Wage the Good Warfare

Is the gospel only good news when it fulfills our notions of what is good? You might think so given how people can act and speak in the name of the gospel. Some never mention sin, repentance, righteousness, or atonement, at least not with the same meaning of those words that the church has historically used. Redefining the message is a failure of the stewardship that was entrusted to the apostles and then passed on and fought for over the centuries. And such warping of the message has had devastating results. 

In his letter to Timothy, Paul offers the following descriptives of what happens to people when the gospel as revealed is fooled with, forsaken, or forgotten: they wander into vain discussions, teach from ignorance, promote irreverent, silly myths, devote themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons; their consciences become seared, they stray after Satan, engage in irreverent babble and contradictions, fall into a love of money (the root of all evil); they become puffed up with conceit, crave controversy, quarrel about words, produce envy, dissensions, evil suspicions, and constant friction; they are depraved in mind, deprived of the truth, imagine godliness as a means of gain, swerve from and make shipwreck of their faith. That’s what can happen, and has happened, when the gospel, as it has been revealed by the Holy Spirit, is not upheld in the church. The good news not only brings people into the kingdom, it also keeps people in the kingdom.

Why is this so? Because the gospel reveals the true situation we find ourselves in. Far from thinking we can confidently assert things about the nature of reality, the gospel lets us know how things actually are. God, as creator, is holy. There is no one else like him, both in being and attributes. His wrath is real and it is revealed “against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” (Romans 1:18) We must understand, therefore, that unless God does something about our situation we are lost. But he has done something, for God is also merciful and loving. He acts to save those subject to his wrath by sending his only son, and “in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.” (Romans 8:3) This gracious gift allows us to be brought back into relationship with him, be filled with the Holy Spirit, and pursue the kind of life we were designed to live - walking in love for God and neighbor that issues from a pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith. (1 Timothy 1:5)

The revealed gospel has been under attack from the very beginning. The assault has manifested itself in various ways over the centuries, but in the evangelical church of our day I believe the force that threatens is not so much aberrant doctrine as emotion. You hear it when people say, “The scripture says this, but I feel this.” For such folks, feeling forms faith, care establishes creed.

This is why we must, as Paul charges Timothy, “wage the good warfare.” The gospel is the power of God unto to salvation for all who believe. But the gospel offered must be that which God has graciously revealed, no matter how it may hurt someone’s feelings.