Gospel

Review: Paul’s Gospel in Romans

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Cover image of "Paul's Gospel in Romans" by Jarvis J. Williams

Paul’s Gospel in Romans

Paul’s Gospel in Romans, Jarvis J. Williams. Baker Academic (ISBN: 9781540963291) 2026.

Summary: Argues that Paul in Romans articulates a gospel with vertical, horizontal and cosmic dimensions.

Volumes have been written about Paul’s gospel in Romans. Some emphasize the vertical dimension of justification by faith, forgiveness of sins, reception of the Spirit and deliverance from God’s wrath. Others emphasize the horizontal dimension, including living righteously through the Spirit, in unity with other believers including between Jews and Gentiles. Yet others focus on the cosmic dimensions of the gospel, the deliverance of all creation from death, the resurrection of our bodies, and the new creation.

If Jarvis J. Williams were asked to choose which most faithfully describes the gospel in Roman, he would answer “yes.” In this book, he proposes that the best way to understand the gospel in Romans is that it is vertical, horizontal, and cosmic. All three are present. And by exegesis of selected texts, he shows how Paul elaborates each of these.

However, Williams begins by contending that we must first consider the “matters of first importance” that Paul elaborates in 1 Corinthians 15. These are Christ’s death for sins, bodily resurrection, ascension, and return. Then, before discussing the three dimensions in Romans, He shows how these “matters of first importance,” particularly the resurrection and death of Jesus in that order are present in Romans.

In introducing the three dimensions, he says they are interdependent but that the vertical good news is foundational. Williams then devotes one chapter each to the three dimensions. In each, he offers an extensive exegetical treatment of relevant texts.

For the vertical dimension, he shows the sinfulness of all humanity. Then he discusses justification, forgiveness, deliverance from wrath, and reconciliation. All are aspects of the gospel. Under the horizontal dimension, he shows how the Spirit transforms us to live lives of sacrificial love. He also renews our minds. Lastly, he restores relationships across all boundaries. Paul’s cosmic gospel is one of liberation for all creation that is subject to futility because of sin. As co-heirs with Christ, we await resurrection and the final defeat of death.

Williams offers a brief applicatory conclusion. He contends that we ought focus first on the matters of first importance rather than repentance in our proclamation. While we may not emphasize all the dimensions at any one time and must prioritize the vertical as the basis for the others, we have a great and expansive gospel to share. That was my takeaway from this book. We have a great gospel that touches every dimension of life and all of time and space. Furthermore, Williams show how all these dimensions cohere as one great gospel of the crucified, risen, ascended, and returning Lord. And he does all this in a clear and concise 144 pages.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: The Anti-Greed Gospel

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Cover image of "The Anti-Greed Gospel" by Malcolm Foley

The Anti-Greed Gospel, Malcolm Foley. Brazos Press (ISBN: 9781587436307) 2025.

Summary: Argues that greed is the root of racism and calls the church to economic solidarity, anti-violence, and truth-telling.

We often think that hate and ignorance are at the root of racism. And certainly we can come up with examples of hate and ignorance. But Malcolm Foley argues in The Anti-Greed Gospel that the love of money is the root of the evil of racism. He shows how racism both arose and persisted after the abolition of slavery for economic reasons. The effort to subject one people by another was first and foremost about economic advantage.

Foley introduces his argument through showing that economic reasons (coveting) led to breaking other commands of God including bearing false witness, theft, and murder. He shows how unfettered capitalism and racism are intertwined in the economic growth of our nation through slavery. Then in post-reconstruction America, he traces the rise of lynching as a tool of economic subjugation. He argues that the tendrils of greed that eventuate in lynching undermined the witness of Christians like Francis Grimke and Atticus Haygood. The former eventually embraced violent resistance; the latter a kind of cynical paternalism. By contrast, he offers the example of Ida B. Wells, whose truth-telling exposed the roots of racialized greed and whose resistance sought justice through legal means.

The example of Wells provides the transition to the second part of Foley’s argument. He explores what the church can do. First, he argues for economic solidarity between Christians across racial lines such that we strive toward the Acts ideal of “no needy among us.” Then he contends for love rather than violence as we seek remedies for greed. For example, love resists practices like property appraisals that keep people in poverty. Love also opposes wars, which often rely upon minorities disproportionately to fight the battles while draining resources from domestic programs. Thirdly, he argues for prophetic truth-telling amid the culture of racial lies. Finally, he stresses the importance of creativity as we cast vision for a kingdom that is not of this world.

First for one criticism. Indisputably, in the American context, greed found expression through a form of racist capitalism. But I would argue that greed is an evil that finds expression in every economic system. In every economic system we can see classes or racial groups who are exploited for the economic gain of others. What this demonstrates is that Foley’s thesis that racism is rooted in greed has cross-cultural validity. I wonder if the association of “racialized capitalism” throughout the book weakens the focus on the root cause of greed.

That said, Foley’s thesis helps explain the persistence of racism. It also clarifies both the danger to the church of the “tendrils” of greed upon its life and the way it addresses racism. It is more than just relationships across racial lines. Whether society follows or not, finding ways to express economic solidarity, practice loving resistance, and engage in prophetic truth telling are more substantive alternatives than saying “let’s be friends.” It also seems to me that the challenge of creativity is to transcend our polarities and political binaries while not losing contact with earthly realities. We need to cast alternative visions people understand and find compelling.

Malcolm Foley is a young leader who is a scholar-pastor, and well-positioned to implement the recommendations he makes in this book. I look forward to hearing more from him!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: The Gospel According to Christ’s Enemies

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The Gospel According to Christ’s Enemies, David J. Randall. Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2022.

Summary: How the statements of Jesus’s enemies about him often proclaimed, in unintended ways, the very gospel truth about him.

We often start with the statements of Jesus himself, as well as those of the apostles, to understand his mission and message, indeed who this Jesus is in his person. Most of us would not turn to the enemies of Jesus for reliable testimony about Jesus and the good news we proclaim. David Randall offers a fascinating study that shows that, often unintentionally, Jesus’s enemies also proclaim gospel truth about him–sometimes as jests, sometimes as criticisms, sometimes as outright malicious statements. He shows how they spoke truer than they knew, in a book that is both devotionally rich and offers a line of apologetic reasoning for the gospel.

Here are some of the contentions of Jesus’s enemies that he deals with:

  • He welcomes sinners (thanks be to God!).
  • No one ever spoke like this man. (Soldiers sent to arrest Jesus)
  • It is better that one man should die for the people. (Caiaphas)
  • Behold, your king! (Pilate)
  • He saved others; he cannot save himself (chief priests and scribes mocking Jesus at the cross)
  • Jesus came into the world to save sinners (Paul, former persecutor of the church)
  • In Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians (a term, possibly of derision by outsiders)
  • They are turning the world upside down (Thessalonians in Acts 17:6 of Paul and his companions)
  • He’s a babbler (Acts 17:18-19, of Paul in Athens)

Randall devotes a chapter to each of these exploring both the contention of the enemies and then elaborating the gospel truth embedded in the criticisms. As you can see, Randall considers both direct attacks on Jesus and those against the church.

One of the richest chapters is the one in which Randall reflects on Jesus’s matchless words–that no man ever spoke like this man. He observes the distinctive note of authority in the teaching of Jesus and then notes how this is reflected in what he says about God, about human beings, about salvation, about morality, about contentment, and about values.

Randall examines scripture, uses stories from church history, quotes from other commentators, and verse and hymns woven together in accessible discussions of each point. He also offers two concluding chapters, one on the gospel of Jesus, and one on some contemporary attacks on Christianity, that he turns around in the same way;

  • Religion is the problem in the world, not the solution.
  • Christians are no better than anyone else.
  • Christianity is for simple people.
  • And conversely, Christianity is for intellectuals.
  • Christians are intolerant.
  • We just need more of Jesus’s teaching about loving one another.

Randall has a delightful way of turning each of these around that not only blunt the attack but actually turn it into an opportunity to bring good news. Jesus indeed welcomes sinners. He speaks like none other. He is the one who died for all, the one who saved others by not saving himself, and the King. It makes me wonder whether such a phenomenon is true of the body of Christ at this time.

Are the criticisms aimed at us by our most vigorous opponents just true, or do they proclaim the unintended truth of Jesus? It seems to me that such can be so only if we are living the servant life of Jesus, pursuing the mission of Jesus, and bringing the message of Jesus. Then we become the paradoxes in which what opponents say as harsh truths are actually unintended truths of the gospel. Would that were so of us as Randall shows it true of Jesus!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.

Review: Why the Gospel?

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Why the Gospel?, Matthew W. Bates (Foreword by Scot McKnight). Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2023.

Summary: Instead of asking what the gospel is, explores why has God made this proclamation of good news, centering on the kingship of Jesus and what this means for those who place allegiance in him.

Matthew W. Bates has written several books contending that our idea of what it means to place faith in Christ are inadequate to the biblical meaning of faith, which he contends is allegiance, an unqualified allegiance to Jesus as King [I have reviewed Salvation by Allegiance Alone and Gospel Allegiance]. In this work Bates further elaborates on this idea.

He begins with an intriguing question. Why the gospel? He observes that there are many discussions of what the gospel is, indeed that this is what his previous books have addressed. What he believes we rarely consider is why the gospel and that when we do, our answers focus on things like forgiveness, getting us to heaven, freeing us from rules, improving society, reuniting us with God, and so on. He contends that these are not wrong, but not first. What is first is that we need a king and Jesus is the king we need and the king has come! We are lousy kings of our own lives and anything else to which we give our allegiance is no better. Jesus is the only worthy king, most notably in fulfilling prophecy, in the life he lived and the victory of the cross and resurrection, rescuing us from our bondage to sin and death.

Bates then proceeds to elaborate the purposes of God in sending Jesus to be our King. God wants to make us famous! The salvation that comes through Jesus the King comes with eternal glory (2 Timothy 2:10). It is not merely that God seeks his own glory through Jesus the King; He intends that we share in that glory, that we enjoy everlasting honor and fame. Over two chapters he describes a “glory cycle” beginning with God’s glory, humans given glory to rule over creation, our failure to carry that glory in the fall and human sinfulness, Jesus as the perfect image of intended human glory launches glory’s recovery, as we gaze on the glory of Christ, we are transformed, recovering our lost glory, and finally, we reign gloriously with King Jesus in the new creation.

His final two chapters work out the implications of these ideas, first for “nones” and then for our proclamation of the good news. He believes this “King first” gospel addresses the hypocrisy so repellant to “nones.” Allegiance to a king isn’t simply a matter of “trust” but allegiance involves both mind and body, not permitting us to profess one thing and living another in our bodies. For those objecting to politicized Christianity, this is not an apolitical message but rather one that is more political, asserting the rule of Jesus over all, yet one that is non-coercive, that suffers with and for the suffering, and seeks restoration. The King Jesus gospel calls people into authentic relationships of mutual discipleship and to a holistic vocation that sees Jesus’s calling in every human endeavor.

The implication for our proclamation is to “flip” the message. Instead of, for example:

“Because he offers forgiveness, Jesus is your Savior. Accept his salvation. Next he wants to be King of your life.“

Bates advocates:

“Jesus is the King. Accept his kingship, because through it, Jesus is offering you saving rescue, including the forgiveness of your sins.“

He offers a number of examples of invitations focusing on different aspects of the gospel, each with a “typical” and a “King first” focus.

I have not seen Bates address this, but the “king” language is triggering for some. In some minds, it represents an imperial, colonial age that is past. For others, it seems averse to democratic ideals. The male-gendered character of “king” also evokes patriarchy. Very clearly, the kingship of Jesus is different and the idea of a good king runs through so much literature, for example, The Lord of the Rings. Addressing the cultural resonances of the term would be helpful.

That said, I appreciate the focus on Jesus as King as the center, the why of our gospel, rather than simply the results of his kingly rule. Beyond that, Bates focuses on something far beyond our needs, that is our destiny to share in the glory of the King and to rule with Him. I suspect few Christians think about the idea that this is what they have been both made and redeemed for, nor for how this ought to infuse our vision of our daily lives on this good earth.

Lastly, I’ve long objected to the way we have often presented a “two stage” salvation, first Jesus as Savior and then Jesus as Lord or King. Bates frames this so well in observing that all the things we associate with salvation are the gifts of the King for those who turn from other allegiances to follow him alone.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.

Review: Gospel Allegiance

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gospel allegiance

Gospel Allegiance, Matthew W. Bates. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2019.

Summary: Contends that our traditional ideas of salvation by faith reflect an inadequate gospel that fails to call people to allegiance to King Jesus.

A couple years ago, Matthew Bates provoked a conversation about the nature of the gospel and faith with his book Salvation by Allegiance Alone (review). Bates’ contention is that our traditional statements about salvation by faith fails to capture a critically important element of the gospel, that the coming of Jesus was the coming of a king, whose purpose was to call people from the nations to a new allegiance to Christ as king.

This book expands on this argument, designed for a pastoral rather than theological audience. He engages other authors such as John MacArthur and John Piper who have written about these matters, noting both where they are in agreement and where their understanding of gospel, faith, and works may be deficient. He proposes that our typical rendering of gospel presentations like the “Roman road” are inadequate.

In addition to the pastoral focus, Bates proposes that this book focuses more on the gospel, defining it more precisely and thoroughly. He goes further in his discussion of faith, grace and works. He argues that this is not a different gospel but a re-framing of the gospel. Finally, this study primarily focuses on Paul.

A key to understanding Bates’ main idea is this phrase in Romans 16:26 which says, “…so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith.” Bates sees pistis, the word for “faith” as more than simply a mental or emotional disposition but rather “faith-obedience” or allegiance, and also emphasizes the idea that Christ’s purpose was to call the nations (“Gentiles”) to obedient allegiance to him.

Bates shows in this book how this is not salvation by works and yet how works are saving in the idea of allegiance to the King embodied in a life of obedience. He show how these are distinct in the writing of Paul from works of the law. His discussion of grace is perhaps the most challenging part of the book, both in terms of understanding and in terms of the ideas he presents. He argues that grace may be both unmerited and require bodily reciprocation, and by this, argues against “free grace” movements as cheap and false grace.

In his final chapter, he connects allegiance back to the Great Commission and Jesus call to make disciples. He argues:

   Any gospel that makes discipleship optional or additional is a false gospel. Gospel allegiance helps us to understand why faith in Jesus, discipleship, and obedience to his commands to hand in hand. In traditional articulations that place saving faith in opposition to works and the law, it is hard to find a positive place for Jesus’s commands. Not so if saving faith is allegiance to the king.

One of the distinctions that I am not at ease with is the distinction he makes between our being saved and our final salvation. He proposes that forgiveness, justification, reconciliation, redemption, adoption, and glory, are benefits of our final salvation. He speaks of all of these in the present as potential benefits. I would contend that they are already realized in our lives by grace in part, while our full realization of these will be in glory.

The value of Bates’ work is in his idea of allegiance and how it integrates faith, grace, and obedience, often set in conflict with each other. Furthermore, allegiance reminds us of the ultimate claim Jesus has on our lives above any other allegiances, involving our implicit and embodied obedience. It speaks as a challenge to allegiances to present-day Caesar’s and their empires, and all other false gods. It challenges versions of cheap grace that allow people to rationalize persisting in unrepented sin or refusing to advance in one’s discipleship and embodied holiness, claiming they have “believed” and are saved by grace. What most impressed me in this book is that it was clear that Bates’ concerns for gospel allegiance arise from a passion for the glory of Christ and a desire to see people truly converted, and set upon lives of discipleship. He models the kind of concern that every minister of the gospel ought have to be sure we have not run in vain or labored in vain (Philippians 2:16).

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Review: Saved By Grace Alone

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Saved By Grace Alone: Sermons on Ezekiel 36:16-36, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2018.

Summary: Fourteen sermons on Ezekiel 36:16-36, demonstrating from this text that salvation is by grace alone, due to our inability because of sin, and God’s loving initiative for his glory and our salvation.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was a Welsh preacher who succeeded G. Campbell Morgan as pastor of Westminster Chapel in London. His ministry at Westminster began in 1939 and concluded because of health reasons in 1968. For a time he was president of the Inter-Varsity Fellowship in the UK. His ministry was marked by consecutive exposition of different portions of scripture, combining careful exegesis of the text, treatment of the broader theological implications of the passage, and personal applicative appeals to his listeners. One series on Romans was published in fourteen volumes. In the case of this book, he takes fourteen sermons, preached over three months, to cover twenty-one verses in Ezekiel.

If that seems daunting, you are in for a surprise if you read this book. Lloyd-Jones preaches for the lay person and not the academic. Here is an example from one of the early chapters, on the Bible:

“This book is not a human book, it is not man’s ideas. It is the word of the Lord. Ezekiel had not been spending weeks and months in study, trying to understand the situation, and at last felt that he had discovered it and went to address the people; not at all. While he was sitting in helplessness and hopelessness with his fellow countrymen, the word of the Lord came to him. And that is still the only hope for our world. The word that comes to the world today is precisely this old word. Here is a perfect summary of the gospel” (p. 18).

The gospel in fact is the theme of this series of sermons, each on a verse or two from Ezekiel 36. As the title indicates, Lloyd-Jones is contending that this passage teaches us about God’s saving work, and that it is by grace alone. Following the passage, he traces Israel’s rebellion, their folly, and inability of themselves to live up to God’s standards. That is why Ezekiel is writing to exiles in Babylon. Exile reflects his just judgment on their sin, and there is nothing they can do to escape it or make up for their wrong. Yet God does not stop there. This would only be bad news, not gospel. Although they profaned God’s name among the nations, God will vindicate his name by restoring them, separating them unto holiness, bringing them back to Canaan, cleansing them from sin, giving them hearts able to obey, a new Spirit within them, a salvation that touches every aspect of their existence.

In each sermon, Lloyd-Jones moves from what salvation meant for the people of Israel to the parallel of what salvation means in the New Testament, accomplished through the work of Christ, confronting us with and cleansing us from sin, restoring us to life in Christ, reclaiming and going beyond what was lost in Eden. While showing the damage of human rebellion against God upon every dimension of life, and life’s futility under this regime, Lloyd-Jones repeatedly goes on to explore all the ways God in his grace meets us to liberate us from its hold, bringing forgiveness, and the indwelling Spirit, and an expanded vision of the purposes of God in us.

He also addresses his hearers (and readers), coming back again and again to commend the grace of God in Christ as our only hope. The sermons are wonderful examples of calling people to faith. Here is one example:

“Can you say, ‘My God?’ Do you know him personally? That is what Christ came to give you: not only forgiveness, not only new understanding, not only cleansing and holiness, but all that in order that we might be enabled to go into the holiest of all with full assurance of faith and know that we will always be there. Have you got that? Are you in that position? That is Christianity. That is the ultimate of it; the acme, the glory of it. He gave himself for us that he might bring us to God” (p. 147).

These sermons are not only valuable for exploring this passage in Ezekiel, and its gospel implications and as a model of appealing to someone to come to faith. They also preach the gospel to those of us who have believed. My heart was warmed by these truths afresh in reading Lloyd-Jones, even though I first believed them as a child. I can never get beyond but only go deeper into all that it means to be saved by grace alone through Christ alone. This book was a valuable aid in that journey.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.