Recently I was asked whether I believed in a social gospel or a biblical gospel. I found this question strange, having a few seconds of complete silence as I thought about how to answer. My response was one word: "Yes."
To be fair, I understand where the person was coming from. She was concerned that Christians today are being sucked into a humanitarian movement and calling it the gospel - which is a legitimate concern. An equally large concern is that our biblical approach to sharing our faith involves only our testimony, an invitation to follow Jesus, and then a decision that must be made by our audience. The Spirit has worked through this approach consistently through the ages, but I don't think this alone is the true biblical model of evangelism. Sure, this approach is there - check out Acts 10. But how do we see Jesus spread the gospel? I read about him taking care of the sick, feeding the hungry, and socializing with the outcast. How do we see the early church do this? See the answer to the previous question.
So why the Social vs. Biblical gospel argument? It seems they should not be pitted against each other, but instead, coupled together to give a complete definition to the message of Jesus Christ - "to seek and to save what was lost" (Luke 19:10). In today's church language, we can focus so much on converting people that we forget to show hope in the form of fighting social injustices, such as those Christ fought himself.
Giving the world a complete gospel picture communicates clearly the message of who Jesus is: loving, redeeming, transforming. Many outside of the family of God have long been given a message of "you need to believe, you need to change your life, you need Jesus." These are all true, but how much more powerful is this message if the world first sees Jesus in us? If the world sees followers of Christ fighting against human trafficking, they'll think, 'Jesus wants sex slavery to end? I believe it should too.' If the world sees followers of Christ being the first in line raising money to end world poverty, they'll say,'Jesus cares that everybody gets a meal? That's change I want to see too.' If the world sees followers of Christ take the action that Christ himself took, those who currently want nothing to do with Him will, for the first time, see who He truly is. This realization may ultimately lead them to the conclusion,'I do need Jesus.'
Our spoken words of Jesus cannot be neglected. The apostle Paul writes in Romans 10:14 that there must be someone speaking the message of Christ so that they will hear it. But this message cannot be effectively delivered if our lives don't symbolize the type of redemption Christ will bring to those who seek Him. He is about changing hearts and minds, defending the powerless, loving the unlovable, and saving the incapable. Yes, we must preach Christ, but me must also live Him. When we do this, there is no Social vs. Biblical argument. There is just the gospel, there is just the good news, and there is just the true picture of Jesus Christ.
