# Can the gospel become an idol?



## steadfast7 (Sep 17, 2011)

We hear a lot about the "Gospel-centred life" and the need to live our lives out of the gospel. Praise God for the gospel, but it is not God proper. 
Can the gospel take the place of God? 
are those who opt for the terminology of Christ-centred life (ie. broader evangelicalism) more orthodox?


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## InSlaveryToChrist (Sep 17, 2011)

The _true_ Gospel is a way of manifesting the glory of God. Therefore, if the _true_ Gospel is your idol, then the glory of God is your idol. But there are also _false_ (say, _man-centered_) gospels that do _not_ contribute to the glory of God. Therefore, one is not glorifying God, if a _false_ gospel has become an idol to him.

Make sense?


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## steadfast7 (Sep 17, 2011)

But is this not to equate the gospel with the glory of God where such an equation is not warranted? It would be right to say the gospel is the power of God i suppose. But in the end the gospel is a message, a proposition that mediates us to the Father.


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## InSlaveryToChrist (Sep 17, 2011)

steadfast7 said:


> But is this bot to equate the gospel with the glory of God where such an equation is not warranted? It would be right to say the gospel is the power of God i suppose. But in the end the gospel is a message, a proposition that mediates us to the Father.



No, the Gospel does not _equal_ the glory of God. The Gospel is simply _the biggest_ revelation that God has ever given of His glory. But that only leaves us with one option: focus on the Gospel with all you've got, therein is the glory of God most fully manifested!


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## steadfast7 (Sep 17, 2011)

Interesting that u say the gospel is the biggest revelation of God&rsquo;s glory. Because he has revealed his pure glory in the person of Jesus incarnate. Is not the gospel secondary to God himself?


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## Zach (Sep 17, 2011)

John Piper wrote a really good book called _God is the Gospel_. I read a little bit of this summer and would recommend it. It's on my "To Finish List".


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## Tim (Sep 17, 2011)

Dennis, can you think of a scenario where someone worships the gospel instead of God? How would this look?

---------- Post added at 08:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:50 AM ----------

The reason I ask is that I can't think of such a scenario. It would be like worshipping the newspaper instead of the celebrity mentioned in the newspaper.


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## InSlaveryToChrist (Sep 17, 2011)

steadfast7 said:


> Interesting that u say the gospel is the biggest revelation of God’s glory. Because he has revealed his pure glory in the person of Jesus incarnate. Is not the gospel secondary to God himself?



Dennis, our finitude limits our comprehension of the glory of God, although it's totally pure in the person of Christ. But I've got to be honest with you here. I currently don't believe that the Gospel reveales ALL of the glory of God as if all we needed to see to fully comprehend the glory of God was the Gospel. For instance, if we'll never see the reprobate actually burned in God's eternal wrath, we will not comprehend the glory of God's righteousness and consequently the glory of God's love in the cross of Christ to the fullest possible degree. But I do believe the Gospel comprehends ALL of the attributes of God to some degree.

Now, I may be wrong, and I'm ready to stand corrected if need be. I think I just have to ask the question: 

*Does the Gospel reveal ALL of the attributes of God to THE GREATEST POSSIBLE degree?*


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## steadfast7 (Sep 17, 2011)

In all our idolatries we do not worship in any perceptible way that looks like worship. Rather in our language and use of time, energy, and money, etc we find ourselves proritizing certain things. Mind you i'm fully in line with the gospel centered movement. I just find it funny how exalted our language is.


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## Jack K (Sep 17, 2011)

steadfast7 said:


> Can the gospel become an idol?



I wouldn't put it that way. But, yes, there is a constant danger that we will trust and worship our good Christian practices rather than placing our hope and delight in Christ himself. If we take a measure of self-righteousness from our superior spiritual understanding, our more biblical methods or our better practices of worship and Christan life... then these readily become idols, whether our church is "gospel-centered" or something else.


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## steadfast7 (Sep 18, 2011)

I suppose it's not idolatry when one recognizes that as Jesus is our only means to the Father, the gospel is our only means to saving faith in Christ.

These days I'm having many conversations with Christians who are ardently involved in fighting human trafficking in Asia and I'm hearing the gospel used as a stepping stone to some "greater" end - the rescuing of sex industry workers. All this is claimed in the name of the gospel, a "living out of the gospel". It's been a tough journey because I keep end up looking like the guy who's saying "don't do good works, just preach the gospel, because that's the main thing." Any strategies/advice for communication?


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## Pilgrim (Sep 19, 2011)

I wouldn't put it in the same way that it is put in the OP, especially absent some concrete examples. But with some "Gospel-centered" folks (many of whom are indeed quite gospel-centered) making constant references to "Gospel-this" and "Gospel-that" may run the risk of becoming a kind of mantra that over time may become devoid of meaning. in my opinion you see a similar thing with the words missional and contextual, which in some cases have no widely agreed upon definition. 

If I recall correctly, at the 2008 Together for the Gospel Conf. (or maybe it was 2010) Mark Dever delivered a somewhat pointed message regarding the phenomenon that Dennis notes in post #11, emphasizing that proclamation must take primacy. Ministry in Word and Deed, if understood properly, seems to be quite Biblical to me. But how many times have we seen it morph into something where deeds of the type Dennis mentions are emphasized and the Word is eventually eclipsed?


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