Live The Gospel!

In a sermon, Albert Martin powerfully exhorts people to live the gospel before the world. What a challenging, convicting sermon!

Note: As of late, The White Horse Inn and others who emphasize a strong Law/Gospel distinction (R. Scott Clark, etc.)  have tended to disparage the phrase “live the gospel”.   While I understand their concerns, I think they are a little off base in taking a generally good idea and a needed caution (being careful about how we use the gospel in our expressions) and bringing it to near absurdity.

I know that there are some people who say “live the gospel” and mean questionable and simply wrong things (like the idea that the gospel is just a life style or some sort of moralism).  I will join Horton and Clark in their critique of that. However, I won’t join them in their sweeping disparagement of people that say “live the gospel”.

I want to defend those people who say “live the gospel” and use it in an orthodox, God-honoring way. When many say “live the gospel” they effectively mean, as Al Martin said in the sermon “A life that embodies the transforming power of the gospel”.  They don’t mean “Live [because your life is] the gospel” (which would be wrong), they just mean “Live [in light of] the gospel” or “Live [out] the gospel” or “Live [by] the gospel” or “Live [a life marked by] the gospel”. Would that we would all seek our lives to be characterized by that!