The gospel...plus (part two)

There are many issues that Christians do not agree upon, but that does not mean they should divide over them. Someone’s position on drinking alcohol, their understanding of eschatology, or which translation of the scriptures they read from are what we at our church call ‘open-handed issues’. They are not things that should divide us.

More importantly, if they do divide us, we add something else to the requirements for salvation. We are not saved by the gospel plus no drinking alcohol, or the gospel plus the King James Version. We are saved by the gospel. The testimony of the gospel is proclaimed by our practice of unity in the gospel.

I recently heard Don Carson speaking on 1 Corinthians 8’s teaching that we should be concerned for our brother with a weak conscience. He made the point that Paul is not at all meaning the person who believes the gospel plus his area of conscience. In the case of someone who believes that it is the gospel plus abstinence from alcohol, he says...’pass the port’. For in that situation it is most beneficial to defend the gospel’s sufficiency to save.

And I know it’s easy for a guy like me who likes a beer on the weekend to support this, but it is just as important for those who are teetotalers. For example, John Piper put his ministry on the line when in the early 1980’s he had his church remove the clause in their constitution about abstaining from alcohol. Our church has similarly removed statements about eschatology.

Are their issues in your head that you automatically add to the gospel?

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. -Ephesians 2:8-9