Customer Reviews

Our Sufficiency in Christ

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Part of renewing our minds (Romans 12:1,2) includes purging the world's way of thinking and philosophy from our lives and embracing a biblical world view. Our Sufficiency in Christ does an incredible job at identifying three dangerous worldly mentalities (psychology, pragmaticism, and philosophy) and exposing their anti-biblical content.

John MacArthur once again illustrates for us why he is one of the best bible teachers in Christendom today. This book gets to the core of the false teachings out their and gives a strong case why so many Christians go seeking for something extra when Christ has made them complete already. Buy it you wont be disappointed.

Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, (2 Corinthians 3:5 RSV)

John MacArthur argues that many local churches and God's followers do not trust in the sufficiency in Christ. The minister believes in the authority of God's word; They believe in salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ and as a guide for righteous living. They lose patience in the word and start thinking something else is needed to bring others to Christ. Neither do they trust God's word in their daily lives: seeking other sources to help themselves and others when misfortune and difficulties come in their lives. Something other then God and His written word is sought. Christian ministers have sought the use of secular psychology to help their flock deal with the daily grind. Accepting "the notion scripture does not contain all we need in these complex and sophisticated modern times." pg. 117 It does not end here, but many local bodies seek resources though secular business, the government, politics and entertainment.

(.... traditional counseling from the bible is widely viewed as unsophisticated, naive, and even fatuous.") pg.30 In addition John MacArthur asks the question: "Does God need a psychiatrist"? pg. 55 He replies with a strong no. Psychiatry is part of the world's philosophy and not of God. He further argues that `Christian psychology' is little more then using bits of scripture in secular psychology.

Him we proclaim, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man mature in Christ.
(Colossians 1:28 RSV)

See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ.
(Colossians 2:8 RSV)

The Bible talks about Christian struggle because of his belief, temptation, and the frailty of the earthly body. God has always used suffering to perfect and purify His people. How else can he demonstrate the sufficiency of His Grace. Jesus came into the world to live as man, to suffer the daily indignities of a man, to be tempted as all other men, and to suffer like a sinner. How are you as a Christian to be Christ like if the believer does not use the same tools used in His daily walk? A symbiosis exists between the believer and God. God is at work in the believer through the Holy Spirit and the believer most strive through his daily life to be holy. The Holy Spirit is your comforter while you as a Christian walk on this earth.

And we desire each one of you to show the same
earnestness in realizing the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
(Hebrews 6:11-12 RSV)

Suffering conforms our sonship

And have you forgotten the exhortation which addresses you as sons? --"My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage when you are punished by him. For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. (Hebrews 12:5-8 RSV)

No discipline, one is an illegitimate child of God. Contentment and joy does come from circumstance but through the Holy Spirit. ` And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit;'
(1 Thessalonians 1:6 RSV)

John MacArthur argues that the Joy of the Lord cannot come from the means of this world nor can the Body of Christ be built through the wisdom of this world. The church is to magnify God. The plain gospel is the power of God unto salvation. All messages should be God centered and not centered on the heart felt needs of man. Let God's word tell man what he needs: repentance, God's forgiveness, and to reconciled with the Father. Church is not there for man's felt wishes. The local body does not exist for the unbeliever. Christians come together for worship, fellowship, edification and mutual encouragement. Paul's goal was not to make the believer comfortable, but to leave him terrified of the judgment of God. Paul did not help a person with their `perceived need', but with their eternal need of salvation.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
(Philippians 2:12-13 RSV)

One is saved through the power of Jesus Christ, but? Him we proclaim, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man mature in Christ.
(Colossians 1:28 RSV)

How is the Christian to present himself complete in Christ if he does not flee from sin? It is only through the sufficiency of Christ and the Holy Spirit may the believer withstand temptation. This is how one grows into a closer relationship with God.

I have been studying the psychology of religion and a webpage in my search referred me to this book. My pastor had it in his collection, so I borrowed it and it is great! I started to read it over as soon as I was finished. I am here looking for more books by Mr. MacArthur. Thanks

What the fictitious Screwtape feared the most was `mere Christianity.' To it he wanted to contaminate with his concoction of `Christianity And.' As long as believers are convinced that `The Same Old Thing' was insufficient for true satisfaction, they would look for supplementary idols to fill their vacuum that only Christ can legitimately fill. And so the search is on. Instead of looking where the answers lie, Christians choose to look elsewhere for alternatives. But the alternates, by their very nature, are inadequate substitutes. MacArthur's thesis is that by denying the absolute sufficiency in all things spiritual that we have in Christ, we have embraced misleading, unsatisfactory, counterfeit and ultimately spiritually harmful surrogates. (pp. 15ff)
We have embraced the modern promotion of psychology, even in its evil step-daughter Christian psychology. We have sought after `how-to' philosophies of pragmatism; mysticism's Deeper Life and Charismatic offshoots; materialistic hedonism's siren of "have the best of both worlds"; legalism's do-it-yourself sanctification; asceticism's deny-every-creature-comfort to become spiritual; Quietism's passivity; Pietism's strenuous activity among other feeble attempts to add to our salvation that which only Jesus can provide. In contrast, MacArthur reminds us of the beautiful balance (Phil 2:12,13) we have in the Divine/Human cooperative of His sovereignty and our responsibility in the area of our progressive sanctification.
MacArthur's position is that Christ's power and person has provided perfect sufficiency for everything pertaining to life and godliness (2 Pet 1:3; Col 2:8,9). In addition, His Scripture is totally sufficient to equip us thoroughly in the areas secular and Christian psychologies have attempted to usurp (2 Tim 3:16,17). Good Book, Thomas Hamilton

John MacArthur's Our Sufficiency in Christ (1991) is, in many ways, a difficult book to review. It puts on display many of the gifted pastor/Bible expositor's commendable strengths -- but, unfortunately, also his worst weaknesses. The best parts of this book are very strong and convicting, indeed. The worst portions, however, are impossible to ignore, and work to the detriment of the book's message.

In this first major release after 1988's The Gospel According to Jesus made him a best-selling author, MacArthur expresses his concern that the evangelical church is losing its confidence in the sufficiency of Christ to meet the believer's needs. He identifies and critiques six factors that he believes are responsible for this decline: psychology, pragmatism, philosophy, legalism, mysticism, and asceticism. MacArthur's attacks on these elements, which he labels as components of an overarching "neo-Gnosticism," are mixed with defenses of the sufficiency of Scripture. This middle section of the book is preceded by a study on the Christian's inheritance in Christ and followed by chapters on sanctification, spiritual warfare, and grace.

Those two framing sections, as well as the chapters on Scripture in the middle section, are fine and edifying reading. MacArthur is always at his best when he tackles biblical themes; even if you disagree with him on certain theological points, as I many times do, you can appreciate his clearly heartfelt desire to stay faithful to Scripture and the labor he puts into his biblical studies. Chapter 2, on the Christian's inheritance in Christ, is a wonderful study that should encourage many. Chapter 4, on Scripture's sufficiency, is one of the better short treatments of the topic that I've read. The studies of sanctification, spiritual warfare, and grace should be of benefit to many Christians.

But a major part of the book lies in MacArthur's polemics against the factors that he believes are undermining Christians' confidence in their sufficiency in Christ, and it is here that the author runs into trouble. It's not that MacArthur is wrong to be concerned. Certainly, there are many excesses in the evangelical world even today (not to mention the late 1980s and early 1990s, the time period surrounding the publication of the book) where sound theology is deemphasized in favor of pop psychology, marketing-style approaches to the gospel, and other aberrations. The problem, rather, is that MacArthur goes beyond the excesses and wants to throw out the babies with the bathwater.

Consequently, MacArthur delivers overly simplistic analyses of the factors he identifies and is prone far too often to overstatement in defending his claims. For example, MacArthur unfairly caricatures and dismisses psychology as an ungodly discipline based on the theory of evolution. It is also deeply disappointing, to say the least, that he evidently does not see it as a field in which Christians can work for their Lord and Savior. Other caricatures set up by MacArthur ignore church history. Philosophy is portrayed as incompatible with Christianity, despite the fact that both apostles (e.g., Paul at Mars Hill) and important figures throughout church history (e.g., Thomas Aquinas) have used philosophy as a tool for communicating the gospel. The author's definitions of mysticism (as something irrational apart from, and often contradictory to, divine revelation) and asceticism (as a way to earn favor with God) disregard or misrepresent the motives of Christians throughout church history who were very much concerned with faithfulness to Scripture and chose their paths as a means of loving God, not seeking brownie points from Him.

Worst of all, in one case, MacArthur takes a dangerous tack in responding to a letter writer who disagrees with him. A woman whose son-in-law abused and threatened to kill his wife (i.e., the letter writer's daughter) wrote MacArthur arguing that while counseling needs to be grounded in Scripture, professional help is sometimes needed. MacArthur unbelievably goes on to use her in the book as an example of someone who denies the sufficiency of Scripture. Worse, he minimizes the seriousness of what the husband did. It is true, as MacArthur says, that someone who threatens to kill another person is disobedient to God. This is also a case where MacArthur agrees that some help is necessary for the husband -- but he still stops short of advocating professional help. A threat against someone's life demands a different, far more urgent response than the one that MacArthur provides. The reader can only hope that he gave such a response to the letter writer privately.

At the heart of MacArthur's concerns lies a controversy that has run among Christians for centuries: Are Christians in their conduct and ministry not to go beyond what is written in Scripture? Or are things not mentioned in Scripture permissible as long as they do not contradict Scripture? MacArthur apparently believes the former. People from different Christian bodies will disagree. (My own Anglicanism holds that something not mentioned in Scripture is permissible as long as it does not contradict Scripture.)

So Our Sufficiency in Christ is a mixed bag. It contains many valuable chapters, and the Scripture studies are worthwhile. The polemical chapters, however, contain many overgeneralizations and caricatures that reduce the book's value. I have given it three stars because it contains much that is good, but, sadly, a lower rating could be justified based on the book's weaknesses.

I read various chapters throughout this book as required outside reading in a seminary class on Biblical counseling 3 years ago. It was not until the other day ago that my girlfriend bought me a copy of this book. Just as it was 3 years ago this book impressed me. The chapter on Spiritual Warfare is super helpful as are the other chapters in this book. I believe that every Christian should get a copy of this book. This book has opened my eyes to the deceptions of the psycho-babble movement. I remember back in 2001 I saw a so called "Christian therapist" whom put me in some type of trance. It was a weird experience and something I never want to be exposed to again! Many of these so called Christian therapists are fakes and do not believe in the sufficiency and power of the Word of God. Sure they also write books, and these books do have scripture quotations. However they are not based on scripture, and often contain scripture + other sources of so called wisdom. John MacArthur exposes this type of thinking in his book and fully makes a STRONG defensive for the word of God. The word of God + secular humanism, the word of God + mysticism, or the word of God + anything else will not cut it. The Word of God ALONE has the power to transform and change lives. Excellent book!!

Product arrived quickly and in perfect condition. The book was new, nothing wrong with it at all!! I was more than pleased with the results of this transaction. Thank you for being trustworthy!!

Well written, short book with only 12 chapters. Clearly describes that Jesus Christ is the God. Good book to read. For more information on sufficiency in Christ please refer to the original text - the Holy Bible.

John MacArthur's book on the sufficiency of Christ is an important book for pastors and laypeople. It is more relevant today than when it was released in the early 1990's.

MacArthur shows how modern evangelicalism is moving away from the doctrine of Christ's sufficiency and toward the embrace of pseudo-psychology, church growth strategies, charismatic excess, and fascination with spiritual warfare. His call is for a return to the traditional understanding of Christ being all we need for salvation and for life's issues.

There is nothing particularly new in this book. MacArthur's work shows that though most Christians affirm the sufficiency of Christ as a doctrine, they undermine their belief through unscriptural practices. MacArthur seeks to remedy this problem by merging belief in Christ's sufficiency with the practical side of ministry.

This is a helpful book with powerful illustrations, though MacArthur often spends more time bemoaning the problems within evangelicalism than he does offering solutions.