LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
READING REFLECTIONS OF
GREGORY FAULLS’ FROM DUST TO DESTINY
AND
GREG GILBERT’S WHAT IS THE GOSPEL
Submitted to Dr. Gregory Faulls, in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the completion of the course,
EVAN 500
Spiritual Factors of Growing Churches
by
Kristopher Williams
SCORE 50/50
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES…………………………………………………………….…...1
God is a Gentleman: The Human Ability to Choose Otherwise………………………..…1
The Heart of the Gospel…………….……………………………………………………..1
Responding to Jesus……………………………………………………………………….2
Works of Mercy in the World……………………………….…………………………….2
APPLICATIONS………………………………………………………………………………….3
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………………4
ii
Faulls, Gregory. From Dust to Destiny. Prevailinglife.com, 2014.
Gilbert, Greg. What is the Gospel. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010.
CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES
God is a Gentleman: The Human Ability to Choose Otherwise
In his What is the Gospel, Greg Gilbert focuses on God’s ultimate creator rights over
humans when he points out that “Because he created us, God has the right to tell us how to
live.”1 Gilbert stresses that God, in his omnipotent and omniscient role as creator, enshrined
certain laws for humans that would “preserve and increase their happiness and well-being.”2 In
his From Dust to Destiny, Gregory Faulls notes God’s respect for each human when he points out
that “If I am to have the capacity to authentically love God, I must possess the possibility of not
loving God. That is exactly what God gave man. He gave humanity the choice to reject him and
his ways.”3 While God, as Creator, has the right to demand conformity and adherence to his
standards, forcefully requiring humans acquiesce to these demands does not demonstrate love on
his part. God has power but permits humans to have free-will, to their advantage or detriment.
The Heart of the Gospel
Sin separates humanity from God. Gilbert sees sin as the deliberate act where our first
parents, and us by extension, “were rejecting God’s authority over them and declaring their
independence from him.”4 Sin is then seen to be treason against God, rather than simple errors
made in ignorance, and it deserves appropriate punishment. The only punishment that can
satisfy the crime is permanent separation from God. Christ’s substitutionary atonement is the
greatest news possible since his willing sacrifice “made it possible for us to have our sins
1 Greg Gilbert, What is the Gospel (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 41.
2 Ibid., 41.
3 Gregory Faulls, From Dust to Destiny (Prevailinglife.com, 2014), 18.
4 Gilbert, What is the Gospel, 48.
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covered and our relationship with God restored. He being sinless had the power and authority to
pay sin’s debt for all of us.”5 Paradoxically, the good news that there is a way to atone for sins
ends up being a stumbling block, a fact that Gilbert notes when he points out that the “doctrine of
substitution is probably the one part of the Christian gospel that the world hates most.6
Responding to Jesus
In line with his earlier statements recognizing that humans can reject God’s love, Faulls
notes that the salvific effects of Christ’s death and resurrection can also be rejected since “He
does not force his grace on you. You must receive him.”7 Gilbert clarifies that the reception of
Jesus mentioned by Faulls is the “rock-solid, truth-grounded, promise-founded trust in the risen
Jesus to save you from sin.”8 Rather than continuing to implicitly reject God and maintain
independence, turning to Jesus means that we rely on him as a substitute to achieve verdict of
not-guilty.
Works of Mercy in the World
Gilbert correctly notes that “There are many good things that we can do as Christians, but
the fact is that most of those good things will happily be done also by people who are not
Christians.”9 Care for other humans is not necessarily a Christian action. Christians may
outwardly demonstrate the outward actions of the message preached by Jesus, but these actions
are not replacements for the entire Gospel message itself.
5 Faulls, From Dust to Destiny, 34.
6 Gilbert, What is the Gospel, 68.
7 Faulls, From Dust to Destiny, 36. Emphasis mine.
8 Gilbert, What is the Gospel, 74.
9 Ibid., 118. Emphasis mine.
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APPLICATIONS
God is, indeed, a gentleman who respects humans enough to reach out to them and permit
them to slap his hand away and reject him to their own detriment. If humans do not have the
ability to choose otherwise, then they are compelled to adhere to a circumstance. Forced love is
not love; God is not a cosmic rapist. In line with God’s justice and the recognition of human free
will, we see that the responsibility to accept God’s freely given gift of salvation lies with
humans, but the power to effect that salvation is not with humans. These facts bridge the gaps
between evangelism and apologetics by providing palpable answers to often asked questions.
Gilbert correctly notes the phenomenon most Christians have discovered: “The message
of the cross is going to sound like nonsense to the people around us.”10 The major reason for this
is the fact, alluded to earlier, that humans have declared their independence from God but still
recognize an inherent “God-sized hole” in themselves that requires attention. The fact that
“people have been trying to save themselves in ways that make sense to them, rather than
listening and submitting to God,”11 offers an explanation as to why the Cross seems to be folly.
Continued independence clouds judgement and prevents recognition that a mortal creature is
completely incapable of saving itself.
Responding to Jesus’ freely offered gift of salvation through repentance and acceptance
of reality is both too easy and too hard. Because of the simplicity involved, it can be rejected by
those reliant on themselves. It can also be extremely difficult since new standards of behavior
become requisite upon the believer. Outward actions can and should be seen by non-believers.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
10 Gilbert, What is the Gospel, 109.
11 Ibid., 101.
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