Christ at the Center
Michael Horton says we need to once again let our lives and churches be driven by the gospel. Interview by Mark Galli Despite the title of one of his recent books, Michael Horton doesn't believe the American church embodies Christless Christianity. But he is convinced that we are sorely tempted by it. So he has written two books—Christless Christianity and The Gospel-Driven Life (both with Baker Books)—to outline the problem and articulate the solution.
Horton is a professor of systematic theology and apologetics at Westminster Seminary in Escondido, California, and the author of many books (as well as the ghost writer for John Calvin's Christianity Today column this year). CT senior managing editor Mark Galli recently spoke with Horton about the concerns raised in his latest books.
What is at the core of the temptation to practice a Christless Christianity?
When the emphasis becomes human-centered rather than God-centered. In more conservative contexts, you hear it as exhortation: "These are God's commandments. The culture is slipping away from us. We have to recover it, and you play a role. Is your life matching up to what God calls us to?" Of course there is a place for that, but it seems to be the dominant emphasis.
Then there is the therapeutic approach: "You can be happier if you follow God's principles." All of this is said with a smile, but it's still imperative. It's still about techniques and principles for you to follow in order to have your best life now.
In both cases, it's law rather than gospel. I don't even know when I walk into a church that says it's Bible-believing that I'm actually going to hear an exposition of Scripture with Christ at the center, or whether I'm going to hear about how I should "dare to be a Daniel." The question is not whether we have imperatives in Scripture. The question is whether the imperatives are all we are getting, because people assume we already know the gospel—and we don't.
But aren't many churches doing good preaching about how to improve your marriage, transform your life, and serve the poor?
The question is whether this is the Good News. There is nothing wrong with law, but law isn't gospel. The gospel isn't "Follow Jesus' example" or "Transform your life" or "How to raise good children." The gospel is: Jesus Christ came to save sinners—even bad parents, even lousy followers of Jesus, which we all are on our best days. All of the emphasis falls on "What would Jesus do?" rather than "What has Jesus done?"
Why is this such a temptation for the church?
It's our default setting. No one has to be taught to trust in themselves. No one has to be taught that what you experience inside yourself is more authoritative than what comes to you externally, even if it comes from God. Since the Fall, it has been part of our character to look within ourselves. And it is part of our inherent Pelagianism to think we can save ourselves by following the right instructions.
In such a therapeutic, pragmatic, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps society as ours, the message of God having to do all the work in saving us comes as an offensive shot at our egos. In this culture, religion is all about being good, about the horizontal, about loving God and neighbor. All of that is the fruit of the gospel. The gospel has nothing to do with what I do. The gospel is entirely a message about what someone else has done not only for me but also for the renewal of the whole creation.
Is this a new challenge?
Of course it's perennial. That's why Paul said that the gospel is foolishness to Greeks, and most of us in the church are Greeks. But today we have a new situation. We are facing a bewildering diversity of opposition to Christianity that is increasingly explicit—at the same time that not only people in the pews but also pastors and theologians seem the least capable of articulating the Christian faith, much less of offering persuasive arguments for it.
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Not Reformed
I don't care what Michael Horton says, he is just rehearsing luke-warm Reformed theology in his books and in this interview. The definition of the term gospel, the not-so-subtle monergism, the contempt and willful misunderstanding of a therapeutic model (which Augustine and Wesley held by the way!), all are no more than Reformed gobbledygook. It's thinly veiled. The message is always the same with TRs (Truly Reformed) like Horton, and that is, unless your Reformed you really don't believe the gospel. I must confess that I am tired of his ilk. And I am even more tired of folks like Horton and David Wells presuming to speak for the entire Evangelical world. I would prefer that they simply return to their small conversative Reformed camp and fight their own battles like theonomy or something like that.
Stephen VCOM
I like the part at the end of the interview about Mary and Martha. I spent this last summer in Kenya and they are a much more relational culture than the U.S. They often sit around and talk and fellowship for an hour or more before they start on a project or a meeting. They get things done, but rarely do you find them in a hurry. I think that as Americans we tend to want to skip to the "exciting" part and know what we can "do" when often God just wants us to be still and know that he is God. I think the gospel and a purpose (good works) are important in that order. As far as the Jews making God their savior, no, they couldn't "make" him their Savior, but I think they could accept or reject him. They rejected him time after time and finally when they saw how bad their life was without God they called out to him and he rescued them. Now, did they "desire" to reject/accept him or did God give them those desires? That's an Arminianism/Calvinist question we could debate all day long.
Chuck
Great respect for Michael Horton and great interview. My only red flag regards his several seemingly back-handed swipes at spiritual disciplines. IMO there is a need for discipline, the disciplines, in helping us to focus our attention upon following "the commands of God's law" after we have received the gospel. Paul spoke of the necessity of discipline of the body and mind. Yes, it can deteriorate into an end in itself, but handled rightly can be a wonderful tool to promote obedience. These practices are too old and have too long a history in the church to be ignored. Lets use them with humility and wisdom.
Salero21
Why is so important to understand that True Marriage, is as the First one. One Man & One Woman? For several reasons among them; it was God's idea to begin with. No other suitable help or companion was found for Adam. Marriage is used by Christ himself as an analogy of His relationship with the Church. In that analogy He [Christ], is the Bridegroom while the Church is the Bride. John in Revelation is shown further to the point that Christ is the Husband of the Bride. So all of these Evil attacks on the first and most basic of Human relationships comes from no less than the pits of Hell. But these assaults to the Minds of people to pervert and corrupt this most simple and basice concept, is not limited to the realm of Politics. It has been happening even in the Church. Why clearly instructed both Timothy and Titus that the Leaders of the Church were to be the Husband of One Wife. In other words Men with more than one wife in those days were NOT to be leaders in the Church.
gchai
The Gospel is cross-centered as indicated in Luke 24:25-27: "He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter His glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself" 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 "Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of *first importance* what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures" 1 Corinthians 15:14-20: "And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and...your faith is futile and you are still in your sins"