The Goal of the Gospel
Foreword to the 2022 Edition
Concordia Publishing House (CPH) released The Goal of the Gospel in 1992. Why bother to republish it in 2022? Why should anyone read this old book? Consider what appeared on the back cover of the 1992 edition.
- A book description declared it “a must-read for those who seek an awakening to a life of dynamic witness.”
- Four endorsements from leading theological educators of that era expressed anticipation that this volume’s exposition of Scripture “could turn the church toward full-scale renewal.”
Consider also the Foreword in which the publisher offers the book to readers “as an additional voice in an ongoing conversation” concerning “what motivates Christians to tell others of God’s mighty deeds.” This conversation began as over a thousand people read the book. Reviewers voiced either strong approval or strong disagreement.
And then the conversation was silenced. How?
Some opponents filed charges that the book taught false doctrine. The authors offered a detailed theological response to the accusations. The opponents ignored the authors’ theological defense, yet kept insisting the book was flawed. The LCMS Presidium (its President and 5 Vice Presidents) never voted a majority to condemn the book. However, the opponents succeeded in pressuring the LCMS Board of Doctrinal Review to rescind its approval of the book, which had been granted prior to publication. With that decision, CPH was compelled to withdraw The Goal of the Gospel from its catalog and destroy all copies in its warehouse.
Does this controversy from the 1990s have any significance today? Just compare the world of 1992 to the world of 2022. In the last three decades:
- Has church membership and attendance increased or decreased?
- Are you and your church more actively proclaiming the Gospel to neighbors who are like you and to people of other cultures?
- Do unbelievers regard Christian teachings and morals more highly or lowly?
- Are mental illness, depression, and suicide waning or increasing?
- Which has increased in your community: social unity or division?
- Is society—locally and globally— experiencing more or less turmoil?
All these factors and more reveal that the last three decades have increased our need for God to “turn the church toward full-scale renewal.”
In light of the growing urgency, we have republished The Goal of the Gospel, so that you and all readers “who seek an awakening to a life of dynamic witness” may engage in the open and fruitful conversation which the book intended to initiate. Through the dialogue that will occur, may God’s redeemed people heed Jesus’ warning in Rev. 3:2: “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of the Lord.”
This 2022 edition reproduces the original text from thirty years ago as closely as possible, with one significant addition. Each chapter now concludes with a section called Venturing Out, an exercise for readers to put the Word of God into practice.
Otherwise, the only variations from the original are:
- Footnotes placed more readily accessible to the reader.
- Correction of a few grammatical and typographical errors in the original.
- Editing or omission of quotations from published sources due to complications of seeking permission to cite the material.
- Addition of some graphics and links to the internet.
Also, take note that the text was retrieved using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, which can produce occasional faulty positioning of words. If you find any flaws that our proofreading failed to detect, we apologize, and please be so kind as to inform us, so that they may be corrected? Thank you.
Ways to read The Goal of the Gospel:
Download your free ebook from the Faith Trekker store.
Read 4 pages from Chapter 1.