The Exaltation of Self in the Recasting of the Gospel

By Mark W. Christy, PhD

In D. A. Carson’s Prophetic from the Center, he offers a contemporary rendition of the gospel that is pervasive among American Christians:

“Ever since the fall, God has been active to reverse the effects of sin. He takes action to limit sin’s damage; he calls out a new nation, the Israelites, to mediate his teaching and his grace to others; he promises that one day he will send the promised Davidic king to overthrow sin and death and all their wretched effects. This is what Jesus does: he conquers death, inaugurates the kingdom of righteousness, and calls his followers to live that righteousness now in prospect of the consummation that is to come.”[i]

In this account of the gospel, sin essentially becomes an external force that acts negatively against the human experience. God, being a loving and good God, actively sets out to work against sin on humanity’s behalf. Ultimately, God’s fight against sin culminates in His final victory against it through Christ. Now through Christ and because of His victory over sin, humanity has been enabled to live righteously.

On the surface, this gospel may appear to be in line with the gospel of the New Testament as it does contain at least some fundamental truths. That being said, it fails to personalize sin as a breech of relationship between God and people. It fails to show that people are personally responsible for their sin, and that as sinners their beings are completely corrupted by sin to the extent that their very natures are sinful. It fails to show that people as sinners are totally incapable of addressing their sin in such a way that God’s holiness and justice can be satisfied. It fails to show that humanity’s sin and corresponding inability to self-redeem given their fallen state left them in a helpless state whereby their only hope would be in God. It fails to show that God, despite being holy and thereby justified in His wrath against sin, is nonetheless merciful and loving and therefore paid the full price for humanity’s sin through the work of Christ on the cross. It fails to show that humanity is called to repent of their sins and place their faith in Christ and His work so as to be saved. Finally, it fails to show that this initial victory over sin in the life of penitent and faithful believer is continued throughout the believer’s life as they continue to confront their sin by repenting and seeking God’s grace to continue to live a victorious and increasingly Christlike life.

Instead of portraying the aforementioned gospel which demonstrates the fullness of God’s personhood and the personal offense caused to Him by the willful sinfulness of humanity, the contemporary gospel outlined by Carson makes the person and his/her plight for a more comfortable life (aka their best life now) the primary focus. God is reduced to a fool because He is made to work against as if it is some external blight which has befallen humanity irrespective of their culpability.  He is a fool, in this account, because He has been stripped of the fullness of His personhood, and essentially made into a tool by humanity with the sole purpose of resolving the problem of sin. Given that sin has all but been completely disassociated from its origin as a breech of relationship caused by humanity’s willful disobedience, God essentially has been reduced to simply serving as a counter force against the prevailing force of sin.

[i]D. A. Carson, Prophetic from the Center (Great Britain: 10, 2016), 13-14.