This will have to be a rather hasty response, I’m afraid.

It seems to me patently absurd to suppose that the whole of scripture can be adequately reduced to the dimensions of a single concept such as ‘gospel’. The paradox of modern evangelicalism’s high regard for scripture is that it has defended the truth and effectiveness of the ‘gospel’ at the expense of the concrete relevance of the Bible as a whole. That is why in popular books and sermons scripture is routinely filtered, screened, distorted, and allegorized in the interests of preserving a marketable ‘gospel’.

But the main point I would make in response to your argument is that ‘gospel’ in scripture is not a univocal, universal religious principle. The ‘good news’ is always a contextualized announcement about something God has done, is doing, or is about to do. It is contextualized historically and it is contextualized narratively. Jesus’ ‘gospel’ is not a simple message of personal salvation: it is the announcement to Israel that YHWH is about to act sovereignly to eradicate unrighteousness, overthrow Israel’s enemies, and restore his people to wholeness. Paul’s ‘gospel’ looks back to the resurrection: it is the announcement that YHWH has in effect done this for Israel in Jesus. But it also looks forward to the inclusion of Gentiles in this redeemed people: the good news is that the sovereignty of God over the whole earth is being demonstrated through the participation of the nations in the covenant.

The good news in the New Testament, therefore, is first of all historical, corporate and political: it has to do with the experience and expectations of a people under a particular set of historical circumstances. The personal hope must be understood within that framing narrative, and the framing narrative cannot be properly understood without some sense of how the biblical story as a whole both precedes and follows the critical events of the New Testament.

The modern evangelical paradigm has been highly successful, and I don’t want to minimize the importance of that; but it is now failing. It will not last forever. My view is that any emerging paradigm will have to take full account of the narrative-historical structure of scripture if it is to provide a robust enough platform to support the post-modern, post-Christendom mission of the church. If we are too timid to venture beyond the familiar and safe boundaries of the modern gospel of personal salvation, I think we will fall some way short of the missional intention of God for his people.