Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

John MacArthur

When Believers Stop Believing: The MacArthur Center’s New Podcast Episode on Apostasy

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The MacArthur Center’s new podcast episode is on apostasy: “When Believers Stop Believing.”

(See my post on episode 1—on theological triage.)

It was my pleasure to contribute to this episode on the sobering topic of apostasy.

Related: Here are five short articles I contributed in 2020 to TGC’s 250 concise theology essays:

  1. “What Is Apostasy? Can a Christian Become Apostate?”
  2. “The Unpardonable Sin”
  3. “The Sin unto Death”
  4. “Must Jesus Be Lord?”
  5. “Models of Sanctification”

Related: On 11/16/2022, I recorded some short videos for Crossway on Romans. Here’s one of them:

I’ve Heard It Said, “Once Saved, Always Saved” (2:54 min. | transcript)

The Drivetrain: The MacArthur Center’s New Podcast Episode on Theological Triage

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The MacArthur Center’s new podcast episode is on theological triage: “The Drivetrain.”

Austin Duncan and his team produce this podcast with excellence. They obviously put a lot of work into their podcast episodes because they are clear, engaging, and high-quality in both content and form. They piece together various interviews and add sound effects and music. It’s high-caliber audio journalism—like NPR but with good content. It’s the best quality podcast I know of in confessional evangelical circles.

It was my pleasure to contribute to “The Drivetrain” episode on theological triage. Al Mohler popularized this terminology for distinguishing the importance of Bible teachings in his 2005 article “A Call for Theological Triage and Christian Maturity.”

Here’s how I like to present three levels of importance (a version of this table appears in my forthcoming book Predestination: An Introduction, p. 18):

It’s easy to misunderstand and misapply that taxonomy. That’s what “The Drivetrain” is about.

John MacArthur’s 1,000-Page Systematic Theology

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This book officially releases on January 31:

John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue, eds. Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017.

My endorsement:

In addition to presenting orthodox theology common to historic Protestants, MacArthur and Mayhue defend an unusual combination of views that evangelicals debate, such as young-earth creationism, Calvinist soteriology, credobaptism, elder-rule polity, complementarianism, cessationism, and traditional dispensationalism (or what they call futuristic premillennialism). They argue in a clear and orderly way that is worth engaging even if you disagree.

John MacArthur on Died-and-went-to-heaven-and-back Books

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heavenJohn MacArthur. The Glory of Heaven: The Truth about Heaven, Angels, and Eternal Life; With New Material Addressing the Current Debate and Issues. 2nd ed. Wheaton: Crossway, 2013.

One of the most talked-about books of 2011 was Heaven Is for Real, by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent. The book recounts four-year-old Colton Burpo’s vision of heaven (as told by his father to Ms. Vincent). Colton claims he visited heaven during surgery a!er a burst appendix nearly took his life. His stories of heaven are full of fanciful features and peculiar details that bear all the earmarks of a child’s vivid imagination. There’s nothing transcendent or even particularly enlightening about Colton’s description of heaven. In fact, it is completely devoid of the breathtaking glory featured in every biblical description of the heavenly realm. That doesn’t deter Todd Burpo from singling out selective phrases and proof texts from Scripture, citing them as if they authenticated his son’s account. (p. 14) [Read more…] about John MacArthur on Died-and-went-to-heaven-and-back Books

MacArthur: “It’s very easy to be hard to understand”

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From an interview of John MacArthur on “expository leadership” (watch from 11:45 to 12:35):

The money quote:

It’s very easy to be hard to understand. It only requires that you not know what you’re talking about. And if you don’t know what you’re talking about, nobody else will either.

It’s very hard to be crystal-clear because in order to be crystal-clear you have to have mastered the text. [Read more…] about MacArthur: “It’s very easy to be hard to understand”

MacArthur Study Bible in the NIV

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I have a soft spot for The MacArthur Study Bible because it’s one of the first I read through (after this and then this a few times). I thank God for it—though I frequently wished that it was available in more translations than the NKJV. I was delighted when it expanded to the NASB and then the ESV.

Next year it will also be available in the NIV.

Thomas Nelson and Zondervan announced this yesterday:

For the first time, the world-renowned MacArthur Study Bible will be available in the 2011 updated New International Version (NIV) translation text. The Bible will feature John MacArthur’s original 20,000 study notes; an extensive topical index; and numerous charts, maps, outlines and articles.

Publishers Thomas Nelson Inc. and Zondervan are partnering on the project, with Zondervan licensing the NIV translation to Thomas Nelson, which will publish the Bible. The Bible is scheduled to release in Fall 2013.

“I’m delighted that The MacArthur Study Bible notes will now be easily accessible to NIV readers,” MacArthur says. “My prayer is [Read more…] about MacArthur Study Bible in the NIV

Iain Murray on John MacArthur and Fundamentalism

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Iain H. Murray, John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and Flock (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2011), 77–78:

MacArthur has written of Fundamentalism moving apart in two directions after World War II:

One wing, desperate for academic respectability, could not resist the pluralism of the modern age. . . . Another wing of Fundamentalism moved in the opposite direction. They were keenly aware that an obsession with academic respectability had led their brethren to abandon the fundamentals. For that reason they distrusted scholarship or spurned it altogether. This right wing of the fundamentalist movement was relentlessly fragmented by militant separatism. Petty concerns often replaced serious doctrine as the matter for discussion and debate. [N. 9: Reckless Faith: When the Church Loses Its Will to Discern (Wheaton: Crossway, 1994), pp. 95-6.] [Read more…] about Iain Murray on John MacArthur and Fundamentalism