What Is An Evangelical?

Daily Bread

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What a wonderful thing the gospel is, a message of rescue, reconciliation, redemption . . .

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things” (Romans 10:15 – NKJV)

This most encouraging verse is found in Romans 10, a verse that the apostle Paul quotes from the Old Testament, from the books of Isaiah (52:7) and Nahum (1:15).

Before quoting this verse Paul speaks of how people can be saved (Romans 10:8-13). He says in this text that “the word of faith” in Christ as Lord and Savior is “preach(ed).” It is a message that comes from the “Scripture” and is proclaimed via the mouth of men and women, one that distinctly says that “whosoever believes in Him (Christ) will not be put to shame . . . for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

It is the most important message there is, period! There are a lot of philosophies and ideas and words that are bantered back and forth every day between people in this world, but there are no greater words that can be spoken then those of “the gospel of peace,” the message of “glad tidings of good things.” Oh “how beautiful are the feet of those who” proclaim the gospel of Christ!

The term “evangelical,” as one source defines it, “comes from the Greek word that means ‘gospel’ or ‘good news.'” This same source says that it was a word that was “coined by Martin Luther.” I never knew that, did you? It seems Luther “coined” it “to refer to Protestants, for they were people who found their very definition in the gospel of grace.”

It is kind of sad that some five centuries later the term “evangelical” is, at least in the eyes of the world, more associated with “partisan politics” than it is with the proclaiming of the good news of salvation in Jesus the Christ.

When I looked up the word “evangelical” in the dictionary I found some disturbing definitions, some marking a person as one who “holds to a conservative” viewpoint, one who is “marked by ardent or zealous enthusiasm for a cause.” Unfortunately, the “conservative viewpoint,” the “cause” have come to be associated with other things rather than with “the gospel of grace.” In America it has become associated with politics instead of the preaching of the gospel.

Politics are not the means by which the “evangelical” can bring change to the world! They are not the stream through which flows the words of life! They are not the means by which the heart of man can be made right with God, and thereby bring change to a society. And unfortunately “American evangelicalism” has put a lot of time and money and effort into politics, zealously attempting to legislate change, attempting to legislate morality to a people who have no heart for it. In the midst of all this, the term “evangelical” has lost its true meaning.

Societies are changed one heart at a time. And an “evangelical” should be a person who knows that only the gospel of Christ can change a heart. A depraved society is one made up of people lost in their sin, separated from God by their sinful hearts (Ephesians 2:1-3; Isaiah 59:2). Only the gospel can change that heart condition, and that is what a true “evangelical” understands . . .

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring good tidings of good things”

Have a good day brethren . . . and as you walk seek to be a true evangelical, one who is not defined by the world and its politics, but one who is defined by a message . . . . the gospel of grace.

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