Wyatt Graham

Faith | Books | Culture

Gospel

What Are Gospel Issues?

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People sometimes call something a Gospel issue. Such statements seem to mean that the Gospel implies or perhaps requires adherence to some activity or belief. Probably the most common claim is that social justice is a Gospel issue. 

I know these discussions have a lot of depth to them. So here I do not want to directly engage them but work to define the phrase Gospel issue. In my view, some debates around this slogan become mired in confusion because two sides privilege different senses of the words Gospel and issue.  [Read more…] about What Are Gospel Issues?

Is the Gospel about Kingship or Salvation (Or both)?

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Greg Gilbert recently preached a sermon on the Gospel in which he contrasted his approach with that of Scot McKnight and Matthew Bates. 9Marks released the edited sermon notes shotly thereafter. In response, Bates said on April 17th that he was misrepresented and later wrote an article for Christianity Today. Scot McKnight also wrote a response article on the same day.  

So what is the conflict, and at the end of the day, what is the Gospel? Here are some thoughts.  [Read more…] about Is the Gospel about Kingship or Salvation (Or both)?

What Is Salvation?

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What are we saved from? We could answer “sin.” That would be true. We could also answer, “death,” which would be no less true. We could even answer “Satan,” which again would be true. In this sense, we have multiple and interlocked threats from which we need rescue.

Rescue is a useful word. To be saved means to be rescued. De-theologizing that the word salvation for a moment may help us here to answer the question. We need rescue. We are in dire straights and without rescue, we will be lost. What sort of rescue do we need and what does it mean to be lost? 

Scripture provides three interlocking answers: sin, death, and Satan vie against us. Sin brings justice which we know as divine wrath, so that we must pay restitution and so satisfy justice’s demand to avoid it; death kills us, so that we need immortality to avoid it; Satan deceives us, so that we need to conquer the deceiver to overcome his schemes. 

Let’s take these one-by-one to see how Scripture outlines these threats, and how Christ rescues us from each. [Read more…] about What Is Salvation?

What Is at the Centre of Christian Faith?

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Gregory of Nyssa once wrote, “The chief point of Christian piety is to believe the only begotten God” (John 1:18). His contemporary and friend Gregory of Nazanzius similarily said, “The Trinity is the chief topic of Christianity.” 

I suppose if someone asked us what the chief topic of Christianity is, then we would reply, “Jesus” or “the Gospel.” But our answer and the earlier answers do not disagree with each other. In truth, they speak about the same reality but from different viewpoints. To confess the Trinity is to confess the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the only begotten of God. [Read more…] about What Is at the Centre of Christian Faith?

Book Review of Salvation by Allegiance Alone by Matthew Bates

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Bates, Matthew W. Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the king. Grand Rapid: Baker Academic, 2017. ISBN: 978-0-8010-9797-3. Pp. xvi–234. Book Cover.

Matthew Bates wrote Salvation by Allegiance Alone primarily to rethink Protestant conceptions of faith, works, and the Gospel. Bates’ book, however, also engages with Roman Catholicism, which makes sense given Bates’ vocation. Bates is the assistant professor of theology at Quincy University, a Roman Catholic institution.

His previous publications include The Hermeneutics of Apostolic Proclamation and The Birth of the Trinity. His scholarly pursuits and his unique vocational position as a Protestant at a Roman Catholic institution give Bates an interesting platform from which he can critique both traditions. [Read more…] about Book Review of Salvation by Allegiance Alone by Matthew Bates