Jason Janz on the Gospel in The End of the Spear

Once again well-phrased, thoughtful and incisive, Jason Janz has produced When We Say “Gospel”: My Primary Concern with End of the Spear. It's a worthwhile read on many levels, as Janz says that (and explains how) this was his greater concern about the movie.

Here is perhaps the most arresting sentence in the long, worthwhile essay: "We are coming to an age where we are going to have to fight for the Gospel even within evangelicalism."

Reflect that "evangelical" comes from "evangel," which is simply a transliteration of the Greek euaggelion -- good news, Gospel. In other words, historically, the central defining point of evangelicalism is fidelity to the Gospel. "Evangelical" should mean, at bare minimum, "Gospel-holder." Yet Janz says we will have to fight for the Gospel among Gospel-holders.

Sad. Ironic. True.