What is the gospel?

StormFront: The Good News of God James V. Brownson et al. Eerdmans, 2003.

What is the gospel? This is a seemingly simple question, but deep down, one that requires us to examine the very foundation of our Christian faith.

StormFront: The Good News of God sets out to answer it. It is the latest book in the Gospel and Our Culture series, which seeks to help the church more faithfully engage North American culture with the gospel. (Other volumes include The Missional Church, and The Continuing Conversion of the Church.)

The title is meant to evoke the image of two masses of air, hot and cold, running into each other and creating a violent storm. One air mass is the kingdom of God, the other is the kingdom of this world. The church finds itself in the clash between these two, in this “dynamic and tumultuous” intersection where God engages our world.

The authors claim that many North American Christians act as if the gospel were a small ocean breeze, rather than a raging storm. The North American gospel, they argue, primarily centres on how God can meet my needs and fulfill my desires and has little sense of God’s greater purposes in this world. They contend that a biblical understanding of the gospel looks a lot different. The gospel concerns God’s activity to redeem the whole creation. It isn’t about me getting what I want. The gospel invites us to enter, receive and participate in God’s reign, initiated by Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. This gospel should radically reorient our lives.

The book’s five chapters examine our dominant understanding of the gospel, God’s intentions on earth as found in the Old and New Testaments, the role of spiritual powers, the place of discipleship, and the practices that help us embody the gospel. The section connecting the gospel in the New Testament to the Old Testament is particularly helpful.

Few books accomplish what they set out to do, but, impressively, StormFront effectively answers the question, what is the gospel? On the practical level, it issues a significant challenge both for individuals and the church to participate more fully in God’s purposes on earth.

Although this book is targeted to lay readers, it is a dense and difficult read. Those willing to take the time and effort, however, will find their understanding of the gospel deepened, and their faith commitments inspired and challenged.

David Eagle is pastor of Saanich Community Church, Victoria.