Twice-Poisoned

Like Ligon, I am spending most of the week at the Pastor's Colloquium sponsored by The Gospel Coalition -- 40+ pastors from across the country who are committed to evangelical essentials and who gather once a year to encourage one another in ministry. 

One of today's highlights was Tim Keller's paper on "The Gospel and the Poor."  As a side comment, Dr. Keller made the following provocative comment: "The social gospel has poisoned the church twice."  The first time, of course, was when the social gospel was first introduced as a (theologically) liberal agenda that minimized the preaching of the gospel.  But the social gospel is poisoning us again, Keller argued, because today evangelicals are so concerned about falling into the error of the old social gospel that we do not put nearly the emphasis that the Bible places on caring for the poor.