What do you think?
Rate this book
The Fourfold Gospel: Jesus as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer and Coming King
Albert Benjamin Simpson (1843-1919) was a preacher, theologian, author, and founder of The Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), an evangelical protestant denomination with an emphasis on global evangelism. Simpson was a most effective communicator of the Word of God, and his preaching brought great blessing and converts wherever he served.
The Fourfold Gospel is A.B. Simpson's enduring classic that plainly yet profoundly explains and proclaims the four folds that unify the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Savior, Christ the Sanctifier, Christ the Healer, and Christ the Coming King.
In an article written in 1891, entitled “Fourfold Unity,” Simpson compared the four folds to a chorus that would be inharmonious with only one voice, or two, or even three. Only when all four parts—alto, tenor, soprano, and bass—are present is there true harmony. “...this imperfect figure,” he said, “enables us to understand how, in the Fourfold Gospel, we have the elements of a Christian unity which no other fellowship could give.”
The Fourfold Gospel is sublime in its ideal of Christian living, for it presents the highest life possible for redeemed men and women. It proclaims a Christ life that is a reproduction of Christ Himself, a miniature and living epistle of the Son of Man. The practical results that develop from such a life are just as high and glorious.
The Fourfold Gospel is A.B. Simpson's enduring classic that plainly yet profoundly explains and proclaims the four folds that unify the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Savior, Christ the Sanctifier, Christ the Healer, and Christ the Coming King.
In an article written in 1891, entitled “Fourfold Unity,” Simpson compared the four folds to a chorus that would be inharmonious with only one voice, or two, or even three. Only when all four parts—alto, tenor, soprano, and bass—are present is there true harmony. “...this imperfect figure,” he said, “enables us to understand how, in the Fourfold Gospel, we have the elements of a Christian unity which no other fellowship could give.”
The Fourfold Gospel is sublime in its ideal of Christian living, for it presents the highest life possible for redeemed men and women. It proclaims a Christ life that is a reproduction of Christ Himself, a miniature and living epistle of the Son of Man. The practical results that develop from such a life are just as high and glorious.
356 pages, Paperback
First published October 28, 1981
46 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
About the author
A.B. Simpson
315 books40 followersAlbert Benjamin "A.B." Simpson (December 15, 1843 – October 29, 1919) was a Canadian preacher, theologian, author, and founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), an evangelical Protestant denomination with an emphasis on global evangelism.
Simpson was born in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, Canada as the third son and fourth child of James Simpson, Jr. and Janet Clark. Author Harold H. Simpson has gathered an extensive genealogy of Cavendish families in Cavendish: Its History, Its People. His research establishes the Clark family (A.B. Simpson's mother’s side) as one of the founding families of Cavendish in 1790, along with the Simpson family, and he traces common ancestors between Albert B. Simpson and Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables.
The young Albert was raised in a strict Calvinistic Scottish Presbyterian and Puritan tradition. His conversion of faith began under the ministry of Henry Grattan Guinness, a visiting evangelist from Ireland during the revival of 1859. Simpson spent some time in the Chatham, Ontario area, and received his theological training in Toronto at Knox College, University of Toronto. After graduating in 1865, Simpson was subsequently ordained in the Canada Presbyterian Church, the largest of the Presbyterian groups in Canada that merged after his departure for the United States. At age 21, he accepted a call to the large Knox Presbyterian Church (closed in 1971) in nearby Hamilton, Ontario.
In December 1873, at age 30, Simpson left Canada and assumed the pulpit of the largest Presbyterian church in Louisville, Kentucky, the Chestnut Street Presbyterian Church. It was in Louisville that he first conceived of preaching the gospel to the common man by building a simple tabernacle structure for that purpose. Despite his success at the Chestnut Street Church, Simpson was frustrated by their reluctance to embrace this burden for wider evangelistic endeavor.
In 1880, Simpson was called to the Thirteenth Street Presbyterian Church in New York City where he immediately began reaching out to the world with the gospel. Beside active evangelistic work in the church, he published a missionary journal, The Gospel in All Lands, the first missionary journal with pictures. Simpson also founded and began publishing an illustrated magazine entitled The Word, Work, and World. By 1911, this magazine became known as The Alliance Weekly, then Alliance Life, and is now called a.life. It is the official publication of The Christian and Missionary Alliance, in the USA and Canada.
By 1881, after only two fruitful years at Thirteenth Presbyterian, he resigned in order to begin an independent gospel ministry to the many new immigrants and the neglected masses of New York City. Simpson began informal training classes in 1882 in order to reach "the neglected peoples of the world with the neglected resources of the church". By 1883, a formal program was in place and ministers and missionaries were being trained in a multi-cultural context (This school was the beginning of Nyack College and Alliance Theological Seminary). In 1889, Simpson and his church family moved into their new home at the corner of 44th St. and 8th Av. called the New York Tabernacle. This became the base not only of his ministry of evangelism in the city but also of his growing work of worldwide missions.
Simpson was born in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, Canada as the third son and fourth child of James Simpson, Jr. and Janet Clark. Author Harold H. Simpson has gathered an extensive genealogy of Cavendish families in Cavendish: Its History, Its People. His research establishes the Clark family (A.B. Simpson's mother’s side) as one of the founding families of Cavendish in 1790, along with the Simpson family, and he traces common ancestors between Albert B. Simpson and Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables.
The young Albert was raised in a strict Calvinistic Scottish Presbyterian and Puritan tradition. His conversion of faith began under the ministry of Henry Grattan Guinness, a visiting evangelist from Ireland during the revival of 1859. Simpson spent some time in the Chatham, Ontario area, and received his theological training in Toronto at Knox College, University of Toronto. After graduating in 1865, Simpson was subsequently ordained in the Canada Presbyterian Church, the largest of the Presbyterian groups in Canada that merged after his departure for the United States. At age 21, he accepted a call to the large Knox Presbyterian Church (closed in 1971) in nearby Hamilton, Ontario.
In December 1873, at age 30, Simpson left Canada and assumed the pulpit of the largest Presbyterian church in Louisville, Kentucky, the Chestnut Street Presbyterian Church. It was in Louisville that he first conceived of preaching the gospel to the common man by building a simple tabernacle structure for that purpose. Despite his success at the Chestnut Street Church, Simpson was frustrated by their reluctance to embrace this burden for wider evangelistic endeavor.
In 1880, Simpson was called to the Thirteenth Street Presbyterian Church in New York City where he immediately began reaching out to the world with the gospel. Beside active evangelistic work in the church, he published a missionary journal, The Gospel in All Lands, the first missionary journal with pictures. Simpson also founded and began publishing an illustrated magazine entitled The Word, Work, and World. By 1911, this magazine became known as The Alliance Weekly, then Alliance Life, and is now called a.life. It is the official publication of The Christian and Missionary Alliance, in the USA and Canada.
By 1881, after only two fruitful years at Thirteenth Presbyterian, he resigned in order to begin an independent gospel ministry to the many new immigrants and the neglected masses of New York City. Simpson began informal training classes in 1882 in order to reach "the neglected peoples of the world with the neglected resources of the church". By 1883, a formal program was in place and ministers and missionaries were being trained in a multi-cultural context (This school was the beginning of Nyack College and Alliance Theological Seminary). In 1889, Simpson and his church family moved into their new home at the corner of 44th St. and 8th Av. called the New York Tabernacle. This became the base not only of his ministry of evangelism in the city but also of his growing work of worldwide missions.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 31, 2010
This is a great book on both the person who founded the Christian Missionary Alliance and what he believed. The book begins with a short biography of his life. A. W. Tozer has also written a short book on A. B. Simpson's life called Wingspread.
His biography is followed by his "Fourfold Gospel." It is a confusing slogan for those uninitiated, but it basically refers to his belief that the Gospel has 4 major components to it and that to preach the Gospel fully, one will include the 4 components. They are...
Christ our Savior - This part obviously takes prominence.
Christ our Sanctifier - This part is interesting in that he speaks of a "crisis" moment of being filled by the spirit. It is not to be understood in a Pentecostal way, however. I'm not completely convinced of that part of his theology, but thinking it over.
Christ our Healer - This part is very interesting and challenging. I'm still doing some thinking on that section too, but I largely agree with what he presents
Christ our Coming King - This part follows pre-millenial, dispensational theology. The eschatology here is a bit weak, so you'd want to complement it seriously with a more robust theology book on the topic. My views in this area are potentially changing due to my current studies, so I'm very much in flux on this. What he presents is clear, simple, and tracks with the theology he appeals to.
I have no real qualms about any of the theology that he elucidates in the book, and it is sort of a short "systematic theology" on those areas listed above. The only critique I have is that Simpson is sometimes a bit wordy and can be too subjective at times. I gave it 3 stars because "I liked it."
His biography is followed by his "Fourfold Gospel." It is a confusing slogan for those uninitiated, but it basically refers to his belief that the Gospel has 4 major components to it and that to preach the Gospel fully, one will include the 4 components. They are...
Christ our Savior - This part obviously takes prominence.
Christ our Sanctifier - This part is interesting in that he speaks of a "crisis" moment of being filled by the spirit. It is not to be understood in a Pentecostal way, however. I'm not completely convinced of that part of his theology, but thinking it over.
Christ our Healer - This part is very interesting and challenging. I'm still doing some thinking on that section too, but I largely agree with what he presents
Christ our Coming King - This part follows pre-millenial, dispensational theology. The eschatology here is a bit weak, so you'd want to complement it seriously with a more robust theology book on the topic. My views in this area are potentially changing due to my current studies, so I'm very much in flux on this. What he presents is clear, simple, and tracks with the theology he appeals to.
I have no real qualms about any of the theology that he elucidates in the book, and it is sort of a short "systematic theology" on those areas listed above. The only critique I have is that Simpson is sometimes a bit wordy and can be too subjective at times. I gave it 3 stars because "I liked it."
January 4, 2024
AB Simpson was hyped on Jesus.
Several things that will leave you cringing, like how he spoke about missions and the colonial impulses that undergirded his work.
But several things will leave you inspired and loving Jesus more.
Several things that will leave you cringing, like how he spoke about missions and the colonial impulses that undergirded his work.
But several things will leave you inspired and loving Jesus more.
January 21, 2019
It was dens and the first four chapters read more like a vision document of a church. With big statements, with barely any argumentation. But the last two chapters read differently with great examples to make his staments understandebel and bible verses to back up his points.
November 10, 2022
“Sanctification is not your own work; it is not a gradual attainment which you can grow into by your own efforts … It is an obtainment, not an attainment. You cannot sanctify yourselves. The only thing to do is to give yourself wholly to God, a voluntary sacrifice.”
This was an excellent book on the Gospel and understanding the Christian life. It is also one of the most important texts for the Christian Missionary Alliance denomination. With that said, Simpson did an excellent job presenting the Gospel clearly and then elaborating on what the Christian life looks like after you are saved (I.e. “Sanctification“). While the Gospel presentation was great, his explanation of Sanctification was my favorite part of the book. It reminded me of authors like Watchman Nee, A.W. Tozer, Miles Stanford, T. Austin Sparks, and so on. There was very much an emphasis on Christian growth being produced as we understand God and who we are in Christ. It is not our own works, but understanding God’s Word and then applying that to our life experientially. There was also an important emphasis on understanding our identity in Christ which I find missing and underemphasized in many of today’s theology texts. The last two parts of the book focused on healing and the end times. I was very curious on his view of healing in the church as this was is such an important part of the CMA doctrine. His views on healing being a major part of the church were very interesting and challenging. I honestly found myself agreeing with more of it than I thought I would. I definitely plan to look more into Simpson’s view on this as well as other CMA authors. Lastly, Simpson presented his views on the end times and while I may not fully agree with it, you can hear his urgency to have Christ preached to all of the nations. This passion for missions is certainly seen in the CMA today and I found his writing on it to be very convicting. So, with that said, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and enjoyed the unique mixture of Baptist, Charismatic, and Keswick theology presented in here. You can see this influence in the CMA today. Highly recommend this book and look forward to reading more of A. B. Simpson.
This was an excellent book on the Gospel and understanding the Christian life. It is also one of the most important texts for the Christian Missionary Alliance denomination. With that said, Simpson did an excellent job presenting the Gospel clearly and then elaborating on what the Christian life looks like after you are saved (I.e. “Sanctification“). While the Gospel presentation was great, his explanation of Sanctification was my favorite part of the book. It reminded me of authors like Watchman Nee, A.W. Tozer, Miles Stanford, T. Austin Sparks, and so on. There was very much an emphasis on Christian growth being produced as we understand God and who we are in Christ. It is not our own works, but understanding God’s Word and then applying that to our life experientially. There was also an important emphasis on understanding our identity in Christ which I find missing and underemphasized in many of today’s theology texts. The last two parts of the book focused on healing and the end times. I was very curious on his view of healing in the church as this was is such an important part of the CMA doctrine. His views on healing being a major part of the church were very interesting and challenging. I honestly found myself agreeing with more of it than I thought I would. I definitely plan to look more into Simpson’s view on this as well as other CMA authors. Lastly, Simpson presented his views on the end times and while I may not fully agree with it, you can hear his urgency to have Christ preached to all of the nations. This passion for missions is certainly seen in the CMA today and I found his writing on it to be very convicting. So, with that said, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and enjoyed the unique mixture of Baptist, Charismatic, and Keswick theology presented in here. You can see this influence in the CMA today. Highly recommend this book and look forward to reading more of A. B. Simpson.
October 7, 2024
Phenomenal.
September 29, 2025
The book overall is alright nothing that’s unique and not said today. There is a small section where the author makes a bad Greek analogy that’s anachronistic.
February 27, 2021
This is one of the only books that I find myself returning to. In the spirit of full disclosure, I do think that Simpson can be subjective at times, and I don’t always agree with his opinions, but his Christology is immaculate.
This is only a brief snippet of the depths of Christology found in the works of Simpson. I would encourage everyone to read this as an introduction to Simpson’s theology. But don’t stop there. Continue on to titles such as Christ in the Tabernacle, the Christ of the Forty Days, the Coming One, and his Christ in the Bible commentaries.
This is only a brief snippet of the depths of Christology found in the works of Simpson. I would encourage everyone to read this as an introduction to Simpson’s theology. But don’t stop there. Continue on to titles such as Christ in the Tabernacle, the Christ of the Forty Days, the Coming One, and his Christ in the Bible commentaries.
January 28, 2021
Great book! Especially the last chapters! Great insights! Loved it!
May 25, 2012
Founder of the C&MA gives the Doctrinal Distinctives of the C&MA
This is the heart and core of the what The Christian and Missionary Alliance was founded upon doctrinally.
Jesus Christ as Savior - Salvation alone through Jesus Christ and his atoning work upon the cross.
Jesus Christ as Sanctifier - Sanctification as both a crisis and a process through a subsequent post-salvation experience of giving ones life completely over to Christ.
Jesus Christ as Healer - Physical Healing found within the atonement and available for the child of God to access today.
Jesus Christ as Coming King - A visible, imminent return of Christ, tied into the completion of His Great Commission.
Simpson saw his faith as a chariot riding upon these 4 wheels with equal importance to the body of Christ.
Today's Alliance has seen 2 of these wheels diminish in size to where the Chariot wobbles quite a lot. Healing and Sanctification have diminished since the exodus of the early 20th century of many from the Alliance into the Assemblies of God. There has been a recoil within the Alliance from that which smacks too much of the Charismatic and with that, much of that initial balance and fervor that fueled the movement has become tepid.
Missions itself as a focus and emphasis remains and indeed that more than anything else holds the movement together. The growth overseas is strong. The growth at home is primarily in the intercultural churches. The home organization has sought for growth principals in the Fuller Church Growth Movement.
Perhaps Simpson still has something to say to the C&MA. This is a good place to start!
This is the heart and core of the what The Christian and Missionary Alliance was founded upon doctrinally.
Jesus Christ as Savior - Salvation alone through Jesus Christ and his atoning work upon the cross.
Jesus Christ as Sanctifier - Sanctification as both a crisis and a process through a subsequent post-salvation experience of giving ones life completely over to Christ.
Jesus Christ as Healer - Physical Healing found within the atonement and available for the child of God to access today.
Jesus Christ as Coming King - A visible, imminent return of Christ, tied into the completion of His Great Commission.
Simpson saw his faith as a chariot riding upon these 4 wheels with equal importance to the body of Christ.
Today's Alliance has seen 2 of these wheels diminish in size to where the Chariot wobbles quite a lot. Healing and Sanctification have diminished since the exodus of the early 20th century of many from the Alliance into the Assemblies of God. There has been a recoil within the Alliance from that which smacks too much of the Charismatic and with that, much of that initial balance and fervor that fueled the movement has become tepid.
Missions itself as a focus and emphasis remains and indeed that more than anything else holds the movement together. The growth overseas is strong. The growth at home is primarily in the intercultural churches. The home organization has sought for growth principals in the Fuller Church Growth Movement.
Perhaps Simpson still has something to say to the C&MA. This is a good place to start!
June 1, 2015
This was a great introduction to Simpson and Christian and Mission Alliance (C&MA) theology.
I enjoyed this short read but took my time in reading it, and taking notes. It is dense with concepts that are easy to glaze over and read too quickly. Concepts I don't completely understand and I too often take for granted.
I was intrigued by how emotional/sensational and yet firm/ stable he came across in his understanding of Christ in the 4 different roles.
I think my favorite revelation from reading this book was his views on pre-milennial and rapture order.
It is a foundational read for any Christ follower.
I enjoyed this short read but took my time in reading it, and taking notes. It is dense with concepts that are easy to glaze over and read too quickly. Concepts I don't completely understand and I too often take for granted.
I was intrigued by how emotional/sensational and yet firm/ stable he came across in his understanding of Christ in the 4 different roles.
I think my favorite revelation from reading this book was his views on pre-milennial and rapture order.
It is a foundational read for any Christ follower.
August 2, 2008
Great meat...maybe a little choppy to read. Simpson offers what was revealed to him as the fourfold Gospel: Christ as our Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King. After he enumerates the significant issues for each of these, he then offers a chapter on our practical "walk" with God and ends with how He "keeps" us. Great foundational work!
April 25, 2023
The distinctives of the C&MA denomination, and a fine, classical presentation of these by their founder, A. B. SImpson. The one negative was the sometimes very dated illustrations: The positive use of British colonial military power as a metaphor for that of God would, I trust, have been replaced with something more appropriate had Simpson been writing today.
November 11, 2010
Read for my class, Alliance History & Thought.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews