What, according to the New Testament, is the gospel?? (p. 190). Is his

CHAPTER 13

Evangelism, Salvation, and Social Justice: Definitions and Interrelationships

Ronald J. Sider

It is no secret that an extremely important and often sharp and divisive debate currently rages among Christians over both the meaning of evangelism and salvation and the relationship of evangelism to social justice. The World Council of Churches’ Bangkok Consultation (Jan. 1973) on Salvation Today, the Chicago Declaration of Evangelical Social Concern (Nov. 1973), the Response to the Chicago Declaration by the Division of Church and Society of the National Council of Churches (1974), and the Lausanne Covenant (1974) all reflect this ferment. But they do not represent agreement.

What is evangelism? What is salvation? What is the relationship between salvation and social justice? When one surveys current attempts to answer these questions, one discovers at least five significantly different answers.

I. Five Conflicting Viewpoints

1. Evangelism Is the Primary Mission of the Church

Billy Graham is the best known representative of the view that the primary mission of the church is evangelism, the goal of which is the personal salvation of individual souls. Regenerate individuals will then have a positive influence on society. In his keynote address at the International Congress on World Evangelization at Lausanne, Graham defined evangelism as the announcement of the good news that “Jesus Christ, very God and very Man died for my sins on the cross, was buried, and rose the third day.” “Evangelism and the salvation of souls is the vital mission of the church.”1 Since Graham also believes that Christians have a responsibility to work for social justice, including the reform of unjust social structures, he would comment favorably on the Chicago Declaration.2 But working for social justice is “not our priority mission.”3 And the Lausanne Covenant reflects Graham’s basic view that “evangelism is primary” (section 6). For Graham, the word “salvation” connotes the justification and regeneration of individuals. Regenerate persons, of course, have an indirect influence on society, but social action undertaken by Christians is entirely distinct from evangelism, which is their primary assignment. From this perspective then, the gospel is individualistic and evangelism is primary.

Chilcote, P. W., & Warner, L. C. (Eds.). (2008). The study of evangelism : Exploring a missional practice of the church. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Created from amridge on 2022-10-11 02:57:08.

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2. Evangelism Is One Basic Mission of the Church

In his important address on evangelism at Lausanne, John R. Stott, the famous London pastor and theologian, expressed a second viewpoint which differs from Graham’s in at least one significant way. Like Graham, Stott tends, at least in this address, toward an individualistic definition of the content of the good news. Evangelism is the announcement (in words and works of love, but especially in words) of the historic, biblical Christ who forgives and regenerates through the Holy Spirit. But he also emphasizes gospel demands in a way that some evangelicals do not. Saving faith accepts Jesus as Lord, not just as Savior. Or as the Lausanne Covenant puts it, “in issuing the gospel invitation, we have no liberty to conceal the cost of discipleship” (section 4).

What makes Stott’s position significantly different from Graham’s, however, is that he refuses to describe evangelism as the primary mission of the church. Rather, “evangelism is an essential part of the church’s mission.”4 Evangelicals, Stott says, sometimes emphasize the Great Commission so much that they ignore or de-emphasize the Great Commandment. The two tasks are quite distinct and dare not be confused — therefore Stott refuses to apply the word “salvation” to sociopolitical liberation — but they are, apparently, equally important. Those who adopt this second viewpoint, then, still define the gospel individualistically, but they do not assert that evangelism is more basic for the Christian than concern for social justice.

3. The Primary Mission of the Church Is the Corporate Body of Believers

A third response to our question about the proper definition and relationship of salvation and social justice might be called a “radical Anabaptist” viewpoint. The good news of forgiveness and regeneration is an important part of the gospel, but not all of it. By their words, deeds, and life together, Christians announce the good news that by grace it is now possible to live in a new society (the visible body of believers) where all relationships are being transformed. The church refuses to live by the social, cultural, and economic values of the Old Age. Instead it incarnates the values of the New Age in its life together and thereby offers to the world a visible model of redeemed (although not yet perfect!) personal, economic, and social relationships. That people can live by faith in Jesus who justifies and that regenerates can enter this new community is now good news. The church then is part of the content of the gospel.

Obviously this definition of the good news overcomes the individualistic character of the first two positions. But it does not equate salvation with socio-political liberation. Sin always has and always will radically corrupt all political programs of social justice designed and implemented by men. There is a great gulf between the church and the world. The new community to be sure has relevance for social justice in the surrounding society, especially as the character of its common life provides a model for secular society. But political activity is

Chilcote, P. W., & Warner, L. C. (Eds.). (2008). The study of evangelism : Exploring a missional practice of the church. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Created from amridge on 2022-10-11 02:57:08.

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not its primary task. As John Howard Yoder puts it, “the very existence of the church is her primary task.” “The primary social structure through which the gospel works to change other structures is that of the Christian community.”5

4. The Conversion of Individuals and the Political Restructuring of Society Are Equally Important Parts of Salvation

This fourth viewpoint is the one most common in ecumenical circles. Salvation is personal and social, individual and corporate. The salvation which Christ brings is “salvation of the soul and body, of the individual and society, mankind and the groaning creation (Rom. 8:19).”6 The content of the gospel is that “Jesus saves.” But Jesus came to save the entire created order from the power of sin. Hence salvation refers not only to the forgiveness of sins and the regenerating activity of the Spirit but also to the growth of social justice through the restructuring of economic and political institutions. Since struggles for economic justice and political freedom are part of salvation, those at Bangkok could say that “salvation is the peace of the people in Vietnam, independence in Angola, [and] justice and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.”7 Given this definition of salvation, it is obvious that one can speak of evangelizing social structures as well as individuals. Accordingly, a recent report of a working group on evangelism of the National Council of Churches USA asserts that “Evangelism may be directed to groups, to power structures, and to cultural configurations of persons as well as to individuals.”8

If one is to understand this viewpoint it is essential to see that the individual aspects of salvation are still present. At Bangkok, there are repeated references to the fact that salvation also includes personal conversion and liberation from guilt. Political or economic justice is “not the whole of salvation.… Forgetting this denies the wholeness of salvation.”9 One might of course ask whether the overall emphasis and program activities of the WCC reflect this definition, but in theory at least the word “salvation” connotes both the justification and regeneration of the individual and the political restructuring of society in the interests of greater socioeconomic justice.

That this set of definitions is very widespread is hardly a secret. It constitutes the presuppositional core of the most recent theological movement, the theology of liberation, the best example of which is the extremely important recent book A Theology of Liberation by the Latin American theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez. More surprising, perhaps, is the fact that the nonconciliar evangelicals are adopting this terminology.

In his recent book, Political Evangelism, Richard Mouw chooses this broader definition of salvation and evangelism. Mouw by no means abandons or even deemphasizes the importance of calling persons to faith in the Lord Jesus who justifies and regenerates individuals. And he makes an excellent statement on the centrality of the church in God’s plan of redemption. But salvation is not limited to these areas. The heart of the gospel is that

Chilcote, P. W., & Warner, L. C. (Eds.). (2008). The study of evangelism : Exploring a missional practice of the church. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Created from amridge on 2022-10-11 02:57:08.

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Jesus saves. And Jesus came to save “the entire created order from the pervasive power of sin.”10

Mouw assumes — unfortunately he never develops a biblical argument for his position — that since the redemptive work of Christ has cosmic implications, therefore all political activity is a part of evangelism.

The scope of the evangelistic activity of the people of God must include the presentation of the fullness of the power of the gospel as it confronts the cosmic presence of sin in the created order. Political evangelism (i.e., political activity) then is one important aspect of this overall task of evangelism.11

Latin American Orlando E. Costas is another nonconciliar evangelical who has adopted this broad set of definitions. Costas quotes approvingly from Bangkok: “As guilt is both individual and corporate so God’s liberating power changes both persons and structures.”12

Since Christ is “Lord and Savior of the whole cosmos,” salvation is present when oppressed people secure greater economic justice.13 Costas, of course, is quick to point out that the salvation which emerges in the struggles for social justice is only partial and relative. It will reach its fullness only when our Lord returns. But it is part of the salvation Christ brings. According to this fourth viewpoint, then, salvation connotes both the justification and regeneration of the individual believer and also the social justice that emerges through the political restructuring of society.

5. Evangelism Is Politics Because Salvation Is Social Justice

The fifth and final set of definitions removes the transcendent element of salvation completely and simply equates salvation and social justice.

The secular theologies enunciated in the late 1960s by theologians such as Gibson Winter and Harvey Cox provide clear illustrations. Defining salvation as humanization, Winter asserted:

Secularization recognizes history and its problems of meaning as the sphere of man’s struggle for salvation.… The categories of biblical faith are freed from their miraculous and supernatural garments.… Why are men not simply called to be human in their historical obligations, for this is man’s true end and his salvation?14

And a preparatory statement for the WCC’s Fourth Assembly at Uppsala (1968) came dangerously close, at least, to this secularized understanding of salvation: “We have lifted up humanization as the goal of mission.” Evangelism is politics and salvation is social justice.

That these five sets of conflicting answers to fundamental theological questions have resulted in confusion and sharp conflict in the churches is painfully clear. There are signs, however, that proponents of all these conflicting viewpoints are ready in a new way today to reexamine their positions and correct one-sided emphases. Perhaps it is at this moment of flux and reexamination that everyone can wholeheartedly resubmit cherished formulae to the

Chilcote, P. W., & Warner, L. C. (Eds.). (2008). The study of evangelism : Exploring a missional practice of the church. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Created from amridge on 2022-10-11 02:57:08.

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authority of God’s written Word. I want therefore to examine the most important relevant New Testament concepts — gospel (εὐαγγέλιον), salvation (σωτηρία), redemption (ἀπολύτρωσις), and the principalities and powers (ἀρχαὶ καὶ ἐξουσίαι) Spirit of the Lord is upon me — with the expectation that the use of these terms in the New Testament will guide us toward a more helpful way to state the relationship between evangelism, salvation, and social justice.

II. New Testament Terminology

1. The Gospel

What, according to the New Testament, is the gospel? It is the good news about the kingdom of God (Mark 1:14-15). It is the good news concerning God’s Son, Jesus the Messiah who is Savior and Lord (Rom.1:3-4; 2 Cor. 4:3-6). It is the good news about the historical Jesus — his death for our sins and his resurrection on the third day (1 Cor. 15:1-5).15 And it is the good news about a radically new kind of community, the people of God, who are already empowered to live according to the standards of the New Age (Eph. 3:17).

Stated more systematically, the content of the gospel is (1) justification by faith through the cross; (2) regeneration through the Holy Spirit; (3) the Lordship of Christ and (4) the fact of the church.

That the gospel includes the wonderful news of justification by faith in Christ whose death atoned for our guilt before God need hardly be argued. It is central to the argument of both Galatians (see especially 1:6-17; 2:14-21; 3:6-14) and Romans (see especially 1:16-17). Nor need we argue the fact that the good news also includes the fact that the Risen Lord now lives in individual persons who believe in his regenerating and transforming their egocentric personalities.

Anyone who proclaims a gospel which omits or deemphasizes the justification and regeneration of individuals is, as Paul said, preaching his own message, not God’s good news of salvation in Jesus.

Good news, too, we all recognize, is the proclamation that this Jesus who justifies and regenerates is also Lord — Lord of all things in heaven and earth. The gospel he preaches, Paul reminded the Corinthians, was not himself, but rather “Jesus Christ as Lord” (2 Cor. 4:4- 5). Seldom, however, do we appropriate the full implications of the abstract dogma. If Jesus’ Lordship is part of the gospel, then so too is the radical discipleship this sovereign demands.

If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. (Mark 8:35; cf. 10:39)

Regeneration and discipleship are inseparable. The one who justifies and regenerates also demands that we forsake all other lords, shoulder the cross, and follow him. Accepting the evangelistic call necessarily and inevitably entails accepting Jesus as Lord of our personal

Chilcote, P. W., & Warner, L. C. (Eds.). (2008). The study of evangelism : Exploring a missional practice of the church. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Created from amridge on 2022-10-11 02:57:08.

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lives, our family lives, our racial attitudes, our economics, and our politics. Jesus will not be our Savior if we reject him as our Lord. Too often Christians (especially evangelical Protestants in this century) have proclaimed a cheap grace that offers the forgiveness of the gospel without the discipleship demands of the gospel. But that is not Jesus’ gospel. Right at the heart of the gospel is the call to a radical discipleship which makes Jesus Lord of one’s entire life.

The fourth element of the good news is less widely perceived to be part of the gospel. But both Jesus and Paul clearly teach that the church is part of the good news. In Ephesians 3:1-7, Paul says that he was made a minister of the gospel to announce the mystery that the Gentiles are also part of the people of God. The fact that at the cross Jesus destroyed the ancient enmity between Jews and Gentiles, thus creating a radically new visible community where all cultural, racial, and sexual dividing walls are overcome, is a fundamental part of the gospel Paul was called to preach.

According to the Gospels, the core of Jesus’ good news was simply that the kingdom of God was at hand. Mark 1:14-15 reads: “Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God and saying, ‘the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.’” Over and over again the Gospels define the content of the good news as the kingdom which was present in the person and work of Jesus (Mark 1:14-15; Matt. 4:23, 24, 14; Luke 4:43; 16:16).

But what was the nature of the kingdom Jesus proclaimed? Was it just an invisible kingdom in the hearts of individuals? Was it a new political regime of the same order as Rome? One hesitates to simplify difficult questions about which many scholars have written learned tomes. But let me risk presumption. The kingdom became present wherever Jesus overcame the power of evil. But the way Jesus chose to destroy the kingdom of Satan and establish his own kingdom was not to forge a new political party. Rather, Jesus chose to call together a new visible community of disciples joined together by their acceptance of the divine forgiveness he offered and their unconditional submission to his total Lordship over their lives. Paul says in Colossians 1:13-14 that Jesus “has delivered us from the dominion (or kingdom) of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

That this kingdom is not just an invisible spiritual abstraction peopled with ethereal, redeemed souls is very clear in the New Testament. Jesus not only forgave sins; he also healed the physical and mental diseases of those who believed. His disciples shared a common purse. The early church engaged in massive economic sharing (Acts 4:32–5:16; 2 Cor. 8). The new community of Jesus’ disciples was and is (at least it ought to be) a visible social reality sharply distinguished from the world both by its beliefs and its lifestyle.16 His kingdom, of course, will reach its fulfillment only at his return, but right now by grace people can enter this new society where all social and economic relationships are being transformed. That an entirely new kind of life together in Jesus’ new peoplehood is now available to all who will repent, believe, and obey is good news. The kingdom of heaven is not just a future, but also a present

Chilcote, P. W., & Warner, L. C. (Eds.). (2008). The study of evangelism : Exploring a missional practice of the church. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Created from amridge on 2022-10-11 02:57:08.

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reality. The church is part of the good news.17

Thus far we have seen that the content of the gospel is justification, regeneration, Jesus’ Lordship, and the fact of the church. But is there not a “secular” or “political” dimension to the gospel? Since Jesus said in Luke 4 that he came to free the oppressed, release the captives, and evangelize the poor, is not political activity designed to free the oppressed also evangelism?

Luke 4:18-19 is a crucial text. Reading from the prophet Isaiah, Jesus defined his mission as follows:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor (εὐαγγελίσασθαι πτωχοῖς). He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

In this text Jesus identifies several aspects of his mission. He says he has been sent to release the captives, heal the blind, and free the oppressed. That this is a fundamental part of his total mission is beyond question. But he does not equate the task of helping the oppressed with preaching the gospel to the poor. Nor does he say one task is more important than another. They are both important, but they are also distinct.18

The same point is clear in other passages. In Matthew 11:1-6, Jesus responded to John the Baptist’s question, “Are you the Messiah?” by saying:

Go and tell John what you see and hear: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the dead are raised up and the poor have good news preached to them [are evangelized].

Again, Jesus does not equate preaching the gospel to (that is, evangelizing) the poor with cleansing lepers. He does all of these things.19 And they are all important, but one activity cannot be collapsed into another.

One final example is important. In both Matthew 4:23 and 9:35, the evangelist summarizes Jesus’ ministry as follows: “And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and infirmity among the people.”20 Here there are three distinct types of tasks: teaching, preaching the gospel, and healing sick people. They are not identical tasks. They should not be confused. None dare be omitted. All are crucial parts of this mission of Jesus. But for our purposes the most important conclusion is that none of these texts equates healing the blind or liberating the oppressed with evangelism. These texts in no way warrant calling political activity evangelism. There is no New Testament justification for talking about “evangelizing” political structures.21 According to the New Testament, then, evangelism involves the announcement (through word and deed) of the good news that there is forgiveness of sins through the cross; that the Holy Spirit will regenerate twisted personalities; that Jesus is Lord; and that people today can join Jesus’ new community where all social and economic relationships are being made new.

Chilcote, P. W., & Warner, L. C. (Eds.). (2008). The study of evangelism : Exploring a missional practice of the church. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Created from amridge on 2022-10-11 02:57:08.

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2. Salvation

What is the meaning of the word “salvation” in the New Testament? Probably the best New Testament argument for adopting a broad definition of salvation can be developed from the use of the word “save” (σῴζω) in the Synoptic Gospels. In about one of every four descriptions of Jesus’ healings, the Synoptic accounts use the word “save” to describe physical healing by Jesus.22 In Mark 6:56, the text says: “As many as touched (his garment) were healed (ἐσῴζοντο).”23 One could cite other similar illustrations. It is quite clear, of course, that the verb “save” connotes more than physical healing. Whereas in Mark 10:52 Jesus told the blind man whom he had healed, “Your faith has saved you,” in Luke 7:36-50 he spoke the identical words to the sinful woman who anointed his feet (Luke 7:36-50), even though he had not healed her body.

Now it seems to me that it is not entirely plausible to argue that since the Gospels apply the word “save” to physical healing, it is also legitimate to extend the word to cover all kinds of activity done in the name of the Lord to liberate sick and oppressed persons. If there is a New Testament justification for using the word “salvation” to apply to political liberation, it is here.

But one must immediately point out that the usage just noted is by no means the primary usage of the terms “save” and “salvation” in the New Testament. These words, in fact, are not key words in the Synoptic tradition.24 When they do appear elsewhere in the Synoptics, they refer to entering the kingdom or following Jesus. When Jesus informed his disciples that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom, the startled disciples asked: “Then who can be saved?” Being “saved” and entering the kingdom are synonymous.25 In light of this and similar passages, we can say that someone is saved as he enters the new peoplehood of God where all economic relationships are being transformed.

The story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10) is striking in this connection. After his encounter with Jesus, Zacchaeus repented of his sins. As a rich, corrupt tax collector who had profited from an oppressive economic structure, he repented of his “social” sins and promptly gave half of his ill-gotten gain to feed the poor. Jesus immediately assured him “today salvation has come to this house.” Now, this text does not mean that wherever economic justice appears, salvation is present. Since Jesus had come to save the lost, he had sought out lost Zacchaeus (v. 10). But it was only after Zacchaeus had submitted to Jesus’ message and repented of his sins that Jesus assured him of salvation. Salvation means repentance, submitting to Jesus, and entering the new community of Jesus’ disciples, wherein all relationships including economic relationships are being transformed.

In Paul the usage is unambiguous. One is s

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