Note: This is part of an ongoing series called What is the Gospel? Part One can be found here.
Before presenting the two sides, let’s start with some basic ground rules:
1) This is an intramural discussion. In other words, it’s a disagreement amongst brothers and sisters. As such whatever discussion we have has to be consistent with biblical expectations for how Christians function in community. (Think John 13 and 17 or Paul’s words in 2 Timothy.)
2) Because it’s an intramural discussion, the language we use is going to be vitally important. Once when I was discussing this issue, the discussion ended when the other person told me that I, “clearly have no idea what the Gospel is.” Needless to say, the discussion was basically finished at that point because I was no longer defending a theological proposition, but my status as a Christian.
3) Let’s also commit to asking good questions before making judgments. As someone who has had many discussions about this question, I’ve come to the conclusion that most of the time when we think we’re disagreeing, we’re really just talking past each other. Or, if there is genuine disagreement, it’s actually over a much subtler point than we might first suspect.
4) Finally, I introduced the discussion by saying I wanted to describe “both” sides, but that’s a bit of a misnomer because even if there are two basic teams on this issue, the reality is within both those groups, there will still be a tremendous amount of variance in how different proponents of a similar view might express their ideas.
5) Last point - beneath the surface of this entire discussion are some very basic but much bigger theologial questions. For example, “How do the Old Testament and New Testament relate?” or “What is the nature of the Fall in Genesis 3?” or “Can we distinguish between ‘implications’ of the Gospel and the Gospel itself?” or “How should we interpret Scripture?” In other words, the posts may beg more questions than they answer, but if nothing else they can hopefully move the discussion forward by exposing the larger questions that undergird the very specific questions that many Christians are wrestling with today.