Book Review: What is the Gospel?

Gilbert, Greg. What is the Gospel? Wheaton: Crossway, 2010.

Truth is being assaulted from all sides in our day. From the capitulation of the Biologos cadre, to the crass man-centeredness of Osteen, to the “God is an American conservative Republican” cultural Christianity crowd, there are voices out there to confuse believers, distort the truth, and eviscerate biblical Christianity. It’s time someone wrote a book reminding us what the gospel is, and what it isn’t.

Greg Gilbert’s brief (124 pages), accessible offering, published by Crossway under the 9Marks imprint, is just what the doctor ordered. Gilbert carefully points the church back to a biblical understanding of the gospel, and along the way he manages to distinguish between the results of the gospel and the gospel itself. It does not help people much if we talk in glowing terms of kingdom and cultural transformation if we haven’t made clear how one gets through the door. As he gently corrects, Gilbert’s tone is not polemical; he’s not going to alienate anyone, whether they are lost or merely confused about the gospel.

The book contains but eight chapters, four of which cover these topics: God’s righteousness, man’s sinfulness, Christ the Savior, and the response of faith and repentance. Gilbert reminds us that one does not need to be a Princeton grad to understand that Jesus died for my sins.

One of the great things about this book is that you can give it to an earnest seeker, and know that they will be exposed to a simple, solid, accurate, biblical, and compassionate explanation of gospel. I plan on keeping a box of these things in my study for just that purpose.