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Death by Love: Letters from the Cross (Re:Lit)

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Death by Love is Mark Driscoll's fourth book (or eighth if you count the "A Book You'll Actually Read" series of booklets released earlier this year by Crossway) and the second to be released in the 2008 calendar year. It follows Vintage Jesus, Confessions of a Reformission Rev. and The Radical Reformission. Along with Vintage Jesus it is the second to be co-written with Gerry Breshears. Death by Love is unique among Driscoll's books in that it is serious in tone from the first page to the last; gone is the sometimes-irreverent humor and gone is the biographical theme. In place comes a deadly-serious look at deadly-serious theology.

The book is written in quite a unique format. Following the model of the biblical epistles, Driscoll writes letters to his congregation--individuals who have come to him for pastoral counsel through the years of his ministry. He writes letters to address their issues in light of the gospel. "Our approach is an effort to show that there is no such thing as Christian community or Christian ministry apart from a rigorous theology of the cross that is practically applied to the lives of real people." By perusing the table of contents the reader can quickly see the themes of the book and the contexts in which Driscoll writes about them:

Introduction
We Killed God: Jesus Is Our Substitutionary Atonement

"Demons Are Tormenting Me"
Jesus Is Katie's Christus Victor

"Lust Is My God"
Jesus Is Thomas's Redemption

"My Wife Slept with My Friend"
Jesus Is Luke's New Covenant Sacrifice

"I Am a 'Good' Christian"
Jesus Is David's Gift Righteousness

"I Molested a Child"
Jesus Is John's Justification

"My Dad Used to Beat Me"
Jesus Is Bill's Propitiation

"He Raped Me"
Jesus Is Mary's Expiation

"My Daddy Is a Pastor"
Jesus Is Gideon's Unlimited Limited Atonement

"I Am Going to Hell"
Jesus Is Hank's Ransom

"My Wife Has a Brain Tumor"
Jesus Is Caleb's Christus Exemplar

"I Hate My Brother"
Jesus Is Kurt's Reconciliation

"I Want to Know God"
Jesus Is Susan's Revelation

Appendix:
Recommended Reading on the Cross

Similar to Vintage Jesus (and the forthcoming Vintage Church), Mark Driscoll writes the bulk of the text while Gerry Breshears offers questions and answers relevant to the topic at the close of each chapter.

The book is targeted at a general audience and is intended to share with these people a biblical theology of the cross. "We write this book not with the intention of pleasing all of the scholars who may find here various points about which to quibble. Rather, our hope is to make otherwise complicated truths understandable to regular folks so that their love for and worship of Jesus would increase as they pick up their cross to follow him. Additionally, we write in hopes of serving fellow pastors and other Christian leaders who bear the responsibility of teaching and leading people. We are heartbroken that the cross of Jesus Christ is under attack by some and dismissed by others. This book is our attempt to respond in a way that helps to ensure that the cross remains at the crux of all that it means to think and live like Jesus."

In most cases, Driscoll covers the topics well. He writes with a true pastor's heart and shares deep and important theology with the reader. He grounds all help, whether it is to overcome lust or doubt or marital infidelity, in the cross. He constantly turns the reader's gaze to the cross and to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The great strength of Death by Love is the "realness" of the book. This is no abstract theology torn from any genuine context. Instead, it is theology from the battlefield of pastoral ministry. It is a pastor's attempt to offer comfort or demand repentance from the people God has called him to lead.

Those, like me, who have expressed disappointment with the occasional moment of irreverence in Driscoll's former books will find little to complain about here. The writing is serious and carries a gravitas appropriate to the subject matter. While there are moments of heart-rending pain and depravity in these letters, they represent real-life situations and a pastor's reaction to them. While the book's theology is largely sound, there are a couple of exceptions. Many readers will object to what Driscoll teaches in Chapter 8, "My Daddy is a Pastor." This chapter is written to Gideon Driscoll, Mark's youngest son. Here he encourages his son not to take faith for granted but does so in the context of a doctrine known as "unlimited limited atonement." This is guaranteed to alienate most of his audience since so few people hold to it (Bruce Ware being one notable exception). While I'll grant that Driscoll does a good job in explaining the doctrine (or doing so as well as it can be explained), it was not convincing. Some may also struggle with the chapter on being tormented by demons and on Driscoll's teaching on that subject.

What makes Death by Love so different from his other books is what makes it good. Driscoll holds his tongue, refusing to bring his trademark humor to this book. In this case it is a very good thing as the subject demands a serious tone. Driscoll looks at real-life crises and offers biblical wisdom and hope. While I have struggled in the past to recommend Driscoll's books, I have little hesitation in recommending this one.

The book is laid out as a set of twelve pastoral letters to people Driscoll has counseled, each section applying an aspect of the redemptive work of Jesus to their lives. With chapters like "My Wife Slept with My Friend," "My Dad Used to Beat Me," "My Wife Has a Brain Tumor" and "I Molested a Child," these letters are extremely heavy stuff. However, I found myself in tears more than once as I got to see the gospel given to broken, hurting people.

I really loved this book for a number of reasons. Let me offer two. First, the format is extremely helpful. I remember hearing Bryan Chapell comment that "If we try to apply a text to everyone, we reach nobody. If we apply it to a single individual, we reach everyone else too." I've read lots of books about the ideas Mark is discussing here. I can't think of any of them which have made me feel the truths as profoundly. I was especially struck by the chapters on justification and redemption; both ideas are far from new to me, but hearing them through different ears made me even more grateful for them myself.

Second, I really appreciate the breadth Driscoll assigns to Christ's work on the cross. He draws on twelve different aspects, ranging from the traditionally Protestant (justification, propitiation, imputation) to those which we often ignore (Christus Victor, Christus Exemplar, Jesus as the revelation of God). It is all too common to pit some of these "atonement theories" against each other in a way that the Bible, which teaches them all as an interconnected whole, does not in any way warrant. His chapter on Jesus as our example is especially helpful, drawing on all that goes into suffering with Christ and taking up our cross without thinking that this idea is somehow hostile to penal substitution or grace. Overall, Driscoll does a great job of showing the many sides of the jewel of the atonement without trying to insist that any one is better than another.

There were a few quibbles some evangelicals might have with this book theologically, but they are secondary to its overall goal. There were also a few pot-shots taken which I thought were unhelpful. I agreed with his critiques for the most part, but it does break the sense of personal address which the letters provide. I think that there might be some who are turned off by an offhanded comment or two and miss the central truths Driscoll discusses.

I also had one formatting complaint: at the end of each chapter is a set of common questions about the doctrine being discussed. While these were mostly helpful, I felt that they often shattered the tone of the book. I think they might have been better placed in an appendix, allowing further reading if necessary without breaking up the main text. However, this is more a tribute to the quality of the chapters themselves than a huge problem.

Overall, I really enjoyed Death by Love, and I hope it gets a wide readership. I would especially encourage those of you who hate Driscoll for one reason or another to pick it up and read it through. You will benefit greatly from the gospel truths it contains, and it might soften you toward the man as well. Ironically, perhaps its a testament to the gospel that Driscoll himself, flaws and all, seems to be called as a minister of the God of grace.

Mark Driscoll is accused of being many things. I would like to accuse him of being spot on in "Death By Love". His approach to this book is different than much of his previous writing - it is far more pastoral, with "letters" to people included. The goal of this book and these "letters" is to help people be transformed by the amazing grace that is Jesus Christ. Driscoll is Gospel centered in this book, and wise in his counsel. Jesus was victorious on the Cross, saving us from our sinful selves, and Driscoll does a good job of putting that into a perspective that applies to day-to-day living. While it is theological, it is not abstract. Driscoll doesn't shy away from tough or even potentially controversial subject matter. He approaches it head on and earnestly, giving his unapologetic style real world teeth.

Mark Driscoll thinks the cross is the answer to your problem. That's right. Whatever your problem, the cross provides the answer.

In Death by Love: Letters from the Cross (Crossway, 2008), Driscoll describes the cross as a multi-faceted jewel that needs to be appreciated in all its biblical glory. He refuses to pit one theory of the atonement against another, instead insisting that the proper view of the cross will lead to proper pastoral application of each theory.

"Most poor teaching about the cross results from someone's denying one of these facets, ignoring one of these facets, or overemphasizing one of these facets at the expense of others, often due to an overreaction to someone else's overreaction. Such narrow and reactionary theology has tragically caused the beauty of the cross to become obscured by the various warring teams that have risen up to argue for their systematic theology rather than bowing down in humble worship of the crucified Jesus." (10)

Driscoll may be committed to letting all of the atonement theories have their place, but he remains staunchly committed to the traditional substituationary view. He takes on the recent critics of the substitutionary view:

"Such critics are also commonly known to be the most vocal of hypocrites, simultaneously demanding justice on the earth for the poor, oppressed, and abused, while denying God the same kind of justice that is due him by those people that he created to glorify him with sinless obedience." (22)

One might say that Driscoll sees substitution as the central theory, around which all the other theories find their ultimate meaning and strongest application.

Strengths

Death by Love contains powerful imagery. You cannot read the accounts of sin and its consequences without feeling a sense of holy rage and holy sadness. Driscoll does not tone down his talk about evil. He describes it in gut-wrenching detail.

Another strength of Death by Love is the nature of Driscoll's pastoral insights. He is able to apply the atonement practically without neglecting the powerful theological content necessary to do the job. Who would have thought that a book on the cross for a popular level audience would include a chapter on Driscoll's view of "unlimited limited atonement"? Even more, who would have expected a chapter like this to be so practical (and convicting)?

I was glad to see that Driscoll did not argue for merely one atonement theory at the expense of the others. The different motifs are weaved into most of the letters. The chapter on reconciliation, for example, overlaps with the Christus Victor theme. The reason for such overlap comes from Driscoll's commitment to explaining the atonement biblically instead of forcing artificial distinctions upon the atonement theories.

This commitment to the beauty of each aspect of the atonement gives Death by Love a depth sadly missing from many evangelical books on the cross. For example, when Driscoll tells someone to forgive his dad who beat him mercilessly, he is able to ground the appeal to forgiveness in the cross itself. This makes his instruction much richer and deeper than just telling the man to "forgive."

Weaknesses

At times, Driscoll describes Jesus' crucifixion in gruesome detail that rivals Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ. This kind of detail can be useful in preaching, especially due to our tendency to sanitize what happened at Calvary. Still, I cannot help but ask why (if such detail is necessary) the Gospels avoid such gruesome depictions. Breshears rightly points out that "fascination with blood itself has no resonance with the Bible," (85) which makes me wonder why Driscoll describes the bloody cross in so much detail in many of his letters.

Readers may grow weary at times of the repetition in these letters. Since each chapter is a letter from Driscoll to a specific individual, the chapters tend to repeat previous themes again and again. The letter-format explains why this is the case, but the average reader might grow weary of the repetition.

The other weakness of the book is the absence of the Church. Of course, it could be said that the book contains Driscoll's letters to individuals. True. But where is the biblical emphasis on Jesus dying to create a church, breaking down barriers between Jew and Gentile in order to form a worldwide community of believers from every tribe and tongue and nation? I expected this theme to come up in the chapter on reconciliation, but it did not.

Perhaps a chapter called "Jesus is my Church Membership" could have been written to the scores of young people today who see the believing community as an optional aspect of the Christian faith instead of one of the central reasons why Christ died.

Overall, Death by Love: Letters from the Cross is a solid book that ably demonstrates the power of Jesus' Passion for everyday life. Pastors and laypeople alike will benefit from the cross-centered counseling that fills these "letters."

When I heard about this book, the thing that interested me was that it took real life stories and told of their connection to Christ's death. Why is Jesus the answer for the woman who has been raped? Why is Jesus the answer for the pedophile? Why is Jesus the answer for the man whose wife has cheated on him?

I bought the book because in my own life, I often see a separation between hurting people and the gospel, I was hoping to gain insight as to how to counsel individuals who have gone through similar trauma. I think I was expecting more of a narrative. Each chapter starts with a short narrative, and each letter of response from Mark Driscoll begins very warmly and in the concrete, but I found myself struggling to track with the responses. There was a very definite demarcation between the "theology" part and the "real life" part. I was hoping there wouldn't be, which is why I bought the book. From the title, cover, and much of the letters written, I got the feeling Mark was trying to communicate that Christ's horrible suffering and death takes Him from an abstract theology to a very relatable, concrete personhood. The problem is that it's hard to relate to torture, and also hard to explain to people who are hurting that someone else's torture absorbs and alleviates their own.

All that being said, the book does give a great defense of substitutionary atonement. He explains it in very simple language. I was moved and inspired by the author's heart of love for each of the people he dealt with. And I appreciate that he presented Christ as the answer. I guess I was hoping that His life and resurrection would play into that answer a little more.

Books on the cross - what it accomplished, the significance, etc. - seem to be a dime a dozen in Christian publishing. Safe to say it's a fairly saturated niche, so you may be wondering how any book on the topic could present a fresh perspective. However, that's exactly what Mark Driscoll does in "Death by Love".

Using a modern day Pauline-type approach, Driscoll explains the far reaching power and significance of Christ's work on the cross by using examples of friends, family, and acquaintances. The result is a powerfully instructional work, which gives practical examples of the importance of the cross. Additionally, I loved getting a sneak peak at Driscoll's approach to counseling and evangelism.

As with the other Driscoll/Breshears book, "Vintage Jesus", this book includes a Q&A section at the end of each chapter to address potential questions or problems that the reader might have after completing the chapter. The insight that Breshears brings to these sections is appreciated.

Driscoll takes a lot of, in my opinion, often misguided heat for his preaching style and humor, but those elements are nonexistent in this book. "Death by Love" is just solid, challenging teaching.

Pastoral ministry is messy. It just is. Pastors stand on the front lines of the battle on a daily basis. Often times, based on confidentiality and complexity, there are few folks to talk to about the various scenarios that they are dealing with.

Therefore my ears perk up when I hear that a fellow pastor is writing a book that is going to deal with various counseling scenarios that he has encountered over the years and how he dealt with them from the foot of the cross.

Mark Driscoll has been taken to task for some of his comments in the past (and rightfully so).

However, even his harshest critics will have little to gripe over in his book Death by Love. This is the book that I have been hoping that Driscoll would write for some time now. He shelves the comedy act and gets down to business with a gospel-centered, pride-smashing, tour through various counseling situations.

I am not going to mention the various theological positions that Driscoll holds that may differ from many. This is due to two factors, 1) Driscoll tells us up front that the book is not intended to be a carefully worded defense of all of the various components of the atonement. Instead it is intended to be pastoral (this is not to imply that pastoral ministry is not theological but rather that the scope of the book is not to be seen as simply a scholarly work), 2) Driscoll is so intensely cross-centered in this book. I love who everything that he has to say in each chapter has its root in the cross. It is extremely helpful for people on both sides of the counseling desk.

Often times I am asked by men about pastoral ministry. Sometimes these questions come from guys who are considering full time ministry and other times it just from curious guys. In either case I am going to recommend at least portions of this book to them to read. The unvarnished, full-access peak into what the pastor deals with on a regular basis is extremely helpful.

On a personal level the book helped me as a pastor and a Christian in general. I can see myself regularly reviewing some of Driscoll's letters to his parishoners as I prayerfully consider ways to point folks to the cross in the midst of their struggles. And as a Christian in general I have been aided by Driscoll in seeing the thoroughness of the atonement of Christ in a fresh way. I can see how it covers my own sin but then I am reminded of its power in covering a whole host of other problems that may be out of my purview.

Death by Love is Mark Driscoll's best book yet. I truly believe it will have staying power and be helpful in promoting gospel-centered ministry for years to come.

Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears, a knowledgeable Bible professor, have compiled a masterpiece in their second collaborative effort, "Death by Love". This book packs the punch readers have come to expect of cutting-edge Driscoll. This collection of letters addresses some of our culture's most common maladies with Scripturally-based explanations of Christ's work for us by His death on the cross, both on Earth and in Heaven.

As always, Driscoll generously sprinkles his explanations with hundreds of specific Bible references. This author is passionate about Truth and has a gift for bringing Christ's work alive in poignantly relevant stories. His letters, each an independent chapter, address issues such as child abuse, terminal illness and even spiritual complacency through a lens which allows the reader to uniquely see how Jesus answers, with His death and resurrection, their specific concerns.

In this work, Driscoll and Breshears offer an easy-to-understand theology on meaty doctrines such as expiation, justification, and revelation. For example, in a letter to his friend "Thomas", a man driven by sexual addictions, Driscoll draws from I John and II Peter clearly demonstrating his friend's slavery to physical cravings, lust and pride. He then shows Thomas the beautiful power of the cross to redeem us from the curse of the law, the power of Satan, our sinful flesh, and being dead to God. The author brilliantly moves on to show us how Jesus redeemed us to life in Heaven with God, Jesus' return, and a resurrected body.

One of my favorite chapters was Driscoll's letter to his 18-month-old son, a convincing discourse on "unlimited limited atonement". In this letter, Driscoll skillfully weaves his unique perspective on atonement, a combination of Calvinist and Arminian views. Driscoll and Breshears challenge their readers to take a look at free will and God's election, in harmony: "Jesus' death was sufficient to save anyone and, subjectively, efficient only to save those who repent of their sin and trust in him."

"Death by Love" quite possibly contains the clearest, most understandable, explanations I've ever read on all that Christ's death and resurrection accomplished. These authors are able to explain the cure to our modern-day sins and show us the ultimate example of Love with the unchanging Truth of the cross. "Death by Love" infused me with fresh hope in Jesus' promise that He has already defeated Satan and death!

Death By Love: Letters from the Cross is the second book that Pastor Mark Driscoll and Western Seminary Professor Gerry Breshears have teamed up to write. Without a hint of his trademark irreverence or humor, Driscoll presents one of the most pastoral books written on the cross this decade.

The central symbol of Christianity is the cross, the place where our God died, the "crux of both the Christian faith and human history." The meaning of Jesus' death on the cross has been belittled and attacked throughout the centuries, with a current scholar going so far as to describe it as an act of divine child abuse. Driscoll, rather than sanitize the tragic details of the most important death the world has seen, highlights the glory of the cross as an act of God's love. Rather than a rejection, the cross reveals God's love like nothing ever has or will.

Death By Love presents the cross as a "multi-faceted" jewel and focuses in on twelve applications of the cross. The applications include redemption, propitiation, expiation, the gift of righteousness, ransom, and revelation. The meanings of these theological terms and their real world implications are thoughtfully and faithfully expounded.

Not only is this a great book for someone who wants a deeper understanding of the cross, it serves as an excellent reference for Christian counseling. The cross is central to life as a Christian, and often the extent of our misery or depression can be a result of not putting the cross and Christ in its proper place. This book offers examples for many facets of the cross, and it is a great starting point to help others appreciate how Christ's death on the cross atoned for our many sins.

The bottom line is that this is an excellent book that should be read by anyone interested in Christ's work on the cross. I have read everything that Mark Driscoll has written and I have found all of his books to be Christ-centered and worthwhile. Death By Love is the most heartfelt of these, and the power of the cross is conveyed so vividly that it will humble a believer and bring him to his knees.

There is nothing that I enjoy more than studying good, sound Biblical theology, however what good is the soundest theology if we don't apply it to our life and be transformed by it with the help of the Holy Spirit. This is what Mark Driscoll attempts to do with his book Death by Love, more specifically applying the theology of the Cross. He generally states this in the first paragraph of the preface by telling us:

Because no one is born into this world with a theology, each generation must rediscover the truths of Scripture for itself. In doing so it must labor to connect the unchanging answers of God's word with the ever-changing questions of its culture. Sometimes this project is successfully undertaken, and the result is a glorious resurgence of a faithful and fruitful Christian church. Sometimes this project is unsuccessfully undertaken, and the tragic result is false teaching that renders the church impotent to see the power of the gospel unleashed because she either has a false Jesus or is embarrassed by the real one. (9)

And later he narrows down his methodology when he tells us that:

This book is an attempt at faithfulness to the timeless truths of Scripture that have served the church well since the first promise of Jesus' suffering was pronounced by God to our first parents in the garden. We hope to present the timeless truths of the cross in a timely manner that is biblically faithful, culturally, relevant, and personally helpful. Our objective is to think God's thoughts after him as revealed in Scripture, and if at any point we fall in this, we ask God's forgiveness and your kindness. (12, 13)

Mr. Driscoll does indeed stay faithful with God's Holy Word, yet this book is written in a way that enabled him take "the many sides of the great jewel of the cross" and show us how to apply it to our dark and desperate world. He begins with an introduction entitled "We Killed God: Jesus is Our Substitutionary Atonement." In each of the following chapters Pastor Driscoll describes a situation with a real person that he has talked with in his role as a pastor in one of the most unchurched cities in America, Seattle, WA. At times these peoples stories will break your heart, other times they will stir up a part of you that cries out for justice, however at all times we see people that Christ has died for. After he gives us this understanding of the people he pastors, Mark Driscoll then writes a letter to them explaining how the Cross of Christ can be applied to them and how this finished work can heal them.

This book does a wonderful job taking the totality of Christ's work on the Cross and applying it to peoples' lives. The following are the theological aspects of the Cross that Mark Driscoll tackles in this book: substitutionary atonement, Christus Victor, redemption, new covenant sacrifice, the gift of righteousness, justification, propitiation, expiation, unlimited limited atonement, ransom, Christus Exemplar, reconciliation, and the revelation of God in Christ Jesus. After each chapter there are further questions asked and answered, presumably by co-author Gerry Breshears. Combine all of this with an appendix with a thorough reading list of books that delve even deeper into the Cross and you get a wonderful book that glorifies the beauty of the Cross.