Arminian Today

John Piper is a writing machine.  This guy must put out three to four books a year!  This is why he has become the popular spokesmen for the so-called “young, restless, and reformed” movement.  His books almost always tackle deep subjects with reformed theology mixed in there.  This is why his books are so popular among Calvinists as Piper makes Calvinism not just a theological position but a worldview.

In his latest book, Bloodlines, Piper takes on the issue of race, the cross, and the Christian.  Piper begins his book by focusing on the issues of racism.  He begins with his own story of being raised in the South during the turbulent 1960′s.  He shows how racism was such a part of the Southern United States culture that it even affected the Church.  Piper points out that while Christianity motivated great men such as Martin Luther King to do something about racism, few white evangelicals took a stand against the sin of racism and even Piper himself admits that he was a racist in his heart.  I enjoyed reading Piper’s own story of moving from racism to being set free by seeing people made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27).  Piper rightly says that the cross is the solution for racism and in the cross, we see the infinite value that God places on people.

The remained of the book is a theological answer to racism.  When we understand the gospel of Jesus Christ, we see that Jesus came to create a new breed of people who are bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  Piper points to passages such as John 10:16 or Galatians 3:28-29 or Ephesians 2:14-22.  The Church is not composed of whites or blacks or Asians or other races but is instead to be seen as the family of God with Jesus as the head of the Church (Colossians 1:15-20).  Racism, unfortunately, takes time to be defeated as evidenced even in the book of Acts between the Jews and the Gentiles.  Piper, however, is correct that the answer in the book of Acts is the same for the modern Church, the cross.  Acts 10:43 says that everyone who believes in Him receives the forgiveness of sins.  This includes all people and not just Jews.  Paul had to remind Peter of this fact in Galatians 2:11-21.  The cross brings together people into one nation because we are forgiven and set free by God’s grace.

Overall I do recommend this book.  The answer for racism is not to be found in politics (though legal means can protect people as Piper points out with the example of William Wilberforce).  The cure for racism is the cross of Jesus Christ.  The cross shows us the goodness of God for all.

So how does Piper include Calvinism in this book?  Well, he states clearly that he believes that his reformed views led him to reject racism for in reformed theology, Piper says he saw his own depravity and his need for grace.  Piper attacks Arminianism by calling it “man-centered, free-will thumping, rationalistic piety” (132).  Piper believes that the reformed doctrine of total depravity will allow us to see that none of us are worthy no matter what our race is.  Apart from God’s grace, we are dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1).  This, of course, leads Piper to then turn to the doctrine of election and the doctrine of limited atonement though Piper prefers “definite atonement” since he believes that the Arminians actually limit the atonement by not teaching that Jesus saved anyone on the cross.  Piper ironically quotes Millard Erickson, “God intended the atonement to make salvation possible for all persons.  Christ died for all persons, but this atoning death becomes effective only when accepted by the individual” (137).  This is the Arminian view!  Piper truly wants to exalt the cross and show that Jesus died for all men though in reality He didn’t but I believe his logic is not well thought out.  Piper then expounds a bit on unconditional election before ending by asking the reader if they know if they are the elect.  How can they?  Piper says that they can know by believing in Jesus and making Him their treasure.

The twist in all of this is that Piper is trying to build a case for God loving the whole world (and all races) so much that He sent His Son to die for the sins of the world.  But Piper can’t avoid the issue that the Bible seems to teach an atonement that is infinite in its value and power.  Piper can’t avoid the teaching that Jesus died for all men (John 3:16).  So how does Piper avoid this?  He builds his case from following his Calvinism.  If T is true then U must be true then L must be true then I must be true and so P is true (TULIP).  Piper’s logic falls short though as he stumbles through his teaching on limited atonement (trying hard to find it in Scripture) and he stumbles in perseverance of the saints.  Piper gives the old “eternal security” view that we are saved forever and that nothing will separate us from God’s love (Romans 8:38-39) but should we fall away from Jesus, we were not saved to begin with (1 John 2:19).  So logically, Piper is saying that are Jesus’ sheep if we follow Him (John 10:27-29) but if we don’t follow Him, we were not His sheep to begin with.  Thus you can never know if you are Jesus’ sheep since it is possible that you might turn away from Him in the future (1 Corinthians 10:12).

Yet is this enough to keep you from reading this book?  I hope not.  Besides Piper’s ramblings about Calvinism, the book does a good job of showing biblically that racism is wrong.  Period.  The Church needs to reject racism and fight against it.  We need to show the world that God is glorified in His Church through interracial relationships.  Piper even suggests that the Church should encourage more interracial marriages.  I don’t care about the color of a person’s skin.  As Martin Luther King wrote, “Let us judge a man not by the color of his skin but the content of his character.”  I believe that we should only judge people based on the Word of God (John 7:24; 1 John 2:3-6).  We must decide from Scripture if a person is lost or saved.  This has nothing to do with the color of skin.  God made us all of many colors and shapes and shades.  I believe that Arminianism shows that God truly does love all and that He desires to save all who cry out to Him (Romans 10:13).  In this regard, this book is a great source for biblically fighting racism and standing for the truth that Jesus died to reconcile us to God no matter what our color may be (2 Corinthians 5:18-21).