My RC Sproul Challenge: Legalist or Not? And Why, or Why Not?
Poke anything written by “The ‘Gospel’ Coalition” or any other number of Gospel Sanctification / Sonship proponents—how could anything but an indictment of legalism come forth when you consider the following quotes by Sproul?
“Sanctification is cooperative. There are two partners involved in the work. I must work and God will work. If ever the extra-biblical maxim, “God helps those who help themselves,” had any truth, it is at this point. We are not called to sit back and let God do all the work. We are called to work, and to work hard. To work something out with fear and trembling is to work with devout and conscientious rigor. It is to work with care, with a profound concern with the end result” (“Pleasing God” p. 227).
1. Without both working, no work gets done: “ Sanctification is cooperative. There are two partners involved in the work.”
2. The imperative precedes the indicative: “I must work and God will work.”
3. Sanctification is hard work: “We are called to work, and to work hard.”
4. And with rigor: “ To work something out with fear and trembling is to work with devout and conscientious rigor.”
And: “The gospel saves us not from duty, but unto duty, by which the law of God is established. This book is a profound exposition of the biblical revelation of law. The Decalogue is explored in the depths of its many facets and nuances. This book explains the Law, defends the Law, and shows the sweetness of the Law. It can help us delight in the Law as it was meant to be understood, and to delight in performing our duty to the One whose Law it is” (Forward: “Reasons for Duty” J. Gerstner).
1. So much for John Piper’s Christian Hedonism: “The gospel saves us not from duty, but unto duty,”
2. So much for New Covenant Theology: ”…. by which the law of God is established” [ouch!].
3. Just “more bad news”? “This book explains the Law, defends the Law, and shows the sweetness of the Law.”
It is way, way past the time for Carson, Horton, Keller, Mahaney, Piper, et al to continue getting a pass on contradicting respected orthodox teachers of our day. Is Sproul a legalist or not? We know what they can do with soft targets like Rob Bell and Joel Olsteen, but what about Sproul? And if he’s not a legalist, why not?
paul
Some Passing Thoughts on Obedience and Sanctification
I miss being able to post daily as I am very busy right now, and am also trying to complete part 3 of a previous post. However, I appreciate comments / questions that come in that enable me to launch from a pre-established basis, affording the time to write a post that I wouldn’t ordinarily have. So, the question and my answer will be the post for today:
“Are we able to know by what means he [the Holy Spirit] helps and enables believers? Specifically, is there a way a believer can somehow avail themselves of the HS’s help to love or otherwise obey? If so, how does one do that?”
It’s many faceted, but it boils down to obedience. By what means? And how? Answer: obey. No matter how passive one’s view of sanctification is, you always have to do something; and trust me, knowing us, no matter how minuet it is, we will have to eventually do it whether we feel like it or not. Even if you buy into Piper’s theology that we will do it because it is our delight, our tendency is to always want to be delighted, so we will have to obey and go to work (or something our wife has wanted us to do, for like, 5 years) instead of reading our Bible all day long as a way of “beholding as a way of becoming” (Let me just stop here and share: nobody annoys me more than John Piper).
Ok, get ready to be really offended. But after I say what I am going to say to answer your above question, let me also say that I am in good company and will quote RC Sproul from his book “Pleasing God” to dampen some of the indignation. Here we go: the Holy Spirit helps those who help themselves. O my, anymore, you say that to people and the blood vessels start popping out in their necks. However, I would probably rather state it this way: the HS manifests His power as we walk according to truth. All in all, I think your question is best answered by James in 1:25 – blessings are IN (a preposition explaining where) the DOING.
Well, at the very least, let me be burned at the stake with RC Sproul: “Sanctification is cooperative. There are two partners involved in the work. I must work and God will work. If ever the extra-biblical maxim, “God helps those who help themselves,” had any truth, it is at this point” (“Pleasing God” p. 227).
I heard something amazing from Rush Limbaugh the other day. The Russians supposedly prove to their school children that there is no God by presenting two potted plants; they then tell the children to water one on a regular basis, but only pray for the other plant’s growth. While one should not be surprised that such reasoning comes from reprobate minds, at least such a test recognizes that the one plant will surely die without water, unlike many of the sanctification paradigms of our day.
I don’t think anybody explains this better than the apostle Paul in 1Corintians 3: 5-9;
“What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.”
paul
Paul's Passing Thoughts 
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