Ray Ortlund is a famous Protestant teacher and The "Gospel" Coalition Emeritus Council member.
Like many Protestants, he is uncomfortable with Jesus commanding his slaves what we should do or not do.
So to reduce this discomfort, he proposes...
Did you notice how popular this crazy idea is?
182 Retweets. 2179 Likes.
There were many criticisms in the comments but the majority of people who responded to this tweet approved of it.
Compare this with Kevin De Young's tweet here, 1 Retweet, 7 Likes:
Anyway, Ray Ortlund defines preaching "you should live a better life" as preaching "law".
Preaching "you can live a better life" is preaching "gospel".
Let's compare Ray Ortlund's preaching with the preaching of Jesus and his true apostles.
Note that all I do is quote Scripture and sometimes explain it a bit or apply it a bit.
The next day, Ray Ortlund followed up. He wrote a blog post for The Gospel Coalition (TGC). Clearly his crazy idea was accepted by the TGC editors. Then he posted the blog post on his Twitter feed.
He blogged basically the same thing. So I replied by quoting the same Scripture as an example of how Apostle Paul's preaching was not like what Ray Ortlund recommends.
Apostle Paul would NEVER have accepted Ray Ortlund's crazy idea that preaching "you should live a better life" is preaching "law" while preaching "you can live a better life" is preaching "gospel".
What happened after he read the same Scripture quote showing that his crazy idea needs to be corrected?
I just replied by quoting Scripture.
We've seen so far that Ray Ortlund's understanding of "gospel", "law", "grace", "patience", "Jesus", "power" doesn't match Apostle Paul's definition in Scripture.
These errors Ray Ortlund combine to inspire his crazy idea which:
- contradicts Apostle Paul's example of preaching "should(s)"
and
- contradicts Apostle Paul's command to Timothy and Titus on how to preach.
So did these clear-cut, explicit commands from Apostle Paul on how to preach compel him finally to change his mind?
Was he willing to revise his understanding of "gospel", "law", "grace", "patience", "Jesus", "power" to match the Scripture's definition?
AGAIN. 2nd time.
Then a strange reply came from another tweeter.
Didn't get any reply.
I got a feeling he didn't realise that I was basically quoting Acts26v18, 20 but since it sounded like too much emphasis on "performing deeds" for him, he thought it was necessary to qualify the Scripture.
Again, notice the instinctive Protestant reaction to any mention of "performing deeds".
But Ray Ortlund's not done defending his crazy idea.
So instead of just learning how to preach from Apostle Paul, Ray Ortlund seems to be implying that Jesus preached like Ray Ortlund? So, instead of preaching "you should live a better life", "Jesus" preached "you can live a better life"?
Let's see whether Jesus had any problems preaching "you should _____".
So both Jesus' 12 apostles and Jesus himself preached "you should" and "you must". Not merely "you can".
Did Ray Ortlund finally, finally decide to revise his understanding of "gospel", "law", "grace", "patience", "Jesus", "power" and "hermeneutics" to match the Scripture?
Still refusing to abandon his wrong definition of "law". Now he switches terms from "law" to "Old Covenant". He cites 2 Cor 3 as apparently supporting his crazy idea.
Dear reader, please understand that when Apostle Paul speaks of the "law", most of the time, Paul was referring to the Mosaic law, the Old Covenant laws that Israel had to obey before the coming of Jesus Christ.
Christians are not under the Mosaic law.
We are not required to keep all the Old Covenant laws. But Christians are under the law of Christ.
We are required to keep all the New Covenant laws contained in the teaching of Jesus and his apostles.
Let me show you by inserting the word "Mosaic" (unbolded) to help you understand exactly which "law" Apostle Paul was referring to.
1 Cor 9v20-21: 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the Mosaic law I became as one under the Mosaic law (though not being myself under the Mosaic law) that I might win those under the Mosaic law. 21 To those outside the Mosaic law I became as one outside the Mosaic law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the Mosaic law.
From 1 Cor 9v20, you can see that Apostle Paul and all Christians are not under Mosaic law, we are not required to keep all of the Old Covenant laws.
From 1 Cor 9v21, you can see that Apostle Paul and all Christians are still within the law of God, required to keep God's laws. Specifically, Apostle Paul and all Christians are under the law of Christ. We are required to keep all of the New Covenant laws. We keep God's law in the form of the law of Christ, the commands of Jesus and his apostles.
Ray Ortlund's error is that he has broadened the definition of "law" to refer to both Mosaic law + the law of Christ. This is a very bad error.
Ray Ortlund thinks 2 Cor 3 supports his crazy idea. But let's see what 2 Cor 3 means briefly. Please take out your Bible and compare my short comments on several verses with what is written in Scripture. Test and see if what I say is true and faithful to God's Word.
Did Ray Ortlund finally, finally, finally decide to revise his understanding of "gospel", "law", "grace", "patience", "Jesus", "power", "hermeneutics", "how the Old Covenant killed", "how the more glorious New Covenant gives life" and 2 Cor 3 to match the Scripture?
AGAIN! 3rd time.
AND AGAIN! 4TH TIME, now via Renewal Ministries, Ray Ortlund's ministry.
TGC: THE GOSPEL COALITION. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
Let's face the truth. The truth is that a large number of Protestants, including in TGC, believe this kind of "gospel" teaching! They love this kind of "gospel"! They want preachers who will preach to them in such a way that will allow them to be having the appearance of godliness but denying its power (2 Tim 3v5). Avoid such people (2 Tim 3v5).
Many don't want the Holy Spirit to carry out his true New Covenant ministry of righteousness in bringing them to repentance from sin and giving them the power to live new lives of righteousness. Many don't want to ACTUALLY be TRANSFORMED more and more and more into the glorious, righteous image of Christ! They don't want the Spirit's power to help them increasingly put ALL their ACTUAL sins to death. They're ok with the Spirit's power if it puts SOME of their ACTUAL sins to death. But then they say "enough". They don't want to continue being transformed into the same image from ONE DEGREE OF GLORY to ANOTHER (cf 2 Cor 3v18). They have a cap, a limit, to the amount of transformation they will accept. Beyond a certain point, "Nope, that's enough Holy Spirit. I'm ok letting those sins go. But I'm going to still hold on to some of these sins."
But of course, they still want to appear godly. So they still go to church. They proudly proclaim their man-made Protestant slogans: justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone...
This is their "gospel". Their "Jesus" preaches "can" not "should".
Let's imitate the real Jesus and the real apostles and preach "should" as "should". But to Ray Ortlund and co, this is preaching "law" not "gospel".
Don't follow Ray Ortlund's crazy idea.
Imitate Jesus' and His Apostles' way of preaching the Good News.
Some time later, he posted more on "grace" from Eph 2v8-9. I'm updating this post with his later tweets because these are all inter-connected. There is a systemic error in the Protestant "gospel" that affects so many key truths, including the teaching on "grace".
Article 11 of the Anglican Church's 39 Articles states:
XI. Of the Justification of Man.
We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by Faith only, is a most wholesome Doctrine, and very full of comfort, as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification.
Rev 3v1-6:
3 “And to the Messenger of the congregation in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
“‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. 4 Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are WORTHY. 5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his Messengers. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Link to the post referred to above: https://searchingscripture.wixsite.com/solascriptura/post/some-protestants-don-t-believe-iroc-too
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