As I mentioned earlier, today and tomorrow I am in Deerfield, IL on the campus of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School for the Gospel Coalition conference. Todaday we heard from D.A. Carson, Tim Keller and Crawford Loritts as well as a panel Q&A time.

Rather than try to offer a “blow-by-blow” liveblogging experience, I’d rather just summarize a bit of what’s been said thus far and offer some personal reflections.

Carson preached from 1 Corinthians 15:1-19 with the primary question in mind What is the Gospel? It’s interesting that such a question even needs to be addressed, but the truth is that a great many people assume a great many things about the Gospel while also assuming that we agree with their assumptions. The Gospel is under attack from nearly every direction with those outside the camp revolting publicly (Sam Harris et. al) and those “within the camp” trying to redefine many key elements (New Perspectives, etc.).

Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 15:3 of that which is of “first importance,” namely, “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.” Using this as a foundation, in classic Carson fashion, he offered “Eight Summarizing Words,” “Five Clarifying Sentences” and “One Evocative Summary.” That’s quite an outline! For the sake of space, I will simply list his “Eight Summarizing Words” and his “Five Clarifying Sentences” of the Corinthians passage. First, the “Eight Summarizing Words:”

1. The Gospel is Christological
2. The Gospel is Theological
3. The Gospel is Biblical
4. The Gospel is Apostolic
5. The Gospel is Historical
6. The Gospel is Personal
7. The Gospel is Universal
8. The Gospel is Eschatological

Next were the “Five Clarifying Sentences:”

1. This gospel is normally disseminated in proclamation (by heraldic ministry).
2. This gospel is fruitfully received in authentic persevering faith. It must be persevering.
3. This gospel is properly disclosed in the context of personal self-humiliation (humility, gratitude, dependence on Christ, contrition). �When the Gospel truly does it�s work, �proud Christian� is an unthinkable oxymoron.
4. This gospel is rightly asserted to be the proclamation of the Church. (Mere traditionalism is not the answer). Always be aware of churches who point out how differently they are doing things.
5. The Gospel is boldly advancing under the contested reign and inevitable victory of Jesus the King. Though Jesus is now King, it is still contested.

Tim Keller followed Carson. While some of the thrust of Keller’s message was obviously similar to Carson’s, there is an obvious pastoral heart behind Keller’s words (not that there isn’t from Carson. Keller preached from the large section 1 Peter 1:1-2:12, drawing “Seven Features that Peter Uses to Describe the Gospel,” drawing a ministerial implication from each of the seven points. For the sake of brevity, I will simply list the seven main points:

1. The Gospel is Historical
2. The Gospel is Doxological
3. The Gospel is Christocentric
4. The Gospel is Personal/Individual
5. The Gospel is Cultural
6. The Gospel is Massively Transformational
7. The Gospel is Wonderful

I just love that one of Keller’s points was that the Gospel is doxological, while he ended with reminding us just how wonderful the Gospel truly is. It’s so easy to become entrenched in academics that we miss the glory for the doctrinal points. I also personally appreciated his reminder of just how transformational the Gospel ought to be. This brings up questions of “relevancy,” which was directly addressed in the Q&A panel, but I’ll refrain from that for now.

Last for the evening was Crawford Loritts who preached from Psalm 78:5-7 on the task of “passing the torch,” ministering for a time not seen. What is the legacy that we want to leave behind? Crawford gently reminded us that the true impact of many of our ministries may never be known in our lifetimes. This is a humbling but needed reminder for many pastors, including myself who want to see results and want to see them now. Ultimately, it’s not about us.

Overall it’s been a beneficial day with much to chew on. I was particularly stimulated by Keller’s list of the many ways that Christ fulfills the Old Testament. some of hsi suggestions were (for the full list, see Justin Taylor’s summary):

Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us.

Jesus is the true and better Abel who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out, not for our condemnation, but for acquittal.

Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void not knowing wither he went to create a new people of God.
Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends.

This, coupled with Keller’s thoughts on the Gospel being “massively transformational” were the highpoints for me personally, particularly his closing comments drawing from 1 Peter 1:12:

It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look

Keller noted that angels “are very smart people.” They’re like us, but they’ve been around a lot longer, so they know more. But they still long to look into the the Gospel. He noted that the word here “long” actually sometimes implies lust. I wonder how often I have this zeal for the Gospel. It’s so easy to become lost in the details of ministry, the “To Do” list that never seems to get caught up, the list of meetings and meetings that need to be scheduled and the meetings that are rescheduled. But I am (and we all are) to be about the Gospel. As Keller said, the Gospel is not the “ABC’s of God, it is the A-Z,” it is the beginning and the end. It is truly wonderful and if angels can spend eternity marvelling at the Gospel of Christ, certainly we can.

Though we’d like to think (at least I do) that we don’t need a conference to remind us what it’s really all about, the truth of the matter is that we (I) have terribly short attention spans and we (I) am easily distracted. I pray that I (we) never tire of hearing, singing, preaching, teaching, living the glories of Calvary.

• Read Justin Taylor’s notes from Tim Keller’s talk
• Read Justin Taylor’s notes from D.A. Carson’s talk
• Read Justin Taylor’s notes from Crawford Loritts’ talk
• Browse Justin Buzzard’s notes
• Read Crawford Loritts for yourself
• Read Tim Keller for yourself
• Read D.A. Carson for yourself