The Need for an Evangelical Theology of Emphasis
by Justin Borger
The fact that we have no less than four different canonical Gospels has always struck me as one of the richest realities that can be found in the Bible.
Although all four accounts of the good news tell the same sacred story, each one does so from a unique perspective with different emphases that ought to enrich our understanding of who Jesus is and what he came to do. Far too often, however, I’m afraid we fail to take advantage of the way that the Holy Spirit inspired Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to preserve the gospel in such an emphatic way. Indeed, if it’s true that “the medium is the message,” then I’d say there’s a crying need for some more sustained theological reflection on this reality: evangelical theology, canonically considered, is always emphatic theology. And so, our attempts to articulate evangelical theology must somehow correspond to the emphatic character of the canonical Gospels themselves.
So what causes the emphaticness in the gospel, is it in their written form, or is it by the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer?
The canonical Gospels (Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John) are emphatic in the sense that they each have different emphases. For example, the major theme of the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) is the good news of the Kingdom of God but John barely mentions the “kingdom” as such. Accordingly, evangelical theology (and ethics) should seek to reflect these emphases. Does that make sense?
So are you saying that you would like to see a greater work done on not only the continuities but also the discontinuities between the gospels, or a theology based upon the distinctive themes of each gospel?
Yes, I suppose tracing continuities and discontinuities would be one way to say it. Theological battles are often fought over matters of emphasis and omission. But the fact of the matter is that there are certain things that are incredibly important to one evangelist that are barely mentioned by others. For example, as I mention above, a major theme of Jesus’ preaching in the synoptic Gospels is the Kingdom of God whereas in John’s Gospel the “Kingdom” is barely mentioned as such. I think our articulations of evangelical theology need to be able to reflect this kind of difference without undermining the underlying unity of the canonical Gospels. There’s more to say and reflect on here, but I will leave it at that.