Is the main point of the gospel the transformation of culture?
- Absolutely not. The main point of the gospel is the forgiveness of sins through the death of Christ (Luke 24:47).
- One promise of God that is bound up with the gospel is that one day God will graciously re-create a new earth in which his people will dwell with him in perfect harmony (Rom. 18-25; Rev. 21:1-22:5). So, one day there will be a totally transformed culture, composed entirely of God’s perfected people dwelling in a new earth.
- Yet it’s best to view this ultimate consummation of God’s saving purposes as an implication or entailment of the gospel, since the promise that “God is going to create a new heaven and new earth” is never immediately in view any time the New Testament uses the word “gospel.”
- Therefore, even though the gospel will, by God’s grace, have some impact on a society in which many become Christians, the gospel itself is not primarily a message about social transformation. It’s about the work of Christ in sacrificially dying and rising again to reconcile a people to God.
