Christless Christianity by Michael Horton

Christless Christianity does not propose that the evangelical Christian Church in North America is devoid of Jesus – not yet anyways. But Michael Horton does build a strong argument throughout the book that the evangelical church is heading in that direction.

Horton’s incisive analysis of the preaching and practices of the North American “Evangelical” Church reveals that many of its preachers and pastors have lost confidence in the “Evangel” or “Good News” of Jesus Christ. We have not only lost confidence in the Gospel but have lost our sense of need for it.

According to Horton, the reason for this is that we do not take God and His holiness seriously enough. In His place, we take ourselves, and our own happiness, as all-important. The need for the redeeming work of Christ is downplayed when we emphasize God’s love without trying to integrate it with His righteousness and justice. Who needs a Mediator or forgiveness with such a god?

Horton writes: “My concern is not that God is treated so lightly in American culture but that he is not taken seriously in our own faith and practice” (p. 23). The minimizing, and even disparaging, of doctrinal and creedal instruction in the life of the contemporary Church evidence this. But doctrine is the teaching of the Church regarding who God is and what He has accomplished in Christ for salvation. The apostolic creeds are the Church’s faithful witness to the historic, objective facts of Christ’s person and work. These historic facts and events are the foundation of the Church’s existence.

In a desire to be relevant, we have so emphasized our subjective wants and feelings that our “peace of mind” has become more important than achieving the objective status of “peace with God”. We have succumbed to the secularizing forces of our culture that insist on privatizing all Christian claims. As a result, the Christian faith is being transformed into a form of therapy. “Christ, then, is our answer to bad feelings, not to any actual state of enmity or guilt before God” (p. 53).

Horton goes on to critique Joel Osteen’s teaching in a detailed way. Osteen’s ministry epitomizes the moralistic, therapeutic deism that is rampant in today’s “Evangelical” Church. Horton summarizes Osteen’s teachings by these words: “Basically, God is there for you and your happiness. He has some rules and principles for getting what you want out of life, and if you follow them, you can have what you want” (p. 68). If the goal of our existence is to be happy and to enjoy personal success, then our biggest need is the instruction and motivation of a life coach.

Jesus is transformed into a Tony Robbins or Dr. Phil from the biblical Christ who saves us from the coming wrath through a bloody cross. This biblical gospel is perceived to be too offensive and negative for many in our churches to accept.

Horton also looks at some of the teaching of “The Emergent Movement”. These emergent teachers are not as narcissistic or individualistic in their teaching as Osteen and other prosperity teachers seem to be. They, however, also confuse law and gospel. They downplay what God has done for us in Christ (Gospel) and instead emphasize the need for the Church to be more involved in peace and justice issues like global warming and AIDS (law). These emergent teachers assume that the Church already knows what the Gospel is and all we need to do is work harder in social justice. This is the path to transformation in the world.

Horton, however, builds a strong case that many parts of the Church do not really know the Gospel and its full implications. Horton closes his book with these prophetic words: “The church in America will have to learn what it means to mourn before it can dance. Sticking to the story, fixing our eyes on Christ – even if it means distracting us from what we have diagnosed as our real issues – is the kindest thing a pastor can do for a congregation, the most precious gift we can receive and pass along to our neighbors, and the most relevant mission on earth” (p. 259).

One shortcoming, I think, that is worth mentioning is that Horton paints all revivalist-oriented Christian churches with the same wide brush. He prominently mentions Charles Finney as an example of a man-centered approach to revivalist ministry. It is not surprising that Finney’s ministry produced dubious long-term spiritual fruit. But there are church denominations that began in the holiness revivals of the late 1800s who were contemporary with Finney and who are still producing spiritual fruit for the kingdom of God today.

This book is highly recommended as a critique of the contemporary evangelical church. I give it a 4.5 out of 5.

In Christ’s love and service,
Pastor John Neposlan
Devonwood Community Church of the Nazarene

Surprised By Hope, By N. T. Wright

In his book, Surprised by Hope, N. T. Wright demonstrates again why he is one of today’s most readable New Testament scholars. He combines a great intellectual acumen and rigor with a wonderful pastor’s heart, which is always burdened to foster the faithfulness of God’s people.

In this particular book, Wright begins by demonstrating that both Christians and non-Christians are often confused about what the ultimate Christian hope is. Wright contends that most people have a very vague, sentimental and non-biblical view of life-after-death. This is understandable for non-Christians but it is more troubling and surprising that this is the case for Christians.

The most common cultural view regarding life-after-death is that somehow things will all work out in the end. We’ll either turn into angels or become liberated souls carried on clouds or floating in some ocean of endless peace. Wright shows how these owe more to Platonic or pagan beliefs than to biblical teaching.

Wright does a great job of expounding what the actual biblical teaching is on life-after-death. He shows that the Jews and early Christians always believed that what happened to the faithful right at death was a temporary or intermediate stage. The deceased believers are somehow held in the powerful and loving embrace of God. They are conscious but do not possess their new and glorified bodies until that Final Day.

Wright writes that in the bodily resurrection of Jesus, God has shown us ahead of time what will happen to all of His people. The Jews always believed in the resurrection but it was a great surprise to Jewish expectation that their Messiah would arise from the dead to a new life right in the middle of this present age. It was also a great surprise to them that their Messiah died on the cross in the first place. From solely a human perspective, the crucifixion of Jesus meant that he was not the Messiah or the Christ, not that he was. But the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ reveals to us that He’s full of surprises.

Wright not only expounds that the Christian hope is specific, solid and sure but then he does on outstanding job of explaining the difference that biblical hope should have in our day-to-day lives. Wright demonstrates how the bodily resurrection of Jesus was a vindication by God the Father regarding the claims of Christ. In the bodily resurrection of the Messiah, God was showing that Jesus was the true Lord of the world and that the Roman Caesars were only pretenders to the world thrones.

It was this kind of message or gospel that was troublesome to worldly rulers and not the message of the Gnostics who only believed in a spiritual or inward resurrection. The early Christians were faithful to the biblical teaching and understood that Jesus’ actual bodily resurrection had implications for the whole cosmos.

Their hope in the resurrected Christ not only motivated them to grow in a personal relationship with Christ but also to work for a transformed world because one day, God would remake all of creation. Bible study and corporate worship on Sunday morning are important but also work and play the rest of the week is important. Our ultimate hope is to live in a resurrected body in a new heaven and new earth that will be more solid and beautiful than anything we have experienced so far in the old earth.

This is the surprising hope that God has gifted us with in the resurrected Jesus. Thank you, Lord, and thank you, N.T. for opening our eyes and hearts anew to this very Good News.

Pastor John Neposlan
Devonwood Community Church of the Nazarene