Half the Gospel? Pt. 20

Is There Such a Thing as “Half the Gospel?” Pt. 2

In my last post I explored the question of whether or not someone can preach “half the Gospel.” If someone chooses to focus on one part of the story, such as God’s love, and fails to ever mention God’s justice, are they simply preaching “half the Gospel?” Or have they departed from the realm of Gospel preaching altogether?

In my last post I concluded with a definitive “no.” Now I want to tease out exactly why I am so sure.

Consider what image of God we are projecting when we focus on one aspect of God’s character without acknowledging the rest. While no sermon can possibly touch on God’s infinite attributes, it’s important that we not intentionally misrepresent God by playing up those attributes we prefer. We may like the God of justice better than the God of love, but we still have to give both attributes equal voice.

For instance, preaching God’s love without God’s judgment is to fundamentally misunderstand God’s love in the first place. God’s love is so radical because of the judgment that we deserve. He is a righteous, holy God who has every right to condemn us, yet He does not.

Thus to preach a Gospel of love without judgment is to domesticate God into some sort of warm and fuzzy deity in the sky who is devoid of wonder and fear-inspiring awe. It is also to make the cross utterly incoherent. Why would God let His Son endure such a gruesome death if not for his sense of justice?

What’s more, you have to look at the implications of a “half Gospel” that only focuses on love. Yes, Jesus cared about the poor, but if our ultimate goal is to feed the poor and clothe the hungry without ever addressing people’s spiritual needs, then we have accomplished nothing that will last. Scripture tells us that life on earth is but an instant compared to eternity, so we would be laboring to make one instant better, while ignoring the glaring blind spot of peoples’ eternal needs. As Derek Webb puts it, we would ultimately be clothing corpses.

In this way, half the Gospel is not really the Gospel at all–it is either secular social activism, or Pharisaic religiosity, but it is not the Gospel. For that reason, keep your eyes and ears open for these speakers of half-truth. And more importantly, make sure your life preaches the whole truth, because half the truth is actually little more than a dressed up lie.