THE Gospel Coalition and author and pastor Josh Butler have courted controversy over using explicit sexual language as a metaphor for salvation.
It all began rather innocently. On March 1, Butler wrote an article in The Keller Center titled ‘Sex Won’t Save You (But It Points to the One Who Will).
Sample the first few lines of the article.
“I used to look to sex for salvation. I wanted it to liberate me from loneliness; I wanted to find freedom in the arms of another. But the search failed. My college sweetheart dumped me. I found a rebound to feel better about myself—and hurt her in the process. I then fell head over heels for the “girl of my dreams” (at the time) and spent the next five years pining after this friend who didn’t feel the same.
“I wanted to feel wanted, yet I wound up alone.
“Our culture looks to sex for salvation too. We want romance to free us from solitary confinement, to deliver us into a welcome embrace…”
So far so good. However, Butler showed his true colors when he dropped what he called as the gospel bombshell when he said: “sex is an icon of salvation.”
To explain his point, Butler compared the Church to a woman who is ready to receive her ‘Christ’ who “arrives in salvation to be not only with his church but within his church.” And again, he wrote: “Christ penetrates his church with the generative seed of his Word and the life-giving presence of his Spirit, which takes root within her and grows to bring new life into the world.”
“She (the Church) receives his generous gift within her—the seed of his Word and presence of his Spirit—partnering with him to bring children of God into the world.”
Predictably, an uproar over the article began and TGC soon retracted the article. You can still read the original article here.
Pastor Rick Warren tweeted: “I’m glad TGC removed yesterday’s article that was both offensive and erroneous theology. But no apology?”
Author Kristin Du Mez called out TGC Senior Editor Brett McCracken for publishing Butler’s article and also calling Butler’s upcoming book a “magnum opus on sexual ethics.” She also criticized Multnomah for publishing the book. “(T)his is exactly what happens when you put a No Girls Allowed sign on your ‘gospel coalition,’” she tweeted.
Religion professor Dr. Anthony Bradley of The King’s College also commented. “TGC is doubling down on this instead of doing the right thing,” Bradley said in part. “Here’s where he’s *still* wrong: sex is not an icon of Christ & the church. That’s marriage.”
Although TGC removed the article a day later it did not explain why, in the first place, it decided to publish it. Its statement that it “lacked sufficient context to be helpful in this format” is deliberately confusing. It should have simply apologized for publishing it and come out strongly against Butler.
Meanwhile, Butler has resigned from TGC’s recently launched Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics where he was a fellow. He will not speak at the upcoming TGC23 Conference nor will he lead an online cohort covering the themes of his book, TGC clarified.
