Many Christians are afraid of the term social gospel.
But when we look carefully at what the New Testament writers believed, we discover that the gospel is in fact all about social issues.
For example, in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he writes,
But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery—to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.
Gal. 2:3-5
Paul believed he would be running in vain if he didn’t work out this problem between the Jerusalem church (wanting Gentiles to become Jewish) and the Galatian church.
He brought along Titus (a Gentile) as a test case to see how the Jerusalem church would handle it. Turns out that the Jerusalem pillars (Peter, James, John) didn’t pressure Titus to be circumcised, but there was pressure from some “brothers.”
Paul calls them false brothers. They’re the ones causing trouble by demanding that Gentiles become Jewish and come under the Torah in order to experience God’s salvation.
To Paul, the “truth of the gospel” (2:5) has everything to do with the uniting together of Jew and Gentile into one people in Christ. It’s about God building one multi-ethnic, multi-national people of God under Christ.
Tim Gombis says,
“The Christian church cannot be in a position where they are wondering what the gospel has to do with racial diversity, racial tensions, racism, and immigration. The Christian church must be in a position where it sees the gospel having everything to do with all these issues. That’s how Paul sees it here in this context.”
When we don’t understand that God is building this one, multi-ethnic, multi-national people, and we prioritize one group over others (exactly what was going on in Galatians), then we fail to embrace the gospel.
Paul ties together the confrontation in Jerusalem (Acts 15) with the conflict situation in Galatia. If Paul and Barnabas had yielded in Jerusalem, the result would have been a worldwide mandate requiring that all people become Jewish in order to be in God’s family.
What a disaster this would have been! For this reason, Paul resists having Titus circumcised in Jerusalem.
So why does Paul have Timothy circumcised in Acts 16:1-3? Why is Timothy circumcised (Jewish ethnicity marker) and Titus is not?
It seems that Paul has Timothy circumcised because he’s a Jew and because they were simply trying to be honest and respectful of the Jewish heritage. Circumcising Timothy was a wisdom-in-ministry issue.
But Paul resists having Titus (a Greek) circumcised because if he is, then that’s an offense of the cross.
The truth of the gospel is that in Jesus, all people are welcome through faith in the cross without any regard to the Mosaic law and Jewish heritage.
Certainly, this was offensive to Jews. The offense of the gospel to Israel was the radical inclusion of non-Jews into the people of God, the radical inclusion of people who are different, and who have been historically regarded as sinners.
But the one thing that the circumcised group of Christians in Jerusalem and the church in Galatia have in common (as they work out the issues related to ethnicity and the truth of the gospel) is their mission to the poor (Gal. 2:10).
So again the Christian church cannot simply wonder how the gospel has anything to do with reaching the poor and needy. A church that has no ministry to the poor would not be a church that Paul or any other leader of the early church would approve of.
My point here is simply twofold.
1. The truth of the gospel results in the union of all kinds of different people from all kinds of different backgrounds and nationalities. People don’t need to become like us to enjoy the resurrection life of Jesus.
2. The truth of the gospel results in showing radical generosity and hospitality toward those who have little or nothing, and who are social outcasts. We experience Jesus as we reach out in generosity to those who are poor and needy and worthless in the eyes of society (Mark 9:37).