John MacArthur did some good things. There was something larger than life about his persona, and I heard him preach in Grace Church on a “normal Sunday” 12 or 13 years ago. However, amid all the accolades from others, one should remember 1988 – the year of the publication of The Gospel According to Jesus. Based on preaching through the Gospel of Matthew over the previous five years, this book’s attempt to link discipleship with the Gospel violates the doctrine of grace alone for anyone who is not a Calvinist. Calvinists can hold grace alone by believing that we are born again before we believe by sovereign regeneration, and thus one can say he has to believe and repent and stop from sinning because by grace he has already been born again. I believe that is faulty, though it does work somewhat. Contrary to MacArthur’s criticisms, I believe the decision to believe in Jesus is an act of repentance, without loading the term with the meaning of stopping sinning (however provisional or limited it may be). As Charles Ryrie suggested, it is not easy for anyone to believe in Jesus, whether the issue of giving up sin is included or not!
If you are reflecting on what a loss his departure is, and it is indeed a loss, I encourage you to gain a better understanding of the problems with Lordship Salvation. Furthermore, I suggest that a shift in thinking is necessary to avoid assuming that the solution to the worldliness of the church is to make getting saved harder (see other blog post Free Grace Theology and the Requirement of Holiness). Ernest Pickering, a leader among fundamental Baptists, authored a short and to-the-point criticism of MacArthur when the book came out. I suggest it is a safe place to start. The article is available at Lordship Salvation: An Examination of John MacArthur’s Book, The Gospel According to Jesus. I can guide you to classic writings that would avoid the excesses of some groups (such as the Grace Evangelical Society) while still maintaining a better perspective on this. Two other good online sources to start are True Grace Books and Grace Global Radio. Finally, Charles Ryrie’s classic So Great Salvation: What It Means to Believe in Jesus Christ is worthy of consideration. I believe there is a need to renew a discussion and debate about the real issues that matter on this subject.
I trust that his overstatement of the terms of how one can get saved was only misleading at best. But there is a real sense that this view could come dangerously close to a denial of sola fide, and that would be going in the direction of heresy at worst.
- I am glad that he continued to keep dispensational premillennialism and the pre-tribulation rapture in the discourse of evangelicalism to some degree.
- I am glad for his work for young-earth creationism.
- I am glad for his stance in defense of the church’s need to gather during COVID.
However, in my book, John MacArthur’s legacy is tainted by 1988 and all that flowed from that book in his subsequent preaching and theology. God will be the ultimate judge, and I trust that classic free-grace Christians will be reunited with him in heaven by their mutual reliance on Christ alone and no works of discipleship for salvation.
Biblical Worldview Musings 