Man Instead of God

Introduction

I remember first reading about the Preacher Standing in the Stead of God controversy here on the ‘fuge and other blogs about fifteen months ago, and honestly not being that rattled about it.  I can’t really explain it, other than at the time I thought it was a distraction from the “real” issues of SGM’s polity-or lack thereof-corrupting the finer points of theology and fostering authoritarian practices in all levels of its leadership.

However, the phrase kept coming up time and again in blog discussions, and I could see that whether or not it initially alarmed me, it was obviously troubling to a great deal of folks here on the blogs, and an obvious stumbling block to the reform that I was praying for and pursuing within and without SGM at the time.

That’s when I decided to do some serious research.

The Preacher Standing in the Stead of God controversy is both a symptom and description of much deeper issues regarding the view SGM leadership has of themselves and the flock in relationship to God.  As such, I believe the bombastic statements it makes requires at least a semi-scholarly response, and I have attempted to do so here.

Apologies for the color-coding, but this article reaches a quote-within-a-quote-within-a-quote level that I believe requires extra effort in distinctions between the writers/speakers to avoid confusion.  Here’s the color scheme (and ”PK’s post-of-many-colors” jokes are welcome and OK):

CJ Mahaney: blue

J.I. Packer: grey

Protestant Knight: black

Jeff Purswell: bright red

Charles Simeon: dark red

Of late I have been writing many research papers for school and found the required APA formatting to be easiest to use and do as well, particularly for citations and references.

–pk

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Man Instead of God

by Protestant Knight

In his blog entry titled “The Preacher Standing in the Stead of God,” C.J. Mahaney communicates in no uncertain terms what is of extreme-if not most-importance to him and Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM) in establishing the bride of Christ: “In Sovereign Grace we are committed to the primacy of preaching in building the local church.  And within this conviction is an awareness of the gravity of the preaching event” (Mahaney & Purswell, 2008, para. 1).

Mahaney continues briefly in introducing a transcribed segment of an address given by Jeff Purswell at the SGM Pastors College during a preaching conference in February of 2008.  I would encourage any reader to examine the entire blog entry and quote by Purswell to provide context, but here is the controversial segment, which includes Purswell quoting J.I. Packer:

Listen to this quote from a classic essay on preaching by J.I. Packer in The Preacher and Preaching.  Packer writes,

God’s standard way of securing and maintaining His person-to-person communication with us His human creatures is through the agency of persons whom He sends to us as His messengers….Such were the prophets and apostles, and such supremely was Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son….That is the succession in which we preachers today are called to stand.

It’s sobering that this is “the succession in which preachers today are called to stand.”  The moment of preaching is not simply one in which you-by virtue of your job or by virtue of the nameplate on your office door-get to stand up and share some thoughts.  No.  You are not sharing thoughts.  You are not Jay Leno.  You are not a talking head.  You are standing in the very stead of God.

Oh, that is a frightening thing (Mahaney & Purswell, 2008, para. 8).

The subjects most often commented about on this and other blogs are not only the problem-fraught “…standing in the very stead of God” type of statements, but also the parallel that Purswell attempts to establish between the present day preacher and Moses-the latter’s Mount Horeb “I AM” experience, and later the giving of the law, specifically (Mahaney & Purswell, 2008, para. 6).  This is a stretch, beloved, to say the least; however, I will not re-hash what has been on the blogs on the above subjects, with the exception and addition of:

• A simple definition and grammatical point
• The possible origins of the “…standing in the stead of God” language used by Purswell
• A complete version of the J.I. Packer quote used by Purswell, examined in context
• Contemplation of an analogy–one not often mentioned–by Purswell in the “Preacher Standing in the Stead of God” message excerpt

“In the Stead of” and “Instead”

The word “instead” is actually a contraction of the phrase, “in the stead” and like so many of our English words handed down through the centuries, “instead” was a contraction that-for better or worse-stuck.  In looking at dictionary.com’s definition of “instead”-which is based on the 2010 edition of the Random House Dictionary-the first usage listed gives the following definition: “as a substitute or replacement; in the place or stead of [emphasis added] someone or something” (“instead“, 2010, para. 1).  So, in fact, looking at the phrase, “the preacher standing in the stead of God,” it is essentially saying “the preacher standing instead of God,” in modern vernacular.  It gets all the more harrowing in this context when you see it refers to a “replacement” or “substitute” in terms of “someone or something.”

Where Purswell’s Use of “Standing in the Stead of God” May Have Come From

In his message, Purswell quotes from J.I. Packer’s “Why Preach?”  This is a 29-page introduction to the book The Preacher and Preaching (Logan, Jr., 1986).  What is interesting to note is Packer quotes Charles Simeon in the same introduction in the same book;  interesting because Simeon’s comments created a serious blip on my radar for obvious reasons:

“Ministers are ambassadors for God and speak in Christ’s stead,” wrote Charles Simeon. “If they preach what is founded on the Scriptures, their word, as far as it is agreeable to the mind of God, is to be considered as God’s.  This is asserted by our Lord and His apostles.  We ought to therefore receive the preacher’s word as the word of God himself” [Pollard, 1959, pp. 188-189].  There is no nobler calling than to serve God as a preacher of the divine word (Logan, Jr., 1986, pp. 24-25).

No one is going to start riots because Purswell did not credit Simeon on the “in…stead [of]” phraseology.  That being said, it is a pretty safe bet this is where the language came from, as it sits in the same volume within a few pages from the Packer quote that Purswell uses to back his point.  All of this needs better framing by what Packer actually said in his “Introduction: Why Preach” from The Preacher and Preaching.

J.I. Packer on Preaching

Here is Purswell’s quotation of Packer again, with the missing segments in bold and underlined by me to differentiate.  This includes the beginning and the segments missing within the ellipses (the “…”) that help provide better context:

Now the Bible makes it appear that God’s standard way of securing and maintaining His person-to-person communication with us His human creatures is through the agency of persons whom He sends to us as His messengers.  By being made God’s spokesmen and mouthpieces for His message, the messengers become emblems, models, and embodiments of God’s personal address to each of their hearers, and by their own commitment to the message they bring, they become models also of personal response to that address. Such were the prophets and apostles, and such supremely was Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son, who has been described as being both God for man and man for God. That is the succession in which we preachers today are called to stand (Logan, Jr., 1986, pp. 15-16).

To my brothers and sisters in Christ, within and without SGM: Before we or any preacher get lost in any illusions of positional grandeur, it is of great importance to know what Packer correctly attributes to whom in the above statement regarding one aspect in God’s methodology in preaching:

• Man: human, creature, spokesman, messenger, emblem, model, embodiment
• Jesus Christ: God incarnate, supreme spokesman, supreme messenger, supreme emblem, supreme model, and supreme embodiment via “God for man, and man for God”

I would appeal that we never forget this before we start talking so highly about ourselves.  I am also submitting that in the twenty-nine pages of Packer’s “Introduction: Why Preach?” there is an entirely different tone.  Packer’s theme is one of service to a flock, and not governance over plebeians.

Statues

Admittedly, this is the only part of this critique where keeping my emotions in check in any type of cool-headed scholarly fashion is difficult, to say the least.

In making his point through analogy, I believe Purswell makes what is arguably one of the poorest choices possible, and then uses such man-glorifying language to buttress this analogy that I am at times bankrupt for words in expressing my revulsion to it:

Just as in the ancient Near East a king, in vast provinces he cannot travel to, would set up huge statues of himself which represented his presence and authority, in the same way God has set up an image of himself to represent and reflect himself.  And that is man. And this impacts the way God communicates, as he speaks through divinely appointed messengers.  After man was ejected from the Garden, God has communicated to his people by mediating his word through someone.  Even the Scriptures were mediated from God through someone (Mahaney & Purswell, 2008, para. 5).

Even re-reading it now months later since that first reading, this passage still takes my breath away, in a bad way.

Let us be very clear on what Scripture and history relates to us in terms of a statue, and in particular a statue of a king.  I would first suggest a simple systematic search of verses and sections of scripture that contain the word “statue,” to see primarily what their reputation is in scripture, even if statues in and of themselves may at times not be inherently evil unless they fall under the description of being an idol (worshipped) in the category within the Second Commandment.   This link will help facilitate such a study across five different translations of the Bible.

Second, I would look briefly at the examples of history in the context of the statues of leaders.  Particularly analyze how the past, present, and future has treated the citizenry whom live(d) in the shadows of the statues of “near east kings” like the Pharaohs, the kings of Babylon, the Kings of Persia, the Mesopotamian kings, and the Sultans, just to name a few.  This is aside from the statues and iconography erected to honor the Roman emperors, the Byzantine emperors, the Popes, Mussolini, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Kim Jong-il, Ho-Chi-Minh, and Ceauşescu.  In regard to the statues of leaders and whatever subjective feelings there are on the part of any of us, I think a general consensus can be reached that this analogy is a poor one.

Purswell stated that “God has set up an image of himself to represent and reflect himself.”  You bet He has.  And I would argue that God’s supreme image of representation and reflection is in Jesus Christ and Him alone.  He alone is deserving of this type of language of worship, honor, adoration, affection, and service.

“You are standing in the very stead of God. Oh, that is a frightening thing.”  It’s frightening, all right.  That is, frightening in a cosmic sense when you try to raise a man’s head to the level of Christ’s crown, let alone trying to raise it above that crown.

When the flock is offered (and chooses) icons and statues of man instead of God, the result is every sort of mayhem and grief that runs the gamut of the imaginable up through the unimaginable.

The only things I want standing in my province to remind me of the presence and authority of my Ruler is an Empty Cross and an Empty Tomb.  And when He returns and stands in my province, my face will gladly hit the ground.

–pk

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References

Logan, S. T., Jr. (Ed.). (1986). The preacher and preaching. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed.

Mahaney, C., & Purswell, J. (2008, July 5). The preacher standing in the stead of God [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Blog/post/The-Preacher-Standing-in-the-Stead-of-God.aspx

Pollard, A. (Ed.). (1959). Let Wisdom Judge. London: Inter-Varsity Press.

instead. (2010). In Dictionary.com unabridged. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/cite.html?qh=instead&ia=luna