Carson on social justice and the gospel
D.A. Carson spoke last week on some trends within the church, including this one (via):
Don said that the Gospel plus caring for the poor was an inseparable couplet. He cautioned that if the gospel was merely assumed (and not clearly articulated), our passion for social justice would overshadow the gospel. While we are not intentionally exalting social concern over the gospel, people learn what we are excited about (gospel over caring for the poor). Carson warned, “Our passion must first be the gospel and not assume it to be understood.” He continued, “We must be careful to keep the gospel central and not turn our responses to the gospel as the main target.”
Not caring about social justice is perhaps proof that we haven’t understood the gospel. The remedy, therefore, isn’t social justice; it’s to go back to the root cause and really understand the gospel.
