Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Michael Wittmer on the Subordination of the Son
Mike Wittmer's post is intellecutally challenging, but he raises important questions for those who object to a linkage between complementarianism (in the roles of men and women) and the Son's subordination to the Father.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Law and Gospel
"The law cannot create faith because it tells us what is to be done. It can only announce to those who transgress it what they have not done; consequently, it brings despair in its wake.
"The promise [of the gospel], by contrast, tells us what has been done by someone else. That is why it brings life.
"Once the law's just sentence has been satisfied in Christ, it is no longer our executioner, but instead plots the course for our gospel-driven life...."
-- Michael Horton, "The Gospel-Driven Life" p. 139 (Baker Books 2009)
"The promise [of the gospel], by contrast, tells us what has been done by someone else. That is why it brings life.
"Once the law's just sentence has been satisfied in Christ, it is no longer our executioner, but instead plots the course for our gospel-driven life...."
-- Michael Horton, "The Gospel-Driven Life" p. 139 (Baker Books 2009)
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Whole-souled Devotion to Christ
“As a soldier follows his general, as the servant follows his master, as the scholar follows his teacher, as the sheep follows its shepherd, so ought the professing Christian to follow Christ. Faith and obedience are the leading marks of real followers, and will always be seen in true believing Christians. Their knowledge may be very small, and their infirmities very great; their grace very weak, and their hope very dim. But they believe what Christ says, and they strive to do what Christ commands.
“Christianity like this, receives little praise from man. It is too thorough, to decided, too strong, too real. To serve Christ in name and form is easy work, and satisfies most people; but to follow Him in faith demands more trouble than the generality of men will take about their souls. Laughter, ridicule, opposition, persecution are often the only reward which Christ’s followers get from the world.”
~ J.C. Ryle
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John, volume 2, 378, 379.
“Christianity like this, receives little praise from man. It is too thorough, to decided, too strong, too real. To serve Christ in name and form is easy work, and satisfies most people; but to follow Him in faith demands more trouble than the generality of men will take about their souls. Laughter, ridicule, opposition, persecution are often the only reward which Christ’s followers get from the world.”
~ J.C. Ryle
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John, volume 2, 378, 379.
Friday, November 13, 2009
The Supreme Way to Worship God
"...faith glorifies God because it acknowledges that life must be lived in complete dependence on him.... The supreme way to worship God is not to work for him (Rom.4:4-5) but to trust that he will fulfill his promises."
-- Thomas Schreiner, commenting on Romans 4 in "Romans (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the NT)" p.238 (Baker Academic: 1998)
-- Thomas Schreiner, commenting on Romans 4 in "Romans (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the NT)" p.238 (Baker Academic: 1998)
Thursday, November 12, 2009
"An Earnest Call For Evangelical Leaders To Recover The Gospel..." by Ray Ortlund, Jr.
"A wave of authentic revival sweeps over the church when three things happen together: teaching the great truths of the gospel with clarity, applying those truths to people’s lives with spiritual power, and extending that experience to large numbers of people. We evangelicals urgently need such an awakening today. We need to rediscover the gospel.
"Imagine the evangelical church without the gospel. I know this makes no sense, for evangelicals are defined by the evangel. But try to imagine it for just a moment. What might our evangelicalism, without the evangel, look like? We would have to replace the centrality of the gospel with something else, naturally. So what might take the place of the gospel in our sermons and books and cassette tapes and Sunday school classes and home Bible studies and, above all, in our hearts?
"A number of things, conceivably. An introspective absorption with recovery from past emotional traumas, for example. Or a passionate devotion to the pro-life cause. Or a confident manipulation of modern managerial techniques. Or a drive toward church growth and “success.” Or a deep concern for the institution of the family. Or a fascination with the more unusual gifts of the Spirit. Or a clever appeal to consumerism by offering a sort of cost-free Christianity Lite. Or a sympathetic, empathetic, thickly-honeyed cultivation of interpersonal relationships. Or a determination to take America back to its Christian roots through political power. Or a warm affirmation of self-esteem. The evangelical movement, stripped of the gospel, might fix upon any or several of such concerns to define itself and derive energy for its mission. In other words, evangelicals could marginalize or even lose the gospel and still potter on their way, perhaps even oblivious to their loss.
"But not only is this conceivable, it is actually happening among us right now....
"When we think of the gospel, we may have a feeling that 'We already know that. Ho-hum.' We assume the gospel as a given. We assume that the people in our churches know the gospel, and we are anxious to move on to more 'relevant' and 'practical' topics. The gospel is being set aside in our minds and hearts in favor of a broad range of issues, as broadly ranging as evangelicalism is fragmented, while the heart and soul of our faith is falling into obscurity through neglect.
"The holy mysteries of the incarnation, cross, resurrection, ascension and heavenly reign of our Lord, the great themes of election, propitiation, justification and sanctification, the power and deceitfulness of sin, the meaning of faith and repentance, our union with our crucified, buried and risen Lord, the infinitely superior value of our heavenly reward compared with anything this life has to offer (including the Christian life), the final judgment and eternity—these glorious themes which lie at the very center of our faith, which made the church great at her greatest moments in the past and which can do the same again for us today if only we will recover them and exploit them confidently, prayerfully and biblically, these infinitely precious treasures are being bypassed in favor of legitimate but secondary matters of concern. We must guard the centrality of that which is central.
"We should not think, 'Well, of course we have the gospel. The Reformation recovered it for us.' Such complacency will cost us dearly. Every generation of Christians must be retaught afresh the basic truths of our faith. The church is always one generation away from total ignorance of the gospel, and we today are making rapid progress toward that ruinous goal. Rather than carelessly assume the gospel, we must aggressively, deliberately, fully and passionately teach and preach the gospel. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. If we do not intentionally search them out, we will miss them....
And you, O desolate one,
what do you mean that you dress in scarlet,
that you deck yourself with ornaments of gold,
that you enlarge your eyes with paint?
In vain you beautify yourself.
Your lovers despise you; they seek your life.
– Jeremiah 4:30
"O desolate evangelicalism, what do you mean by your stylish fads and restless search for ever new “relevance”? Why are you so insecure that you long for the world’s approving recognition? They despise everything you hold dear! “All things to all men” is no license to cater to the whims of the consumer. Christ alone is Lord. Or have you yourself forgotten his majesty? And why are you so boastful of your numbers and dollars? How poor you really are! Come back to the gospel. Come back to the wellspring of true joy and life and power. Sanctify Christ again as Lord in your hearts. Wake up! Strengthen what remains, for it is on the point of death. But if you will not return to the centrality of the gospel as God’s power for the church today, then what reason does your Lord have for not abandoning you altogether?"
-- from Ray Ortlund’s book, A Passion for God.
You can read the entire "Afterword" here.
HT: Jared Wilson; Justin Taylor
"Imagine the evangelical church without the gospel. I know this makes no sense, for evangelicals are defined by the evangel. But try to imagine it for just a moment. What might our evangelicalism, without the evangel, look like? We would have to replace the centrality of the gospel with something else, naturally. So what might take the place of the gospel in our sermons and books and cassette tapes and Sunday school classes and home Bible studies and, above all, in our hearts?
"A number of things, conceivably. An introspective absorption with recovery from past emotional traumas, for example. Or a passionate devotion to the pro-life cause. Or a confident manipulation of modern managerial techniques. Or a drive toward church growth and “success.” Or a deep concern for the institution of the family. Or a fascination with the more unusual gifts of the Spirit. Or a clever appeal to consumerism by offering a sort of cost-free Christianity Lite. Or a sympathetic, empathetic, thickly-honeyed cultivation of interpersonal relationships. Or a determination to take America back to its Christian roots through political power. Or a warm affirmation of self-esteem. The evangelical movement, stripped of the gospel, might fix upon any or several of such concerns to define itself and derive energy for its mission. In other words, evangelicals could marginalize or even lose the gospel and still potter on their way, perhaps even oblivious to their loss.
"But not only is this conceivable, it is actually happening among us right now....
"When we think of the gospel, we may have a feeling that 'We already know that. Ho-hum.' We assume the gospel as a given. We assume that the people in our churches know the gospel, and we are anxious to move on to more 'relevant' and 'practical' topics. The gospel is being set aside in our minds and hearts in favor of a broad range of issues, as broadly ranging as evangelicalism is fragmented, while the heart and soul of our faith is falling into obscurity through neglect.
"The holy mysteries of the incarnation, cross, resurrection, ascension and heavenly reign of our Lord, the great themes of election, propitiation, justification and sanctification, the power and deceitfulness of sin, the meaning of faith and repentance, our union with our crucified, buried and risen Lord, the infinitely superior value of our heavenly reward compared with anything this life has to offer (including the Christian life), the final judgment and eternity—these glorious themes which lie at the very center of our faith, which made the church great at her greatest moments in the past and which can do the same again for us today if only we will recover them and exploit them confidently, prayerfully and biblically, these infinitely precious treasures are being bypassed in favor of legitimate but secondary matters of concern. We must guard the centrality of that which is central.
"We should not think, 'Well, of course we have the gospel. The Reformation recovered it for us.' Such complacency will cost us dearly. Every generation of Christians must be retaught afresh the basic truths of our faith. The church is always one generation away from total ignorance of the gospel, and we today are making rapid progress toward that ruinous goal. Rather than carelessly assume the gospel, we must aggressively, deliberately, fully and passionately teach and preach the gospel. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. If we do not intentionally search them out, we will miss them....
And you, O desolate one,
what do you mean that you dress in scarlet,
that you deck yourself with ornaments of gold,
that you enlarge your eyes with paint?
In vain you beautify yourself.
Your lovers despise you; they seek your life.
– Jeremiah 4:30
"O desolate evangelicalism, what do you mean by your stylish fads and restless search for ever new “relevance”? Why are you so insecure that you long for the world’s approving recognition? They despise everything you hold dear! “All things to all men” is no license to cater to the whims of the consumer. Christ alone is Lord. Or have you yourself forgotten his majesty? And why are you so boastful of your numbers and dollars? How poor you really are! Come back to the gospel. Come back to the wellspring of true joy and life and power. Sanctify Christ again as Lord in your hearts. Wake up! Strengthen what remains, for it is on the point of death. But if you will not return to the centrality of the gospel as God’s power for the church today, then what reason does your Lord have for not abandoning you altogether?"
-- from Ray Ortlund’s book, A Passion for God.
You can read the entire "Afterword" here.
HT: Jared Wilson; Justin Taylor
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
For Veteran's Day...
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The Lord's Tender Mercy
“Never, never let us curtail the freeness of the glorious Gospel, or clip its fair proportions. Never let us make the gate more straight and the way more narrow than pride and the love of sin have made it already. The Lord Jesus is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
“He does not regard the quantity of faith, but the quality. He does not measure its degree, but its truth. He will not break any bruised reed, nor quench any smoking flax. He will never let it be said that any perished at the foot of the cross. ‘Him that cometh unto Me’, He says, ‘I will in no wise cast out’ (John 6:37).”
~ J.C. Ryle
Faithfulness and Holiness: The Witness of J.C. Ryle,
“Assurance”, 210, 211.
“He does not regard the quantity of faith, but the quality. He does not measure its degree, but its truth. He will not break any bruised reed, nor quench any smoking flax. He will never let it be said that any perished at the foot of the cross. ‘Him that cometh unto Me’, He says, ‘I will in no wise cast out’ (John 6:37).”
~ J.C. Ryle
Faithfulness and Holiness: The Witness of J.C. Ryle,
“Assurance”, 210, 211.
Monday, November 9, 2009
The 'Five Solas' of the Reformation
Five ‘Solas’ of the Reformation (Lesson review and questions)
Last Sunday: Reformation Day/Sunday (Oct. 31)
‘Sola’ is the Latin word for ‘alone’
1. Sola scriptura ("by Scripture alone")
2. Sola fide ("by faith alone")
3. Sola gratia ("by grace alone")
4. Solus Christus or Solo Christo ("through Christ alone")
5. Soli Deo gloria ("glory to God alone")
Sola Scriptura functions to protect and preserve all the others.
Roman Catholicism believes in each of the above, but not in the sense given when you add the idea ‘alone’. E.g, re Scripture – they added ‘Tradition’; to faith and grace as the means of salvation they added ‘works and human merit’.
KEY IDEA: The motto/principle that came out of the Reformation: "The Church always/continuously needs to be reformed by the Word of God…"
---------------------------------------------------
The Protestant Reformation [of the Catholic/universal] Church was triggered by Martin Luther’s posting of his 95 theses on the door of the university in Wittenberg. Martin Luther wrote his 95 theses in 1517 as a protest against the selling of indulgences. An "indulgence" is 1 : a remission of part or all of the temporal and especially purgatorial punishment that according to Roman Catholicism is due for sins whose eternal punishment has been remitted and whose guilt has been pardoned.
Last Sunday: Reformation Day/Sunday (Oct. 31)
‘Sola’ is the Latin word for ‘alone’
1. Sola scriptura ("by Scripture alone")
2. Sola fide ("by faith alone")
3. Sola gratia ("by grace alone")
4. Solus Christus or Solo Christo ("through Christ alone")
5. Soli Deo gloria ("glory to God alone")
Sola Scriptura functions to protect and preserve all the others.
Roman Catholicism believes in each of the above, but not in the sense given when you add the idea ‘alone’. E.g, re Scripture – they added ‘Tradition’; to faith and grace as the means of salvation they added ‘works and human merit’.
KEY IDEA: The motto/principle that came out of the Reformation: "The Church always/continuously needs to be reformed by the Word of God…"
---------------------------------------------------
The Protestant Reformation [of the Catholic/universal] Church was triggered by Martin Luther’s posting of his 95 theses on the door of the university in Wittenberg. Martin Luther wrote his 95 theses in 1517 as a protest against the selling of indulgences. An "indulgence" is 1 : a remission of part or all of the temporal and especially purgatorial punishment that according to Roman Catholicism is due for sins whose eternal punishment has been remitted and whose guilt has been pardoned.
And so the Reformation was begun as a ‘protest’ (Ã "Protestant") against ministry practices in the Church that did not line up with Scripture and were not consistent with the meaning of the Gospel.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Compare Gal.1 :6-9. In this passage Paul sternly condemns preacher who proclaim any other Gospel than the one he preached.
1. Why is Paul so severe in his condemnation of preachers of ‘another Gospel’?
2. Read Romans 11:5-6. What happens to ‘grace’ if you try to blend ‘works’ with it?
3. Read 2 Chron. 34:14-21, 29-33.
--What had God’s people lost?
--How is it possible for the Word of God to be ‘lost’ in an evangelical, Bible-believing church today?
4. What would it look like to apply the principle of letting the Word of God continually ‘reform’ the church in our own day?
5. What trends and ideas in evangelical Christianity today seem suspect in light of your understanding of God’s Word?
For further study: "Holy Ground – Walking with Jesus as a Former Catholic" by Chris Castaldo (Zondervan)
Saturday, November 7, 2009
The Gospel and Authentic Christian Experience
“Spiritual experience that does not arise from God’s word is not Christian experience. . . . Not all that passes for Christian experience is genuine. An authentic experience of the Spirit is an experience in response to the gospel. Through the Spirit the truth touches our hearts, and that truth moves our emotions and effects our wills.”
- Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church (Wheaton, Ill.; Crossway Books, 2008), 31.
- Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church (Wheaton, Ill.; Crossway Books, 2008), 31.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Amazing, Saving, Unconditional Grace
“To preach the Gospel of the unconditional grace of God in that unconditional way is to set before people the astonishingly good news of what God has freely provided for us in the vicarious humanity of Jesus.
"To repent and believe in Jesus Christ and commit myself to him on that basis means that I do not need to look over my shoulder all the time to see whether I have really given myself personally to him, whether I really believe and trust him, whether my faith is at all adequate, for in faith it is not upon my faith, my believing or my personal commitment that I rely, but solely upon what Jesus Christ has done for me, in my place and on my behalf, and what he is and always will be as he stands in for me before the face of the Father.
"That means that I am completely liberated from all ulterior motives in believing or following Jesus Christ, for on the ground of his vicarious human response for me, I am free for spontaneous joyful response and worship and service as I could not otherwise be.”
- TF Torrance
"Of First Importance"
"To repent and believe in Jesus Christ and commit myself to him on that basis means that I do not need to look over my shoulder all the time to see whether I have really given myself personally to him, whether I really believe and trust him, whether my faith is at all adequate, for in faith it is not upon my faith, my believing or my personal commitment that I rely, but solely upon what Jesus Christ has done for me, in my place and on my behalf, and what he is and always will be as he stands in for me before the face of the Father.
"That means that I am completely liberated from all ulterior motives in believing or following Jesus Christ, for on the ground of his vicarious human response for me, I am free for spontaneous joyful response and worship and service as I could not otherwise be.”
- TF Torrance
"Of First Importance"
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Why the Word of God Should Richly Inhabit Our Worship
Kevin DeYoung presents an excellent summary of why our worship services should be filled with words (that is, the words of God).
-- Colossians 3:16
-- Colossians 3:16
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Two Essential Aspects of Authentic Conversion
“It ought always to be remembered that there are two distinct things which the Lord Jesus Christ does for every sinner whom He undertakes to save. He washes him from his sins in His own blood, and gives him a free pardon: this is his justification. He puts the Holy Spirit into his heart, and makes him an entirely new man: this is his regeneration.
“The two things are both absolutely necessary to salvation. The change of heart is as necessary as the pardon; and the pardon is as necessary as the change. Without the pardon we have no right or title to heaven. Without the change we should not be ready to enjoy heaven, even if we got there.”
~ J.C. Ryle
Regeneration, 22.
http://jcrylequotes.com/
“The two things are both absolutely necessary to salvation. The change of heart is as necessary as the pardon; and the pardon is as necessary as the change. Without the pardon we have no right or title to heaven. Without the change we should not be ready to enjoy heaven, even if we got there.”
~ J.C. Ryle
Regeneration, 22.
http://jcrylequotes.com/
Martin Luther's Allegiance to the Word of God
From his speech at the Diet (assembly) of Worms (a small town in Germany). Martin Luther was used by God to lead in the Protestant Reformation.
HT: Martin Downes
HT: Martin Downes
Monday, November 2, 2009
How Grace Changes Men
Here are three talks by Bryan Chapell from the Gospel Man conferences:
How Grace Changes Men: Part 1
How Grace Changes Men: Part 2
How Grace Changes Men: Part 3
HT: Justin Taylor
How Grace Changes Men: Part 1
How Grace Changes Men: Part 2
How Grace Changes Men: Part 3
HT: Justin Taylor
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Reformation Sunday: "The Gospel of Jesus Christ...."
In honor of Reformation Sunday, here is the preamble of an important recent summary of the Gospel, written in the context of affirming the importance of the continuing differences between evangelical Protestantism and Roman Catholicism:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.—John 3:16
Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world.—Isaiah 12:5
Preamble
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is news, good news: the best and most important news that any human being ever hears.
This Gospel declares the only way to know God in peace, love, and joy is through the reconciling death of Jesus Christ the risen Lord.
This Gospel is the central message of the Holy Scriptures, and is the true key to understanding them.
This Gospel identifies Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel, as the Son of God and God the Son, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, whose incarnation, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension fulfilled the Father's saving will. His death for sins and his resurrection from the dead were promised beforehand by the prophets and attested by eyewitnesses. In God's own time and in God's own way, Jesus Christ shall return as glorious Lord and Judge of all (1 Thess. 4:13-18; Matt. 25:31-32). He is now giving the Holy Spirit from the Father to all those who are truly his. The three Persons of the Trinity thus combine in the work of saving sinners.
This Gospel sets forth Jesus Christ as the living Savior, Master, Life, and Hope of all who put their trust in him. It tells us that the eternal destiny of all people depends on whether they are savingly related to Jesus Christ.
This Gospel is the only Gospel: there is no other; and to change its substance is to pervert and indeed destroy it. This Gospel is so simple that small children can understand it, and it is so profound that studies by the wisest theologians will never exhaust its riches.
All Christians are called to unity in love and unity in truth. As evangelicals who derive our very name from the Gospel, we celebrate this great good news of God's saving work in Jesus Christ as the true bond of Christian unity, whether among organized churches and denominations or in the many transdenominational co operative enterprises of Christians together.
The Bible declares that all who truly trust in Christ and his Gospel are sons and daughters of God through grace, and hence are our brothers and sisters in Christ.
All who are justified experience reconciliation with the Father, full remission of sins, transition from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, the reality of being a new creature in Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. They enjoy access to the Father with all the peace and joy that this brings.
The Gospel requires of all believers worship, which means constant praise and giving of thanks to God, submission to all that he has revealed in his written word, prayerful dependence on him, and vigilance lest his truth be even inadvertently compromised or obscured.
To share the joy and hope of this Gospel is a supreme privilege. It is also an abiding obligation, for the Great Commission of Jesus Christ still stands: proclaim the Gospel everywhere, he said, teaching, baptizing, and making disciples.
By embracing the following declaration we affirm our commitment to this task, and with it our allegiance to Christ himself, to the Gospel itself, and to each other as fellow evangelical believers.
You can read the entire statement here.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.—John 3:16
Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world.—Isaiah 12:5
Preamble
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is news, good news: the best and most important news that any human being ever hears.
This Gospel declares the only way to know God in peace, love, and joy is through the reconciling death of Jesus Christ the risen Lord.
This Gospel is the central message of the Holy Scriptures, and is the true key to understanding them.
This Gospel identifies Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel, as the Son of God and God the Son, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, whose incarnation, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension fulfilled the Father's saving will. His death for sins and his resurrection from the dead were promised beforehand by the prophets and attested by eyewitnesses. In God's own time and in God's own way, Jesus Christ shall return as glorious Lord and Judge of all (1 Thess. 4:13-18; Matt. 25:31-32). He is now giving the Holy Spirit from the Father to all those who are truly his. The three Persons of the Trinity thus combine in the work of saving sinners.
This Gospel sets forth Jesus Christ as the living Savior, Master, Life, and Hope of all who put their trust in him. It tells us that the eternal destiny of all people depends on whether they are savingly related to Jesus Christ.
This Gospel is the only Gospel: there is no other; and to change its substance is to pervert and indeed destroy it. This Gospel is so simple that small children can understand it, and it is so profound that studies by the wisest theologians will never exhaust its riches.
All Christians are called to unity in love and unity in truth. As evangelicals who derive our very name from the Gospel, we celebrate this great good news of God's saving work in Jesus Christ as the true bond of Christian unity, whether among organized churches and denominations or in the many transdenominational co operative enterprises of Christians together.
The Bible declares that all who truly trust in Christ and his Gospel are sons and daughters of God through grace, and hence are our brothers and sisters in Christ.
All who are justified experience reconciliation with the Father, full remission of sins, transition from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, the reality of being a new creature in Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. They enjoy access to the Father with all the peace and joy that this brings.
The Gospel requires of all believers worship, which means constant praise and giving of thanks to God, submission to all that he has revealed in his written word, prayerful dependence on him, and vigilance lest his truth be even inadvertently compromised or obscured.
To share the joy and hope of this Gospel is a supreme privilege. It is also an abiding obligation, for the Great Commission of Jesus Christ still stands: proclaim the Gospel everywhere, he said, teaching, baptizing, and making disciples.
By embracing the following declaration we affirm our commitment to this task, and with it our allegiance to Christ himself, to the Gospel itself, and to each other as fellow evangelical believers.
You can read the entire statement here.
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