A "Social Gospel" Found Wanting

The challenge of the gospel of Christ has to do with each individual's personal relationship with God, the need for repentance from sin, and positive faith in the Son of God who for our sakes died and rose again.

The Spirit foretold through Paul that the time would come "when they will not endure the sound doctrine... and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables" (2 Tim. 4:3,4). The so-called "liberal theologian" has done just that, rejecting the verbal inspiration of Scripture and substituting mere humanistic religious theories for the truths of divine revelation. This leads to a wrong emphasis. Instead of the basic challenge to be reconciled to God, followed by ministry of spiritual benefit to the believer, such preachers proclaim a "social gospel", urging involvement in the world's social and political causes. Someone has described it as "turning the faith into a political agenda marked with a veneer of spirituality".

A recent analysis of trends in the leading Protestant churches of the United States shows that this modernistic "social gospel" has been found sadly wanting. Traditionally such groups as the Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Methodists had dominated American Protestantism, but during

the last twenty years they have known dramatic decline in membership and influence. This has been all the more significant because during the same period there has been a great upsurge in membership of evangelical and Pentecostal churches and an increase of forty per cent in the Roman Catholic Church.

Several factors doubtless contributed to the decline of the traditional Protestant groups. In the past their Status had made them fashionable, so they enjoyed increase without specific effort in publicity or evangelism. This appeal of status no longer holds good. There has been a falling away from membership on the part of many younger adults, who simply lose interest and feel no spiritual incentive either to remain where they are or join other groups. Then the leadership has tended to advocate liberal causes, especially over women's rights and homosexuality, issues which have provoked a lot of controversy among the rank and file. "National officials have taken positions which, frankly, the rest of us do not understand", complained one dissatisfied adherent.

But at the heart of the decline lies a spiritual dearth deriving from abandonment of the vital truths of the gospel. Church leaders and preachers are said to be "preoccupied with political and social issues at the expense of good old fashioned truth". Not only are they failing to get their message across, but are "increasingly unsure of just what that message is".

The boasted rationalized interpretations of Scripture have become less appealing to many. "We are experiencing a reaction against modernity", said one seminary teacher; "The churches were seriously mistaken in seeking to duck the age-old questions - Who am I as a human being before God? How can I face my own death? How can I be forgiven for my sins?" Such basic personal concerns call for an authoritative spiritual message. They lie at the heart of sinful man's need before God. Culture and social betterment are irrelevant to these issues, yet the word of the truth of the gospel has been largely obscured, yearning souls have been offered a message which cannot satisfy, and there has been large-scale defection from these churches as a result.

The situation in the United States finds reflection among groups in other countries which are similarly linked in the World Council of Churches. There has been progressive devaluation of spiritual truth, bringing about a form of godliness without the divine power which is the hallmark of the gospel of salvation (11:om. 1:16). That power is inherent in the Word of God, "living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword" (Heb. 4:12). Conviction that every scripture is inspired of God (2 Tim. 3:16) is vital if the message is to be effectively preached. Paul urged Timothy: "I charge thee in the sight of God, and of Christ Jesus, who shall judge the quick and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching" (2 Tim. 4:1,2).

This quality of preaching is still called for, an authoritative message based on full acceptance of Scripture as the Word of God. The modernist's "social gospel" is in effect "another gospel", advocating betterment through human effort rather than reconciliation to God through the death of His Son. Weighed in God's balance it is found wanting.

unknown | Sept 1989
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