There was a time when the phrase “gospel-centered” was a rallying cry for Christians longing to return to the heart of our faith. It was a needed correction to moralism, legalism, and the seeker-sensitive drift of the modern church. The gospel-centered movement rightly reasserted that Christ’s finished work is the foundation of all of life and ministry. All of us, in some ways, were positively influenced by a “gospel renewal” as Keller coined it.

But somewhere along the way, something changed. The movement that began as gospel-centered morphed into what I will call gospel-onlyism. This is a mindset that treats anything beyond the message of personal salvation as a “distraction,” encumbrance, or even a danger to the mission of the church.

What began as a recovery of grace has in many places become a retreat from truth. It has become a gateway to progressive ideology, and it casts conservatives as Pharisees to condemn, while liberals are just victims to be gentle with. 

When the Gospel “Lens” Becomes a Stifling Filter

In gospel-onlyism, the gospel is not just the center, but the filter, a screen through which everything else must pass. That’s not a bad inclination by any means, but the way evangelical elites have applied it over the last decade has been disastrous.

Gospel-onlyism has become a subjective filter, often applied against right-wing political concerns (many of which are simply Christian political and moral truths, such as opposition to abortion, homosexuality, and transgenderism). Those who implement it selectively and subjectively apply this filter to whatever they deem to be the more “gospel-centered” thing. Manufacturing diversity in the church? Yes, that’s gospel-centered. Preaching white hot truth against Christians who vote for the party of baby murder? Well, that’s a distraction from the gospel. You get the point.

The irony is that it replaces Scripture and mutes (one could even say “whispers”) areas where the Bible sets forth straightforward moral teachings about life, marriage, and human society. These are superseded by the “virtuous” cause of “keeping the main thing the main thing” to avoid offending non-Christians. If a moral truth, cultural statement, or biblical command risks offending someone, it’s frequently silenced in the name of “keeping the main thing the main thing.”

This has created a generation of pastors who believe the most “gospel-centered” thing to do is never to let any truth offend someone except the gospel itself. It has stripped pastors of their desire to give wise counsel and made everything a gospel issue. They are nuanced on fundamental truths like God’s design for marriage, government, sexuality, justice, and immigration. All of these things are reduced down to potential “obstacles” for evangelism. 

Sunday gatherings have shifted from deep discipleship to “evangelistic showcases,” designed more for seekers than for the sanctification of the saints. In their preaching, they either don’t exhort or do it bound up by fear of being “legalistic.” Their grace-based approach to everything creates ditches on the “left” side of things, such as parenting without asserting authority or using discipline, and an inability to confront moral evils in the political realm.

The result is a church that overemphasizes evangelistic causes, confusing gentleness with silence and grace with avoidance. 

But this is not the model of the apostles, nor of the Reformers, and we need to abandon it.

The Reformers and the Whole Counsel of God

The Reformers were radically gospel-centered, but never gospel-only.

Luther preached justification by faith alone, but he also preached on government, economics, and vocation. Calvin wrote entire volumes on how believers should live under civil authority, raise families, and engage in public life. They believed the gospel not only saves sinners, but reorders societies under Christ’s kingship.

For them, the gospel was not an excuse for silence; it was the engine of obedience and courage. The law was not the enemy of grace but its necessary companion, guiding redeemed people to live for God’s glory.

As Calvin wrote, “It is faith alone that justifies, but faith that justifies is never alone.” The gospel that saves us also sanctifies us, and that sanctification extends into every corner of our lives and culture.

A Case Study: Immigration and the Gospel-Only Filter

We could do a case study like this on CRT, abortion, and countless other issues, but let’s consider immigration. Many leading evangelical figures who operate under the gospel-only mindset insist that to be truly gospel-centered means to welcome all immigration without restraint. They cite parables like the Good Samaritan or verses like Revelation 7:9 to justify what amounts to open borders immigration policies.

This leads some, especially in missional circles like NAMB or Global Gates, to see the arrival of unreached people groups in American cities as purely a blessing. They argue that having 10,000+ Muslims in Minneapolis or Nashville is not only a good thing but an answer to prayer! “God has brought the nations to us, bring more!” “5,000 or 8,000 isn’t enough; it takes 10,000 of a particular people to not assimilate into American culture. We don’t want them to assimilate, we want them to still be considered an unreached people group.” These are all things I’ve heard in meetings, and these thoughts are crafted not by Scripture but through an imbalanced “gospel-only filter.”

This reasoning, though perhaps well-meaning, forgets the rest of Scripture. The same God who brings the nations near also ordains the order of nations (Deut. 32:8). The same Paul who preached the gospel also affirmed the role of government to restrain evil and maintain justice (Rom. 13).

Love of neighbor includes the protection of neighbor. A borderless compassion may sound holy, but it is rooted in a neglect of God’s order. To ignore national stability, justice, and the moral fabric of society is not biblical love; it’s sentimentality without wisdom.

The JD Greear Problem: A False Dichotomy

A recent article by J.D. Greear in The Gospel Coalition illustrates this drift. He warned pastors against preaching politics from the pulpit, implying that to do so distracts from the gospel. But this presents a false choice: you either preach the gospel or you preach politics.

Faithful preaching rejects that division. Pastors are called to preach Christ and then teach believers how His Lordship transforms every realm of life. Paul did not shy away from confronting rulers and systems. John the Baptist lost his life for calling a governor’s sin what it was.

To preach the gospel fully means to apply it boldly. The gospel has something to say about abortion, justice, economics, and government. Silence on these matters does not protect the gospel; it diminishes its scope.

The manipulative aspect of Greear is that he has learned to wield this Gospel-onlyism selectively. He uses the pulpit on political issues he deems a gospel issue and silences others with “If you can’t say ‘Thus saith the Lord,’ then don’t say it” on matters outside the peripheral view of his “gospel-lens.”

A Call Back to Courage and Balance

The answer is not to abandon the gospel; it’s also not to curse those operating with a “gospel-only” cover like Greear. The answer is to root everything in it again and embrace a worldview that includes the whole counsel of God’s Word, including its moral and political teachings.

A faithful pastor preaches Christ crucified for sins, yes. But then he also teaches his people that God’s truth and moral order must govern marriage, work, family, citizenship, and morality. And he should do both of these from the pulpit. A faithful church sees Sunday not just as an “evangelistic opportunity” for the non-believers who may come, but as the training ground for disciples who will shine as witnesses in the world.

We must return to the kind of preaching that charges, exhorts, and challenges God’s people with both grace and truth. This is the balance Christ Himself embodied (John 1:14).

The gospel does not silence truth; it empowers it. The grace that saves us also sends us, strengthens us, and summons us to speak all of Scripture and apply it to all of life.

The Pastoral Appeal: Recovering Your Voice

Pastors, the most gospel-centered thing you can do is to preach the whole Bible fearlessly. Don’t let the false peace of gospel-onlyism rob you of your prophetic voice.

The Reformed and biblical heritage calls us to preach Christ, disciple nations, and proclaim forgiveness of sin and obedience of faith. We are called not merely to make converts, but to make disciples who obey all that Christ has commanded (Matt. 28:19–20).

In an age of confusion and cowardice, the church does not need more “relevant” pastors where certain sects of people feel comfortable enough to sit around for a few weeks. It needs faithful shepherds who will preach and lead us to herald all of Scripture in all of life. Christ & His truth are the only things that will heal, bless, and guide families, churches, institutions, and governments.

As Colossians 1:17 says, “for in Him, all things hold together.” And “all things” includes not just our salvation, but our society.