John Piper:
I love this Book. I love this Book way more than the Institutes
… or way more than Jonathan Edwards
.
An Arminian who is a lover of this Book – and you can smell humility on that guy, an absolute submission to this Book – man, can I go a long way with that guy! I can talk to him all day long.
But if a Calvinist comes along who never quotes this Book, but just quotes Calvin – I don’t want to spend any time with him. I’m not interested. He’s just always blabbering away. He’s read some latest catechism or some latest book, and he’s on to this doctrine or that doctrine… I want to say: “Would you give me a verse?! Give me a verse. I just want to hear God come out of your mouth!”
In that sense, I hope that I’m a winsome person. If an Arminian says, “Look, I think that everything I say is in this Book.” I say: “Me too! Let’s talk! Let’s go to this Book together. Let’s worship the God we see in this Book.” It’s amazing how far you can go with those people.
(HT:
T-Wax)
1 comment:
Z,
This is a fantastic quote- thanks for passing it along. It gets at something I've noticed recently, which is that the New Calvinist movement has more to do with people who love the Bible and have a high view of God than even Calvinism itself. It's just that these traits are there in most Calvinists, and Calvinists like Piper were the leaders of the group.
A good example of someone who is in "our camp" but who is an Arminian is Fred Sanders. I never get hung up on his Arminianism (in fact, he has read so much more than me that I wouldn't pretend to be able to confront it with any seriousness), but I love how God-centered he is. And for Sanders part, I've been to his church here in southern California a number of times, and it is a strongly Calvinist kind of place. But I know for a fact that he loves it because it is God-centered and Scripture-saturated.
I also think of A. W. Tozer generally and Knowledge of the Holy specifically as good examples of a similar thing.
Anyway, thanks for passing the quote along.
Andrew Faris
Someone Tell Me the Story
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