Continuing the debate …

By Tom Ducker

The purpose of this article is to set out the relevance of the Evangelical belief in today’s world. It is not an attempt to resurrect an old theological debate or to needlessly cause controversy. Instead I believe, and want to argue, that it is very relevant to our situation today. But before we can look at its relevance we must know what this ‘Evangelicalism’ is.

The word Evangelical, as was pointed out in a previous issue of this magazine, comes from the Greek root evangelicon, which means good news, or gospel. The Evangel is the Gospel. An Evangelical is one who believes, and is concerned about the Gospel, and the truths surrounding it. Within themselves, Evangelicals differ on many matters, but on this they all agree — otherwise they are not what they say they are. What is this gospel? It is the message of salvation that makes Evangelicalism relevant. You see, it first identifies the problem that people have, and then outlines God’s solution to that problem. And it claims to be the only true, working solution (as was discussed in a recent issue).

Mankind’s overwhelming problem today (and in every age) is not the environment, or poverty, foreign wars or human rights abuses. It is not loneliness, or disease or simply dissatisfaction. These are all problems, but they are not the main problem. In fact they all stem from the main problem, and its solution leads to the solving of some, and the easing of others. To see this problem, we will go to the Bible — the revelation of God to mankind. It is His infallible word, which alone holds the answers to our questions. An Evangelical holds that it is self interpreting — that is, we do not rely on human reason, nor church tradition to interpret it, but accept what we read in its plainest sense. What I’m trying to say is that we do not evaluate the Bible in the light of what we think of it (indeed, we try — though as fallen men we often fail — not to rely upon reason as an argument for any particular doctrine), nor do we accept that church tradition can teach us what it means. We look to scripture alone for the answers to the problems of this world.

To attempt to understand the Gospel, we will examine verse 16 of the Gospel of John chapter 3. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NIV). In order to set this verse in context, one should read the whole passage, since the Bible is not a random collection of verses, but a collection of flowing narratives, arguments and the like. In this passage we find Jesus talking to a Jewish religious leader, Nicodemus. This is a man who knows his Old Testament well and has come to Jesus to see what His teaching is all about. Jesus has told him that in order to be saved, he must be ‘born again’ (v3). Nicodemus doesn’t understand, so Jesus explains (v5–8). He then tells of the Son of Man and Son of God (both titles for Himself), stating that He will die (v14–15) and in doing so will save all who trust in Him. Verse 16, along with the following verses, is a clear statement of the interactions of God and people, and so a summary of the Gospel, the Evangel.

Here is the relevance of true Christianity to today’s society — it answers the main problem of today’s (and any time’s) society, the problem of every single man and woman alive. Verse 19 states “their deeds were evil”. Scripture teaches us that mankind has disobeyed God, broken His law, sinned against Him. Every single person is a sinner, from the moment of conception (Psalm 51:5). We are enemies of God, set against Him, deserving His punishment. You see, God is a just God — He loves justice. He will always see justice done. And for us, that means He will punish us for our sins. This is the meaning of the word ‘perish’ in our text — a person who dies without having trusted Christ will face judgement, condemnation and everlasting punishment. And this is quite just; indeed, had God not sent Christ and instead left us all in our sins we would have had no right to argue against Him. We have broken the law and therefore deserve to be punished. This is the Evangelical, and biblical view of mankind’s situation. It is the true need of people that every other belief or religion fails to answer.

The story does not end there. Verse 16, and indeed the whole of John 3 is a predominantly positive chapter. It is declaring what God has done to help the people He made. In His undeserved love and mercy, He has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth. He “gave His one and only Son”. ‘Gave’ is in the sense of a gift — offered in love, not because God had to, but because He chose to (Romans 4:4–5). What does this giving of Jesus Christ mean? We have said that God is just and has to punish sin. So when Christ was crucified, God punished in Him the sin of those he would save. Christ’s death appeased the wrath of God; it satisfied His justice. This is the ultimate gift, and it is held out to all people. ‘Whoever’ believes will be saved. However, believing does not just mean accepting it as an historical fact. Throughout Scripture the meaning of belief is explained. It is to confess our sins (Psalm 23), to repent of them, to acknowledge them and turn from them. It is to trust Christ to save us (Acts 16:32), to rely on Him alone (Acts 4:12), not on what we have done, or said, not on a commitment, or a sacrament, but on Him. And there is no one better to rely on. He was a real man, so He knows all we know about life, and has felt as we feel. He was a perfect man, who never broke God’s law and so was able to bear the punishment of our sin. Christ was also really God, so if we trust in Him, we know He will never fail us, He will never let us go (Rom 8:38) — He is all powerful, He has risen from the dead. There is no other, and could be no better saviour, than this One. The urging of our text is for us to believe in Him, to flee to Him, to cry out to Him — He is the only answer to our deepest need. We were made to enjoy fellowship with God. Our sin has ruined that, but here God gives us a second chance.

This is the message of Evangelicalism, to a needy world. Perhaps you have never considered yourself as needy. Well trust what God tells you. Read it for yourself in the Bible. He knows us better than we know ourselves and nothing we can do can save us except turning and crying out to Him. Believe, believe and be saved.

Tom Duckers

Continuing the debate …

• Carey Chambers responds to this article in Issue 73