EMQ » April–June 2019 » Volume 55 Issue 3
By Michael. W. Goheen
Baker, Grand Rapids, MI, 2018
220 pages
USD $22.99
Reviewed by Jonathan K. Dodson, church planter in Austin, TX and author of various books including The Unbelievable Gospel and Here in Spirit.
After speaking with Lesslie Newbigin about some of the liberal opposition he was facing regarding his views of scriptural authority, Goheen anxiously entered the Duke Chapel to hear Newbigin lecture. As he did, Newbigin said to Goheen, “There will be many who oppose what I say. But I must be faithful whatever the consequences and leave it in God’s hand.” As Newbigin spoke with peace and assurance, Goheen describes his anxiety and fear “dropping away” (215).
What accounted for Newbigin’s unanxious witness? For Goheen’s fear dropping away? Goheen attributes it to Newbigin’s theology: a deep confidence in the rule of the Father over all of history and “the Spirit as the first and only effectual witness to Christ” (21). Although we may agree with Newbigin’s trinitarian theology of mission, our anxiety may remain when we face the possibility of rejection while sharing the gospel.
Whether we’re doing cross-cultural missions in the Majority world or sharing the gospel in the suburbs, it is tempting to feel as though the burden of conversion and justice rests on our shoulders. Alternatively, we might blame “the Church” for not being more engaged. Newbigin offers a timely corrective, “It is not the Church who bears witness [while] the Spirit helps the church to do so. This kind of language completely misses the point. The point is that the Church is the place where the Spirit is present as witness” (emphasis added, 58). The only effective witness to Jesus is the Spirit of God.
It is massively relieving, and motivating, to know the Spirit is the only effective witness to the gospel. It relieves us of cul-de-sac efforts to find confidence in technique, frequency, or knowledge. Yet, the Spirit motivates his new creation to joyfully testify to the reality of the person and work of Jesus. Goheen explains that Newbigin saw the locus of the witness of the Spirit in the Church, through its deeds and evangelistic words. Furthermore, deeds and words should not be pitted against one another. Rather, there is an indissoluble nexus between word and deed (94). If nothing is happening in the Church that calls for an explanation of the gospel, then our words are empty. We must be acting in a way that demands a gospel explanation. Without a gospel explanation, a deed cannot speak fully. As the famous Newbigin adage goes, “The Church is the hermeneutic of the gospel” (81).
Goheen unearths insight after insight from his decades of reflection on Newbigin’s corpus. I found myself underlining both Newbigin and Goheen over and over again. Goheen’s explanation of Newbigin’s emphasis on the gospel as the true story of the world freshly reminds us the story is not illustrative of another truth; it is the true story.
Thus, the Church bears the blessed responsibility of both words and deeds to narrate the gospel story. Indeed, “there is no other body that will tell it” (93). Therefore, it is relieving that the Spirit is the only effective witness, yet motivating to know we are the only people entrusted with his message. May the indwelling Spirit stir up unanxious eagerness to witness his witness of the risen Christ.
For Further Reading:
Weston, Paul, ed. Lesslie Newbigin: Missionary Theologian. Grand Rapids, MI.: Baker, 2006.
Goheen, Mike. A Light to the Nations: The Missional Church and the Biblical Story. Grand Rapids, MI.: Baker, 2011.
