The Explicit Gospel



The Explicit Gospel

Introduction

Matt Chandler, in his new book, The Explicit Gospel, makes a case for two dimensions of gospel one on the ground, which is basically individual salvation, and one from the air, which he calls the meta-narrative of the Bible. The former focuses on God, man, Christ, response; the gospel from the air focuses on Creation, fall, Reconciliation, and Consummation. The former is expounded through Romans, which permits Chandler to focus on the gospel as about God's glory; the latter permits him to focus on Romans (Chandler, 2012). He brings in other biblical passages but these two texts set the central themes for him. The Explicit Gospel is an excellent book that seeks to remind Christians of the importance of embracing a holistic and biblical gospel. Chandler is an effective communicator who makes truth come alive in a challenging and applicational way. The book is basically divided into three parts. First, The Gospel on the ground, second, the Gospel in the Air, and third the implications and applications.

Gospel from the Air

The Gospel in the Air's narrative is Creation-Fall-Reconciliation-Consummation. the gospel in the air,” Chandler effectively presents both the personal and cosmic components of the transformational gospel The realization of both aspects of the gospel alone is an important positive of this book as the gospel often gets reduced to one or the other (a reduction which contributes to the formation of self-centered Christianity on the one hand and a Christless social gospel on the other).The part on the Gospel in the Air, while having its own set of problems, seems to be the stronger of the two presentations of the frameworks. Here, the outline of the narrative is Creation-Fall-Reconciliation-Consummation.

Gospel on the Ground

This section, the Gospel on the ground, talks about the Gospel and how it relates to God's work of the Gospel in the lives of individuals. This section is broken down into four sub-sections; God, Man, Christ, Response. In this section, in his usual style Matt Chandler knocks down previous held conceptions of the Gospel, and put us in the place of truly understanding the Gospel. The “gospel on the ground” makes little sense without the overarching narrative of God's creative and redemptive work. The “gospel in the air” makes little sense without describing the means of redemption - a substitute Savior who has incarnated into the story as Redeemer. The gospel on the ground” ...