Customer Reviews

The Body Dynamic - Finding Where You Fit in Today's Church

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In short, I was unimpressed with this book. I guess I was expecting something different.

The first four chapters of the book discuss the Church. These chapters are pretty much a simple review of the Church, what it is, how it was formed, who is the head, how you get into it, and things like that.

The last six chapters discuss how the Church works in the world. There is a chapter on acting like a member of the body, building up the body, unity of the body, fellowship, and witness. There was also a large chapter on gifts of the body, which describes the different spiritual gifts people are given for use in the Church.

Essentially, the Church is the body of Christ. Christ is the head of the Church. The Holy Spirit works through the people in the Church to accomplish God's will. The members and leaders of the Church should use their gifts to build up and unite the Church to witness to the world about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

If you are already familiar with the scriptures dealing with the Church (Ephesians and 1 Corinthians) then you can probably skip this book. If you are not familiar with those scriptures then I would recommend reading those books of the Bible first and then if you still don't understand get a copy of this book to further your studies of the Church.

Dr. John MacArthur is one of my favorite Bible teachers. The main reason I enjoy his ministry (Grace To You) so much is because of his heart to stay true to sound doctrine (1 Timothy 4:16; Titus 2:1). MacArthur passionately preaches the Word of God in its sanctifying truth (John 17:17).

In this work, THE BODY DYNAMIC, Dr. MacArthur takes us through the Scriptures to see what the Bible teaches about the Church of Jesus Christ. He begins his book by rightly showing that the Church is the Body of Christ (Ephesians 5:22-33) and ends the book by revealing how the Church is to be a witness to the world of the truth of Christ (Acts 1:8). He leaves nothing untouched about the Church in regard to election, salvation, the formation, and the gifts of the Spirit given to the Body of Christ.

Overall this is a good study of the Church. While I didn't agree fully with MacArthur over spiritual gifts or even various positions of leadership in the Church, I am thankful that MacArthur stays true to his text. You will enjoy reading this book.

See also Frank Viola's RETHINKING THE WINESKINS.

The following is actually a reaction paper that I wrote for a class after reading The Body Dynamic. I don't suggest you use this paper for your own class...


As I was reading through John MacArthur Jr.'s The Body Dynamic, there were several areas in the book that I found myself having issues with. These areas included the author's attempted explanation of election, his unorthodox use of scripture fragments that seem not to relate to the point he is discussing, the cultural irrelevance of pieces of his book, and how the author handles the topic of spiritual gifts. For the sake of brevity, this paper will discuss the issues I had with his handling of the concepts of election and spiritual gifts.

The first major issue I have with The Body Dynamic is with the way MacArthur introduces the concept of election in the first few pages of the book. My issue is not with the fact that he begins the book with such a debatable topic as much as it is with how he tries to prove his point of election. First, MacArthur cites John 15:16 as referring to the election of the believer. However, in this verse Jesus is speaking directly to the disciples at the time of the Last Supper. To take this statement and use it as a proof of election is to seemingly mislead the reader. Second, MacArthur then cites John 1:12-13. However, this passage also makes no mention of being chosen by God. In fact, the passage clearly states that it is the believer who receives and accepts Christ.

MacArthur then tries to wrap up his explanation of the concept of election when faced with a person's responsibility in choosing to serve Christ on page 16 by saying, "I don't know how God resolves those tensions, but I am content to leave the resolution with him." Personally, if I were writing a book about any given theological discussion, I certainly wouldn't open it with a difficult concept that I couldn't explain concretely. That is no way to earn a reader's confidence in the writer's ability to understand and clearly communicate any sort of truth. I found it rather humorous that in the Study Guide section at the end of the book, MacArthur encourages the reader to "ask God to help you have a better grasp of this area of Scripture truth." I wonder if I didn't have a better grasp on the concept of election before I started reading The Body Dynamic and getting rather confused by it.

The second major issue I have with the book is how MacArthur attempts to handle the topic of spiritual gifts. On page 102, MacArthur states, "[Some people] wrongly attempt to generate artificial, emotional, and even satanic activity, and then call such activities the work of the Spirit." However, he gives no reference to anything specific that would back his claim. It is awfully bold to declare something satanic, but almost cowardly to not then give examples or even attempt to explain what he is referring. When making accusations of that sort, it would be beneficial to the reader if he defended his viewpoint. To take the "trust me on this one" attitude that the silence suggests seems to be a cavalier and dangerous thing to do. I personally have an idea of what he may be referring to, but to not be certain might make some people paranoid wondering what MacArthur might mean by that statement.

Also, I thought that the way MacArthur tried to explain the difference between prophets and the gift of prophecy through the second half of the book was unconvincing, at best. In chapter 6, MacArthur says that prophets were only a part of the early church, and that once the New Testament was established, God was done speaking through prophets. He then refers to the book of Revelation's speaking of not adding to or subtracting from God's written word as proof that prophets are no longer needed in the church after the New Testament.
He later states that "prophets" and the "gift of prophecy" are not referring to the same thing, and that the mention of the gift of prophecy in 1 Corinthians 12 is actually referring to preaching. However, in the six different translations of the Bible that I researched (NIV, KJV, NKJV, NLT, Amplified, RSV), none of them makes reference to the gift of prophecy being associated with preaching. In spite of this, MacArthur begins to cite scriptures on page 106, but he replaces the word "prophecy" with the word "preaching" in each verse. That seems to me to be treading dangerously close to the adding to and subtracting from the written word of God that he claimed was the very reason prophets don't exist anymore. I would think that if the gift of prophecy were such a difficult topic for him to explain, that it might have been easier for him to simply include it with the other "temporary" gifts that he summarily dismisses on page 105, and the book may have flowed a little better for him then.

In conclusion, with all of the issues that I had with John MacArthur, Jr.'s The Body Dynamic, it became one of the most difficult reads I've ever experienced. It was not difficult from any technically challenging standpoint as much as it was difficult not to simply put the book down and walk away from it.

Long considered the classic volume on the Chesapeake Bay country. In it famous figures live again: Captain John Smith, known to every school child as the man rescued by Pocahontas, who said of the Eastern Shore of virginia: "Heaven & earth seemed never to have agreed better to have framed a place for man's habitation," and whose explorations were such an integral part of the history of the regions; Francis Scott Key, who was inspired to write "The Star Spangled Banner" aboard a British ship which was bombarding Fort McHenry; signers of the Declaration of Independence.

But if the reader is given new insights into familiar personalities & their exploits, he is also made privy to tales concerning lesser known persons & places which are no less interesting. Many of these, described in brief, could well be the nuclei of whole novels.

There is, for example, the tale of Colonel George Talbot of St. Mary's County, a member of the Council, who had an altercation with the King's Collector-General & fatalaly stabbed him. Fearful that he could not receive a fair trial in Maryland, he had a change of venue made to Virginia, then subsequently received permission to go to England. But by that time he had already fled the environs. Legend has it that he found a haven in a distant manor in Cecil County, took refuge in a case, and was fed by two trained hawks who brought him wild fowl from the river to serve as sustenance.

Or there is the story of Tulip Hill in Anne Arundel County, an outstanding example of colonial architecture at its best. Sometimes known as the "Old Galloway Place," when it was being built Mrs. Galloway was an invalid, and the staircase was therefore constructed with exceptionally easy rises. It is reported that one of the Galloway sons returned from the capital one night in such high spirits after an evening of revelry that he rode his horse straight up to his room. Which may explain the print of a rough-shod horse's hooves on the stairs, which one can discern if one looks closely.

What material for a romantic historical novel in the section on the "Taney Place," the birthplace of Chief Justice Roger Taney & the site of a duel between Miles Taney & John Magruder, both of whom were smitten by the same beautiful Baltimore belle. During the course of a festive dinner Taney made a remark about the lady, which angered Magruder to such a point that the latter, undoubedly encouraged by a generous consumption of wine, slapped his rival's face. Whereupon Taney drew his pocket knife and stabbed Magruder through the heart. Then, aided by his slaves & the darkness of the night, he escaped through a secret passage & made his way out of the state.

How Hope House was sold for a case of spirits, how Bowie Racetrack got its name, why early colonists burned down plantation houses to secure the nails used in building them - these are but a few of the nuggets to be found in this historical treasure chest.

And the copioous photographs of boats, landscapes, the exteriors & interiors of houses, persons & college campuses add visual enchantment to the text while reminding Americans of the richness of their artistic & historical heritage.