I have been enjoying Tom Schreiner's new commentary on Galatians of late, especially some comments he made regarding a proper attitude towards those in authority.
The Zondervan Exegetical Commentary has a section called "Theology in Application" and in Schreiner's section on Galatians 2.1-10, he makes these remarks:
Our evangelical subculture (and larger culture as well!) tends to be dazzled by our religious superstars. How thankful we are for the ministries of pastors like John McArthur, John Piper, Mark Driscoll, and Tim Keller! And yet we must not venerate them. Some virtually become the disciples of these pastors (and others), and hence they fiercely and dogmatically defend every opinion of such men. Unfortunately, they buy into our celebrity culture and the word of famous pastors in effect becomes more important than the Word of God. We can unwittingly become incredibly secular even when we are talking about the Word of God. Paul warns us of the danger of venerating any human being. The gospel of Christ and the Word of God are our authority, and the pastors I named would agree that is not their word but the gospel that must be prized. May the Lord keep us from venerating evangelical superstars, so that our praise and adoration and wonder are directed to God in Christ alone (italics mine; 134).
1 comment:
Thank you, Matthew, for this post. I have been thinking about the trap of "personality cult". Good quote.
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