The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited

I just finished reading The King Jesus Gospel by Scot McKnight, one of my two favorite books of the year. (The other is  The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate  by John H. Walton, which coincidentally was quoted in McKnight's book.)McKnight is an author whom I have never read, but I have seen his name bantered about from time to time. I had briefly reviewed his 2010 article in Christianity Today that thoughtfully tackled an issue I have often struggled with - the congruity of the gospel of Jesus and the gospel of Paul.Around a decade ago I read Dallas Willard's book  The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God . It was through that book that I first encountered the gospel of Jesus Christ. That may seem odd to say. I had been a Christian my entire life, graduated from Bible College and been a pastor for five years before reading it. My life could easily be divided into pre-Willard and post-Willard. Willard showed me that the gospel was the Kingdom come - not just sin management.(Side note: I think The Divine Conspiracy is beginning to loom as a pivotal once-in-a-generation work in modern Christianity. Many evangelicals of my generation look back on that book as a kind of secret passage leading to a more Kingdom-centered tangible expression of Christianity.)From Willard I found many other authors ready to aid in my exploration into this new and improved gospel - thinkers like Stanley Hauerwas, Will Willimon, John Howard Yoder, Hans Kung, and N.T. Wright. Over time, N.T. Wright rose about them all as a trusted voice - even beyond Willard in many ways. Wright just seemed (and seems) a half-step ahead of so many of us. (The irony that an Anglican Bishop in England has become the patron saint of post-modern post-evangelicals in America is beyond explanation to me.)When I picked up The Jesus Gospel I immediately noticed that it had two different forwards - one by N.T. Wright...the second by Dallas Willard. How could I not read on?I hope this doesn't seem somehow conceited, but what I felt while reading McKnight's book was an intense measure of agreement and thankfulness. Reading, particularly reading theology, is often best when you find an author who stretches your common perceptions and assumptions. That is what Willard, and later Wright, did for me. Certainly, McKnight did that for me in stretches through this book. But it wasn't so much the head-tilting moments that won me over as it was the head-nodding moments. With nearly every paragraph I found myself thinking, "Good, someone else sees it that way too...and someone smarter than me. Maybe I'm not crazy, after all!"I feel like, for instance, I am constantly harping on my evangelical friends about the danger of over-emphasizing personal salvation. McKnight confirmed in me that my prophetic instincts in that regard are grounded. The gospel is not fundamentally about your sin problem. It is about Jesus...and more specifically about Jesus being Israel's Messiah and the rightful Lord of the entire cosmos.When in doubt as a "preacher," I tell stories about Jesus - or about his people, Israel. McKnight encouraged me that what I am doing is pure gospel proclamation. In short, he confirmed for me that gospel is what I have come to think it is - simply Jesus as King. He is the good news. His life, death, resurrection and appearances in the context of the story of Israel is what changes everything. Those of us who believe his story are sent to proclaim it as historical testimony. We don't have to persuade people to action. We just tell the story and the story does the work. It is good news. Perhaps more accurately, he is good news.I unashamedly encourage you to buy this book. It may do for you what The Divine Conspiracy did for me ten years ago.Joe BoydAuthor,  Between Two Kingdoms Review originally posted on [...]

With so many variations of the Gospel making their rounds (and I'm not just talking false gospels), it's no wonder we have lost sight of what the Gospel actually is. In today's society it seems we have transformed the message of the Gospel into solely a message (and method) of salvation. In other words, we have gone from a "gospel culture" to a "salvation culture" essentially becoming soterians rather than Gospel evangelists.McKnight does an excellent job in drawing primarily from Scripture but also from tradition (early church fathers and early creeds) in describing and outlining the Gospel in it's most basic and simplistic form. In summary, the Gospel is this: "Jesus of Nazareth, the one who lived and died and who was raised and ascended and enthroned, is both Messiah of Israel and Lord of the whole world". He truly is King. This is the King Jesus Gospel in which Jesus reigns over the Jews and over all the earth. This is the same Gospel that Jesus himself taught, along with all of the apostles including Peter and Paul. And for the first few centuries, this is what the early church also believed and taught. It was with Augustine and later the Reformers that soteriology was introduced in with the Gospel message. Theological terms such as: propitiation, justification, and substitutionary atonement were intermixed in with Reformed-era creeds and confessions and have stuck ever since. While these terms and processes are certainly a vital part of the transforming power of the Gospel, they are not the Gospel in of themselves.Overall, this is the best book that I've read outlining what the Gospel truly is. However, while it seemed McKnight was able to easily capture Paul's definition of the Gospel primarily drawing from 1 Corinthians 15, it seemed he was all over the place in attempting to capture Jesus' definition of the Gospel. But, I give credit where credit is due... namely that McKnight ultimately does define the King Jesus Gospel. But, I still remain "on the fence" if whether or not the kingdom of God also plays a part and role in this King Jesus Gospel.I highly recommend this book to all Christians, and especially for those of us who are involved in evangelism and missions where getting the Gospel message right is absolutely vital.

If you want a laymen friendly book that nonetheless has a SOLID biblical scholarship work on it,that teaches the Gospel of Jesus clearly...Buy this book.It leaves a clear notion of what Gospel truly is in your mind by the time you are done.Now the challenge for me is implementing the gospel culture as Scot challenges his readers.

simple, profound, challenging. Scot McKnight understands to discuss the Gosple in a way that is both understandable and challenging at the same time. This is a must read for everyone interested in the Life and Message of Jesus

As the saying goes "familiarity breeds contempt". For many people the Gospel is so familiar that our eyes glaze over when someone starts talking about it. This book will give you a renewed hunger and desire to hear and read the Gospel for yourself. The ideas presented in this book are revolutionary and seem so new but yet are more than 2000 years old. Yes you did read that correctly the Gospel itself does not just go back to the time of Jesus but to the very first chapter in Genesis. Read the book and you will understand. This book will help you to understand the Gospel, help you to tell the Gospel and will help people to receive th Gospel. This book is only a start but it is a very good start. As many Believers as possible should read it and even use it in the home groups and Bible studies in your Church.

I think that every evangelical Christian must read it.

Good book