The questions we ask determine what we see. As Christians, we often ask what the gospel is as we look to understand the nature of faith and God’s grace. In this course, Matthew Bates instead asks “Why the gospel?” This question gets at God’s heart. It speaks to God’s motivations. Why the gospel? wonders about God’s ultimate plan and explores how the gospel fits into all that God is trying to do through his creation project and his saving work.

Matthew W. Bates (PhD, University of Notre Dame) is a professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary. He is the author of Gospel Allegiance, Salvation by Allegiance Alone, and Why the Gospel?, which won a 2024 Christianity Today Book Award and was named the 2024 Resource of the Year by Outreach magazine. Bates also cofounded and cohosts the popular Bible and theology podcast OnScript.