Followers of the Lord Jesus Christ need the assurances given in Scripture and taught in Dane Ortlund’s book, Gentle and Lowly. Not only is the Lord near and for us as a friend, intercessor, advocate, and yoke fellow, but He is lovingly so. He is gladly accessible—even (if not especially) when we often fail.
With excellent word studies and apt illustrations this book draws on many passages of Scripture that teach these precious truths. When properly understood and appreciated they correct our natural misconceptions of God’s attitude toward His children when they sin or suffer. Rather than confronting his readers with the need to persevere as saints to prove their faith in Christ is real, as might be expected of a Calvinist, Ortlund calls us to look beyond our sin and revel in the willing perseverance of our Savior. Amen! “If we are faithless, He remains faithful for He cannot deny Himself” (2 Tim. 2:13). He does this skillfully and convincingly. But, despite its strengths, I reject the premise on which the book is founded and by which it is structured.
Throughout “Gentle and Lowly” the author contends that these words, spoken by Jesus in Matthew 11:29, were intended to reveal His truest identity, who He actually is. What’s more, that text is held to be the only place in the 89 chapters of the four Gospels where Jesus allows us to peer into the very depths of His personality and see these qualities that govern all that He says and does.
At least 125 times Ortlund uses the words “deep,” deeply,” or “deepest” to describe gentle and lowly as core traits of the incarnate Son of God. It seems that the concept of depth, suggested by the word “heart,” is leveraged beyond measure to make gentle and lowly comprise a comprehensive statement of the Lord’s person, overriding all else.
But did our Lord intend to define Himself by the way He described His heart in relation to all the weary and heavy laden who accept His invitation and come to Him? Or is this an unwarranted assumption that results in too limited a characterization of Christ?
Within the tradition of the Puritans and the Covenant Theology of Ortlund and others he quotes, his view does not appear to be limiting at all. It fits well with a focus on God’s program to redeem sinners and comfort suffering saints. The author states his worldview as follows:
“The point of all human history and eternity itself is to show what cannot be fully shown. To demonstrate what cannot be adequately demonstrated. In the coming age we will descend ever deeper into God’s grace in kindness, into his very heart, and the more we understand of it, the more we will see it to be beyond understanding. It is immeasurable.”
Others would say that the point of history is the glory of God through His salvation of sinners, the punishment the wicked and the reign of Christ overall creation. To be fair, Ortlund’s worldview does not deny that God will punish the wicked forever. Indeed, this is the dark backdrop against which the kindness of His mercy toward the elect is even more attractively displayed. But how God is glorified in the eternal punishment of the wicked; how that aspect of His program demonstrates the gentleness and lowliness of Christ toward them, is nowhere stated. Nor is there any mention of God’s program to reclaim His kingdom on the earth through the future reign of His Son with followers whose loyalty to Him will have been tested and proven through their faithfulness now.
Ortlund knew that some of his readers would object to the phrase “gentle and lowly” as inadequate to describe the heart of Christ in relation to all of His thoughts, words and actions revealed in Scripture. As if to preempt that critique, he acknowledged that “a half-truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth,” quoting J. I. Packer. Then, to assure his readers that he avoided this error in zeroing in on “the affectionate heart of Christ,” he offered three comments.
First, he denied that the wrath and mercy of Christ are in opposition. The Lord has wrath toward the unrepentant sinner and mercy toward the repentant sinner simultaneously. In fact, the intensity of His wrath only magnifies His richness of His mercy toward those who come to Him for it. But true as these statements may be, they fail to take into consideration the Lord’s discipline of His own children when they persist in sin, and the rod of Iron with which He will reign upon the earth.
Second, the author says that the relationship between these and other attributes of Christ is not what his book is about. Rather, it is about His heart, explained as “who he most deeply is,” or “what pours out of him most naturally.”
Third, against the charge that his view of Christ is lop-sided, the author states his willingness to be lop-sided rather than “balanced” if that is the testimony of Scripture. Thus, to challenge his judgment of what is most central to who Jesus really is argues with the Bible.
Ortlund finally defends his thesis by telling us, “…it is impossible for the affectionate heart of Christ to be overcelebrated, made too much of, exaggerated.” However, the question is not whether the attributes of Christ are infinite, or can be over emphasized, but whether gentle and lowly were meant to describe everything that is true about His person and work. This is a question of adequate breadth, not unfathomable depth.
In addition to the author’s failure to account for God’s earthly kingdom program as well as His redemptive program, he fails to properly distinguish the believer’s experience from his position in Christ. What is true of the believer’s positional standing with God does not mitigate the harsh temporal consequences of his sins—especially if persisted in without repentance. Nor does certainty of heaven as one’s final destiny prevent the eternal loss of rewards for failure in discipleship. Some will be “saved, yet so as through fire” (1 Cor. 3:10-15; 2 Cor. 5:10).
Believers are to be pleasing Christ (2 Cor. 5:9). This indicates that we can displease Him. In His displeasure He does not forsake us or love us less (Heb. 13:5). He remains the same, faithful (Heb. 13:8; 2 Tim. 2:13). But when we are not faithful, He disapproves of our misbehavior. It grieves His Spirit (Eph. 4:30) and disrupts our fellowship with Him (2 Cor. 6:14). When believers sin, their wages are death—temporary separation from fellowship with God (Rom. 6:23). They bring themselves under His discipline which can be lethal physically (Acts 5:3-4; 1 John 5: 16). Sinning saints who repent and come to Him for forgiveness, restoration, and rest, find that He is gentle and lowly in heart (Matt. 11:29; 1 Jn. 1:9). But, until they come to Him, they experience aspects of His personality that are neither gentle nor lowly.
In his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Jonathan Edwards applied the warning of Hebrews 10:31 to the unsaved. But it was to, and about, the writer’s own regenerate brethren that he wrote: “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31).
Earlier in that chapter, the writer said that God “scourges every son whom He receives.” It is profoundly encouraging that the believer’s sonship is certified, not revoked, by divine discipline or the sin that made it necessary. Even the harsh and potentially lethal administration of the scourge reflects the love of God in Christ because His design is restoration to fellowship and useful service. But there is nothing about that form of God’s love that is remotely gentle or lowly. The same is true of the Lord’s harsh denunciation of His servants whose unfaithfulness in this life disqualifies them for positions of honor during Christ’s millennial reign (see Psalm 2:8-9; Matthew 25:29-30; 2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 2:26-28; 20:4-6), when He will rule with a rod of iron (Rev. 2:27; 12:5; 19:15).
The book contains much helpful content but ignores God’s kingdom program and warnings to sinning Christians. God is not just saving people to enjoy His fathomless kindness in heaven. He is reclaiming His rule of this earth, and after that, the new heavens and new earth. He is training saints in the faithful service now that will be the basis for their reigning with Him forever. But not everyone who goes to heaven will have been an overcomer or hear His “Well done.” As a result, Ortlund’s thesis, that “gentle and lowly” define all that Jesus is, is inadequate at best, and misleading at worst. It does little to discourage a Christian from saying, “Let us do evil that good may come” (Rom. 3:8).
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When Jesus, the Clean One, touched an unclean sinner, Christ did not become unclean. The sinner became clean.Highlighted by 8,531 Kindle readers- The point in saying that Jesus is lowly is that he is accessible. For all his resplendent glory and dazzling holiness, his supreme uniqueness and otherness, no one in human history has ever been more approachable than Jesus Christ.Highlighted by 7,674 Kindle readers
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Book cover has indentations and big wrinkles. Other than that, can’t wait to dive into it!
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