Many have been raving about Tullian Tchividjian’s latest book “Jesus + Nothing = Everything”. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet. People I respect a lot have reacted both positively and negatively to it.
Anyways–if what I’ve heard from both its advocates and detractors is generally true and the book is reflective of Tullian’s hobby horse that I’ve detected in his writings and sermons, I think there are some problems in the doctrinal emphasis and the version of the law/gospel distinction he advocates.
Jared Oliphint wrote a review of the book. He says “The concerns I have are not whether it is good to talk about God’s free grace and Christ’s accomplishment for us. It is always good. The concern arises when that grace is discussed to the exclusion of the reality of Christian effort and obedience, the Christian walk, and in identifying sanctification as something that is at its core passive… Scripture seems to give much more nuanced and multi-faceted counseling for temptation than a silver-bullet, passive solution satisfied with a mere recognition, remembrance, or realization…Jesus + Nothing = Everything was written with admirable zeal and…the best of intentions to help the real presence of legalism within the Christian church…Although we do well to live as we are – eternally secure before God in Christ – we are currently still aliens here on earth, and we still have the hard work of obedience to do while we struggle with this world. That hard work requires much more than getting used to, remembering, recognizing, and realizing our justification. It requires the Spirit working through and within us daily to bring to completion his perfect plan of salvation in Christ.”
Mark Jones also reviewed the book. He said “The section on the law and the gospel in the book evinces a problem with certain versions of the law-gospel antithesis, especially when this antithesis is read into the Christian life and not just simply justification…. The law in the New Covenant becomes a quickening power that, by the Spirit, sets us free from sin and death (Rom. 8:1-4). The Puritan, Anthony Burgess, noted that the law acts as means of grace, not simply to drive us to Christ for justification, but to make us like Christ in sanctification. Therefore, the antithesis between the law and the gospel is not an end in itself; it only entered because of sin. Instead, the gospel has in view removing the absolute law-gospel antithesis in the life of the believer because in Christ the law is my friend because God is my friend (Ps. 119). In essence, my concern has to do with the fact that a number of biblical passages are read in a manner where people automatically assume that the text is driving us to Christ for justification when in fact the text is saying nothing of the sort.”
Ian Clary shared a link to Mark Jones review and shared some thoughts as well. He said: “Sadly, Christians today are imbibing the tendencies evident in the book under review, and so Mark [Jones] brings us back to a healthy model of gospel-grounded obedience. We are free, yes indeed; but we are free to obey Christ. Hopefully the Reformed and Puritan vision of justification and sanctification can be grasped and grappled with for the sake of the holiness of Christ’s people. .”
I hope the broader Reformed church will continue recognize the need to carefully respect the scriptural nuances on topics of justification and sanctification, rather than falling into the trap of making the error of overextending and abusing the otherwise helpful law-gospel distinction. Law/Gospel is a helpful and Biblical concept in relation to justification, but unfortunately many today are taking it too far and hence detracting from the positive role the law has in the context of believers life.