The Social Gospel vs. The Spiritual Gospel of Christ
Frank Walton
Please give me your feedback about the validity of scriptural arguments made in this article that critiques the social gospel movement in churches of Christ. Brotherly, Frank
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The Social Gospel vs. the Spiritual Gospel of Christ
“Social” means people’s general interaction with others. The gospel of Christ certainly has social implications. Yet, the “social gospel” has an underlying conceptual emphasis focus on physical needs that is foreign to the spiritual gospel of Christ and the work of a local church revealed in Scripture. It is the spiritual gospel of Christ that is the power to save (Rom. 1:16), not physical welfare agencies.
Here’s an example of the social gospel issue: The Second Incarnation (by Rubel Shelly) says “Our mission begins with simple everyday caring for people--whatever their needs… The call to follow Jesus’ example of self-emptying service is the justification for every kind of help program that churches wish to pursue. Counseling, day care, literacy, food and housing, drug and alcohol treatment programs-- all are ways of caring for and nurturing people… The church must be a do-good agency...The church should be an agent to bring about a better world more congenial to all of God’s creatures...It’s voice must be raised...on behalf of the oppressed...Weight-loss programs, youth retreats...may provide a context for a faithful proclamation of the gospel” (pp. 166, 169, 171, 183). Where is the Scriptural precedent that local churches of Christ did such in the New Testament age filled with poverty and social problems? Jesus’ service to sinners primarily focused on their spiritual needs and His spiritual identity (Jn. 6:26-27, 18:36).
This book advocates sweeping, liberal changes in the church such as rejecting pattern authority. However, the above quote about physical aid says nothing new that hasn’t already been tried by Protestant denominationalism in the “social gospel movement” Social gospelism began by Washington Gladden in the 1870’s and was popularized by Walter Rauschenbusch, who wrote The Theology of the Social Gospel (1917). The social gospel “is primarily concerned with this world, and it is the mission of Christianity to bring to pass here the kingdom of righteousness and to rescue from the evil one and redeem all our social relations...The Christian faith involves responsibility for the transformation of the institutions and structures of society.” This means eradicating poverty and relieving physical problems. Yater Tant observed: “emphasis shifted very rapidly from ‘the world to come’ to ‘the world that is’ (Gospel Advocate, May 1989, p 43). We see many social welfare agencies and physical relief organizations working through local churches of Christ. Is this Scriptural?
The social gospel concept sees alleviating man’s physical poverty and temporal needs constitute a primary concern and dual purpose of Christ’s gospel. Religious historian Dr. David Edwin Harrell observed, “This is a far different thing from a gospel which, while it includes instructions which have far-reaching effects on society, has as it’s sole, primary purpose the spiritual salvation of men. It is easy to see how a little distortion can make a spiritual gospel with social by-products a social gospel with spiritual by-products...The social gospel…[was a] rejection of the idea that the gospel had only one primary intent and that was spiritual. The idea that Christians Christians bettered society simply by making more Christians who were thus better people was rejected by many as naïve. (Florida College Lectures, 1960).
So, we must ask, “Where is the Scripture that shows any New Testament church engaging in physical outreach programs as general welfare agencies?” I have found none! For example, the apostle Paul did not set up a tent-making vocational training school in Corinth to alleviate poverty among the Corinthians. Rather, this apostolic tent-maker worked in the Corinthian church to simply proclaim God’s Word to the lost without any physical inducements (Acts 18:5,11). We find the uniform New Testament pattern that the main emphasis in the collective work of the church in outreach to the lost was preaching the gospel to save sinners (Acts 19:10, Rom. 1:8, 1 Thess. 1:8, 1 Tim. 3:15). Also, we see that individual Christians had the broader responsibility to help the benevolent needs of society (Gal. 6:10, Ja. 1:27, Eph. 4:29). The local church limited it resources to the temporary physical relief of needy saints (1 Cor. 16:2, Acts 4:32). There is a scriptural difference between the broader duty of individual Christians versus the authorized mission of the local church (1 Tim. 5:16).
The ultimate thrust of Christ’s gospel is spiritual: “My kingdom is not of this world” (Jn. 18: 36). Matthew Henry well said, “Right notions of Christ’s kingdom would keep us to right methods for advancing it.” His purpose in coming to earth was saving man from his spiritual lostness (Lk. 19:10; 1 Tim. 1:15 ). Man’s greatest need is his redemption from sin (Mk. 9:45 ). If social concerns and alleviating human discomfort and temporal problems were Jesus’ main mission, then He failed! He had unlimited resources to stop all human suffering, yet He did not do so in His earthly ministry (cf. Matt. 26:11, Acts 3:2)!! He did not heal all the sick or feed all the hungry, despite being divinely omnipotent with the power to do so. His miraculous signs, certainly born of compassion, were not ends within themselves. These miraculous “pointers” signified or pointed to the spiritual truth of His identity as God’s Son (Jn. 3:2, 20:30; Acts 2:22).
Hence, these miraculous acts were not a physical end within themselves, but were confirming proof that validated His soul-saving message (Mk. 1:38f, 2:1-11; Lk. 4:18 ). The feeding of the 5,000 was a miracle pointing to the real lesson of Jesus’ spiritual identity as the Bread of Life (Jn. 6:22ff). Jesus rebuked those who misunderstood the spiritual purpose of His miracles. “Jesus answered them and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal" (Jn. 6:26-27). Likewise, the miracles of the apostles (Acts 3:6ff; 19:11f) were confirming evidence validating the soul-saving gospel they preached (Mk 16:20; Acts 3:12-26, 4: 7-10; Heb. 2: 3f).
Jesus come into a world ruled by a dictator, a land dominated by foreign oppression and a society suffering under the cruelty of slavery and widespread poverty. Yet, Jesus did not preach political revolution or demonstrate against the unjust suffering of slavery or relieve all suffering or feed all the hungry, although He had the capacity to do so. The by-product of the gospel’s influence in converting individuals was the eventual abolition of slavery and the collapse of the Roman empire, as well as being benevolent Christians who help their neighbors (Eph. 4:29). The eventual effect of the spiritual gospel had a social by-product, as individuals accepted the truth and lived by it. Slavery was accepted as a part to the social order and regulated by the NT writers (1 Pet. 2:18ff), even among church members (Col. 3:22-4:1; Eph. 6: 5-9).
Also, this “social gospel” advocated by brethren discounts pattern authority. “Make all things according to the pattern” (Heb. 8:5 ) means the NT is an exclusive pattern that has an exclusive authorization for the collective work and worship of a local church. There is a difference between individual and collective action in the NT (Mt. 18:15ff; 1 Tim. 5:16 ). The individual sustains social, family, economic, and civil (political) relationships and responsibilities that are not part of the collective mission of a church of Christ (Lk. 10:29ff; Eph 5:22-6:4; Rom. 13:1ff; 1 Thess. 4:11f; Col. 3:22-4:1). Yet, the collective work of a church is a spiritual arrangement with a spiritual mission to administer to primary spiritual needs--the salvation of men’s souls (Eph. 4:11-16 ). The local church has a specific reason for being, to promote the soul-saving message of salvation The local church is the spiritual bulwark of proclaiming God’s truth of spiritual salvation (1 Tim. 3:15; Acts 2:42). It prepares people for eternity “to present every man complete in Christ” (Col. 1:28). Other social gospel programs are simply unauthorized due to a lack of scriptural direction for the local church to engage in such. (Note: the lack of benevolence cited on Judgement Day was a failure to help brethren, not the world at large, Matt. 25:40). This social gospel approach drains the church’s collective energy and resources to cater to man at a physical level.
If the power of the soul-stirring gospel offered by a spiritually transformed church is not sufficient to reach people, then God has failed, in spite of what Scripture affirms (Isa. 55:11; Rom. 1:16). The drawing power of the Gospel is preaching the love of the crucified Christ (Jn. 12:32, 1 Cor. 2:2) and not physical inducements (Jn. 6:26-27). The NT church did not use the social gospel concept in the local church to spread the spiritual kingdom. Such an appeal was beneath them.
Unconverted people are, in point of fact, selfish sinners (Rom. 3:12). The Minneapolis Star surveyed religious people, asking, “Which do you think is more important for the church to do -- to convert people to a spiritual belief so that they can have a happy life after death, or, to teach people how to live better every day with other people?” Only 17 percent believed that conversion to a spiritual belief was more important, while over 80% wanted to focus on a better physical life on earth. Those attracted and converted by using “this worldly” concerns as bait, who would not be attracted by things of the spirit, will be secularly minded still. What attracts them is what keeps them.
We can see this in history. This can be seen in the massive physical relief efforts of churches of Christ after World War 2 to send physical aid to war-ravaged Germany, surrounding European countries, and Japan. Churches of Christ were planted, leading with physical relief programs, and grew in physical numbers, yet this was short-lived. Dudley Ross Spears, a missionary to Germany, told me that many churches of Christ were planted in devastated Europe after World War 2, but when physical needs were met by a flood of physical benevolence from American churches and prosperity returned, many churches dwindled and disappeared. I was told by a Christian who lived in the Netherlands that the same thing happened there. Those drawn by physical inducements instead of spiritual truth are spiritual shallow and not truly converted to the crucified Lord (Jn. 6:26-27).
Originating in God’s wisdom authorized in Scripture, the purpose of Christ’s gospel is the spiritual salvation of men’s eternal souls. “I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16). It’s method is to deal with the root disease of sin. It’s motivation is the desire for an eternal home with God through transforming faith in Christ.
However, operating in man’s wisdom, the purpose of the social gospel is to improve the quality of man’s physical well-being on earth as a primary purpose of the gospel. It’s method is focused on treating the physical symptoms of man’s problems. Its motivation in recipients is a selfish desire for a better physical life on earth. This is a poor excuse to turn the glorious spiritual gospel of Christ into unscriptural social humanitarianism through the local church.
By Frank Walton