In a recent brief biography of Augustus Toplady1, the writer complains of “men in confessional pulpits telling their congregations that they are tired of propaganda buzzwords like ‘gospel’ and ‘grace’”.2 These are presumably men who, on entering their office, have sworn to The Westminster Confession of Faith, or some other Reformed Confession. This is a serious charge, and it is one of several that the writer makes. The author’s purpose is to set such “distorting” of the gospel over against the doctrinal faithfulness of the subject of his book. But for anyone, who has any degree of real love to the words and doctrines of Scripture, to find ministers claiming to be tired of words such as gospel and grace is extremely disturbing. And presumably these men are dismissive, not only of the words themselves, but also of the content – the biblical content – of these words.
It seems unbelievable that any “confessional” minister could do other than welcome the frequent use of the word gospel, so often used in Scripture. It simply means good news, good news to sinners in a fallen world – sinners who are far away from God, who cannot return to Him by their own power, but must go down to eternal destruction unless God provides a way of escape. And that is what the gospel makes known: that God, in infinite mercy, has provided a way of salvation that is perfectly suited to the needs of condemned sinners. It is a provision that preserves God’s justice intact, while it delivers sinners from the eternal punishment which they deserve. What good news! How readily it should be welcomed by lost sinners! How unlikely it might seem that those whose duty it is to proclaim this good news should quibble at any of the words which God has used in revealing the provision He has made!
The very beginning of Jesus’ ministry involved “preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God” (Mk 1:14). J A Alexander enlarges thus on the expression the gospel: “this good news, these glad tidings of Messiah’s advent and the erection of His kingdom, for the very purpose of saving His people from their sins”.3 And when commissioning the disciples to go forth as His first ambassadors, Christ told them: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15). In whatever part of this world we find men and women, their need is exactly the same: they are sinners on their way to a lost eternity. What they therefore need is the gospel; Christ’s ambassadors are to proclaim the good news about Him as the Saviour whom God has appointed for a lost world.
This is the gospel the disciples brought to every place to which they travelled. For instance, after the success of Philip’s preaching in Samaria, Peter and John “preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans”. That preaching could have been no different from what Philip had proclaimed in Samaria itself: he “preached Christ unto them”. That is exactly what the gospel is: the good news about Christ, that He “came into the world to save sinners” by offering “Himself without spot to God” – offering Himself as a perfect sacrifice, on behalf of sinners (1 Tim 1:15, Heb 9:14). Considerable attention was paid to Philip’s preaching and the result was “great joy in that city”. J A Alexander understands this joy as including “the spiritual happiness arising from conversion and assurance of forgiveness”. Clearly the blessing of God accompanied Philip’s preaching of the gospel.
To preach the gospel is to preach Christ. Surely no one, we might think, can object to ministers laying emphasis on preaching Christ to their people. Accordingly we can scarcely expect anyone to complain about an emphasis on the gospel. And where there are such complaints, one must conclude that there is a clear departure from the scriptural pattern which God has revealed to us so that we might follow it.
Another aspect of the scriptural pattern is a strong emphasis on the grace of God in salvation – grace without works. That is to say, the salvation of the sinner depends entirely on the gracious provision that God has made in Christ Jesus, a provision which is to be received by faith alone, without any dependence on what we may have done by way of obedience to God’s law; we must realise that all our obedience comes very far short of the required standard, which is absolute perfection.
On the other hand, it is through the good works of believers that it is possible to recognise that they have been saved. Thus James stresses that “faith without works is dead” (Jas 2:20). He is speaking about the works of those who claim to have experienced a saving change. If they have a sincere love for God and for His people, theirs is a saving faith; apart from such living activity in the soul and in the outward life, there is no genuine faith.
So there is no contradiction between James and Paul on the subject of works. Paul declares that salvation is “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to [God’s] mercy” (Tts 3:5). Paul himself was brought to consider the real worth of what he had previously assumed to be his good works; they were only fit to be cast away. He learned that he must flee to Christ alone, by faith alone – for his works could not in any degree make him acceptable to God. His best works could only add to his condemnation. Thus if ministers are complaining about an over-emphasis on the idea of grace, they must be hankering after the possibility of works making a contribution to the sinner’s salvation. But we must become willing to give all the glory of our salvation to Christ. Salvation is “not of works,” says Paul, “lest any man should boast”. It may be very difficult for the sinner – and pride is absolutely natural to us as fallen – to give up every degree of confidence in our own merit. But it is the grace of salvation that brings sinners to give up that confidence and to cast themselves entirely on the mercy of God made known in “the glorious gospel of Christ” (2 Cor 4:4).
One thing that this generation of professing Christians sorely needs is the note of warning, a note that was not missing from Toplady’s sermons. He was earnest in seeking to deliver sinners from trusting to their own works – as, for instance, in these forthright words in connection with the Lord’s Supper: “If you do not wholly depend on Jesus as the Lord of your righteousness, if you mix your faith in Him with anything else, if the finished work of the crucified God be not alone your acknowledged anchor and foundation of acceptance with the Father, both here and ever – come to His table and receive the symbols of His body and blood at your peril! Leave your own righteousness behind you, or you have no business here. You are without the wedding garment, and God will say to you: ‘Friend, how camest thou in hither?’ If you go on, moreover, to live and die in this state of unbelief, you will be found speechless and excuseless in the day of judgement; and the slighted Saviour will say to His angels concerning you: ‘Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness . . . for many are called, but few are chosen’.”
But Toplady could also preach the free gospel of Jesus Christ, and he could encourage the weakest sinner that has ever looked to Christ. The following words are from a sermon preached in London in 1770: “If you come merely as a sinner to Jesus, and throw yourself . . . for salvation on His alone blood and righteousness, and the grace and promise of God in Him, thou art as truly a believer as the most triumphant saint that ever lived”.4 May the Lord raise up multitudes of such preachers, who would never become tired of such terms as gospel and grace!
1A respected Calvinistic clergyman of the Church of England who died in 1778, when he was just 37.
2Douglas Bond, Augustus Toplady, EP Books, 2012, p 15. The book provides a sympathetic and interesting account of its subject.
3In his Commentary on Mark, on 1:15 (Banner of Truth reprint, 1984).
4Quotations from Bond, Augustus Toplady, pp 51,53.