Another book about the gospel. We have seen the release of all kinds of books about the gospel lately–books defining the gospel, books preaching the gospel, books sharing how to live with the gospel at the center of life. Is there any room for another one? Absolutely there is, and Trevin Wax has delivered it in the form of Counterfeit Gospels: Discovering the Good News in a World of False Hope. Wax is convinced there is crisis in the church today, a crisis created by counterfeit gospels–gospels that appear to have elements of the real thing, but which are, at heart, fraudulent. This crisis has 3 elements: Against this crisis Wax proposes that the gospel is like a three-legged stool with each leg absolutely critical to a proper understanding of the message; without each of the 3 legs, the stool cannot stand. First, there is the gospel story, which is the overarching grand narrative we find in the Scriptures. Second, there is the gospel announcement, which is that Christ died for our sins and was raised. And third, there is the gospel community, the people who herald the grace of God and spread the good news of what Christ has done. In what becomes a very helpful grid that runs through the rest of the book, Wax first introduces one of the legs and then contrasts it with two related counterfeits. For example, in the book’s first section he writes about the truth, the story of the gospel and he then contrasts it with 2 … Continue reading Counterfeit Gospels