Several years ago, a mission team of laypersons preached the morning sermon at First Baptist Church of Abilene, Texas. They had just returned from completing medical and construction projects at a small Christian hospital in the mountains near Chihuahua, Mexico.
Their stories of building much-needed medicine cabinets and relationships, repairing clinic doors and broken bodies, and salvaging discarded equipment and forgotten lives touched our affluent congregation profoundly. In one testimony, a family physician summarized how he viewed their missionary efforts in that needy setting: “Some will call what we did the ‘Social Gospel’; I just call it ‘obedience.’”
This mention of the Social Gospel more than a decade ago highlights a misunderstanding that has been perpetuated by evangelical leaders and churches for a century. Quite recently, in fact, a friend told me that the “true gospel” is salvation through Jesus Christ, and not just doing good works.
But I contend that the true gospel is social. It has a personal aspect, of course, yet the implications of the true gospel are social. The first and greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul and mind — and, for Christians, that means loving Jesus as the Incarnate Word, the human face of God. But the second mandate, as ultimate as the first, is to love our neighbors as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40) — which grounds the social nature of the gospel in the person of Jesus himself.
I don’t know why everyone is so focused on choosing one or the other. We should be doing charitable works AND preaching the salvation message. Charity also serves as a good outreach opportunity anyway.
I think we’re probably in agreement, I went into more detail in my comment, but in summary:
It is difficult for me to comprehend how anyone could disentangle the documented word of Jesus in a sacred text from anything considered to be a “true” or “real” gospel.
Not sure if people here are just going by the headline, but the point of this article is that the social aspects of the gospel can’t be ignored or disentangled to fit a narrative like “empathy is a disease” bc the “real” gospel isn’t concerned with the social. Whoever decided there was a “real” gospel, it definitely wasn’t Jesus, but people sure like to use his name to spread their message.
“empathy is a disease” is borderline heresy at best. Blasphemy at worst
John 15:12-13
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Romans 5:7-8
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
If empathy is a disease, then God had that disease
Was reading an article about Paul Weyrich earlier, and this quote from a memo he wrote really stuck out to me:
The social gospel tells us to change man’s environment and that will change the world. The real gospel tells us to reform man first, so that a reformed man can change the world.
I grew up in the Bible belt, and from as early as I can remember, Jesus was everywhere and everything. There was never any question about it.
The sermons I heard always focused on The gospel. I actually never knew until very recently some people believe in a “real” gospel that isn’t concerned with a “social” gospel. When people talked about spreading the gospel, it just meant spreading the “good word.”
There are many different messages in the Bible to focus on and spread to others, but to me personally, thinking back over everything I was taught as a Christian, I feel the word of Christ should hold more weight than any other message in the Bible. I don’t mean this as a judgment against others, but simply to share my perspective and belief.
It is difficult for me to comprehend how anyone could disentangle the documented word of Jesus in a sacred text from anything considered to be a “true” or “real” gospel.
This is why I believe the context and message of Matthew 22:36-40 is unquestionably (to me) fundamental to Christianity.
When Jesus is passing through a city, a man asks him, what is the most important message to remember above all others in the old testament. Jesus sums the 10 commandments into 2.
- Love thy God with all thy heart, soul and mind.
The second is like unto it.
- Love thy neighbor as thyself.
The first is something that (as far as I am aware) most Christians seem to be in complete agreement on. Love God with everything you are.
The second part, especially lately, seems to be up for debate to some people.
When I really think about what this means, I feel like it’s crucial to include and really consider the phrase “like unto it.”
This message from Jesus says, if you take away nothing else from the Bible remember these two things.
If you truly love God and believe he is the creator of all things, then you must strive to show that love through everything you are (heart, soul, and mind).
The second is like unto it (it goes without saying)
If you believe you are part of God’s creation, and you love him with everything you are, then you must have love for yourself. You must also strive to have that same love for your neighbor because you respect and recognize he is also part of God’s creation.
Just my 2¢ and what’s really stuck with me for my entire life above everything else I heard.