1) John MacArthur and the Puritans. I agree that some of MacArthur’s material on the subject of faith and obedience has been confused. The problem is that America is so awash in easy-believism that people like MacArthur (and others) who take the church’s call to holiness seriously get frustrated, and fall back on the “quick and easy path” to instil holiness… preach the Law. Of course, the problem is that doesn’t work in all cases. Striking a balance between Gospel and Law (as Luther pointed out) is a touchy thing, and probably best done on a personal/pastoral, or at most congregational, level. Aim much higher than that and you really start confusing the wheat and the tares. And going to the Puritans in this matter will *not* help, as their confusion of the Mosaic Covenant with the New Covenant leaves them open to all kinds of pitfalls in this regard.

2) Where is the Kingdom? The real Achilles heel of all earthly kingdom models is that they have to, by definition, downplay the impact of depravity on human nature. There’s a reason God kicked Adam and Eve out of His earthly kingdom, a reason Israel failed time and time again, a reason *every* civilization falls sooner or later – and that reason is human depravity. A holy kingdom cannot stand with unholy citizens. Thus… “My Kingdom is not of this earth.” Until the people of God (and the earth) are finally totally recreated into perfection, there will be no Kingdom on earth, in a political sense. Islam (since it denies total depravity) has some excuse for not seeing this. The Jews certainly have less. And postmillenialists and Theonomists have none.

3) Re: the postmodernist book. There is a much-underutilized resource in the Christian tradition that goes a long way towards debunking both the skepticism of the postmodernists and the hyperrationality of the modernists. Pascal’s *Pensees*. Combine them with Peter Kreeft’s commentary *Christianity for Modern Pagans* (weeding out the bits of Catholic dogmatizing he throws in occasionally), and you have quite a read, and food for thought.

As for the Puritans, the Third Wave revivalists (Toronto, Brownsville,etc.) constantly claim Jonathan Edwards as their “spiritual” ancestor. The laughable part is (if it wasn’t so tragic) Edwards preached a pretty Reformed message.
The Third Wavers are so far from that it is pathetic. Edwards preached Christ. I cannot remember the last time I even heard Christ’s name mentioned among the Third Waver Charismatics.

The neo-Puritan resurgence among evangelicals is as disconcerting now as it was 20-30 years ago. As in all our readings, we need to engage the Puritans with critical assessment. We may learn much through the Puritans, but there are also many aspects about them that need to be tempered and qualified by Scripture. One is their tendency toward introspective faith that leads toward despair. Whenever faith turns inward it also looks away from Christ who is our only hope.

A Word of Clarification about Hard to Believe

One paragraph in Hard to Believe contains a glaring error that has the potential to mislead readers about the book’s whole intent. The problematic passage is the opening paragraph of chapter 6 (page 93), which seems to suggest that salvation is the fruit of godly living. The truth is exactly the opposite.

The error was inadvertently introduced into the manuscript in the late stages of the editorial process, when (in order to simplify the book) four chapters were deleted from the original manuscript and one of the remaining chapters was severely abridged. John MacArthur approved the abridgments.

Apparently, however, in an effort to make a new transition that would smooth over the deletions, an editor involved in the process made significant revisions to the opening of chapter 6. Unfortunately, that change was not submitted to John for approval. We believe the error was an oversight, and not anyone’s deliberate attempt to tamper with the book’s theology. The result, however, severely muddled the message of the book.

A revision has been sent to the publisher for future editions of the book. In all subsequent printings, here is how the opening paragraph of chapter six will read (revisions are in bold):

Don’t believe anyone who says it’s easy to become a Christian. Salvation for sinners cost God His own Son; it cost God’s Son His life, and it’ll cost you the same thing. Salvation isn’t gained by reciting mere words. Saving faith transforms the heart, and that in turn transforms behavior. Faith’s fruit is seen in actions, not intentions. There’s no room for passive spectators: words without actions are empty and futile. Remember that what John saw in his vision of judgment was a Book of Life, not a book of Words or Book of Intellectual Musings. The life we live, not the words we speak, reveals whether our faith is authentic.

Phil Johnson
Executive Director
Grace to You

Listen….the best route here is just to WRITE SOMETHING THAT DEFINITIVELY CLEARS THIS UP. It’s a pattern, and Dr. Mac surely knows that no one of us who have benefitted from his ministry will care at all if he says “I’ve needed to gain a better understanding of this subject.” He can be my pastor any day. I love the man, but it’s just what we all go through as we grow. I listen to my old sermons….ugh. It’s painful