People often say, “That’s a Gospel issue.” But what does that really mean?
A Gospel issue means that a certain (1) practice, (2) thought, or (3) teaching grows out of the Gospel. It is an outgrowth or an “issuance” of it.
The older sense of the word issue helps here. We say that “a child issues from a father.” So to call something a Gospel issue is to say that it comes from the Gospel as its source. There is an organic link between the two, like a father and child, or a root and its fruit.
That means a Gospel issue must always stay connected to the Gospel itself. But here is the key point: in one sense, everything is a Gospel issue. Christ is Lord. All things fall under his rule. Christ redeems all things, not only our souls but the whole creation.
So the real question is not whether something is a Gospel issue, but how close it stands to the Gospel itself.
The Gospel Spiral
I find the image of a spiral helpful. The Gospel sits at the centre. Everything else issues outward from that centre, further and further out.
So I can say that ecology is a Gospel issue, but it spirals much farther out than, say, baptism. Baptism signifies the Gospel (or the promise of the Gospel). So baptism stands next to the Gospel, while ecology exists many rings down the spiral. The closer a belief or practice stands to the centre of the spiral, the more weight I give it.
For example:
– Justification by faith or the deity of Christ lies at the centre.
– Church polity or the age of the earth lies further out.
– Personal habits of diet or recreation rest near the outer rings.
The spiral helps us weigh these in a Gospel centred way; neither dismissing what lies far out nor confusing it with what stands at the centre.
Ordo Amoris
This spiral notion reminds me of Augustine’s idea of ordo amoris, the order of our loves. The spiral helps me love things in their right order: to love what I should love most, and not to love more what I should love less.
It also keeps me from flattening things out. I should not speak with the same urgency about baptism and recycling. The latter lies far down the spiral. I may still mention it, because the earth is the Lord’s and we are its caretakers, but I will not confuse it with the Gospel itself.
The Rule of Faith
Importantly, neither of the above criteria can be determined by an individual alone. We are part of Christ’s Body, his Church. And so we must, as congregations of visible saints, triage together to the best of our ability by God’s grace.
As we do so, we must recognize that God is not the God of the dead but of the living, of those who have gone before us faithfully. Hence, the Rule of Faith, as expressed by the second-century writers, the third-century baptismal creeds, and eventually the Nicene Creed, helps to ground this spiral idea.
Formally put, the Good News is that God the Father sent his eternal Son into the world to live, die, rise, and rule for and over the world, so that we might receive the promised Spirit and thus eternal life. All of this comes to us by grace through faith in Christ.
Put simply: if you get God the Trinity or Christ the God-man wrong, you get the Gospel wrong.
The Church
As implied throughout, God set up his Church to be his spiritual body. We therefore cannot triage without being part of a company of visible saints. We listen to elders. We serve as deacons. We love as members. We vote and take counsel together.
While the process may feel somewhat fuzzy, we must trust the Spirit to lead and guide his Church. He did promise to build it (Matt 16:18).
The End of the Spiral
In the end, every Christian needs some way to triage Gospel issues. We all must decide what stands closest to the centre and what spirals outward. The spiral image is not perfect, but I have found it helpful and honest. Other triage models have their virtues; I am only sharing this as one good way to triage.
And perhaps most importantly, the spiral helps us maintain Christian unity. By discerning what truly belongs to the centre, we can hold fast to the Gospel while showing charity and patience toward those who differ on matters farther out.
In this way, we keep “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph 4:3) and love one another as Christ has loved us.
