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Christianity Today, January (Web-only), 2009 |

Theology in the News

Love Letters

Driscoll and Breshears explore the many-splendored atonement in Death By Love.

Review by Collin Hansen | posted 1/13/2009 08:07AM

Visiting Mars Hill Church in Seattle as a journalist can be a jarring experience. The writer expects to meet the Mark Driscoll whose confrontational style has made him a hero in some evangelical circles ...

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SJ Camp

Posted: January 15, 2009 12:00 PM


Reviews written by journalists on theological issues not produce this kind of shallow analysis. Think biblically Collin, not culturally nor pragmatically. This book maybe relational, but it certainly misses a Scriptural view of the atonement at several key points.

Ephrem Hagos

Posted: January 15, 2009 9:49 AM


"Death by Love" misses the diacritical mark of self-revelation in Jesus Christ's death on the cross. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ as known and preached powerfully by 1st Century Apostles without any apologetics!

Rich	Posted: January 14, 2009 11:20 PM


It seems an edit is necessary: "But it's Driscoll's letters that stand out. Death by God reminds us why God inspired epistles." Death By God? Wrong title. Understanable mistake of phrasing, but wrong title just the same.

Bart Byl

Posted: January 14, 2009 11:32 AM


Roger, the way I wrote my comment wasn't very clear. I'm in glad agreement with everything you wrote. I meant to say that even though Jesus' sacrifice took place over only a few hours, its benefits are more than enough to pay the price of our sins that deserve eternal hell.

MHC	Posted: January 14, 2009 1:38 AM


Uh, as we say in Malaysia, I am a bit "blur" about all the implications of the various understandings of the atonement (if that is what everyone is still calling it). No I am not a Malaysian, but rather an American doing his best, by God's grace, to help build His church. Can you suggest a good blog, or primer that will help me understand the issues?

Roger - Australia

Posted: January 13, 2009 10:33 PM

I'm afraid Bart Byl, you're wrong. The atonement for sin obtained by Christ on the cross was adequate to pay for the all of the sins of his people - past, present AND FUTURE (meaning into eternity). This atonement was a 'once and for all' act. There is nothing else that needs to be done in the future - it's all been done and achieved by Christ already. All that is needed then is for a person to accept that Jesus is Lord and Saviour.

Bart Byl

Posted: January 13, 2009 6:42 PM


Patrick asked, "Even when Jesus took the punishment for our sins, he did not pay the price over the span of an eternity, did he?" No, but since Jesus was a person of infinite worth, his sacrifice was valuable enough to pay for all our sin which we could never finish paying for ourselves.

Janet Pearce

Posted: January 13, 2009 3:44 PM


Patrick Gann asks, 'Are there sins so great that the only fitting punishment is eternal punishment? Yes Patrick there is one sin. The sin of rejecting God's gift of forgiveness through Jesus' death by love.

ketch22

Posted: January 13, 2009 2:47 PM

Hell isn't fire and brimstone... the Word shows that. You can't have eternal fire with darkness all around. The gnashing of teeth is a reference to what people did when they were in grief. Worms filled the outer sewages and is a description of a horrible place. Hell is the knowledge of God but the absence of His love. And it doesn't last for an eternity... it lasts until the final pit. Punishment is you get what you deserve... if you deny God in this life, you get the same in the next. And all this from a literal funde.

Patrick Gann

Posted: January 13, 2009 12:15 PM


I was really digging the paragraph about Justice, but then when Driscoll calls the concept of hell "beautiful," that's where he and I part ways. Are there sins so great that the only fitting punishment is eternal punishment? Even when Jesus took the punishment for our sins, he did not pay the price over the span of an eternity, did he?

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