JOHN PIPER: HOW I DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE GOSPEL AND FALSE GOSPELS


Apprising Ministries points you to a recent sermon from John Piper given at the 2008 Resurgence Conference. It’s creating a bit of a firestorm in some circles of the Emergent Church based on piece from emerging church “pastor” Julie Clawson which she entitled “Excommunicating Arminians”:

This tendency to add to the gospel and make allegiance to certain theologians/doctrines necessary for salvation raises serious “danger” flags in my book. Add to that the division this causes in the church universal and one is left with a very sad situation.

The recent talk by John Piper on “How I Distinguish Between the Gospel and False Gospels” falls into this category. In addressing the “false” of Arminianism (which he admits most evangelicals adhere to) he writes,

Here’s my rule of thumb: the more responsible a person is to shape the thoughts of others about God, the less Arminianism should be tolerated. Therefore church members should not be excommunicated for this view but elders and pastors and seminary and college teachers should be expected to hold the more fully biblical view of grace.

Do you separate from a denomination that allows pastors and seminary teachers to believe and teach this error? You can. We do. Oh, how we need discernment concerning how helpful you might be to the cause of Christ and his truth… (Online source)

You can find the sermon outline and download this message from John Piper here.