of Christ to an inward religious experience.

Matt. 5:14-16; 6:10-12; Luke 4:43; Acts 2:22-36; Rom. 8:18-23; 2 Cor.
5:17-19; Eph. 1:10; 2:14-18; Phil. 2:15; Col. 1:19,24; Jas. 3:17-18.

Myth # 2: The spiritual well-being of man is the premier concern of

the gospel, and it is possible to water down the message if Christians
expend too much effort in causes of social justice and economic
development. A social gospel would diminish the true witness of the
church. Christians can and do play a significant role of social up-
building in the daily rounds of family, work and cultural involvement,
but the church must keep to its task of preaching the gospel. Its
wealth should be invested primarily in its own maintenance and
propagation, supporting approved clergy, missionaries, and church
personnel. Support of the poor and needy, relief of the suffering, and
good works are legitimate concerns but purely secondary in nature.

Fact: To reduce the role of the church to religious enterprises, altar

calls, and revivals is to abandon the dynamic power of the kingdom of
God. Rather than restrict the primary agenda to the saving of souls,
Christ's followers are to teach and instruct others in the full counsel of
God. The ministry of evangelism serves the goal of God in the
furtherance of the kingdom, making disciples of all nations and
teaching them to observe all that Christ commands. All of life is to be
conformed to Christ and his word.

Individuals are challenged to repentance and faith in Christ, but

conversion was never divorced from ethical obligations and practical
concerns in the broader world. Rather than awaiting escape to
another world, they are sent abroad on the earth - hearts, hands, and
minds intent on doing good works and faithfully serving in the name
of Christ.

The restoration of economic justice was a major component in the

jubilee agenda of Christ and the kingdom. He preached good news to
the poor and deprived. The early church brought its material
resources to bear upon the relief of the poor and needy, especially
those in her midst. Ministering workers were passionately supported
in their love for Christ. The Bible often reports the zeal of caring and
sharing so that each received according to his need, and each gives
according to his ability. The economics of greed and accumulation

3
were viewed as fatal hindrances to obeying the gospel.

Matt. 28:19,20; Mark 9:41; Luke 4:18,19; Acts 2:44,45; 4:32-37; Acts
20:25,27; Rom. 12:1,2; 2 Cor. 8,9.

The Myth of Evangelical Dualism

Myth # 3: Since man's body is only physical and destined to perish,

the soul of man is the primary concern of the gospel. At death, the
soul of the Christian leaves the body and is transported to heaven to
await the resurrection of the body. In contrast, the soul of the non-
Christian is destined for eternal torment in hellfire. Missions and
evangelism must therefore focus superior attention on getting people
"saved." Education, physical healing, social justice and peacemaking
are merely means to preserve the world before the final day of
destroying judgment.

Fact: Though the post-apostolic church in large measure succumbed

to Hellenistic abstractions and learned to place an emphasis on the
supposed immortality of man's soul and original corruption, it could
only do so by abandoning the earthly/historical nature of the biblical
message.

The Abrahamic promise to bless all nations through the call of Israel
and its ultimate fulfillment in Christ loses its most essential elements
when Christian hope is reduced to a going-to-heaven eschatology. The
shift from resurrection faith to post-mortem immortality severely
deflates the meaning of the gospel by driving a wedge between
creation and redemption.

The popular and traditional interpretation of the gospel often breeds

an other-worldly detachment from human evil and suffering which the
biblical gospel does not allow. At the very core of Christ's message
was the same concern for mercy, justice, and liberation as demanded
by the Hebrew prophets. His powerful teaching and mighty miracles
were not isolated instances of occasional compassion, but the signs
and presence of the kingdom of God in action. The time was fulfilled
and the kingdom of God was at hand. A new age was breaking into
the old and fresh hopes and dreams would be realized in tomorrow's
world. Old regimes would one day come to an end - the proud would
be scattered, the mighty put down from their thrones and the rich
sent away hungry - and a complete social reversal would occur. The
meek would inherit the earth, the poor would be blessed, the merciful
would obtain mercy.

All of this is very different from the familiar themes inherited from the

4
past, where we are told to be sorry for our sins and accept Christ as
our own personal individual Savior. This limited concern for our own
destiny does not reach to the core of biblical mission and kingdom
evangelism. True conversion is more than a dress rehearsal for
heaven that refuses to go beyond the mere requirements of pietistic
customs. It is more than the mere transfer from unchurched to
churched, from irreligious to religious, from disgraceful to respectable.

Gen. 12:2,3; Isa. 10:1,2; 56:1; 61:8; Matt. 5:3-7; 9:13,16,17; 12:7;
23:23; Mark 1:15; Luke 1:51-53; 11:20; Acts 4:21; Rom. 4:13; 1 Cor.
15; Rev. 21.

Myths of Decisional Evangelism

Myth # 4: The Bible contains a "simple plan of salvation" for the

evangelization of sinners. Evangelism is based on one's ability to
share the steps to Christ. Deciding for Christ and praying a sinner's
prayer are the only assurance one needs of his conversion to God.

Fact: Though the practice of presenting the gospel in the manner of a

formula or plan has the endorsement of traditional "evangelical
theology" and though many have been won to Christ and have found
a point of entry into the kingdom of God through such "soul-winning"
approaches, the practice is nevertheless a truncated version of the
apostolic preaching reported in the New Testament. Attempts to
confine the good news along the narrow lines of decision-making
often create one more obstacle to true repentance and saving faith.

Depending upon the time, place and audience, the proclamation of

Christ was the announcement of an arriving kingdom, the promise of
forgiveness and eternal life, or a reign of justice and peace. Faith,
repentance, conversion, obedience, cross-bearing, self-denial, the
forsaking of all, discipleship, baptism, and service of God and man are
just a few of the central responses alternately demanded by the
gospel. In short, the biblical gospel invades the totality of human life
including the personal, social, economic, religious and secular.

"Soul-winning evangelism" reduces the gospel to individualistic,

existential terms and leaves unchallenged the status quo of worldly
principalities and powers. Kingdom evangelism announces the reign
of God in such a way that conversion is not merely the decision to
simply believe, with little or no reflection or resolution. On the
contrary, real conversion is the initiation of the whole of a person's life
into the service of the kingdom.

By God's grace, sinners are regenerated by God's Spirit and

5
transformed in the new community. They discover a new life in Christ,
no longer based on selfish ambition. As a little flock gathered by the
Shepherd, they are given a kingdom which cannot fail or be
extinguished by the forces of hell. Joined together by one Lord, one
Spirit and one baptism, they share a common life, closely comparable
to a body, a family, a nation, a city, etc. Agape/love must referee their
shared joys and sorrows. Salvation is a community existence, not an
isolated religious experience.

Matt. 12:18,46-50; 16:18; 26:28; 28:19; Mark 1:15; 8:34-9:1; 16:16;

Luke 6:24; 12:22-34; 14:26-35; 18:7,8; 19:8,9; John 3:16; 10:1-18;
Rom. 6:4; 12:4-8; 1 Cor. 12:12-31; 13; Gal. 6:10; Eph. 4:4-6; Tit. 2:11-
14; Heb. 2:11,12; 2 Pet. 2:5; Rev. 1:6.

Myth # 5: The gospel from Genesis to Revelation revolves around the

issue of law and grace. The great question facing mankind is how
man, the sinner, can find a gracious God. The task of evangelism is
mainly to clarify the doctrine of justification by faith. Further, the
proper confession of this doctrine is the issue by which the church
stands or falls.

Fact: The extremely difficult and complex resolution to how

uncircumcised Gentiles could be accepted into one body with
circumcised Jews was an issue that occupied the considered attention
of the early church. Paul, as a Jew and yet apostle to the Gentiles, was
especially in the forefront of dealing with this enormous obstacle to
unity in the body of Christ. The law/grace, faith/works,
circumcision/uncircumcision matters belonged entirely in this religious
context.

Employing the end-time status of the messianic mission of Jesus, Paul

argued from the law and prophets for the essential truth of the
universality of the gospel. All men and women, Jew and Gentile alike
are in need of salvation, equal in their participation in the grace of
God, and full partners in the unified community.

Circumcision and the law add nothing to the efficacy of God's promise
to save in Christ all who believe. Justification by faith is the truth that
allows us to see one another as brothers and sisters, regardless of
cultural/religious differences. We are to receive and eat with all whom
Christ has received. We deny the truth of the gospel when we make
any extraneous laws, customs or ethnic concerns prerequisites to
salvation or conditions of fellowship.

In much of the history of Christianity, the theme of justification by

faith has been anachronistically contorted in another direction.

6
Abstracted from its original context, it has acquired a new meaning,
defining who is and who is not "saved" based on agreement with
confessional orthodoxy. As a result, differing convictions have
hardened into a permanent split in the body of Christ, contradicting
the original intention and goal of the gospel of peace.

As a commanding canon of interpretation, the issue has cast a long

shadow over the entire Bible and obscured the otherwise plain terms
of the gospel. If "justification by faith" was the indispensable issue to
explicate in the gospel witness, then it was conspicuously absent in
the preaching of Jesus and carelessly disregarded by the majority of
evangelistic appeals in Scripture.

Acts 15:1-35; Rom. 1-4; 14:1-15:22; Galatians 1-6; Eph. 2:11-3:12;

Phil. 3:1-11.