07- Keller's Approach Contrasted with Scripture

Even making all due allowance for the passage of 2000
years, changes in cultural aspirations, and so on, since man is
the same as he has been since the Fall, and since the gospel
is unchangeable, the essence of what is preached must
likewise remain unchanged. Essential key words – scriptural
words and all their meanings – must not be lost; words such
as propitiation, wrath, sin, condemnation, justification,
repentance, faith, redemption, atonement, and the like. They
contain and convey the essence of the gospel. If they are lost,
all is lost. Moreover, we have to insist on the biblical
realities these words speak of.1 The crux of the problem is
not losing merely the vocabulary; the essence of the gospel is
intimately tied into the language.