The "Evangel" of Evangelicalism

In our modern world there is often confusion about what Christmas is all about. It's good to remember the Christ of Christmas as the "Evangel" of God. An "evangel" is a messenger of God, particularly one who is heralding the "good news" of salvation.  Jesus is the great Evangel of God, and the good news is his salvation by grace from our sins, through faith in him.

To be an “Evangelical” then is to proclaim this great truth as we discover from Scripture. We see in Luke 2:10-11, “And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”” These angels were the first to proclaim the good news that the Savior was Jesus born in Bethlehem. 

Evangelicals are those who rejoice in this good news that there is salvation in Jesus because he is the Christ, the Savior of all who call upon his name. Evangelicals also proclaim that Christ can sanctify us into his image and character. We can be transformed and strengthened by His Spirit from our sinful nature into a Christ-like nature in this life if we follow him in faithfulness. We can live a new Spiritual life in the grace of Christ in the here and now. 

Even more, we Evangelicals proclaim the good news that Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords over everything in the world today. We can only find peace amidst the changing times and chaos of our world in Christ because he has conquered death itself. In Christ, we find the truth that changes our worldview from the brokenness of this life to the vision of the majesty of God. Here we see that God is sovereign over all things, he is building a Spiritual kingdom, and he is working everything together for his glory. 

God is seeking his glory by bringing salvation into the world through the Evangel, Christ, and Savior of the world. We also see in Luke 2:13-14, “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”” The birth and life of Jesus still brings great glory to God. This “Evangel” is the Christ of Christmas, and eternal salvation is through faith in him.

Semper Reformanda

One of the great slogans that came out of the Protestant Reformation was the Latin term, "Semper Reformanda," or 'always reforming'.  The reformers of the sixteenth century Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Huldrych Zwingli, all saw the necessity of the reformation of the Roman church at that time.  They realized there was much church tradition that needed to be changed because it was blocking the truth of Scripture.  The truth of the gospel itself had been changed because it had been reinterpreted through church tradition.

Challenging the traditions of a church can be a dangerous business.  It can be erroneous too as everyone is imperfect and no one has a pure understanding of all doctrines.  We can make mistakes in trying to correct religious dogmas with our own dogmas.  And the business of hermeneutics is complicated in many ways, to say the least.  Who's to say that they understand the Scriptures better than anyone else?  Who's to say one interpretation is better than another's?

But it is precisely because we all are human and we all have limited understanding, and we all look through a glass dimly, that we all are prone to error.  We also have biases and distortions.  We may have personal agendas, seeking to advance a program or policy that we prefer and favor.  This is the reason why we all must be open to correction and possible errors that we have made.  We must all be teachable as no one has complete knowledge except God.  We must therefore never establish a policy that would block a correction to our perspective of Scripture.  On the contrary, we must all submit to God's Word to understand it and always be on the lookout for mistakes.

The key to a good translation or interpretation of the Bible lies with a truth hermeneutic.  We all must appeal to the Truth that is outside of us, and the truth of Scripture.  We must not seek to interpret the Scriptures with our own opinions, perspectives, or priorities.  We must let Scripture interpret Scripture, and let the logic of the law of non-contradiction guide us.  This law says that something cannot be in contradiction with itself and be true.  So it is with the interpretation of the Bible, there cannot be a contradiction from one part of Scripture to another.  The Word of Truth must be understood from a truth foundation and perspective.

So, in each generation, the people of God must seek to understand the truth of Scripture and be wary of personal opinions or influences from secular culture.  We must 'always be reforming' our understanding back to the original meaning of Scripture.  We need to constantly seek to conform our preferences to the truth of Scripture and not to conform the Scriptures to our own preferences or those of the world.  We must seek "Semper Reformanda" to Scripture for this is as vital for us as it was for the first disciples.

When difficulties arose in Jesus' ministry some of his disciples did not keep his perspective.  In John 6:66-68 we read, "After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.  So Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?"  Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life."  The twelve realized that the perspective of those who left Jesus was temporal, they did not see the eternal truth of his words.

The twelve disciples knew there was nowhere else to go but to the Lord and his word, even if it was unpopular.  So it is now, we must always return to the Scriptures to seek and understand its truth.  We must always be "reforming" our faith, perspectives, and agendas away from the world and be conformed to the Word of God.  These are the words of eternal life for us always.  It is in the truth of Scripture that we can find the greatest blessings in our lives.

Covenants and Reformation

What's the difference between Covenant Theology and Reformed Theology?  Often they are considered to be pretty much the same, with maybe just a little bit of difference in perspectives.  But there is an important distinction to make between the two.

From the beginning of creation, God has made covenants with man.  In Genesis 1:28, Adam was told, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."  Adam was also instructed in Gen. 2:16-17, "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.""  The covenant of works was established at the beginning with Adam.

We know that this covenant was broken with the disobedience of Adam and Eve, and then God, in his great mercy, instituted the covenant of grace.  We read in Genesis 3:15, that God promises and foretells the coming of the Seed and Savior of man, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring (Seed); he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."  This is the first declaration of the gospel, the covenant of grace, where the Seed is promised to destroy the enemy and bring redemption to mankind from their sin.

The covenant of grace is developed with Abraham as God promised him in his old age not only a son but a great lineage as we see in Genesis 15:5-6.  "And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them."  Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."  And he believed the LORD, and He counted it to him as righteousness."  This faith in God and his promises, this faith alone, is at the heart of Covenant Theology as salvation is not from works.  It is all of the faith in God and the promise of salvation through his Savior.

God did fulfill the promise to Abraham with a son but it was in the line of Isaac instead of Ishmael that the Messiah would come.  In Genesis 17:19 we read, "God said, "No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac.  I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him."  God chose Isaac to be the promised son for the inheritance, and this was his sovereign choice.  Here we begin to understand God's sovereignty in the covenant of grace as it is developed through the OT.

In the NT the understanding of Covenant Theology finds its culmination in the birth of Jesus, the promised Messiah.  His fulfillment of the covenant of grace is the 'new covenant', as it was through his life and death that the righteous requirements of God were met.  Jesus taught that salvation is received through faith and not works, nor in the traditions of men, as no one is able to earn salvation through good works.  In Matt 15:1-3 Jesus even spoke against outward religious tradition.  "Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?"  Here Jesus clarified that the commandments of God, and thus the covenants of God, are sovereign over the religious traditions of men.  In the new covenant, we must seek grace and salvation through Jesus who alone has lived a perfect life and has fulfilled all righteousness.

The new covenant of grace is in Christ alone, extends to all nations as it was promised to Abraham, and also is through God's sovereign grace.  Paul describes in Romans 4:16, "Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is father of us all."  In Romans 9:6-8 Paul also explains the sovereign grace of God just as it was in choosing even the Patriarchs. "But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring."  So the children of promise and the gift of salvation are given to those who are of the covenant of grace, just as in Isaac.

Paul further describes God's sovereign grace in Jacob's life in Romans 9:10-13.  "And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”  This is the election of grace, "in order that God's purpose" may be known.  God sovereignly chose Jacob over Esau even before they were born.  The covenant of grace therefore does not come from the merits or birth rights of man, it is from the sovereign will of God alone.

This covenant of grace was also rediscovered by the Reformers of the sixteenth century, as they again proclaimed as Jesus did, that the religious traditions of men did not rule over God.  They were reminded that the covenant of grace is complete without the works or traditions of men.  This can only be through God's sovereign grace, by his hand alone.  This transformation in perspective in the gospel from any form of self-righteousness to the sovereign grace of God alone is the great Spiritual 'reformation' which is Reformed Theology.  And this is at the heart of the true gospel.

This sovereign grace should reform all of our lives as we need redemption from all forms of sin, traditions, and good works.  Yet we inherently want to live autonomous lives before a sovereign God.  But God, in his great mercy, grants salvation simply as a gift of his grace.  Paul clarifies, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast," Ephesians 2:8-9.  And previously in Ephesians 1:4, we see this is an eternal grace, "... just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world."  God is sovereign throughout all creation and time, and when we understand the magnitude of this majesty, it dispels any form of idolatry and it can only drive us to our knees in prayer for grace and mercy.

Covenant Theology, therefore, is a subset of Reformed Theology, as the first describes the covenant of grace and the second describes the sovereignty of God.  Salvation is a free gift to all who will receive it, but ultimately God is sovereign over all things.  We must understand the grace of God in our salvation as an immeasurable and eternal gift.  We also need to remember the sovereignty of God in our salvation and live for Christ in all our lives, with great humility and praise to God for his sovereign choice.

This is the reformation that proclaims the glory of God just as the Apostle Paul affirms in Romans 11:36, "For from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be glory forever.  Amen."

The Gospel

Amazingly I've heard many different definitions for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Often they are confused with different aspects of the gospel, such as how we become Christians, what's God's part, and what's our part, and good works.  So, in an attempt to describe the essence of the gospel, I will give this brief description.

The Christian gospel is "the gift of salvation by the grace of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, and the transformation of the Holy Spirit."  Even more basically, it is the gift of salvation.  It is a gift we cannot earn, it can only be received.  But in order to receive it we need to accept the truth that we need it.  This is not an optional gift, it is a necessary one.  We all have a sin problem because we have a sinful nature, we all are mortal and we will die, and we need salvation from our death and the judgment of God.  We can only receive this gift by grace through faith, not by works.  If you can accept that truth sincerely, you can become a Christian.

The life that Jesus of Nazareth lived two thousand years ago was the perfect life of the incarnate Son of God, by which his righteousness can be imputed to us in faith and our sins can be taken from us.  In Romans 3, the Bible declares that we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, no one is righteous.  It also says that we can receive the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, we can be justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

The gospel can also be described concisely with these words in Ephesians 2.  "For by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."  That's the gospel, it is the gift of salvation by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  That's good news!

And even more, in this faith we are created in Christ for good works, and that gives us something to live for.  Our souls can be saved, and our lives can have great meaning and purpose in this faith by the gospel of Christ.  That's really good news!

Historical Reformed Theology

The evolving evangelical church is losing much of its theological foundation and identity.  In many ways, it is conforming to the culture around us.  Why is this happening?  It is because we have lost our vision of God.  How can it be changed or fixed?  There can only be one remedy, which is the same as it has always been.  We must make a return to Scripture, as Francis Schaeffer describes in his book, "Death in the City."  

Even in 1968 Schaeffer saw the developments of Secularism and Pragmatism in our culture and described the peril of the church if it departs from the Word of God.  Wherever this occurs, there is “death in the polis,” death in the city.  He describes Jeremiah to show that even the covenant people of God can suffer the consequences of conforming to their culture.  He emphasizes the need of both reformation and revival.  

“The church in our generation needs reformation, revival and constructive revolution.  At times men think of the two words reformation and revival as standing in contrast one to the other, but this is a mistake.  Both words are related to the word restore.  Reformation refers to a restoration to pure doctrine; revival refers to a restoration of the Christian’s life.  Reformation speaks to a return to the teachings of Scripture; revival speaks of a life brought into its proper relationship to the Holy Spirit.”  (P.27-28, Crossway, 2002, italics original.)

Schaeffer is consistent with all classic Reformed theologians in his analysis of returning to Scripture, to “pure doctrine” and the “teachings of Scripture” in order to recover the priority of the church.  This “Semper Reformanda,” this always reforming to Scripture, is needed due to the depravity of our hearts.  We naturally seek after our own preferences instead of the truth of God’s Word.  But without this historical perspective of Scripture there can be no true Spiritual life or growth.

Historical Reformed Theology is essential therefore and the church must proclaim a theological vision of the priority of Scripture, and a Christ-centered ministry and worship.  Any belief that the preaching, worship or methodology of a church must be modified in order to be relevant to the contemporary culture however is in conflict with the faith and doctrines of Scripture.  God is the priority and he alone can save us and sanctify us into his image.

The Christ-centered expository preaching of Scripture must be the highest priority of the church therefore.  It is the primary method described in Scripture for giving us the theological vision and it in turn affects all the other ministries of the church.  This theological perspective is irreplaceable and it must be proclaimed extensively in our day against all the changing winds and contemporary influences of our culture.

We need to pray for the contemporary evangelical church to embrace the historical Reformed theology that is not conforming to the world around it, but is Scriptural and brings reform to the lives of the people of faith.