THE GOSPEL’S POWER AND MESSAGE
Recovering the gospel
By Paul Washer
Reformation Heritage Books.
274 pages. £13.15
ISBN 978 1 601 781 956
If you think the gospel should be toned down or tinkered with to make it more palatable to today’s society, you may well need this book.
It does what it says on the tin. Washer seeks to recover the gospel by presenting a thorough and robust defence of the gospel in all its glory and depth. He vehemently argues that it points us to our desperate need of God and that we come to him on his terms alone through Jesus.
However, if you believe the above, you may find the tone of some of Washer’s defence of the gospel at times a little harsh, critical and graceless. He is both renowned and unapologetic for his combative and no-nonsense style and his reasons for this are made clear in his book. He claims many evangelicals are capitulating and muddying the waters when it comes to the purity of the gospel and feels compelled to preach and teach clarity in all the confusion.
Serious study
The book explains, through a serious and detailed study of the Scriptures, how we must make much of our sin, God, his judgments, Jesus our Saviour, his work on the cross and his ongoing work for us.
If you are tempted to think the gospel is simply ‘smile Jesus loves you’, you are in for a shock. Here’s a taster: ‘The day of Calvary was a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom’ (p.198).
My fear is that this book will be read by many already persuaded by his position and used as ammunition to fire at others. My hope is that it will be read by those floundering but hungry for the true gospel, who will embrace afresh the gospel in all its purity, power and simplicity and then delight to share it with a broken world as the greatest news ever.
