What if we take this sentence in its full force: “Jesus is the Savior of the world”? Yes, some balk because “Savior” conjures up some goofy experiences, manipulative to be accurate, with salvation messages and gospel invitations and talking Savior means not talking Lord, and talking Savior means no kingdom but heaven-when-we-die. OK, I get [Read More...]

The Onion’s piece of how a person thinks about the soterian-gospel-in-brief strikes the person hearing this kind of evangelism: Hello, sorry to bother you, but I was hoping I could borrow just a minute of your time. You see, lately I’ve been thinking about whether there’s something more to life, something I’ve been missing. There [Read More...]

A very good set of observations by Howard Snyder, and if you go to the link he fleshes out each one. This issue of distorting the gospel is at the heart of our The King Jesus Gospel. 1. Interpret the gospel primarily through Romans. 2. Focus solely on “personal salvation.” 3. Make heaven the goal. 4. [Read More...]

American evangelicalism is what it is because of its gospel. Dallas Willard calls its gospel the “gospel of sin management.” American liberal Protestantism is what it is because of its gospel. Dallas Willard also calls its gospel the gospel of sin management. (Some of you will know I call this gospel the “soterian” gospel in The [Read More...]

Fairly often in the discussion of issues surrounding the intersection of science and faith some mention is made of the inherent lopsidedness of the discussion. Theology, it appears to many, has to respond to science, as if it is the younger sibling and the less robust method of knowing. But I think this is a [Read More...]

What Abraham Kuyper said about religion can be said about the gospel. Here’s Kuyper: Of course, religion, as such, produces also a blessing for man, but it does not exist for the sake of man. It is not God who exists for the sake of His creation; — the creation exists for the sake of God [Read More...]

Ever since Sachi Nakamura (Twitter) contacted me about translating King Jesus Gospel into Japanese I’ve looked forward to this day: and here it is, whether you can read it or not. King Jesus Gospel in Japanese, so tell your friends who are Japanese or who can read or speak Japanese. It is beyond an honor [Read More...]

Soterian “Destination Gospel” The soterian gospel boils down the biblical Story of the King Jesus Gospel to mere destination: going to heaven when you die. All the potent minerals and healthy vitamins of God’s grace-driven renovation of the entire cosmos are cooked out. As a pastor, I think this has had disastrous results for the [Read More...]