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foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."
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When on the cross, our beloved Savior said it all when he cried "It is finished."
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The Bible is clear about the evangelical emphasis upon the centrality of Jesus Christ and
His cross work as the central necessity for Christians. Both the Old and the New Testaments
focus upon the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His work on the cross. There is no question
but the Old Testament Scriptures are prologues to the New Testament revelation of God's Son.
And one cannot understand anything about the New Testament without coming to the cross first.
The cross is the hallmark of Christianity.
This crucicentrism is undoubtedly Biblical. But, to say that evangelicals have a sufficient
emphasis upon the strategy of the cross would not be accurate. My opinion is that evangelicals
fail to live up expectations regarding crucicentrism. Is there enough blood in evangelicalism?
What about the strategy of the cross? A strategy of the cross would mean that evangelicals are
noted for dying for their faith, noted for their sacrificial living, noted for their humility. Certainly
in countries other than the United States of America, it is not uncommon for evangelicals to die
for their faith. Evangelicals in the Reformed tradition exhibit a healthy emphasis upon the
soteriological center of theology which leads to a conscious crucicentrism. However, not all
evangelicals are in the Reformed tradition. Evangelicals fail to be recognized as counter culture
and thus dangerous to a cynical, skeptical populace. This failure would sound strange to Paul
who said "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
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The centrality of the cross - though
advocated by evangelicals - does not seem to cut very deep into the evangelical enterprise.
Evidence is slim for an emphasis upon the cross either in the Gospel proclaimed by evangelicals
or the teaching on Christian spirituality advocated by evangelicals.