Last week, there was an uproar on social media involving an article published at The Gospel Coalition that described Jesus’s relationship with the Church in a graphically detailed comparison to how a man embraces and ejaculates into his wife.

“Christ gives himself to his beloved with extravagant generosity,” Joshua Butler, the author of Beautiful Union wrote after describing a sexual intercourse scene between a man and a woman, “showering his love upon us and imparting his very presence within us. 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.” Butler called this a “picture of the gospel.”

After the article was published, The Gospel Coalition was pummelled by both conservatives and progressives, demonstrating the extreme inappropriateness of such a graphic depiction that far exceeded anything that could be derived from Scripture. It was blasphemous, to say the least.

Thankfully, the article was removed—and several high-profile endorsers of Butler’s upcoming book which the article was excerpted from were withdrawn.

Joshua Butler was not only a contributor at The Gospel Coalition but a research fellow at The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. In an effort to save face, The Gospel Coalition and The Keller Center decided to sacrifice Josh Butler. At the link where Butler’s article once stood at The Gospel Coalition now reads a somber notice of Butler’s cancellation, thanking readers for their “patience” as they “took the time” to “listen to their critics”—something they’ve never done before until it apparently hit their wallet.

“Earlier this week,” reads the notice, “we accepted Josh’s resignation as a Keller Center fellow. He will no longer lead an online cohort with the center nor speak at TGC23. While he will no longer participate in these events, Josh remains a beloved brother and friend whom we respect and care deeply about.”

“To our fellows and our readers, please forgive us,” it said. “The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics is a new effort by TGC, and we are still learning how to work with our directors and our fellows to produce content that will serve our readers in a way that is trusted and wise.”

The issue with The Gospel Coalition isn’t that it published a single blasphemous article that was overlooked by the editorial staff. The problem is that this is the culture at The Gospel Coalition and the senior editorial staff at The Gospel Coalition not only knew full well what was written in that article but fully endorsed that book. Senior editor, Brett McCracken wrote of Butler’s book:

Being that McCracken not only endorses this book but also regularly encourages readers at The Gospel Coalition to indulge in television shows and movies that promote ungodly things, including homosexual sex, it should be obvious that the issues at this organization are much deeper than a single bad article.