Book Review: Iain H. Murray's John MacArthur, Servant of the Word and Flock

Read the review here on academia.edu.

JTR

Even more thoughts on Matthew's "Sermon on the Mount" and Luke's "Sermon in the Plain"

As I continue to preach through Luke’s Sermon in the Plain (Luke 6), I am still pondering the propriety of taking Luke’s account as an abbreviated doublet of the material in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5—7) [see this previous post].  My tendency, again, is to see these as records of two independent sermons and not the same event.

The McArthur Study Bible provides an example of an evangelical interpretation which argues that Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount and Luke’s Sermon in the Plain are two presentations of the same event.  It acknowledges, “It is possible … that Jesus simply preached the same sermon on more than one occasion.”  Yet it concludes:

It appears more likely, however, that these are variant accounts of the same event.  Luke’s version is abbreviated somewhat, because he omitted sections from the sermon that are uniquely Jewish (particularly Christ’s exposition of the law).  Aside from that, the two sermons follow exactly the same flow of thought beginning with the Beatitudes and ending with the parable about building on the rock.  Differences in wording between the two accounts are undoubtedly owing to the fact that the sermon was originally delivered in Aramaic.  Luke and Matthew translate into Gr. with slight variances.  Of course, both translations are equally inspired and authoritative (p. 1524).

The problem with this approach is simply that the differences between the two sermons are much more than “slight variances” resulting from translation from Aramaic to Greek.  For example, Matthew has eight (or nine) beatitudes (Matthew 5) and no woes, while Luke has four beatitudes and four corresponding woes (Luke 6).

I am more inclined toward the interpretation of Matthew Poole in his Luke commentary.  Poole begins, “There are many that think what Luke hath in these verses, and so the end of the chapter, is but a shorter epitome of what Luke hath in his 5^th, 6^th, and 7^th chapters, and that both Matthew and Luke mean the same sermon preached at the same time.”  He cites two points in favor of this opinion:  (1) Matthew says that Jesus was teaching on a mountain, and Luke’s description can be taken as reference to a mountain plain; (2) There is much overlap in content.

Nevertheless, Poole concludes, “I can hardly be of that mind.”  He cites the following reasons:

(1)  He judges Luke’s reference to the plain is not the same setting as Matthew.

 

(2)   The description of the audience for the sermon in Luke (see 6:17) is distinct and indicates a unique setting.

 

(3)   “Principally, from the great differences in the relations of Matthew and Luke.”

These include:  (a) many large discourses in Matthew are not covered by Luke (e.g. Christ “true interpretation of the law” and his teaching about alms, prayer, fasting in Matthew 6); and (b) differences in the beatitudes (and woes) section.

Poole concludes:  “Leaving therefore all to their own judgments, I see no reason to think that this discourse was but a short copy of the same discourse, referring to the same time and company.”

JTR

MacArthur Book Review Redivivus

The book review I did for the Reformed Baptist Trumpet on Iain Murray's biography John MacArthur:  Servant of the Word and Flock (Banner of Truth, 2011)  and which also appeared in the July 2012 issue of the Puritan Reformed Journal has now been posted on the Banner of Truth website.  You can read the review here.

JTR

The Vision (9/15/11): Lordship Salvation

In Iain Murray’s new biography of John MacArthur (Banner of Truth, 2011), he describes how MacArthur’s theology of evangelism and discipleship began to change during the early years of his ministry. Most significantly MacArthur began to rethink many of the pragmatic “easy-believism” evangelistic efforts of the times that had produced many who had made professions of faith but who later showed little evidence of a change of life and fruitfulness. MacArthur began to challenge the notion that one could have Jesus as “Savior” but not as “Lord.” He expressed his views in a 1988 book titled The Gospel According to Jesus, and it led to what is sometimes called the “Lordship controversy.”

In this discussion, Murray shares an anecdote from early in MacArthur’s ministry, as recounted in The Gospel According to Jesus. He once met a stranger who sat next to him on a plane trip. The man noticed MacArthur was reading a Bible and said to him, “Excuse me, you wouldn’t know how I could have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, would you?” Amazed at this open door, MacArthur eagerly shared the gospel and asked the man if he would like to receive Christ as his personal Savior. The man replied, “I’d like to do that.” They prayed together and within a month the man had been baptized. MacArthur then explained, “I was excited about what had happened and eager to follow him up in discipleship. After a short time, however, he broke off contact with me. I recently discovered he has no continuing interest in the things of Christ” (see Murray, pp. 73-74).

The story reminded me of Jesus’ parable of the soils (see Matthew 13:1-23). In that parable the Sower sows the seed of the word on four types of soil. There is the hardened path of the wayside where the seed is quickly gobbled up, the shallow soil of the stony places where the seed sprouts up but is then scorched by the sun, and the thorny soil where the sprout is soon choked by “the care of this world” (v. 22). Finally, there is the good ground where the seed grows and bears fruit. Jesus explains that this good soil “is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth” (v. 23).

How do we know if we are truly saved? We know we are saved when we see Jesus exercising his Lordship in our lives. As one has said, good works are not the root of our faith, but they are the fruit of our faith. In another place in Matthew the evangelist records that Jesus taught, “he that endureth to the end shall be saved” (10:22). May we continue to persevere under the Lordship of Christ, bearing fruit for the kingdom.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

"Don't join a flat screen church!": John MacArthur predicts the demise of YRR movement

John MacArthur on YRRs

John MacArthur has started a new series of blog posts directed to the YRR (Young, Restless, and Reformed) crowd.  You can read the first and second posts here.

You can also listen to an audio interview with Phil Johnson on the series.

JTR

Word Magazine (6.25.11): MacArthur and Mark's Ending

I posted another edition of Word Magazine today titled "MacArthur and Mark's Ending."  The focus is on a sermon preached by John MacArthur back on June 5, 2011 on Mark 16:9-20 completing a multi-year process of preaching expositionally through the NT.  As I note on the broadcast, for some reason MacArthur had been on my mind of late.  I have been reading his exposition of Jude (in the booklet "Beware the Pretenders"), and I just finished reading Iain Murray's new Banner biography of him.

MacArthur's message on Mark 16:9-20 is titled, "The Fitting End to Mark's Gospel"  (for an archive of all of MacArthur's sermons over 42 years look here).  In it he argues that the traditional (or Longer Ending) of Mark is not part of the original text of Scripture and that Mark's proper ending is at Mark 16:8.  He also gives equal validity to the so-called "Shorter" or "Intermediate" ending of Mark (as included in the ESV notes).  Though, as I note in the broadcast, I appreciate the fact that MacArthur does not dodge this issue and that he teaches his congregation on textual issues, I disagree strongly with his conclusions.  I have some hesitation on directly critiquing MacArthur's sermon.  Hopefully, the treatment is charitable.

JTR

Murray on MacArthur's Trials in the Ministry

I am finishing up reading the new Iain Murray biography John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and Flock (Banner of Truth, 2011). I plan to do a full review in the next issue of the RB Trumpet.

In a chapter titled “Threatening Reversals” (pp. 43-56) Murray describes various struggles that MacArthur encountered in his ministry, including a painful rebellion by his staff (“Black Tuesday”) and a 1980 lawsuit brought against MacArthur charging “clergy malpractice” after the suicide of a church member.

Murray begins his summary of this section (p. 53):

The trials I have sought to describe undoubtedly strengthened his understanding of the nature of the Christian warfare and of the only effective response. Of course, critical men and women do not know that they are being used by the powers of evil. The weapons those employ

consist of lies of all kind—elaborate lies, massive philosophical lies, evil lies that appeal to humanity’s fallen sinfulness, lies that inflate human pride, and lies that closely resemble the truth. Our weapon is the simple truth of Christ as revealed in His Word (the latter paragraph is a quote from MacArthur’s The Truth War, p. 49).

JTR

MacArthur on Jude

I started reading John MacArthur's little book on Jude titled Beware the Pretenders (Victor, 1980) as a companion to preaching through this book on Sunday afternoons at CRBC.  This was apparently written before MacArthur's Calvinistic soteriology chrystallized.  As an example, at one point he writes:  "When people hear the Gospel preached, they ought to receive it; they ought to obey it.  But each person has a choice--he can receive Christ or reject him" (p. 12).  I think that he would now nuance that kind of statement a bit to include reference to God's sovereignty in election.  I am looking forward to reading the upcoming biography of MacArthur from Banner of Truth that Ian Murray has written (released at the end of this month).

At any rate, here is MacArthur's assessment of the purpose of the book of Jude: 

The book of Jude is a survival manual for Christians living in times of apostasy.  This often neglected book clearly sets forth the character of apostasy and apostate people.  No other book gives Christians such a clear picture of how God wants them to live when they find themselves in the midst of widespread apostasy (p. 6).

JTR