Book Review: "What Is The Gospel?" by Greg Gilbert

It is unfortunate that a critical problem faced by Evangelical Christians today is answering the question: What is the Gospel?

It's not that we don't have an answer, the problem is there are a wide variety of them.

Here are a few quick examples you can easily find, have probably heard, or may use yourself:

• Jesus died for your sins, if you believe in Jesus, you will be saved.
• If you are a good person, and you live your life the best way you know how, then the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross will allow you to enter heaven.
• If you believe in your heart, and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, then you are saved.

Are any of these correct?  Are any of these dangerous?

Put simply, any description of the gospel that misapplies or misstates the salvation message of the Bible is both wrong and dangerous.

How do we solve the problem?  Ad Fontes!  (To the sources!)  Specifically, to the books of the Bible.

This is the job Greg Gilbert tackles so very well in his remarkably well-written book, What is the Gospel?   The pages of this book are soaked with Scripture to ensure  he presents a clear and thorough Biblical understanding of the Gospel.

Our pastor summarized this book well when he described it as "comprehensive, yet concise."  To give you an idea of the accuracy of this description, the book is relatively small at only about 8 by 5 inches and 121 pages, yet the list of Scripture used in the book is three columns wide spanning more than two full pages.

After an introduction and opening chapter devoted to explaining the problem he hopes to solve, along with a brief retelling of how the apostles preached the good-news, Gilbert systematically constructs a Biblical explanation of the gospel by building four key layers: God the Righteous Creator, Man the Sinner, Jesus Christ the Savior, and Response: Faith and Repentance.

Along the way, Gilbert dismantles the popular perception of God as some old man who spends most of his time in some imaginary garden in the sky, or as a benevolent janitor ready to sweep your mistakes under the rug.  He reveals God for who He is: The Holy, Righteous, Creator who has the right and duty to judge all mankind.  Once you realize this truth you would be wise to evaluate how you might fare during such a judgment.

The good news of the Gospel, as Gilbert meticulously spells it out, is that even the worst offender of God's law can receive God's complete forgiveness.  Not because of any deed or work done by you, but purely based on knowing the truth, repenting of your sins, and putting your complete faith and trust in the risen savior, Jesus Christ.

I highly recommend this book.  It is a resource for the most studious Christian as well as those who do not understand what Christianity is all about.  

Pastors would do well to ensure their elders, deacons, and others in the church have studied this book.  One way to assure fellowship is to agree on doctrine.  The study of What is the Gospel? would go a long way toward settling turf battles in many congregations.

Evangelicals would do well to read this book and use it as a guide for sharing the gospel with the lost.  Then, get a few spare copies to put in the hands of non-believers for later study.