MacArthur - The gospel according to the Apostles: the role of works in the life of faith

THE GOSPEL
ACCORDING TO THE
APOSTLES

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE APOSTLES

1993 and 2000 by John F.MacArthur, Jr.

All rights reserved.No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

All Scripture quotations in this book, except those noted otherwise, are from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, and 1977 by The Lockman Foundation, and are used by permission.

Quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version.

ISBN 978-0-7852-7180-2 (sc)

Printed in the United States of America

08 09 10 11 12 QW 8 7 6 5 4

To Lance Quinn
a Timothy to me in every sensewho fulfills
my goal by going beyond his teacher.

THE GRACE OF GOD HAS APPEARED, BRINGING SALVATION TO ALL MEN, INSTRUCTING US TO DENY UNGODLINESS AND WORLDLY DESIRES AND TO LIVE SENSIBLY, RIGHTEOUSLY AND GODLY IN THE PRESENT AGE, LOOKING FOR THE BLESSED HOPE AND THE APPEARING OF THE GLORY OF OUR GREAT GOD AND SAVIOR, CHRIST JESUS.

TITUS 2:1113

The Lord knows how much I owe (and every reader owes) to Phil Johnson for this book. He is my dear friend and the perfect complement to me in every aspect related to writing.He carefully, skillfully pulls my voice out of the air and transforms it into ink. I could not do it without him.

CONTENTS

Appendix 2:What Is Dispensationalism
and What Does It Have to Do
with Lordship Salvation?

T his is not a typical sequel. It is more of a prequel, a start-from-the-beginning approach to the subject it deals with. It fleshes out the framework of doctrine that was only hinted at in its predecessor, The Gospel According to Jesus. That book was an analysis of Jesus evangelistic ministry. It contrasted our Lords preaching, teaching, and private ministry with the methods of twentieth-century evangelicalism. This book deals with the apostles doctrine of salvation, showing that the gospel according to Jesus is also the gospel according to the apostles. Thus the entire New Testament message stands in stark contrast to the hollow gospel many are proclaiming today.

Perhaps you are thinking, No, thanks. Ill leave the doctrinal studies to professional theologians. Give me a good devotional book instead.

But please read on. This is not a technical study or an academic treatise. It is not a textbook for theologians. It is a message that has burned in my heart through all the years of my ministry. Far from being a dry dissertation, it is a passionate look at the most essential of all Christian truths. If salvation is important to you (what could possibly be more important?) you cannot afford to ignore the issues this book addresses. If you are inclined to think that a doctrinal book is the antithesis of a devotional book, I hope to change your mind.

I believe Christians today are starved for doctrinal content. Five years ago, when I was writing The Gospel According to Jesus, this issue came to the forefront of my thinking. Several publishers warned me that the book was too doctrinal to sell. The whole point of the book was to answer a doctrinal controversy that had festered beneath the surface of evangelicalism for years. I could not write the book without plunging into doctrine. When I finally completed the book, I had to admit it seemed rather like a textbook. It employed theological terminology you might encounter in a Bible college or seminary classroom, but is unfamiliar to many laymen. It was set in small type, heavily footnoted, and began with a critical appraisal of some dispensationalists soteriologynot the kind of reading the average layperson wants for daily devotions. In the end the book was published as an academic study, edited and marketed by the publishers textbook division.

Naturally I hoped the book would gain a broader audience, but I admit I was astonished when it became one of the most widely read Christian books of the 1980s. It was the first doctrinal book to become a best seller in years. It was obvious that The Gospel According to Jesus struck a chordor hit a nerve, depending on which side of the debate you stand.

Almost immediately after the book was published, I began to get letters from lay leaders asking for more on the subject. They wanted practical advice: How should we explain the gospel to children? What tracts are available that present the way of salvation fully and biblically? They wanted help understanding their own spiritual experiences: I came to Christ as a child and didnt surrender to Him as Lord until several years later. Does that invalidate my salvation? They wanted spiritual counsel: Ive been struggling with sin and lack of assurance for years. Can you help me understand genuine faith and how I can have it? They wanted clarification: What about Lot and the Corinthians who lived in disobedience? They were still redeemed people, werent they? They wanted simplified explanations: I dont easily understand theological terminology like dispensationalism and soteriology. Can you explain the lordship controversy to me in plain English?

This book is for those people. Its a simpler treatment, which is appropriate, because the gospel itself is simple. Moreover, I contend that the biblical issues at the heart of the lordship controversy are all very simple as well. It doesnt take an accomplished theologian to discern the sense of difficult passages like 1 John 2:34: By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, I have come to know Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

I am once again using endnotes, mostly to document the quotations a book like this requires. I have again included a section on dispensationalism, because I wanted to explain in more detail what it is and what bearing it has on the lordship controversy. Nevertheless, this is a book for every Christian. It is not meant to be an advanced study. Each key term is defined the first time I use it, and I have included a glossary. My goal has been to explain the issues so that even a newcomer to the faith can understand what Im talking about.

Unfortunately, the lordship controversy has become needlessly muddled by complex arguments couched in theological jargon. All of this tends to intimidate people who sincerely want to understand the issues. Many lay Christiansand some Christian leadershave concluded that the issues are too deep to fathom. Others have allowed themselves to be misled by oversimplified arguments or distracted by emotionally charged rhetoric, rather than thinking through the issues carefully for themselves. I hope this book will help provide an antidote to the confusion and garbled logic that have commandeered the lordship debate over the past half decade.

My purpose is not to answer critics. I have a drawer full of reviews of The Gospel According to Jesus.Most have been positive, and I appreciate the encouragement and affirmation. But I have also read very carefully all the negative reviews (and there have been many). I have studied them with an open heart, asked my staff and the faculty of The Masters Seminary to evaluate every criticism, and returned to Scripture to study prayerfully the biblical issues. The process has helped sharpen my thinking, and for that I am grateful. Some readers have noticed that later editions of the book have included some wording changes that clarify or refine what I was saying.