Why I Do Not Join Popular Gospel-Only Organizations, Part One

Most evangelicals think that The Gospel Coalition and comparable organizations exist exclusively for the proclamation, explanation, and defense of the gospel. These organizations present themselves as clarifying voices in an age when many evangelicals have embraced doctrines and practices that obscure or damage the gospel. To the extent that TGC and other organizations have devoted themselves to the defense of the gospel, they should be applauded by all gospel believers.

Organizations like The Gospel Coalition have been marked by broad fellowship within the bounds of the gospel. For example, its leaders include Baptists, Presbyterians, and even Anglicans, among others. Clearly one need not affirm a particular polity in order to identify with TGC.

The Gospel Coalition also displays considerable diversity on other theological issues. Leaders like C. J. Mahaney and John Piper affirm that at least some miraculous gifts are available today. In an interview with Eric Metaxas, Tim Keller said that he affirms a version of “progressive creationism” that is “not quite” theistic evolution. No one would argue that these divergences are merely incidental, but they are thought to be acceptable in a coalition that centers upon the gospel.

Nevertheless, a glance through The Gospel Coalition doctrinal statement indicates that, contrary to the popular perception, it is more than a gospel-only organization. Intentionally or not, its confessional statement effectively excludes many gospel believers. For example, article ten deals with the kingdom of God. Part of the statement reads,

The kingdom of God, already present but not fully realized, is the exercise of God’s sovereignty in the world toward the eventual redemption of all creation. The kingdom of God is an invasive power that plunders Satan’s dark kingdom and regenerates and renovates through repentance and faith the lives of individuals rescued from that kingdom. It therefore inevitably establishes a new community of human life together under God.

This is a very definite assertion of an inaugurated kingdom. Of course many gospel believers do affirm that the kingdom is “already and not yet.” Nevertheless, few if any traditional dispensationalists can accept this statement. They understand the kingdom to mean the millennial realm of Christ, which has certainly not been inaugurated. If The Gospel Coalition means what it says, then it excludes most traditional dispensationalists.

Furthermore, article nine states that, in the Holy Spirit, believers “are baptized into union with the Lord Jesus, such that they are justified before God by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.” In other words, justification is the result of Spirit baptism and the believer’s consequent union with Christ. Again, traditional dispensationalists see it differently. They certainly agree that all saints of all ages are justified by grace through faith. They also affirm that justification is possible only on the ground that God once imputed the guilt of sin to Christ and judged it in Him, while He imputes Christ’s righteousness to believers. Traditional dispensationalists, however, insist that Spirit baptism and union with Christ is restricted to believers during the church age. As The Gospel Coalition formulates its confession, it either requires Old Testament saints to be Spirit baptized, or else leaves them unjustified. Either way, dispensationalists are unlikely to jump on the bandwagon.

The point here is not that dispensationalists are correct and The Gospel Coalition is wrong. The point is that TGC has gone considerably beyond the gospel in its doctrinal formulas. It ends up excluding some very committed gospel believers. In other words, it is really The “Gospel-Plus-Other-Stuff” Coalition.

Article nine also includes a very specific formulation about Spirit baptism in 1 Corinthians 12:13. This work is described specifically as baptism in the Spirit rather than baptism by the Spirit. In fact, the original wording of the statement was altered to reflect this language. The problem is that some still think that en pneumati is best translated by the Spirit all the way through 1 Corinthians 12. They may be wrong, but the gospel is hardly at stake in this distinction. Why should some brothers be barred from fellowship for such a minor point of theology?

The Gospel Coalition is clearly aiming for a fellowship that is narrower than the gospel. That much is evident even from its formal confessional statement. In its practice, TGC seems to draw the circle even smaller. A glance at the council members who lead the coalition is revealing. I admit that I do not know every person on the council, but of those I do know, none appears to be an Arminian. All affirm a fairly strong version of Lordship Salvation. None definitely holds (for example) a Chaferian or Wesleyan rather than a Reformed understanding of sanctification.

The Gospel Coalition is very broad in some ways, but exceptionally narrow in others. If one assumes that the basis of fellowship in TGC is the gospel alone (an assumption that the organization’s name fosters), then one will find this mixture of diversity and specificity to be perplexing at least. Evidently, the founders of TGC must have had some theological construct in mind from the very beginning. People like John Piper and C. J. Mahaney fit this construct. People like Charles Ryrie, Norm Geisler, or Charlie Bing did not. These teachers might be mistaken on certain subjects, but does anybody seriously believe that they deny the gospel?

TGC includes some kinds of charismatics, but it effectively excludes traditional dispensationalists. It includes old-earth progressive creationists, but it effectively excludes non-Calvinists and (evidently) even moderate Calvinists who might dispute a strongly-worded version of Lordship Salvation. Apparently, TGC is committed not simply to the gospel, but to a much more specific theological system.

For these reasons, I find it impossible to align with the ministry and vision of The Gospel Coalition. TGC has denied me that opportunity. I have not erected barriers or separated from TGC, for the simple reason that you cannot separate from someone who has already separated from you. The Gospel Coalition itself has erected the barriers. It has applied a detailed version of secondary separation toward those who do not affirm a specific theological position.

That is my first reason for not joining popular gospel-only organizations. But wait. There’s more.

Wrestling Jacob
Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

COME, O Thou Traveller unknown,
Whom still I hold, but cannot see,
My company before is gone,
And I am left alone with Thee.
With Thee all night I mean to stay,
And wrestle till the break of day.

I need not tell Thee who I am,
My misery, or sin declare,
Thyself hast call’d me by my name,
Look on thy hands, and read it there,
But who, I ask Thee, who art Thou?
Tell me thy name, and tell me now.

In vain Thou strugglest to get free,
I never will unloose my hold:
Art Thou the Man that died for me?
The secret of thy love unfold;
Wrestling I will not let Thee go,
Till I thy name, thy nature know.

‘Tis all in vain to hold thy tongue,
Or touch the hollow of my thigh:
Though every sinew be unstrung,
Out of my arms Thou shalt not fly;
Wrestling I will not let Thee go,
Till I thy name, thy nature know.

My strength is gone, my nature dies,
I sink beneath thy weighty hand,
Faint to revive, and fall to rise;
I fall, and yet by faith I stand,
I stand, and will not let Thee go,
Till I thy name, thy nature know.

Yield to me now—for I am weak;
But confident in self-despair:
Speak to my heart, in blessings speak,
Be conquer’d by my instant prayer,
Speak, or Thou never hence shalt move,
And tell me, if thy name is LOVE.

‘Tis Love, ‘tis Love! Thou diedst for me,
I hear thy whisper in my heart.
The morning breaks, the shadows flee:
Pure UNIVERSAL LOVE Thou art,
To me, to all, thy bowels move,
Thy nature, and thy name is LOVE.

Contented now upon my thigh
I halt, till life’s short journey end;
All helplessness, all weakness I,
On Thee alone for strength depend,
Nor have I power, from Thee, to move;
Thy nature, and thy name is LOVE.

Lame as I am, I take the prey,
Hell, earth, and sin with ease o’ercome;
I leap for joy, pursue my way,
And as a bounding hart fly home,
Thro’ all eternity to prove
Thy nature, and thy name is LOVE.