What is the gospel? Is it the message we preach, the biblical books we read, the life we live, or a little of all three? What has the gospel become? In The Naked Gospel: The Truth You May Never Hear in Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), Andrew Farley tells his personal life-long story of wrestling with these questions. Farley’s journey began as a young adult with a driving obsession to share the gospel, but his reasoning for sharing was less a love for the lost and more a compulsion to fulfill “obligations” driven by fear, guilt and pressure. The formative years of his life were molded by the belief that he needed to do something to live the Christian life. What Farley terms as legalism dominated his thinking.
The lesson Farley learned is this: we need Jesus and nothing but Jesus. The law—any law—is not applicable to the believer in Jesus Christ. There is nothing that we do so that we might be. For Farley, this is the “naked gospel:” Jesus plus nothing. It is a gospel message free from the unofficial rules, strict regulations, and artificial demands that Christians often times place on it.
He’s right.
We are who we are not because of what we do but because of what Christ has already done.
Farley spends quite a bit of his book arguing this point from a variety of commendable means including the use of the book of Hebrews, Paul’s lessons on the relationship between the law and grace, and the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. Much of his discussion is helpful and reminds us that we have been once-for-all forgiven.
What I find interesting is that Farley spends most of the book arguing that the true gospel does not give us anything to do, but he spends occasional time discussing what else a Christian ought to be doing. Instead of dissecting belief in the “gospel” from our behavior, is it fair to ask how the message of the gospel affects every area of our life, including behavior?
We should be doing because of who we are. Christian behavior is important, but it doesn’t earn us anything. Grace is free or it’s not grace. Although it didn’t seem always to come out clearly, this is the message of The Naked Gospel.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a review copy of this book free from Zondervan. I was not required to write a positive review, and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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