How Many Gospels?

Andrew Perriman has a good summary and some substantive comments regarding the discussion around Scot McKnight’s controversial The King Jesus Gospel. In his post “Scot McKnight, Gospel Coalition, and how many ‘gospels’ do we really need?” he concludes:

But I would argue that in the New Testament “gospel” or “good news” is narratively contextualized. It was good news that the kingdom was about to come. It was good news that Jesus died for the sins of Israel. It was good news that God raised him from the dead. It was good news that participation in the covenant community was extended to Gentiles. It was good news that God was about to “judge” the pagan world in righteousness. And so on. None of these directly equates to the “plan of salvation” gospel. That does not prevent us from saying today that it is good news—regardless of how the term is used in the New Testament—that people can be reconciled to the creator through Jesus. But that is only an outcome of the story of how God judged, saved, and transformed his people that is told in the New Testament.

Check out the whole thing here.