THE EXPLICIT GOSPEL
By Matt Chandler
IVP. 237 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978 1 844 745 784
You might think that a book commended by diverse figures such as Rick Warren, Mark Driscoll, Don Carson and Mark Dever has to have something going for it; and you’d be right. This book aims to get readers clear on the gospel, recapture its wonder and face its implications. It does so pretty well.
It has its weaknesses. Chandler comes from the Reformed charismatic stable in the US and it shows: ‘[God] speaks to us in dreams and in visions and in words of knowledge…’ (p.30). It’s disturbing how ‘mainline’ such statements have become, as if all Christians everywhere have always acknowledged their truth. And there’s a good deal of immaturity in the writing style — a lot of ‘sort of, kind of, basically…’, as well as a flippancy at times that I find difficult. Sometimes, it’s somewhat shallow: ‘…total depravity, which is the idea that we are born sinful’ (p.107). Total depravity is the biblical doctrine (not the idea) that every part of our nature — mind, will, heart — has been corrupted by sin. Chandler knows this, but doesn’t express it well.
It has its strengths, too: it is clear on salvation, particularly penal substitution, and its importance. It has some very good quotes — lots of them: ‘The religious, moralistic, churchgoing evangelical who has no real intention of seeking God and following him has not found some sweet spot between radical devotion and wanton sin; he’s found devastation’. He is scathing towards gospel-denying error, whether in ‘evangelicalism’, liberalism or the Prosperity Preachers. It is very Piper-esque throughout: strong on God doing things for his own glory.
In summary: it’s a good book in many ways, but for me its flaws and flippancy make it one that I’m unlikely to use.
Gary Benfold,
senior pastor, Moordown Baptist Church, Bournemouth
