Dear Editor,
The article in the January issue of en “Is creation care a gospel issue” first introduced me to the phrase “gospel issue”. Maybe I am behind the times, but to me the gospel has essentially been John 3:16 – known as “the gospel in a nutshell”.
John Samuel and Richard Buggs in their article state that the Lausanne Movement seems to be saying that “gospel issues are much broader than those issues that only affect individual salvation”. Subsequent articles and correspondence in en seem to go along with this much wider definition.
To my unscholarly mind, are we not in danger of embracing “another gospel”, as Paul describes it in Galatians 1:6-9? Are we now saying that preachers, evangelists, missionaries (not just overseas) and hymn-writers, now and in years gone by, all held to an incomplete gospel and that we know better? Even a contemporary song says there is only one gospel “there is one gospel on which I stand…”.
John Samuel and Richard Buggs conclude their article with “creation care is a fruit of the gospel but not part of it” and surely we would not argue with that. We must be very careful how we tread regarding such a fundamental issue of the Christian faith.
Yours sincerely,
John Martin
By email
