Michael Horton — The Gospel Commission

I’m not writing a full review of this one.  I just wanted to make a few comments.  The central point of this book is to reconnect church and mission in the thinking and practice of Christians.  That’s laudable and very necessary!  And I think Horton succeeds in making his case.  The discussion of contextualization in chapter 4 was outstanding.  Horton notes how many Christians in other parts of the world “bristle at the suggestions, usually coming from Americans and Europeans, to develop a uniquely ‘African theology,’ ‘Brazilian theology,’ and so forth” (124).  Horton offers insightful critiques of both contemplative spirituality and the emergent movement.  There are a few places where some readers may put question marks:  natural law, two-kingdom thinking (with an appeal to Abraham Kuyper!), rejection of a Christian use of the imprecatory psalms, and so on.  Still, overall, I enjoyed this volume and I think it’s a helpful contribution to the development of Reformed thinking about the missionary task of the church.  Lately I’ve been thinking that many of Horton’s books start to sound the same.  That’s why I put off reading this one for so long.  The Gospel Commission one has some similar themes to previous volumes, but there is a lot that’s new here.  In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that this is one of the best Reformed books dealing with mission (not that there’s a lot to compare it to!).

Horton: Wright and Justification

I’ve been slowly making my way through Michael Horton’s massive systematic theology The Christian Faith.  The plan is to write a full-scale critical review for The Confessional Presbyterian.  There’s certainly a lot with which to interact.  So far, my impression (after nearly 650 pages) is mixed.  There’s much good to be said, but also some frustrating aspects.  For the details, you’re going to have to wait.

Today I just wanted to comment on chapter 19, “Forensic Aspects of Union with Christ: Justification and Adoption.”  Thus far this chapter is one of the best.  Horton ably lays out the Reformed doctrine of justification and its biblical basis.  He also interacts with critics of this doctrine, chief of whom is N. T. Wright.

Wright alleges that the Reformed doctrine of justification posits the imputation of God’s righteousness.  Horton replies:

However, it is crucial to point out that it has never been the Reformation position that God’s righteousness is imputed.  First, this assumes that righteousness is a substance or a commodity that is transferred from one person to another, rather than a legal status.  Second, missing from Wright’s courtroom setting is the third party: the mediator who, as representative head, fulfills the law and merits for himself and his covenant heirs the verdict of “righteous” or “just” before God.  Although the one who fulfilled the terms of the law covenant as the human servant is also the divine Lord, it is his active obedience rather than the essential divine attribute of righteousness that is credited to believers.  (632).

A few pages further, Horton discusses the relationship between justification and holy living in the theology of Wright and other NPP scholars:

N. T. Wright pleads, “If Christians could only get this [doctrine of justification] right, they would find that not only would they be believing the gospel, they would be practicing it; and that is the best basis for proclaiming it.”  Thus, the gospel is something to be done by us, not simply an astonishing and disruptive announcement of what has already been achieved once and for all on our behalf.  Faith and holiness belong together, Wright properly insists, but the only way to keep them together, he seems to suggest, is to conflate them.  (641).

Essentially this boils down to a confusion of justification and sanctification, or, in more basic terms, law and gospel.  Horton rightly points out that Reformation theology has derived an ethic from justification (640), but it has not infused ethics into justification.  In the words of the hymn beloved by Warfield, when it comes to justification, we must “cast our deadly doing down.”

Friends You Should Meet (6) — Michael Horton

It’s no secret that I love books.  Here in my study I often feel like I’m surrounded by good friends.  In this series of posts, I’d like to introduce you to some of my friends, both the old ones from centuries ago and the more recent ones.  I’ll describe their strengths and, where necessary, their weaknesses.  The aim is to help you find good friends for yourself — in other words, to find edifying reading that will give you a better understanding of the Christian faith, a greater grasp of the gospel, and a deeper love for Christ.

Most of the authors I’ve been introducing I first became acquainted with as an undergrad.  Michael Horton came into my life comparatively late — as a seminary student in my last year.  I knew nothing about him, but his book Made in America: The Shaping of Modern American Evangelicalism grabbed my attention.  It was a compelling expose of the foundations of much of what passes for Christianity on our continent.  A short while after that I was driving around Edmonton and accidentally came across someone talking about Reformed theology on the radio.  It was the White Horse Inn, hosted by Michael Horton and three other “gents.”

Michael Horton received his seminary training from Westminster Seminary California (WSC).  He went on to receive a Ph.D. from Oxford.  Since 1998, he’s been a professor of theology and apologetics at WSC.  He is an ordained minister of the United Reformed Churches and his credentials are held by Christ United Reformed Church in Santee, California.  He’s the editor-in-chief of Modern Reformation magazine and, as mentioned, host of the nationally syndicated White Horse Inn radio broadcast.  He’s authored numerous books and articles and regularly speaks at conferences in the United States and around the world.

Why is Michael Horton important? First of all, he grew up in a world distant from the Reformation.  In later years, he discovered Reformation theology and became convicted of its biblical richness.  Not all is well within Reformed churches, but Horton’s contribution is to point out that, rather than looking to what used to be called “evangelicalism,” we should look deeper into our own heritage.  Because it is so oriented to the Bible, our confessional heritage has the resources for necessary ongoing reformation.  Second, Horton writes two kinds of books:  scholarly and popular.  If you’re familiar with the scholarly stuff, you know that it’s the foundation for the popular.  In both types of writings, he takes the Bible seriously and understands and emphasizes the centrality of the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ.

Where do I start? I’ve read at least ten books by Michael Horton.  My favourite is A Place for Weakness: Preparing Yourself for Suffering (previously published as  Too Good to be True: Finding Hope in a World of Hype).  I’ve given away numerous copies of this little book because of its realistic, biblical treatment of suffering.  Another Horton must-read is Christless Christianity: the Alternative Gospel of the American Church.  This is a jeremiad, lamenting and exposing the shallowness and emptiness of North American Christianity.  It has a bearing on many of our Reformed churches too.  We’re in no less danger of falling into a form of “Christless Christianity.”  The third one that I’ll recommend here is A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of Christ-Centered Worship.   In this one, Horton again exposes the problems with what passes for worship these days, but also outlines the biblical beauty of Reformed liturgy.  Finally, there’s the classic Putting Amazing Back into Grace: Embracing the Heart of the Gospel.  This is an excellent exposition of the doctrines of grace.

What to look out for? There are three things that readers should know about Horton.  These things come up occasionally in his writings and on his radio program, lectures, etc.  The first is that he follows Meredith Kline’s reading of Genesis 1-2.  In other words, he holds to the Framework Hypothesis.  However, he is not a theistic evolutionist (the URCNA allows for the Framework interpretation, but not for theistic evolution).  Second, his view of covenant theology may be unfamiliar and uncomfortable to some readers.  In his book God of Promise: Introducing Covenant Theology, he again follows Meredith Kline.  Like many Reformed people past and present, he holds to three biblical covenants:  redemption, works, and grace.  Though some might disagree with this covenant theology, it does fall within the parameters of the Three Forms of Unity.  Moreover, it is arguably the classic Reformed view in many respects.  Finally, as a matter of emphasis, in his ecclesiology (doctrine of the church), there is not a strong accent on the confessional categories of true and false.  I especially noted this in his book People and Place: A Covenant Ecclesiology.

Over the years, reading and listening to Michael Horton has been a great blessing for me and my ministry.  Through him I became even more convinced that Christ and the gospel have to stand central in everything we do as church.  Let me finish with a characteristic Horton quote:  “A church that is deeply aware of its misery and nakedness before a holy God will cling tenaciously to an all-sufficient Savior, while one that is self-confdent and relatively unaware of its inherent sinfulness will reach for religion and morality whenever it seems convenient.” (Christless Christianity, 243).

Our Faith is Not a “Fix”

I have found Michael Horton’s Too Good to be True [now published as A Place for Weakness] to be an enormous source of encouragement.  If you or someone you know is struggling with some kind of tragedy, I can highly recommend this book.  It’s very pastoral and above all, scriptural — which is to say, it points to Christ.  In this excerpt, Horton again mentions his friend Steve who took his own life:

Christianity is not true because it works.  In many cases, it does not work.  That is to say, it does not solve all the problems we think it should solve.  It isn’t a technique for our personal therapy, but the truth that God has overcome sin and death in the cross and resurrection of Christ.  Those who became Christians because they were told that it would fix their marriages, only to find themselves in divorce court, might well give up on Christianity.  Those who expected to be free of all their sinful habits, temptations and desires after a conversion in which sudden victory was promised may find themselves disillusioned with God altogether, when they realize they are still sinners saved by grace.

At that difficult funeral of a pastor, friend, father, and brother in Christ who had ended his life of suffering, many people were wondering out loud, ‘If Christianity didn’t work for someone like Steve, how can it work for me?’  It is an honest question, an understandable question.  But it assumes that Christianity fixes everything.  It doesn’t fix everything, not at least here and now.  It does promise that everything will be fixed at the end of history, but in this wilderness experience, we are on pilgrimage to the Holy City.  Some pilgrims will find the journey much more difficult than remaining back in Egypt, in unbelief.  Steve was not one of those pilgrims who turned back to Egypt.  Others will bear their lot in life as best they can, and Steve and his wife were towers of strength to me in my own pilgrimage, as I watched them meet successive disasters by turning again and again to God and his gracious promise.

But Steve was a pilgrim for whom the hike to that eternal city eventually became so heavy that he looked for a shortcut.  With his godly wife, he was ‘longing for a better country’ (Hebrews 11:16), but was unwilling to wait.  He did not accept God’s timing — and yet he still found a mediator who interceded for him at the Father’s right hand.  He, with us, will receive the prize for which he hoped, even in weakness.

Well said, Mike.  Well said.   And there’s far more like that in this book.

(Reposted from Yinkahdinay, 09.27.06)

Book Review: the Gospel-Driven Life

The Gospel-Driven Life: Being Good News People in a Bad News World, Michael Horton, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2009.  Hardcover, 271 pages, $19.99 USD.

Last year saw the publication of Michael Horton’s influential Christless Christianity.  That volume was a surgical exposé of how much of North American Christianity is in danger of losing sight of Christ and the gospel.  By its nature it was a negative book, but Horton did promise a sequel in which he would present a positive alternative.  The Gospel-Driven Life is that sequel and Horton delivers on his promise.

According to the Introduction, “The goal of this book is to reorient our faith and practice as Christians and churches toward the gospel: that is, the announcement of God’s victory over sin and death in his Son, Jesus Christ.” (11).  Since the gospel is “good news,” the book attempts to follow the model of a newspaper.  Though this seems forced at points, it does capture the thrust and intent of the Biblical gospel:  it is supposed to be headline news.

There are commendable things to be said about the Gospel-Driven Life.  Above all, Horton ably expresses the gospel and all its riches.  Man’s problem is sin and the wrath of God that sin arouses.  God’s solution is Christ and his obedient life, death, and resurrection.  The gospel is what every believer needs every day.  Says the author, “No less in the middle and at the end than at the beginning, the believer clings to Christ’s righteousness as the only appropriate attire in the presence of a holy God.” (70).

Though this book is intended to be the positive follow-up to Christless Christianity, critique of various religious trends is not absent.  For instance, Horton interacts with Richard Foster and his emphasis on spiritual disciplines.  He makes the helpful observation, “This trajectory of the spiritual disciplines leads us to a host of means of grace besides Word and sacrament, and these other means are actually methods of our ascent rather than God’s descent to us in grace.” (157).  Elsewhere, with a glance at Rick Warren, he notes that it was Christ who lived the purpose-driven life so that we would be “promise-driven people in a purpose-driven world.” (141).

If I would make one critical notation, it would be with regards to this sentiment:  “Christ’s kingdom is its own culture: holy rather than common.  That does not mean that it is an alternative subculture.  In other words, there is no such thing as Christian sports, entertainment, politics, architecture and science.  In these common fields, Christians and non-Christians are indistinguishable except by their ultimate goals and motivations.” (249).  This requires a lot more elaboration to be convincing.  For instance, is it true that there is nothing distinctive about the way a Christian would be involved with politics aside from his ultimate goals and motivations?   While I can agree that the church has no place in the realm of politics, that does not necessarily mean that there is not a Christian way of doing politics, a way guided by the Word of God.

Any blogger knows that the negative posts always get more attention than the positive.  Our nature is drawn to the negative.  For that reason, I suspect that Christless Christianity will be better remembered than the Gospel-Driven Life.  Moreover, to be honest, the first volume was the more engaging read.  The Gospel-Driven Life features some new material from Horton, but there also seems to be some recycling.  The usual suspects make their appearances:  Dorothy Sayers, C.S. Lewis, Martin Luther, and G.K. Chesterton.  If you listen regularly to the White Horse Inn or have read his other books, this one may seem rather repetitive in places.  While I enjoyed it and can certainly recommend it, it was not the best work that Horton has done.