A diluted gospel is one that is robbed of its power. The irony is that, in their concern to treat the symptoms of sin, the Evangelicals “of the Left” fail to deal with the very thing that produces the symptoms: personal guilt. When they have finished their treatment, the parasite is still alive and well.

The word evangel means gospel. Therefore, to be evangelical is to be defined by the gospel. At minimum, those who claim to be Evangelicals should have a very clear idea of what the gospel is. Within today’s Evangelicalism, however, the content of the gospel is the subject of significant disagreement. Many contemporary Evangelicals are attempting to create an understanding of the gospel that is much more inclusive than the message of personal salvation. While these Evangelicals do not always deny a personal gospel (and some are fervently committed to it), they think that the gospel must also deal with other issues, including problems of a psychological, social, and environmental nature. What they proclaim is neither simply a personal gospel nor a social gospel. It is a both/and gospel.

The basic argument for the both/and gospel is that sin has done more than to disrupt our personal relationship with God. It has disrupted the inner integrity of each individual, resulting in the disintegration of emotional wholeness. It has disrupted the relationship between humans, resulting in oppression and exploitation. It has disrupted our relationship to the created order, resulting in the ruination of nature through human abuse. According to proponents of the both/and gospel, a meaningful gospel must address each of these issues directly.

A common maxim of the both/and gospel is that the gospel is not (only?) about getting people to Heaven when they die it is about getting Heaven onto earth right now. The mechanism through which this heavenly arrival is supposed to occur is the Kingdom of God. According to the theory, the Kingdom is already present in the world, particularly among the people of God. Therefore, the main business of God’s people is to put the Kingdom on display by modeling emotional wholeness, social justice, and environmental concern.

To be clear, those who incorporate social elements into the gospel do not necessarily deny that personal sin has condemned individuals. Nor do they necessarily deny that the gospel includes the element of personal redemption through the propitiatory death of Jesus. What they do, however, is to place their emphasis upon the psychological, social, or ecological dimensions of the gospel. The effect of this shift is to diminish the importance of personal sin and personal redemption. Some of the more extreme advocates of the both/and gospel display a profound reluctance to engage in personal evangelism, substituting social engagement for direct proclamation.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the advocates of this “enlarged” gospel rarely appeal to 1 Corinthians 15. This failure is unfortunate, because 1 Corinthians 15 is the key Biblical passage for understanding the content of the gospel. It is the one passage in which a New Testament writer deliberately aims to tell us what the gospel is.

As Paul explains it, the gospel revolves around two historical events: the death of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. Each of these events is supported by empirical evidence: the death of Jesus is demonstrated through His burial, and the resurrection is confirmed by the testimony of the eyewitnesses. Each event also has farreaching theological implications.

The death of Jesus was “for our sins.” This statement implies that we were sinners, that our sins condemned us to a horrible fate, and that we could do nothing to help ourselves. It implies that the guilt of our sins was imputed to Christ. It implies that Christ was a qualified substitute for sinners, a truth that carries with it an understanding of His theanthropic person and His virgin birth. The sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice implies that salvation is applied “by grace, through faith.”

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