A vintage resource to help Gungor and his critics?

Gungor and their critics have had a pretty ugly few weeks. It goes without saying that it was all public, since little happens in private any more. I wonder how much controversy is energized simply because it is public. I can hardly imagine the passion in the exchanges if they were sending emails or letters to one another with no one else watching. Sometimes controversy serves to bring greater clarity and definition to some area. Sometimes it doesn't.

Here is my attempt at some clarity, but it's not really original with me. Understanding the relationship between Gospel and Scripture is essential for the church and each Christian, lest we begin just talking past one another. One helpful resource for me in understanding the way Gospel and Scripture are related is found attached here.

For clarity sake, I am using the term "Gospel" to describe the whole ministry God does for us in Christ Jesus in promising, delivering, choosing, baptizing, saving, forgiving, claiming, and loving us. The Gospel is not just a New Testament thing, but stretches way back to Genesis. The Gospel is not just a Scripture thing, it stretches all the way to here and now. I just proclaimed it to the prayer groups at Trinity, and to a man on the street. The Gospel is historical, but more than just "once upon a time."

I am using the term "Scriptures" to refer to those 66 books held in common since the early days when our movement discerned what was inspired revelation from God for all people and for all time. That library of books certainly includes the Gospel, but so much more like law, poetry, and history.

Jesus himself probably spoke clearest on the relationship between Gospel and Scripture on the road to Emmaus, "and beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24.27 esv).

An old drawing I found in my copy of

Looked like this:

Now what we see in this time of more entrenched tribalism in the church is an increase in biblicism/fundamentalism, and an increase in gospel reductionism/liberalism. This is happening in the old groups. So it is not Baptists versus Presbyterians, but within each denomination, and even within evangelicalism. When this happens a big fight will break out, not unlike what we have seen this week. 

When the gospel is held as an ideal or doctrine unnormed and underived from the Scriptures, it easily slips into a synonym for toleration, and is little more than a pat on the back for whatever I may be feeling, thinking, acting, or believing at any given moment. 

When the scriptures are affirmed with a multitude of additional adjectives, but unnormed and untethered from the Gospel, they can easily be used as manual, a hagiography, a textbook, or better in the words of Sally Lloyd-Jones (from The Jesus Storybook Bible):

Ed Stetzer explains that if first order issues are essential to the core of Christian belief, and second order issues are teachings believers may disagree about, fundamentalism has no second order issues, and liberalism has no first order issues.

To the gospel reductionist, who has untethered themselves from the scriptures, please look a little closer at Jesus. No one is a greater friend of the Scriptures and their authority than Jesus. He loved those three little words, "it is written."

To the fundamentalist, who has untethered themselves from the centrality of the Gospel, please look a little closer at the Bible. Jesus is not one of many tenets, but is the clear center! Nearly every page throbs with the heartbeat of the Gospel. Our Lord, beginning with Moses and the Prophets, interpret to us in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.