A few weeks ago I said that Christless Christianity by Michael Horton was an ‘unremarkable book’. I still think that is true. There have been others like it in the recent past. John MacArthur’s ‘Charismatic Chaos’ and Hank Hanegraaf’s ‘Christianity in Crisis’. Horton has written some himself. These sorts of books point out that something presenting itself as evangelical Christianity is really guilty of either adding to, or subtracting from, the biblical gospel, thus robbing it of its authentic power.
This one is a different because in recent weeks John Frame, a theologian from the same stream as Horton has negatively reviewed the book and defended some of those that Horton takes issue with. I posted on the furore here.
So, what to make of it all?
Horton’s central thesis seems sound enough.
He takes issues with those in the Pentcostal and Emergent streams who emphasise ‘What Would Jesus Do’ instead of ‘What Has Jesus Accomplished’. This can be problamatic when obedience is exhorted without it being grounded in the concept of being a response to what Jesus has done in redeeming us from sin and enabling us to be part of God’s family by His perfect life, atoning death and resurrection glory.
Both of these movements, which Horton characterises through the teaching of Joel Osteen and Brian Maclaren either marginalise or reject conviction and confession of sin, and the need for Jesus’ death to be claimed as a penal substitutionary work in order for sin to be forgiven.
This is identified as having been an identifiable strand within US Christianity for significant periods of the last two centuries. When social activity and personal experience are the emphasis of Christian expression the person and work of Jesus become more exemplarary, and dependence on biblically revealed means of knowing God’s will become secondary to personal and individualistic sentiment.
Horton borrows the phrase ‘moralistic, therapeutic deism’ to characterise this emphasis. This emphasis could be observed in Australian Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey’s recent speech ‘In Defence of God’.
Horton provides the following schematic to illustrate the difference:
Law Lite: / The Gospel:
God as life coach / God as Judge and Justifier
Good Advice (Doing) / Good News (Done)
Christ as example / Christ as saviour
The Bible as instruction manual / The Bible as Unfolding Mystery of Christ
Sacraments as means of committment / Sacraments as Means of Grace
The church as self-help resources / The church as embassy of grace
(focus on service/ministry) / (focus on God’s service/ministry)
We ascend to God / God Descends to Us
We send ourselves / God sends us
(pg 196)
(Sorry I haven’t formatted that better)
Now not all of these are present in full bloom in every expression of Horton’s ‘Law Lite’ churches. But any appearances are cause for concern to him because they do not fly solo for long. The others turn up and accompany them over time. Whether it is the self-realisation, health and prosperity of the charismatic prosperity gospel or the social justice emphasis of the emergent movement each causes the question to be asked: is the gospel driving this emphases, or are these emphases the only gospel they have?
Reading the statement of faith or what we believe statements that these churches publish will not be enough. Sometimes familiar words are used, but are given radically different meanings. Other times the statement of faith will remain intact, but is never used or referenced in practical teaching.
Horton promises a follow up book (Gospel-Driven Life) that will express his concerns is a positive manner.
This creates some areas in which Christless Christianity may not be totally clear. The use of ‘law’ as a term to both describe the Bible as the source of both our conviction and also our thankful response needs to be more clearly articulated.
Hopefully the area of sanctification and the imperative for Christians to be active in growing in their obedience to God will be covered. It would also be good to see how the Bible, the gathered community and the Holy Spirit work together in objective terms to make us mature in our Christian faith.
Frame convicts Horton of asserting some things that I’m not sure this book was intended to assert. In doing so he unfortunately seems to be indicating that Horton’s thesis is flawed. But he does not indicate how these movements are guarding orthodoxy.
Christless Christianity will make you think. It will ask you to consider what the essence of the Gospel is and how your present association with the Church and the ministry of God’s Word draw you into closer appreciation of the Gospel and deeper dependence upon it as your only source of life and hope.
Christless Christianity is available at Koorong.
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