In his latest
book, Gospel Allegiance, Matthew W.
Bates, associate professor of
theology at Quincy University in Quincy, Illinois, takes the foundation laid in
his previous book, Salvation by Allegiance Alone, and builds the
superstructure of how these ideas can be worked out in the life of the church
and Christian witness. Whereas Salvation
was directed a little more toward academic students of theology (while still being
accessible to informed laypersons), Gospel
Allegiance brings the discussion to the local pastor and small group
leader, who may or may not have advanced formal theological training. In this
latest volume, Bates expands and expounds on the ideas first proffered in Salvation, adding two points to his
detailed definition of the gospel message, as well as getting more into a
boots-on-the-ground application of what understanding pistis (the Koine Greek word usually translated “faith”) as
allegiance entails in the process of Christian discipleship.
In the book’s
introduction, after presenting two real-life stories that deal with the meaning
of allegiance and the gospel message as commonly presented, Bates makes two
statements that, at first glance, seem contradictory: “The true biblical gospel can never change. The gospel must change.”
The rest of the book unpacks how followers of Christ—and especially those
involved in preaching and personal evangelism—must return to what the
Scriptures actually present as the gospel message, avoiding popular versions of
the gospel that truncate and oversimplify it. Bates points out that it is not
only prosperity preachers who get the gospel message wrong, but also well
respected conservative pastors and writers who are frequently praised for their
biblical fidelity. It’s not that these preachers are teaching a gospel contrary to the Scriptures; the points
they present are central facts that must be believed. However, they are
omitting other key points that give the full gospel message its power. The fact
that the best teachers the church has often miss essential parts of the
foundational message of the faith demonstrates how pervasive the problem Bates
is confronting has become.
In this book,
Matthew Bate takes a cue from the best preachers and communicators, beginning
each chapter with a story (often from his own life experience) that
demonstrates in concrete terms the point that chapter aims to drive home.
In chapter
one, “Getting the Gospel Right,” the author points out that, while God works to
save people despite the flaws of those presenting the gospel, it is still
incumbent upon the church to refine its message toward the truth of Scripture,
due to the eternal consequences at play. Bates makes the claim, “Gospel
everything is nothing.” When we apply the word gospel to everything, it ends up losing any real meaning, often
becoming simply a marketing tactic (consider churches, conferences, and
publishers that use “gospel-centered,” “gospel-focused,” “gospel-driven,” and
other “gospel-something” phrases to gain the trust of people looking for
truthful messages). Bates also notes that a distinction must be made between
the gospel message proper and the benefits that result from believing and
accepting the gospel, going on to point out the dangers of making the gospel
about the resulting benefits to us rather than what it really is: a declaration
about Jesus the Christ.
Chapter two,
“Not Faith but Allegiance,” discusses many of the linguistic issues first
addressed in Salvation by Allegiance
Alone, pointing out the fact that the English words “faith” and “believe”
don’t do justice to the various shades of meaning contained in the semantic
ranges of pistis and pisteuō. “Ancient words have their own
meanings that do not map perfectly onto medieval, Reformation-era, or modern
words or definitions.” While making the case for allegiance as one of the
primary meanings of pistis in the New
Testament, he also points out that pisteuō
hoti (“to believe that”) does not refer to giving allegiance, but to
affirming the truthfulness of a statement. The thrust of this chapter is that
the purpose of the gospel message as stated in the Scriptures is obedience and
allegiance to King Jesus among all people groups. Working from this framework,
Bates provides a particularly clarifying explanation of the often
difficult-to-understand phrase “from faith to faith” in Romans 1:17.
The third
chapter, “The Full Gospel of the King,” Bates presents the following essential
points of the complete gospel message:
“The gospel is that Jesus the king:
1.
Preexisted as God the Son,
2.
was sent by the Father,
3.
took on human flesh in fulfillment of God’s promises to
David,
4.
died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
5.
was buried,
6.
was raised on the third day in accordance with the
Scriptures,
7.
appeared to many witnesses,
8.
is enthroned at the right hand of God as the ruling
Christ,
9.
has sent the Holy Spirit to his people to effect his
rule, and
10. will
come again as final judge to rule.”
He then explains each of these
ten points in detail with supporting Scriptures that flesh them out, before
dealing with potential objections to this royal definition of the gospel (much
as the Apostle Paul deals proactively with an unknown interlocutor in his
epistle to the Romans).
In the middle
of the book is a “bridge” rather than a chapter, with the heading “Gospel
Clarified—Gospel Mobilized.” The purpose of this “bridge” is to connect the
gospel definition from the first part of the book with its implications for our
understanding of the relationship between grace, faith, and works explored in
the latter half.
Chapter four,
“Grace in Six Dimensions,” tackles arriving at a contextual understanding of
grace (charis) as Paul would have understood the term, providing an
abbreviated summary of John Barclay’s six perfections of grace unpacked in Paul
and the Gift. Bates makes a strong case for the specific saving grace God
gives being the gospel itself, and that grace gift requires a reciprocating
return gift of allegiance. To fail to give allegiance to Christ the saving King
is to reject the gift of God. The author does an excellent job of showing how
biblical election is primarily corporate, especially with regard to salvation;
when predestination is spoken of in individual terms, vocation rather than
salvific destiny is in view.
Chapter five
is entitled “Faith is Body Out” and deals with the distinction between faith as
an inner psychological or emotional state (as it is often perceived in our
modern post-Enlightenment cultural context), and faith as outward-enacted
allegiance. Bates observes, “Throughout the history of Western theology, faith
increasingly became inward personal confidence in the effectiveness of the
exchange transaction on the cross, rather than outward allegiance to Jesus the
saving king.” He goes on to make the case that good works are involved in
salvation, but they do not earn or merit salvation. On their own, good works do
nothing; they only have power when they are an embodiment of the believer’s
allegiance to Jesus the King. The importance of faith as not simply a one-time
transaction—but a life-long discipleship journey of imperfect but real embodied
allegiant trust—is established, based on Abraham and others the Bible
recognizes as people whose lives exhibited faith in God.
The title of
chapter six, “How Works are Saving,” may be the most controversial heading in
the book. I must admit, I was taken aback at first by some of the author's claims in this chapter, but as I followed his train of though and the scriptural basis of his reasoning, I concluded that, while Bates pushes against traditional thinking in the church to some degree, he is actually pushing back toward what the biblical text actually says. Bates here makes the distinction between “works of the law” (taking
into account insights from proponents of the New Perspective on Paul regarding
Jewish boundary markers, while at the same time noting problems with forms of
the NPP) and the “good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph.
2:10, NIV). He shows that there are numerous passages in Scripture that point
out how evil deeds result in condemnation (Gal. 5:19–20, 6:7–8; 1 Cor. 6:9–10;
Eph. 5:5). These declarations do not deal only with rewards in the eternal
kingdom, as free grace proponents contend, but actually impact whether a person
will enter into eternal life. Bates is careful to point out, however, that the
good works that are part of salvation are not produced solely by human effort,
but are only made possible through the empowering of the Holy Spirit indwelling
those who are allegiant to Jesus. He skillfully navigates the straits between
the Scylla of cheap grace and easy-believism on one side, and the Charybdis of
performance-based legalism on the other, noting that “a list of required works
of allegiance for salvation can never be produced.” Good works are about what
the Holy Spirit leads the believer to do in their Christian life day by day,
not a legalistic checklist of dos and don’ts.
Chapter seven,
“Taking the Allegiance Challenge,” takes what has been presented in the
preceding six chapters and describes how individual believers, small groups,
and church congregations can go about changing the way they talk about
salvation from a transactional model to an allegiance model. Bates takes an anticipated
objection to his thesis—someone is certain to quote Ephesians 2:8–10 as a
showstopper—and walks through how one can take that passage, evaluate it
context, and explain each word and how it actually relates to a gospel
allegiance model of faith. He also deals with the challenge some raised after
the publication of Salvation by Allegiance Alone: how much allegiance is
enough, and doesn’t a focus on allegiance lead to a loss of assurance of one’s
salvation? Bates points out that, under traditional models of “faith” as
interior confidence in God’s promises, no one claims that perfect faith
is necessary for salvation. Consequently, perfect allegiance is not
required either. “Even when we are faithless (disloyal), we are still part of
his body if we have not decisively rejected or denied him as our true king.”
Bates goes on in the chapter to point out that the point of the gospel isn’t
making converts, but rather making disciples: discipleship cannot be separated
from salvation.
The book
concludes with two appendices. The first provides a summary of the book’s main
points, listing the ten facets of the gospel message, along with short and
expanded (though still brief) summaries of the gospel suitable to get a
conversation started (an elevator pitch, if you will). Four brief paragraphs
discuss the gospel’s purpose, our expected response to the gospel, the benefits
of the gospel (which are not the gospel message itself, but its
entailments), and the backdrop to the gospel (the story of Israel and the Old
Testament promises that point to Jesus as the coming Messiah.)
The second
appendix is a guide for further conversation and includes discussion questions
to stimulate deeper reflection. It may seem odd that these questions come in an
appendix rather than at the end of each chapter. But most books that include
study/discussion questions have between three and five per chapter, and Gospel
Allegiance has a minimum of two questions for each section of each
chapter. For example, there are a total of twenty questions for chapter four.
Placing so many questions at the end of each chapter would have made them too
intrusive, in this reviewer’s opinion. Placing them in the appendix also makes
it easier for a small group leader to pick which questions to use for
discussion, without the group members necessarily wondering why they didn’t
choose to include other questions.
The only
quibble I have with the book is purely one of personal preference. I prefer
footnotes to endnotes, because I can glance down at the bottom of the page to
see the reference or further explanation. I am much less inclined to flip to
the back of the book (or chapter) and search for the note number. As a reader
who frequently highlights material in the footnotes as well as the main text, I
find the separation of the notes from the main text makes me more likely to
miss something that could benefit me. But I don’t blame Matthew for this, as
the decision usually rests with the publisher rather than the author.
This book is
sure to receive criticism that accuses it of trying to “undo” the Protestant
Reformation (as did its predecessor, Salvation
by Allegiance Alone). Bates states that all three of the main streams in
Christianity (Catholicism, Protestantism, and Easter Orthodoxy) “are in
complete agreement with the content of the gospel as the Bible presents it.”
There is no doubt this will raise the hackles of those Protestants who refuse
to recognize Roman Catholic and Orthodox believers as “truly saved.” But rather
than negating the work of the Reformation, Bates is actually advocating for one
of its guiding principles—ad fontes—“to
the sources.” Gospel Allegiance helps
strip away the barnacles and algae that have gathered on the hull of the good
old gospel ship over the centuries, with the goal of getting back to the
message preached by Jesus and the Apostles.
I find Gospel
Allegiance a very helpful book that leads us to think about the whole
gospel and challenges us to give our whole selves to the saving King in
response. I highly recommend that anyone involved in gospel preaching or
personal evangelism read this book and let it impact how you present the gospel
message. Maybe if we present a more complete gospel message, and let our call
for response mirror the more complete response of embodied allegiance rather
than only belief in a set of facts or a petition for forgiveness, we will see
more disciples of Christ being made, instead of only converts to a
philosophical system, which is all-too-soon abandoned by many when life's
circumstances don't meet expectations.
Gospel Allegiance is arriving on the
scene at a critical time. Shortly after I finished reading this book, I saw a
discussion on social media about the gospel and how works relate to our salvation.
I saw several comments with declarations such as “Sola gratia! Sola fide!” One commenter claimed that Ephesians 2:8-9
was the heart of the gospel message. That online discussion illustrated just
how much the church needs to get back to a fuller, richer, multi-faceted
understanding of the Good News about the crucified, risen, ascended, enthroned,
and soon-coming King who saves.
Gospel Allegiance is available in print and electronic formats at https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Allegiance-Misses-Salvation-Christ/dp/1587434296/
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