Last week Krista wrote to me and then I began last week\u2019s post with this: Your question is a good one, and it is one that has haunted my own academic career for more than twenty years. Here\u2019s your question: \u201chow one should react to those preaching the traditional Romans road\u2013 especially at Bible Camps or other distinct Christian functions? Moreover, should that teaching be discouraged?\u201d Put abstractly, is the summons to salvation distinct from the summons to discipleship?<\/em> Last week Krista wrote to me and then I began last week\u2019s post with this: Your question is a good one, and it is one that has haunted my own academic career for more than twenty years. Here\u2019s your question: \u201chow one should react to those preaching the traditional Romans road\u2013 especially at Bible Camps […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1736,806],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emerging-movement","category-gospel"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nDear Krista,
\nAnd last week I also said I\u2019d detail a little more on why it is that the Romans Road approach to evangelism is both so favored by evangelical Christians and so \u201ceffective\u201d in evangelism. Before I say one word further, this must be said: Many have come to faith in Christ when hearing the Romans Road. Anyone who disparages the Romans Road must reckon with its effectiveness and must offer an alternative that is just as biblical.
\nThe Romans Road maps the path from sin to salvation<\/em> by moving through six verses in Romans. Here it is:
\nNeed<\/strong>:
\nRomans 3:10: \u201cThere is no one righteous, not even one.\u201d
\nRomans 3:23: \u201cFor all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.\u201d
\nSolution<\/strong>:
\nRomans 5:8: \u201cBut God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.\u201d
\nWarning and Promise\/The Options<\/strong>:
\nRomans 6:23: \u201cFor the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.\u201d
\nAppeal and Promises<\/strong>:
\nRomans 10:13: \u201cEveryone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.\u201d
\nRomans 10:9-10: \u201cThat if you confess with your mouth, \u201cJesus is Lord,\u201d and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.\u201d
\nNow, why is this is the preferred method?
\nFirst, it is simple. Problem, solution, appeal. Problem is simple: sin. Solution is simple: Christ. Appeal is simple: believe.
\nSecond, it has been effective in evangelical circles for a long, long time.
\nThird, it is easy to teach lay Christians that this is the gospel and if you are given the opportunity to witness, this is what you need to have in your deep memory bank.
\nFourth, the Romans Road is \u201cobjective\u201d and the results of an evangelistic encounter are \u201ccertain.\u201d Either the person prays the prayer of believing in Jesus Christ to resolve the sin problem or the person doesn\u2019t.
\nFifth, it is highly emotive. If you can get non-Christians to realize a sin need, then telling that person that they have a choice \u2014 heaven (eternal life) or hell (death) \u2014 puts that person at a crossroads in life with a highly emotional and potent alternative. Either go to heaven or go to hell.
\nSixth, the Romans Road is particularly \u201ceffective\u201d with children. If the \u201cevangelist\u201d says: \u201cYour parents are going to heaven. Don\u2019t you want to go with them?\u201d, then rare will be the child who doesn\u2019t say, \u201cYes, I want to go to heaven.\u201d Then the question comes: \u201cHow can I do this?\u201d
\nSeventh, the Romans Road is also effective in \u201cencapsulation\u201d settings. On encapsulation, see here <\/a>and here<\/a>.
\nWhat are the problems? I\u2019d like to know what you see as the problems, but I\u2019m asking for civility in conversation and not some heated reaction.
\nFirst, it is only one \u201clanguage game\u201d for the gospel. The Romans Road is not \u201cthe\u201d gospel but \u201ca way\u201d of expressing the gospel. It tells the truth about the gospel, but not the whole truth.
\nSecond, because it is a language game of the gospel, it tells only that language game. So, it uses these as the primary terms:
\n\u201csin\u201d (hamartia, which is only one term for the category of failure in the Bible);
\n\u201cdeath\u201d is the consequence of \u201csin\u201d;
\nJesus\u2019 death is the sole solution, though resurrection will eventually come up in the Romans Road;
\n\u201cEternal life\u201d and \u201csalvation\u201d are the only benefits of the Romans Road;
\n\u201cBelieving\u201d and \u201cconfessing\u201d are the conditions for salvation.
\nI believe all of these are true and tell the truth of the gospel. I don\u2019t think these are the whole story.
\nSecond, Jesus did not evangelize by using the Romans Road, and the series I am now doing called \u201c\u201dMissional Jesus<\/a>\u201d will work through Jesus\u2019 evangelistic \u201cmethod\u201d (which isn\u2019t really a \u201cmethod\u201d).
\nThird, what else could be added? A more comprehensive statement of the gospel will include, among other things, that God is a Trinity (the Holy Spirit is inherent to the gospel), that humans are made in God\u2019s image (what I call Eikons<\/a>), that Jesus\u2019 life and teachings are inherent to the gospel \u2014 that means kingdom language and kingdom vision, that God\u2019s intent is to draw humans into loving God and loving others, that life on this earth matters, that \u201csin\u201d can be defined in any number of ways (one can make a page-long list of the terms for \u201csin\u201d in the Bible), and one could go on.
\nFourth, and I\u2019ll leave this point with a brief comment, the Romans Road is not nearly as \u201csimple\u201d as it seems and it is not nearly as \u201ceffective\u201d as numbers indicate and it is not nearly as \u201cobjective\u201d and \u201ccertain\u201d as it seems. Whether or not a person becomes a Christian is not that simple.
\nWell, I\u2019ve said enough for today. Any thoughts or further questions?
\nBlessings,
\nScot<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"