This entry into the series of Gospel Coalition Booklets seeks to answer what is perhaps the most fundamental question of all: what is the gospel? Chapell addresses this issue extremely well, especially considering the restrictions of the format (each book is only around 30 pages). The atonement, resurrection, and return of Christ are center stage. While Chapell necessarily paints in broad strokes, the minutiae are visible enough to allow the full picture to come into view.

God’s rescue, restoration, and rule apply to our spiritual condition but are not limited to spiritual realities. Through Jesus Christ, our God delivers His people from the eternal consequences of human sin that have touched everything. Our salvation includes us, but it’s also bigger than we are. [7]

God does not require us to earn His pardon. He does not tell us to do some great spiritual task or to feel especially deep remorse to compensate for our sin. Instead, the good news is that God provides His pardon by grace alone. He gives His love to us rather than requiring us to gain it. [11]

Faith is not a work or a mental exercise or an emotional experience. We cannot boast that we have sufficient faith to merit God’s love. Saving faith expresses human yieldedness and confesses that there is nothing about us that should make God love us. We rely on Jesus alone to save us from our sin. We do not trust that anything we do is sufficient to make God love us—not our good works, not our wise thoughts, not even the strength of our faith. We simply trust that Jesus saves. [14]

As we offer our petitions in the context of a greater desire for God’s will to be done, He responds by making all things work together for our good. God reshapes the world about us so that what it spiritually best for us occurs. By our prayers, we are co-creators with God of a new reality. Everything changes because we pray—not because our prayers are so powerful or good, but because the God to whom we pray is. [20]

He redeems people so that they will know and extend His grace. Thus, the salvation He brings is both for and through sinners. In the church we gather together to praise Him for this goodness, to encourage one another in living for Him, and to help others understand and experience His transforming love. [25]

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Should infant children of Christian parents be baptized? Chapell believes so (thought he admits he did not always agree), and he lays out his position in a carefully presented, encouraging manner. Although I do not fully endorse Chapell’s position, I am pleased that he has stated his case so clearly and helpfully. He deals with common objections well, and there is no trace of antagonism here; merely a biblical and thought-provoking explanation of this covenant sign.

After making the covenant with Abraham to bless him and his descendants by grace through faith, God provided a covenant sign both to mark those who were recipients of His promise and to signify His pledge to provide for those who had faith in Him. It is important to remember that the sign was given after the covenant had already been made; it was neither a precondition of the covenant nor a means of manufacturing it. Faith was and is the sole condition of knowing the blessings of God’s covenant. [8]

The rite of circumcision necessarily involved the shedding of blood, and was one of numerous Old Testament signs that prefigured the blood that would be required of Christ in order for our sins to be removed. [9]

Never do any come to God on the basis of their merit or because they have participated in some ritual. Both the Old Testament and the New affirm God’s continuing covenant promise to Abraham to bless people by divine grace through faith. [13]

Conscientious Christians who object to infant baptism are not necessarily being superficial, ignorant, or mean-spirited. The church would not have argued the issues surrounding infant baptism for centuries if the right answers were obvious. [15]

Just as children are raised to know the color blue through those all about them who repeatedly and readily attest to the character of the hue, so children raised in an environment of faith ordinarily mature with an understanding of their Savior. [27]

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