The Gospel's Hard Edge

"The gospel is not good advice - it's good news!"

It seems to me that the above slogan went viral in the evangelical world after Gospel Coalition co-founder Tim Keller expounded upon it at a conference in 2007. Keller referred to a sermon some decades ago where Martyn Lloyd-Jones explained, "Advice is counsel about something to do. It hasn’t happened yet, but you can do it. News is a report about something that has happened. You can’t do anything about it - it’s been done for you and all you can do is respond to it.” Keller went on to illustrate the point with the metaphor of the aftermath of a military victory. He said,

Here is a king and he goes into a battle against an invading army to defend his land. If the king defeats the invading army he sends back to the capital city messengers, very happy messengers. He sends back “good news-ers”. What they come back with is a report. They come back and they say, “It has been defeated! It’s all been done! Therefore respond with joy and conduct your lives in this peace which has been achieved for you.”

But if the invading army breaks through, the king sends back military advisers and says, “Swordsmen over here and marksmen over here and the horsemen over here. We’re going to have to fight for our lives.” Dr. Lloyd-Jones says that every other religion sends military advisers to people. Every other religion says, “You know, if you want your salvation, you’re going to have to fight for your life.” Every other religion is sending advice, saying, “Here are the rites, here are the rituals, and here are the laws and regulations. Earthen works over here, marksmen over here. Fight for your life.”

Not long after Keller gave his message, evangelical pulpits exploded with variations on the theme, "The gospel is not good advice - it's good news!" I heard it dozens of times. Typically the theme is developed this way: "The gospel is not about things you have to do but about what has been done. If you think about what you have to do you'll be motivated by fear rather than gratitude." Fear, then, is usually denounced as an unchristian provocation to goodness. As Keller explained, "one is a response of joy, and one is a response of fear. All other religions give advice, and they drive everything you’re doing on fear."

I find two problems with the Keller/Lloyd-Jones characterization of the gospel. Lord willing I will deal with the second in an upcoming essay.

The first involves a stunningly unreflective assumption about the audience to whom gospel proclamation is made. Note that in the illustration above the victorious king has sent "good news-ers" back to the capital city, that is, back to the side that will certainly win. Happy indeed are the messengers who report victory to the king's loyal subjects in Capital City. These joyful subjects can celebrate the good news and get to work, motivated not by fear of failure but by the assurance that the conflict will end in their favor, that long life will be theirs, and peace will reign. For this audience of gospel proclamation, the Keller/Lloyd-Jones rhetoric works very well.

But my question is, "Is all the world a Capital City filled with the King's loyal subjects?"

No. Not at all. Not in the least. In Philippians 3:18-19 the Apostle Paul writes, "For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things." These are not friends of the King who should have no fear because the forces of evil have suffered a crucial defeat and victory is assured. Though there will be victory, it is not for them. Having allied themselves with evil, their end is destruction.

Now a second question. "When you read the Bible and you see the gospel being proclaimed, who is being addressed - the King's subjects or the King's enemies?"

Both! The answer is both. And believe me, when the King's enemies are given the gospel, they are not told, "Rejoice! Don't be afraid! I don't want you to be motivated by fear or anything. It's all been done for you." The people whom Paul labels "enemies of the cross of Christ" are not given a gospel that Keller defines as "a message that it’s all been done for you, that it’s a historical event that’s happened, your salvation is accomplished for you." Instead, they are commanded, "Fear God. Surrender. Repent." Contrary to Keller, they are not comforted with the joyful message that their salvation is accomplished but rather terrified with the fearful threat that condemnation hangs over their damned heads. If that does not frighten you, then I do not believe you have understood the gospel.

The point is worth documenting with some actual New Testament usages of the words euangelion ("gospel") and euangelizomai ("gospelize", "preach the gospel").

Luke 3:18 says, "with many other exhortations he [John the Baptist] preached good news ('gospelized') to the people." Read the verses preceding and succeeding verse 18, and you will see what John's gospel involved. It included warnings about judgment and commandments about what his listeners needed to do. "You brood of vipers!" he cried. "Bear fruits in keeping with repentance" (verses 7-8). "Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire" (verse 9). When asked by people what they should do, he gave real answers. To those with means he said, "Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none" (verse 11). To tax collectors he said, "Collect no more than you are authorized to do" (verse 13). To soldiers he said, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages" (verse 14). The one thing he didn't say - as far as we know - was, "Rejoice, and don't be motivated by fear. All other religions of the world try to motivate you with fear. I'm here to tell you the good news that it's all been done for you - or, rather, soon everything will be done for you once Jesus dies on the cross." In all the sermons that the Bible records, both before and after the crucifixion of Jesus, the gospel is never preached that way.

I believe that the next verse, Luke 3:19, gives an example of what it may look like to "gospelize" an individual who deliberately chooses to hold God in contempt. It says that John reproved Herod for adultery and "all the evil things that Herod had done." Warning is also gospel.

Luke 2:10 contains an instructive use of "gospelize". There it looks like good news pure and simple. An angel appears to shepherds and announces the birth of Jesus, saying, "I bring you good tidings (euangelizomai) of great joy." The Savior was born. And that certainly was happy news for worthy shepherds, even as it was for Simeon and Anna later in the chapter (verses 25-38), and for "those with whom he [God] is pleased" (verse 14). They were promised peace.

But how did the exact same news sound in the ears of Herod the Great? It was a nightmare. He was troubled rather than joyful when he heard that a king had been born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:3). His reign of terror was over. Like a crazed Saddam Hussein he ordered the slaughter of all the baby boys in the region in a vain attempt to eliminate his rival (verse 16). The point worth dwelling upon is that the same gospel proclamation was a blessing for some (Mary, Joseph, shepherds, wise men, Simeon, Anna) and a curse for others (Herod the Great, Herod Antipas, Caiaphas, and the hopelessly corrupt religious establishment). It is precisely parallel to the "aroma-of-Christ" metaphor that the Apostle Paul develops in 2 Corinthians 2:15-16: "For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life." Our message is cherry blossoms to some and mustard gas to others.

Now consider the gospel-preaching angel in Revelation 14:6-7:

Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel (euangelion) to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And he said with a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water."

Let it be noted how far this angel's gospel is from the one that says, "Don't be motivated by fear. I'm not here to give you advice about how to be right with God. All other religions do that. No, I'm telling you the joyful news that it's already all been done for you, your salvation has already been accomplished." This angel does not dismiss the fear of God but commands it! And in addition to commanding the fear of the Lord, he tells his audience two things they must do: give glory to God and worship him who made heaven and earth. If they do not do that, they will not be saved. Read the rest of Revelation 14 to see what happens to them.

Fellow preachers, know your audience and take them into account when you tailor the gospel message to them. Do not say to enemies of the cross what must only be affirmed to loyal subjects of the King. To the penitent malefactor Jesus said, "Today you will be with me in paradise" - and that is the kind of joyous news we can share with all who humble themselves and who beg Jesus for mercy. But to those who are like the man on the other side of the cross, the one who dismissed Jesus with contempt, the gospel begins with sober words of warning like the dagger of a question that the crucified sinner dared to pose to his counterpart: "Don't you fear God?"