Journal: Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society
Volume: JOTGES 23:44 (Spring 2010)
Article: A Review Of Thomas Stegall’s "The Gospel Of The Christ"
Author: Robert N. Wilkin

JOTGES 23:44 (Spring 2010) p. 3

A Review Of Thomas Stegall’s The Gospel Of The Christ1

Robert N. Wilkin

Editor

I. The Thesis Of The Book

The main thesis of the book is that in order to be born again a person must believe in “the Lord’s deity, humanity, substitutionary death, and bodily resurrection, i.e., [in] His person, work, and provision” (p. 19). Note that believing in Jesus for eternal life, or for justification, is not included in that definition. Presumably the person must also believe in justification or salvation by faith alone, apart from works, but surprisingly that is not stated in the preface and is only sparingly stated in this book (e.g., p. 342).

Only once did I find a place where he lists all that a person must believe to be born again. And this list was not a list at all, but headings spread over 25 pages (pp. 353-77).

II. The Purpose Of The Book

The author’s main purpose seems to be to sound the alarm about people in the Free Grace movement, like Zane Hodges, John Niemelä, René López, and Bob Wilkin, who have been masquerading as Free Grace proponents, but are in reality enemies of Jesus Christ and His gospel. Indeed, on at least one occasion Stegall drops the theological H bomb, saying that we proclaim a “new heretical gospel” (p. 336, italics added).

JOTGES 23:44 (Spring 2010) p. 4

The subject index shows the attention he pays to Zane Hodges, me, GES, and others. Note on how many pages the following individuals and organizations are mentioned in the 753 pages of the text:

Robert N. Wilkin 165 pages

Zane C. Hodges 131 pages

GES 126 pages

Jeremy Myers 52 pages

René López 42 pages

John Niemelä 33 pages

Bob Bryant 16 pages.2

The above figures regarding references to GES differ from Stegall’s subject index. The index says that Grace Evangelical Society is mentioned on just 10 pages (pp. 21, 35, 41, 57, 64, 228, 270, 750-52). However, Grace Evangelical Society is found on at least 72 additional pages,3 not counting the scores of pages on which the author mentions JOTGES or Grace in Focus but without specifically mentioning Grace Evangelical Society. In addition, I found 44 additional pages in which he mentions GES but not Grace Evangelical Society.4

JOTGES 23:44 (Spring 2010) p. 5

III. The Cros...

You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
Click here to subscribe

visitor : : uid: ()