Gospel People E-Book

Michael Reeves

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

A Biblical Case for the Importance and Goodness of Being "Evangelical" The term evangelical is often poorly defined and frequently comes with cultural and political baggage. As the label has become more controversial, many Christians have begun to wonder if they should abandon it altogether. Michael Reeves argues from a global, scriptural, and historical perspective that, while it's not necessary to discard the label altogether, Christians must return to the root of the term—the evangel, or "gospel"—in order to understand what it truly means. He identifies the theology of evangelicalism and its essential doctrine—the Father's revelation in the Bible, the Son's redemption in the gospel, and the Spirit's regeneration of the heart—calling believers to stand with integrity as people of the gospel. - A Biblical and Theological Explanation of Evangelicalism: Rooted in Scripture and the writings of figures throughout church history - Globally-Minded: Explores evangelical theology and distinctives outside of narrow cultural definitions - Brief and Accessible: Written for both lay people and church leaders

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“God has always wanted a people, but how are they to be defined? In a day of growing confusion, Michael Reeves provides a superb description of their identity in his book Gospel People. Captivated and shaped by glorious gospel truths that motivate and excite them, they are to demonstrate a humility that is not quick to judge and divide from others while contending for definitive doctrines that must be clearly proclaimed to a needy world.”

Terry Virgo, Founder, Newfrontiers; author, God’s Treasured Possession

“Michael Reeves has written a simple explanation of Christian faith. Reeves considers the word evangelical biblically, theologically, and historically. Gospel People is written in the best tradition of Ryle, Stott, and Packer yet reaches back to include the Puritans and the early church fathers as well. This book is simple, clear, and clarifying. Read and profit.”

Mark Dever, Pastor, Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington, DC

“Michael Reeves is an evangelical in every best sense of the word—a gospel person who lives for the spiritual unity and integrity that his book Gospel People so beautifully illustrates. In a time of moral confusion, political polarization, and doctrinal apathy, Reeves gives the church a clear picture of Christian orthodoxy and the humble, holy lives that ordinary Christians ought to live as a result.”

Philip Graham Ryken, President, Wheaton College

“In both contemporary culture and the contemporary church, the term evangelical is discussed, distorted, or debased to such an extent that some think it should be discarded. In Gospel People, Michael Reeves undertakes an engaging process of theological retrieval and provides a clear, concise, and compelling definition of evangelicalism. His approach is thoroughly grounded in Scripture and draws on the wisdom of church history down through the centuries. His focus on God’s work of revelation, redemption, and regeneration will not only inform the mind but also warm the heart. His warnings against both doctrinal compromise and an overemphasis on secondary or tertiary issues will foster a deeper commitment to gospel unity and meaningful fellowship that is not rooted in mere politics or personalities.”

John Stevens, National Director, Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches

“In Gospel People, Michael Reeves challenges us as evangelicals to take a fresh look at the foundation that is already laid, which is Jesus Christ as he is revealed by the Father in Scripture and in the power of the Spirit (1 Cor. 3:11). We are exhorted to build high together from that foundation for the glory of God. Anchored deeply in church history, this book is very convicting. It calls us to reexamine what we today may be wrongly holding up as the dividing line between friend and foe. May we heed its call!”

Conrad Mbewe, Pastor, Kabwata Baptist Church, Lusaka, Zambia

Gospel People

Other Crossway Books by Michael Reeves

Rejoice and Tremble: The Surprising Good News of the Fear of the Lord

Spurgeon on the Christian Life: Alive in Christ

Theologians You Should Know: An Introduction: From the Apostolic Fathers to the 21st Century

What Does It Mean to Fear the Lord?

Why the Reformation Still Matters, with Tim Chester

Gospel People

A Call for Evangelical Integrity

Michael Reeves

Gospel People: A Call for Evangelical Integrity

Copyright © 2022 by Michael Reeves

Published by Crossway 1300 Crescent Street Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Jordan Singer

First printing 2022

Printed in the United States of America

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-7293-7 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-7296-8 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-7294-4 Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-7295-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Reeves, Michael (Michael Richard Ewert), author. 

Title: Gospel people : a call for evangelical integrity / Michael Reeves. 

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index. 

Identifiers: LCCN 2021029106 (print) | LCCN 2021029107 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433572937 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781433572944 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433572951 (mobipocket) | ISBN 9781433572968 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Evangelicalism. | Evangelistic work. 

Classification: LCC BR1640 .R438 2022 (print) | LCC BR1640 (ebook) | DDC 270.8/2—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021029106

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021029107

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2022-02-09 04:28:26 PM

How good and pleasant it is when brothers

strive side by side for the faith of the gospel.

For Dan

Contents

Acknowledgments

1  What Are Gospel People?

2  Revelation from the Father

3  Redemption by the Son

4  Regeneration through the Spirit

5  The Importance of Being Gospel People

6  Gospel Integrity

Appendix 1: Can Evangelicalism Be Defined?

Appendix 2: Does Evangelicalism Have a History?

General Index

Scripture Index

Acknowledgments

This book would not be what it is without the following people:

Dane Ortlund, who embodies what it means to be a person of the gospel, gave me the necessary push to put pen to paper.

Justin Taylor at Crossway generously went above and beyond what it means to be an editor and served as an exceptionally wise friend and counselor as I wrote.

Collin Hansen, Andrew Atherstone, Peter Comont, Dustin Benge, and John Stevens all read my initial manuscript and made many helpful comments that shaped the final work.

The team at Union, especially Joel Morris and Daniel Hames, supported and encouraged me as I wrote, modeling evangelical brotherliness and concern for the gospel.

My dear, wonderful wife, Bethan, who bore it all with me and upheld me with prayer and cheer.

To you all: thank you!

1

What Are Gospel People?

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

Jude 3

This is a book about being people of the gospel. In other words, this is a book about what it means to be evangelical. I believe that there is a biblical case to be made for the importance and the goodness of being evangelical.

I do not at all mean to defend everything that calls itself evangelical. Far from it. Looking around at the phenomenon of evangelicalism today, it often seems a mile wide and an inch deep. As Mark Noll famously put it, “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.”1The success of the label in the twentieth century meant that more and more wanted to appropriate it in some way, leaving it ever more theologically vacuous. Across the world, swathes have come to self-identify as evangelical without holding to classic evangelical beliefs. And then there is the problem of how being “evangelical” has become associated with particular cultures, with politics, or with race.

In other words, evangelicalism today is facing a crisis of integrity. “The evangelicals” are being defined—and even defining themselves—by agendas other than the gospel. We need to go back to our foundation, to “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints,” to become truly people of the gospel.

So what should it mean to be evangelical? We cannot simply look around at what we see of “evangelicalism” today. To understand and define evangelicalism properly, we must do as evangelicals themselves have traditionally done and hold it to its etymology in the evangel. Evangelicalism is defined by the evangel (euangelion being the Greek word for “good news”). Evangelicals are “gospel people,” or people of the evangel. Some gospel people may dislike “evangelicalism,” and others may use the label without being people of the gospel. But it is a distortion of the very meaning of the word “evangelical” to define it in any other way. To be evangelical, by definition, is not to be of a race or of a party, but of the gospel.

Evangelicalism, then, must be defined theologically. To be evangelical means to act, not out of cultural or political leanings, but out of theological, biblical convictions. The subject matter of evangelicalism is the gospel, which is known through Scripture. Or, to put it more technically, its material principle is the gospel, and its formal principle is the truth and supremacy of the Scriptures where that gospel is found. It is a commitment to the good news of Jesus Christ found in Scripture. It is uneccentric Christianity. That means that people of the gospel are evangelical, whether or not they choose to own the label. It also means that if something or someone purports to be evangelical, or is paraded in the media as such, and yet is not about the gospel, they are not evangelical. Whatever else they stand for is not proof of the emptiness or shapelessness of evangelicalism, but only that the label is no longer being applied accurately.

Evangelical Theology

There is no single, formal evangelical confession of faith one can sign. So is there such a thing as evangelical theology? We have seen so far that, by definition, the subject matter or material principle of evangelicalism must be the gospel. And it follows that its formal principle (or the way that subject matter is known) must be the truth and supremacy of the Scriptures where that gospel is found. But can we say more without promoting some party agenda? Let us see how the apostle Paul speaks of the gospel. Take, for example, the opening lines of his letter to the Romans:

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom. 1:1–4)

For Paul, the gospel is:

1. Trinitarian: it is the good news of the Father concerning his Son, who was declared the Son of God in power according to the Spirit.

2. Biblical: it is proclaimed through the holy Scriptures.

3. Christ-centered: it concerns God’s Son.

4. Spirit-effected: it is by the Spirit that the Son is revealed.

We see the same when Paul writes to the Corinthians:

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. . . .

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Cor. 1:17–23; 2:1–5)

Again, Paul is clear that the gospel:

1. is not human wisdom but God the Father’s revealed wisdom;

2. concerns Jesus Christ and him crucified; and

3. is made effective in the power of the Spirit.

And later in 1 Corinthians, the apostle returns to consider the matters “of first importance” with similar emphases:

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. (1 Cor. 15:1–4)

As before, the gospel is described by Paul as:

1. Biblical: it is in accordance with the Scriptures.

2. Christ-centered: it concerns Christ and his redemptive work, especially his death and resurrection.

3. Regenerative: though the Spirit is not expressly mentioned, the gospel is spoken of not as mere information, but as a message of personal salvation.

I will give just one more example, from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Writing to defend the gospel to a people who “are turning to a different gospel” (1:6), he says, first of all,

I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. (1:11–12)

He then emphatically concludes,

See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. (6:11–15)

As in his letters to the Romans and Corinthians, Paul here speaks of the gospel as:

1. Revelation: it is not man’s gospel, but one revealed by God.

2. Redemption: it concerns the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

3. Regeneration: it brings the radical renewal of a new creation.

Any definition of the evangel and so of evangelicalism must follow apostolic teaching with its essential qualities of being Trinitarian, Scripture-based, Christ-centered, and Spirit-renewed. It must therefore be God-centered as the “gospel of God” (Rom. 1:1), concerning the Father, the Son, and the Spirit and the work of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And to be faithful to the apostolic gospel, it must share Paul’s concern for each of those indispensable three r’s: revelation, redemption, and regeneration.

In that light, I suggest that true evangelicalism has a clear theology, and that at its heart lie three essential heads of doctrine, out of which flow all its concerns:

1. The Father’s revelation in the Bible

2. The Son’s redemption in the gospel

3. The Spirit’s regeneration of our hearts2

These serve as a simple “table of contents” of evangelicalism. It is worth noting that this outline follows the shape of both the Nicene Creed and the Apostles’ Creed, demonstrating that evangelicalism seeks not only to be plain, biblical Christianity, but creedal, catholic Christianity.

It is but an outline. My aim over the next three chapters is to unpack an evangelical, biblical understanding of those doctrines, summarized in this diagram:

Then, when we have seen the defining theology of evangelicalism, we will be in a position to see how Paul’s letter to the Romans gives an argument for the importance of evangelicalism.

“Evangelicalism” will be a threadbare, washed-up cultural relic for as long as it stands on any other foundation than this apostolic gospel. But where people of the gospel have integrity to this gospel, we will see something of heavenly beauty and fruitfulness: a heartfelt unity in, and striving together for, the faith once and for all delivered to the saints.

1  Mark A. Noll, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1994), 3.

2  See John Stott, Evangelical Truth: A Personal Plea for Unity (Leicester: IVP, 1999), 28, 103; and J. I. Packer, The Evangelical Anglican Identity Problem: An Analysis (Oxford: Latimer House, 1978), 20–23.

2

Revelation from the Father

“The first leading feature in Evangelical Religion,” wrote J. C. Ryle, “is the absolute supremacy it assigns to Holy Scripture, as the only rule of faith and practice, the only test of truth, the only judge of controversy.”1 Why so? Quite simply, because that is what Jesus taught about how we can know the truth.

The Supremacy of Scripture

Here is Mark’s account of Jesus’s controversy with the Pharisees over Scripture and its authority:

Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)—then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” (Mark 7:1–13)

The dispute arose over a simple matter of handwashing. To be clear, this was not about personal hygiene. The Pharisees and scribes did not merely dislike grubby paws at the dinner table. Their concern was a religious one, that they might be “defiled” (v. 2). They therefore insisted on a ceremonial handwashing, according “to the tradition of the elders” (v. 3). Their objection to Jesus was that his disciples did not walk according to this tradition (v. 5). To this, Jesus replied, “You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men” (v. 8). Clearly, for Jesus, whereas Scripture is of God, tradition is of men, and it is vain hypocrisy to equate “the commandments of men” with the “doctrines” of God (v. 7).

Next, Jesus goes on to elaborate on his view of Scripture and tradition by challenging the teaching of the Pharisees about Corban. “Corban” is a Hebrew word for a gift given to God, and evidently the tradition had grown up that when something had been intended as Corban, it could never then be used for anything else. Jesus imagines the case of a young man who has set aside some money as Corban, only then to find that his aged parents were in need. In that situation, Jesus argues, the Pharisees would “no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother” (v.