New-Fangled Gospel-Centeredness?

A dear brother has been thinking through this "gospel-centeredness thing" and recently said a very wise thing. I'll paraphrase him here: "I'm a little concerned about whether this focus on the gospel in every text and being the key to Scripture interpretation is new?" What a mature way of thinking. That we would all be so questioning when we encounter something new about our faith! On this very topic, a brother elder pointed out to me one day that the reason we should be wary of things that are new within Christendom is that Jude tells us that we ought "to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." (Jude 3). Taking both of these brothers' sincere desire to contend for the faith, I was spurred to do some historic investigating. I hope that it will be profitable for all to take a look at some examples of cross-centric thinking in our forefathers of the faith.

Polycarp (AD 65-155) was a disciple of the Apostle John and died as a martyr through fire. Polycarp's student, Irenaeus, wrote this of Polycarp: "[He] was instructed by the apostles, and was brought into contact by many who had seen Christ." Consider this excerpt from Polycarp's letter to the Philippian Church:

"Let us then continually persevere in our hope and the earnest of our righteousness, which is Jesus Christ, 'who bore our sins in His own body on the tree,' 'who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth,' but endured all things for us, that we might live in Him. Let us then be imitators of His patience; and if we suffer for His name's sake, let us glorify Him. For He has set us this example in Himself, and we have believed that such is the case.

Ignatius (AD 30-107) came even earlier. There is a myth that supposes Ignatius was the young boy that Jesus called to Himself and put in the midst of the disciples (Matt. 18:2). Ignatius was also a disciple of John and is believed to be martyred in Rome by wild beasts. In his letter to the Ephesian Church, he writes in part:

"The last times are come upon us. Let us therefore be of a reverent spirit, and fear the long-suffering of God, lest we despise the riches of His goodness and forebearance. For let us either fear the wrath to come or let us love the present joy in the life that now is; and let our present and true joy be only this, to be found in Christ Jesus, that we may truly live. Do not at any time desire so much as even to breathe apart from Him. For He is my hope; He is my boast; He is my never-failing riches, on whose account I bear about with me these bonds from Syria to Rome, these spiritual jewels, in which may I be perfected through your prayers, and become a partaker of the sufferings of Christ, and have fellowship with Him in His death, His resurrection from the dead, and His everlasting life."

What is so amazing at looking back to these earliest of church fathers is that their writings were not Scripture. While they are soaked with quotations and allusions to Scripture, they are not Scripture. This means that they had been so discipled in Jesus and his cross being everything to them, that in the face of persecution and eventual martyrdom it was the theme of their letters to other saints.

"[P]ersevere in our hope...which is Jesus Christ." urges Polycarp.

Ignatius in shackles cries: "[L]et our present and true joy be only this, to be found in Christ Jesus, that we may truly live."

I hear them reminding their brothers to live in the power and hope of the cross. He was the hope of the early church in fighting disunity and despair, and He is our hope today. Our forefathers (who lived under pressures and strains that we cannot understand) knew the power of Jesus being their day-by-day Savior. Their writings are filled with pleas to focus on Jesus' sacrifice and live in the power that it affords. Listen to their voices of old, exhorting us to fellowship in the gospel. An exhortation that is by no means new.