The Gospel

Ray Ortlund. The Gospel: How the Church Portrays the Beauty of Christ. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014. 144 pp. $14.99.

The gospel is rich truth that stirs deep love—or at least that’s how it’s supposed to be. Yet, as Ray Ortlund frames the conundrum, there is a deep disconnect in our churches between what we believe about the gospel and how we live out that gospel.

Ortlund’s recent contribution to the 9Marks Building Healthy Churches series is not a display of the doctrine of salvation. Greg Gilbert already did that well in What Is the Gospel? This book portrays how the beauty of Christ transforms the bride of Christ so that gospel doctrine creates a gospel culture.

The Gospel asks incisive questions that stimulate clear, well-constructed responses. Ortlund’s methodology is expositional. Each of the seven chapters illumines gospel implications of a key text (John 3:16, Eph. 5:25, Rev. 21:5, 1 Tim. 3:14-15, Gal. 2:14, 2 Cor. 2:15-16, Rev. 14:4). With the unpacking of each passage, truth exhorts us toward practice.

In the first three chapters, Ortlund, pastor of Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee, addresses three levels of gospel transformation: individuals, churches, and all creation. The final four flesh out the gospel transformation process. Gospel transformation is a counter-cultural, challenging, sacrificial, powerful, and beautiful process. Keep reading