On our road trip, we’ve revisited Simply Christian by NT Wright on audiobook. It has helped reset my mind as I long more and more to be anchored to Christ.

A book I picked up for the trip (physical copy of a book) is Salvation by Allegiance Alone by Matthew Bates. It is similar in approach.

It is this reminder: we have a truncated view of the Gospel in the West and are missing the fullness of the GOSPEL.

Bates gives three references that lay out the fullness of the gospel: Romans 1:1-5; Romans 1:16-17; 1 Corinthians 15:1-5.

Simply put:

…the gospel is the power-releasing story of Jesus’s life, death for sins, resurrection, and installation as king, but that story only makes sense in the wide framework of the stories of Israel and creation. The gospel is not in the first instance a story about heaven, hell, making a decision, raising your hand after praying a certain prayer, justification by faith alone, trusting that Jesus’s righteousness is sufficient, or any putative human tendencies toward self-salvation through good works. It is, in the final analysis, most succinctly good news about the enthronement of Jesus the atoning king as he brings these wider stories to a climax. (p. 30)

It is first and foremost about King Jesus. Always, only him. His work. His power. His glory. We declare it. That is the point of proclamation. Declare it. Live it. Others may realize it. Or not.

But if it IS good news for us… it shows up in our allegiances, not just our words.