Trevin Wax is an editor at LifeWay Christian Resources. He received a Masters of Divinity at Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky and spent several years serving the First Baptist Church in Shelbyville, Tennessee as Associate Pastor. He has been blogging regularly at Kingdom People since October 2006.
Trevin enumerates the counterfeit gospels as:
[1] Therapeutic Gospel: Sin robs us of our sense of fullness. Christ’s death proves our worth as humans and gives us power to reach our potential. The church helps us find happiness.
[2] Moralist Gospel: Our big problem is sins (plural) and not sin (nature). The purpose for Christ’s death is to give us a second chance and make us better people. Redemption comes through the exercise of willpower with God’s help.
[3] Judgmentless Gospel: God’s forgiveness does not need to come through the sacrifice of His Son. Judgment is more about God’s goodness, not the need for human rebellion to be punished. Evangelism is not urgent.
[4] Activist Gospel: The kingdom is advanced through our efforts to build a just society. The gospel’s power is demonstrated through cultural transformation, and the church is united around political causes and social projects.
[5] Churchless Gospel: The focus of salvation is primarily on the individual, in a way that makes the community of faith peripheral to God’s purposes. The church is viewed as an option to personal spirituality, or even an obstacle to Christlikeness.
[6] Quietist Gospel: Salvation is about spiritual things, not secular matters. Christianity is only about individual life change and is not concerned with society and politics.
Related articles by Trevin Wax:
- 3 Ways of Defining the Gospel
- The Gospel as a Three-Legged Stool
- Arrogant Inclusivism
- Urban Legends in the Pulpit: Please Don’t Repeat Them
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