Same Words, Different Worlds in Action

In his book Preaching and Preachers, which is based on a series of lectures given at Westminster Theological Seminary in 1969, Martyn Lloyd Jones said “There are men who think that they are preaching the Gospel when actually in fact they are simply saying things about the Gospel” (Preaching and Preachers, pp. 66-67). Indeed, the difference between simply saying things about the Gospel and preaching and proclaiming the Gospel cannot be overstated. It is a distinction that must be understood and insisted upon with regularity, especially when it comes to the Evangelical church having an accurate understanding of modern-day Roman Catholicism.

Leonardo De Chirico makes a similar point in his book Same Words, Different Worlds: Do Roman Catholics and Evangelicals Believe the Same Gospel? (IVP, 2021). It cannot be assumed that just because Evangelicalism and Roman Catholicism have many similarities in their vocabulary, that the theological meanings associated with those terms are also the same. That is not the case. The terms “gospel” and “evangelism” are good examples of this. These are words that appear regularly in both Roman Catholic and Evangelical theological discourses and writings. For Evangelicals the gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, and that through repentance and the confessing our sins, and by placing our faith in Christ, we can be forgiven our sins and be rescued from condemnation and God’s just judgment. Evangelism is the sharing and proclamation of this good news. Can it be safely assumed that Roman Catholicism understands these terms in the same way? It seems that many Evangelicals are under this impression.

In a recent article in Christian Today, an influential Evangelical pastor in London by the name of Nicky Gumbel, praised the Roman Catholic Church for “leading the way in evangelization.” Gumbel pointed to Pope Francis’s 2013 Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of The Gospel) as an excellent roadmap for Christians in understanding evangelization. Gumbel advised that “Everyone…should read the encyclical and put it into practice.” Clearly Gumbel believes that both Roman Catholics and Evangelicals have a shared understanding of the gospel and evangelization. But is he right to make this assumption? A careful examination of The Joy of the Gospel, which must be read in light of Vatican II and Francis’s most recent encyclical Fratelli tutti (All Brothers 2020), reveals that while the words are the same, the theological worlds they represent are very different.

In a theological reflection on The Joy of the Gospel, Leonardo De Chirico provides helpful insight as to why this is the case. He notes that for Francis, evangelization and mission are synonymous. Evangelization is encompassed in the mission of the Catholic Church. Its mission can be understood as all the Church’s activities. Concerning the gospel, and quoting directly from Evangelii Guadium, he states that “The ‘heart’ of the Gospel is summarized in this way: ‘the beauty of the saving love of God made manifest in Jesus Christ who died and rose from the dead’ (36). In this apparently Evangelical definition of the Gospel something is missing: while the objective Good news of God is rightly related to the narrative of Jesus Christ, the subjective part of it (i.e. repentance from one’s own sin and personal faith) is omitted. The tragedy of being lost without Jesus Christ is also downplayed. For this reason nowhere in the document are unrepentant unbelievers called to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. Non-Catholic Christians are already united in baptism (244), Jews don’t need to convert (247), and with believing Muslims the way is ‘dialogue’ because ‘together with us they adore the one and merciful God’ (252, a quotation of Lumen Gentium 16). Other non-Christians are also ‘justified by the grace of God’ and are associated to ‘the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ’ (254). The Gospel appears not to be a message of salvation from God’s judgment, but instead access to a fuller measure of a salvation that is already given to all mankind.”

This is a very different gospel than the one proclaimed in the Bible, rediscovered by the Protestant Reformation, and preached by the historic Evangelical church. This is confirmed with even greater clarity in Francis’s most recent encyclical All Brothers. According to the Pope, mankind shares a common brotherhood not based on a common confession of Christ as Lord, but based instead on a shared creator. Nowhere does the word “sin” appear in the 40,000-word document. Francis praises other religions and sees God at work in them (see All Brothers, 277). Even though these religions reject a crucified and risen Christ and the necessity of turning from sin and placing faith in Christ alone for forgiveness and salvation, Francis encourages the Roman Catholic Church to see them as their brothers and co-laborers in mission.

Regardless, Nicky Gumbel praises the Catholic Church for leading the way in evangelization and commends The Joy of the Gospel as an excellent blueprint for understanding and executing evangelization. He does not seem to understand that they are the same words, but represent very different theological worlds, and from an Evangelical perspective, those differences are of the utmost importance. If the Evangelical church and its pastors, leaders, and laypeople do not take the time necessary to understand what is being said and what is at stake, they will make the same mistake Nicky Gumbel has made and assume that the words we have in common carry with them the same theological significance and meaning. To faithfully preach the Gospel of the Bible and see people repent of their sin and place their faith in Christ, these differences must be understood. We must be careful to recognize when people are simply saying things about the gospel, but not proclaiming it biblically, and we must be careful to avoid doing the same ourselves. Eternity is at stake when the Evangelical church fails to make these distinctions.