Gospel Allegiance

The title of this book is intriguing. I've written a book on the Lord's Prayer with the title "Ultimate Allegiance: The Subversive Nature of the Lord's Prayer". We are faced each day with calls to give allegiance to this or that power. It might be political/governmental. It might be social/cultural, or it could simply be consumeristic. In some ways, these are normal and appropriate. I'm a citizen of the United States, and thus I have a certain allegiance to be given to my country. I'm a fan of the San Francisco Giants, so they require a degree of allegiance. My wife requires it of me as well, but ultimately it is God who deserves my highest allegiance, one that transcends all others. This would seem to be the concern of this book by Matthew Bates, and it is.

Bates is a New Testament scholar and author of a previous book titled "Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King." I've not read it, but I was asked to read and comment on this follow up book. Bates notes that one need not have read the previous book to understand this one, so I'll take him at his word.

Bate's concern here is to gain a proper definition of the gospel, which he believes is focused on allegiance to Jesus Christ. To get there he defines the Greek word pistis as allegiance, though it is more commonly translated as faith and sometimes as trust. He affirms that these are possible translations, but contextually he believes Paul has allegiance in mind (this is a book focused on Paul). As part of this process, he wants us to take a broader view of the salvation process than is generally affirmed by evangelicals. That is, rather than focusing attention solely on the cross (defined in terms of penal substitutionary atonement), he wants to include the resurrection and subsequent enthronement of Jesus. This, he believes is the true gospel.

As I read I found myself struggling with what to do with the book. Bates' primary conversation partners -- the people he feels get this wrong -- are people like John Piper (who emphasizes faith alone) and John McArthur (lordship). In engaging with these folks, he seems to go back in time to the early 1990s when there was this big debate over "lordship salvation." I left that vision of salvation sometime ago, so that debate is not one in which I'm interested in working through. I've moved in a very different direction, one that Bates alludes to without engaging with in any depth (moderate/liberal views).

The biblical work is helpful. I agree that allegiance to Jesus is central to the Christian faith. I agree as well that the Protestant aversion to works is mistaken. Luther might not have liked James, but especially in this day and age, James is of great value. There seems to be something lacking here and that is the application to our times. When a large portion of white evangelicalism seems attracted to the message of Donald Trump, we need to hear more about what this allegiance entails. Perhaps he would have been wise to engage the Gospels a bit more. He takes note of Jesus's engagement with Isaiah in Luke 4, but what does this good news to the poor entail if the gospel is focused on allegiance?

Perhaps this will emerge in a later book. I hope so. I think it will find a ready audience within evangelical circles that find the Piper/McArthur debates less than appealing. As for me, I will find sustenance elsewhere.

I thought this book was one which provided support for a more holistic worldview. For me personally it provided detailed and nuanced support for my life as a Christian. The points he makes throughout this work are well argued and provides significant historical context throughout. It was an exciting experience to read this book and to share important parts with my wife and friends.

I have well over 3,000 books in my library and this book is definitely in the top ten. It should be used in Churches to educate parishioners on what the gopel is..The author expands the view of what the gospel is, wit an emphais on enthronement as follow:

The Gospel
The gospel is that Jesus the king

1. preexisted as God the Son,
2. was sent by the Father,
3. took on human flesh in fulfillment of God’s promises to David,
4. died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
5. was buried,
6. was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
7. appeared to many witnesses,
8. is enthroned at the right hand of God as the ruling Christ,
9. has sent the Holy Spirit to his people to effect his rule, and
10. will come again as final judge to rule.

I highly reommend this book as it brought coherence and correspondence to my Christian worldview.

My review of Matthew W. Bates’ new book “Gospel Allegiance: What Faith in Jesus Misses for Salvation in Christ”.


Goals of the book:
We’ve all probably heard something about the “centrality of the Gospel”. It’s almost a fad in a lot of Reformed circles at this rate to put “Gospel-centered” in front of new books and programs. And, for the most part, this is an admirable practice that captures the importance of the Gospel. Think, for example, about the introductions to both Mark and Romans, and how both frame the Gospel as one of the central elements of the Christian faith. Think about the long discussion of the Gospel that Paul writes in I Corinthians 15. Or think about how zealous Paul is to defend the central tenets of the Gospel in Galatians.

Because the Gospel deserves our central focus, and because it has become a sort of “marketing” term for some groups, it seems like it is extremely important for us to understand what the Bible actually teaches about the Gospel. Have we truly understood what the Gospel is about? Matthew W. Bates is concerned that we have misunderstood the Gospel. Not only have we missed the central message, he says, but we have made secondary matters primary matters. This book serves as a corrective to these misunderstandings. Bates hopes to break the fog that has clouded our vision of the Gospel and shine a bright light into the center of the Gospel, showing us what is truly of central importance.

What does this book offer the Church?:
One of the most important things that this book offers is its central vision of the Gospel. The book is very concerned with showing us that the Gospel is about Jesus becoming King in his resurrection. It’s paramount that we understand the Biblical storyline in the context of the Kingship of Jesus, not through other lenses that may obscure the point of what God is doing in the world with Jesus.

The book is popular level, but tries its best to help the average reader understand quite a few concepts. These definitions are never too difficult or scholarly, but don’t treat the reader like they are less intelligent. Some definitions that are explored in the book include “gospel” and “faith”. Bates has written previously on the concept of “faith as allegiance“, and readers who find the chapter in this book interested would be well-served to check out his previous book on the subject.

How successfully does this book meet its goals?:
For the most part, I think Bates succeeded in showing how important it is that we understand what the Gospel truly means. If there’s something that disappointed me in the book was how many times Bates aimed his discussion at specific people. Now, if someone is wrong, they’re wrong and that should be explained. But it seemed like there was quite a lot of ink spilled writing about specific authors that Bates disagreed with. He respectfully engages with their ideas, never resorting to name calling, but it felt weird to read about how many people were wrong when I would’ve probably liked to see more space dedicated to building up his own ideas. (This may also be my own sensitivity, reading far too much tension into a normal practice with no malicious intent behind it. But I should think that if I were uncomfortable at times, so might other readers be. Especially since most of these people fall within similar camps, it could alienate a section of readers.)

In general, I think this is an important book to work through and engage on a somewhat deeper level. Readers familiar with Scot McKnight’s King Jesus Gospel will find some familiar ideas here, but also may find themselves stretched as well. Readers outside of Bates’ camp might be turned off by the first few

The gospel hasn’t changed. But maybe our view of it needs to. Matthew Bates writes that the heart of the gospel is not justification by faith. It’s not just trusting alone in Jesus’s death on the cross. He says that the cross is not presented in the Bible as the theological center of the gospel.

Rather, he says the crux of the gospel found in the Bible is that Jesus is the Christ, the king, and deserves our allegiance as such. In short, Jesus is the saving king.

Bates gives a 10-point gospel-allegiance model, set within a royal framework:

The gospel is that Jesus the king
1. preexisted as God the Son,
2. was sent by the Father,
3. took on human flesh in fulfillment of God’s promises to David,
4. died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
5. was buried,
6. was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
7. appeared to many witnesses,
8. is enthroned at the right hand of God as the ruling Christ,
9. has sent the Holy Spirit to his people to effect his rule, and
10. will come again as final judge to rule.

Bates says the purpose of the gospel is allegiance to Jesus the king in all the nations. Our response is allegiance alone, expressed in repentance, trusting loyalty, and baptism.

"The gospel is the good news about Jesus the saving king. We are saved by allegiance alone. Jesus’s singularly effective allegiance comes first. Our imperfect allegiance follows and depends on his. The result is saving vindication, resurrection unto new life."

Overall the book is informative, if not heavy on detailed explanation and multiple scripture references, almost to the point of tedium. But Bates emphasizes his point that our view of the gospel must change because "nonbiblical versions of the gospel are wrongly splitting the one true church."

"Every knee will bow and every tongue confess, not that 'Jesus died for my sins,' but that 'Jesus the Messiah is Lord.'"

A quick reading of this book will get you the main point, but to really absorb it in its fullness, plan to read slowly.

My thanks to Net Galley for the review copy of this book.