A checklist for presenting your 5th gospel

As someone who’s done Christian apologetics for a long time, I’m accustomed to using a cumulative case approach with people that weaves together multiple independent philosophical, empirical, and historical arguments to show that Christianity is more probable than not. The idea isn’t that the presented claims are mathematically coercive or logically inescapable, but rather they’re more of a web of reinforcing probabilities where each one adds weight to the overall conclusion.

That’s great in theory, but the problem is that, today, we live in a post-truth culture where society thinks far more with its feelings than it does with its mind. Any emotive turn-off often blinds people to facts, no matter how persuasive they are.

And when it comes to turn-offs to Christianity, nothing’s bigger than you and me.

While the problem of evil is the number one cerebral issue skeptics will raise when it comes to trying to disprove the Christian faith, when you push past that, you’ll almost always find Christ rejectors don’t so much reject Him as us.

Research by the Barna Group not long ago revealed that only 30% of U.S. adults hold a positive perception of Evangelicals. Sadly, that’s not a typo or anything new.

Of course, some of those thumbs-downing Christians may not like the moral demands of the faith and transfer that to us, but there’s more to the story than just that.  

The atheist philosopher Frederick Nietzsche once stated, “I might believe in the Redeemer if His followers looked more redeemed.” Piling on, Gandhi said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” A Hindu man that a well-known apologist I know was witnessing to told him, “If this conversion you speak about is truly supernatural, then why is it not more evident in the lives of so many Christians that I know?”

Everyone seems to understand that a God who transforms should produce transformed lives in His followers. This is why many Christian teachers refer to our life and personal witness to the world as the “fifth Gospel” — the one that’s read far more than the other four.

The apostle Paul understood this. In his first letter to the Thessalonians, he describes how he brought the Gospel to them, finishing with his manner of living that reflected Christ: “Just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake” (1 Thessalonians 1:5). This is what apologists often refer to as “apologetics with a human touch” — a living exhibition that goes beyond our logical arguments.

That naturally leads to the question of, OK, fine, but what’s our fifth Gospel supposed to look like? By my count, I have five dimensions that come from the life of Paul that we should demonstrate.  

A changed life

Saul of Tarsus’s transformation into Paul the apostle remains his most striking historical witness. His shift from a violent persecutor to church planter knocked the socks off those who saw it: “Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name?” (Acts 9:21).

Paul frequently used his former life to highlight God's reality, first stating things such as “I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons” (Acts 22:4), and then describing how amazed people were at who he had become: “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.’ And they were glorifying God because of me” (Gal. 1:23–24).  

Of course, not all of us will have such a dramatic makeover as Paul, but there will be new affections and differences that will present in each of us. So, ask yourself: what’s your current Saul-to-Paul renovation look like to others?  

A humble life

Struck down on the Damascus road, Paul was instantly humbled. Commenting on Paul’s question to Jesus, “What shall I do, Lord?,” John Calvin wrote:

“This is the voice of a tamed man, and this is the true turning unto the Lord; when laying away all fierceness and fury, we bow down our necks willingly to bear his yoke ... As Paul was puffed up with Pharisaical pride, it was meet that he should be afflicted and thrown down, that he might hear Christ’s voice.”

What does this mean for us? Like Paul, we change into a “bond-servant of Christ Jesus” (Rom. 1:1, Titus 1:1), which means we lose our selfish pride and “become all things to all men, so that [we] may by all means save some” (1 Cor. 9:22).

An exemplary life

This is the dimension that convicts me the most.

Paul told the Corinthian church: “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). On the surface, that seems like a pretty bold and big-headed thing to say.  

But Paul’s calls to imitate him weren’t arrogant because he knew that Christ lived in him (Gal. 2:20) and that believers are to be “a fragrance of Christ” (2 Cor. 2:15) to others. You see Paul urging the Philippians to practice what they saw in him (Phil. 4:9), telling the Thessalonians to follow his lead so they could become models for believers across Greece (1 Thess. 1:7), and warning that ungodly conduct causes God's name to be blasphemed among unbelievers (Rom. 2:24).

So, given that, here's your next uncomfortable question: are you “so conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8:29) that you could tell people to follow your example right now?

A longsuffering life

If there’s one thing Paul makes clear in his letters, it’s that his life was no walk in the park.

Paul describes to the Corinthians how he was constantly on the receiving end of both natural and moral evil this way:

“Are they servants of Christ? — I speak as if insane — I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure” (2 Cor. 11:23–27).

All that was clear proof of what Jesus said about Paul when he was first converted: “I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:16).

But through it all, Paul kept his faith and endured whatever came his way, especially from his enemies: “When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate” (1 Cor. 4:12–13).

I certainly struggle in this area; how about you?  

A loving life

Above all, Paul was marked by love for God, the Church, and the lost. Knowing that “knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies” (1 Cor. 8:1), his care was evident throughout his ministry. He warned the Ephesians with tears for three years (Acts 20:31), called the Galatians his “little children” (Gal. 4:19), held the Philippians in his heart (Phil. 1:7), and abounded in love for the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 3:12).

If “God is love” (1 John 4:8), then it makes sense we should be too.

In the end

So, there you have it — a biblical checklist for showcasing your “5th gospel” to the world. Done right, there’s no possibility you won’t stand out in our world today as Paul did in his.

His lifestyle contrasted sharply with the ancient philosophies back then, which are still felt everywhere in our culture. Stoicism left people burdened under deterministic apathy, while Epicureanism ignored public welfare. By contrast, Christianity offered a close-knit community built on universal charity.

Historian Antonia Tripolitis notes that the Christian sense of community and active charity was a primary driver behind Christianity's eventual victory over competing worldviews. Now it’s up to us to keep that going and embody the principle you’ve no doubt heard before: “Preach the Gospel — if necessary, use words.”