May 26, 2010
John MacArthur vs. the Gospel
John MacArthur, of “Grace To You Ministries”, is a well-known and popular preacher, whose sermons can be heard on many “Christian” radio stations. He has also written many books, tracts, and articles, many of which are for sale at, or posted on, his website. He is a self-proclaimed Calvinist, and has written and preached in defense of the so-called “Five Points Of Calvinism“, including the doctrine of Limited, or effectual, atonement. And as I have already shown, effectual atonement is at the heart of the Gospel.
But MacArthur also holds to the doctrine of Common Grace, which teaches that God has a love for sinners, and blesses sinners apart from the effectual work of Jesus Christ:
Common grace is all that restrains the full expression of human sinfulness. God has graciously given us a conscience, which enables us to know the difference between right and wrong, and to some degree places moral constraints on evil behavior (Rom. 2:15). He sovereignly maintains order in human society through government (Rom. 13:1–5). He enables us to admire beauty and goodness (Ps. 50:2). He imparts numerous advantages, blessings, and tokens of His kindness on both the righteous and the unrighteous (Matt. 5:45). All of those things are the result of common grace, God’s goodness to mankind in general.
These things (a conscience, restraint of evil, law and order, beauty and goodness) are good things in and of themselves, but are they a “result of his kindness” and a “result of common grace”? Of course not. And to insist that they are is to say that God provides blessings that do not flow from the cross. This leads to some bizarre contradictions in one’s theology. Because, if the good things in this life (such as abundant food, good health, living in peaceful times, etc.) are proofs of God’s universal love for mankind, then what about those people who have no food, poor health, and live in times of war? That must be evidence of God’s curse and hatred for mankind, right?
MacArthur tries to avoid this obvious conclusion, but stumbles at it:
You say, “Well what about all the starving people in India?” The people in India aren’t starving because they don’t have food. They’re starving because they worship rats and cows that eat the food. It’s true in other nations where there are terrible famines. Those famines have nothing to do with whether the land has the ability to produce the food. It has to do with whether the people will work the land to produce the food, people who have been slaughtered and dispossessed of everything by revolutions, by conquerors of various sorts, including Communists who had come in the past and destroyed the livelihoods of people. There are lots of reasons for that but not because God hasn’t given us an earth full and rich of provision.
But this is totally inconsistent. God is in total control of the famines, revolutions, conquerors, and Communists. If MacArthur were consistent he would have to say that when God sent those plagues to third world countries, it was evidence of God’s common curse on mankind. Furthermore, in this sermon, MacArthur just got through telling us about Italy, and how good and how abundant the food is there. What, do you mean to tell me that noone in Italy worships idols? If God sent wars and famines to India as punishment for their idolatry, then why didn’t he send wars and famines to Italy as well? Was God blessing their idolatry?
Contrary to this nonsense, the Bible teaches that all the good things that God provides for people in this life are a blessing only to the elect (Rom 8:28-32). To the reprobate, they are only a curse (Psa 73:11-20, Pro 16:4-5, Jn 15:22). More importantly, the Bible teaches that all things God sends to his people, good and bad, are a blessing, a blessing that flows from the righteousness of Christ alone (Eph 1:3-6). Although MacArthur is very careful to say that Common Grace is not salvific, it is still true that an infinitely holy God cannot bless sinful man without the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. To insist that he can is to oppose the standard of absolute holiness that God reveals in the Gospel.
atonement
