If you entered the evangelical world when I did, in the 1980s, you were immediately introduced to a Hall of Fame whose inhabitants, some living, some dead, and representing a variety of denominations, had a somewhat uniform presence in the various churches: C.S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, J.I. Packer, A.W. Tozer, Martin Lloyd Jones, even an Anglo-Catholic such as Dorothy Sayers and a Roman Catholic such as G.K. Chesterton. And, of course, John R.W. Stott, who fell asleep in the Lord today at age 90.
Stott was an evangelical Anglican who for many years preached at All Souls Church, Langham Place, London, where no matter the controversy then roiling the Church of England you would always hear the Gospel, and the utter centrality of the Cross. In fact, Stott’s most significant contribution as a teacher may have been his classic work entitled just that, The Cross of Christ, a thorough and biblical defense of the penal-substitution theory of the atonement. In other words, in answer to the question, “What exactly happened on Calvary? What exactly did Jesus accomplish?” penal substitution replies: “Jesus took upon himself the just judgment and punishment due sinners. He accomplished the salvation of those who believe.”
This contentious doctrine continues to drive many up the walls, eliciting some of the most hysterical (in all senses of the words) reactions from Christians who come from traditions that construe the atonement in other ways. Stott never denied that Scripture pictures Christ’s death as multi-dimensional (as Savior, he is also our liberator, model, and healer), only that the minute you lose sight of His role as the ultimate sacrifice for sin, you have lost the key that unlocks the mystery of the Incarnation and how and why God saves. (Stott also riled critics with his belief in annihilationism. But that’s another story.)
If you haven’t yet read The Cross of Christ, make a note to correct this lapse. It is a great contribution to the Church, one that will continue to engender lively debate, and from a man whose energetic defense of the faith will long outlive the carping of detractors.
July 28th, 2011 | 3:30 am
Few writers have shaped my life and ministry as did John Stott. His “Baptism & Fullness on the Holy Spirit brought Biblical clarity in the middle of controversy. “Christian Counterculturalism” on the Sermon on the Mount remains my Favorite guide to that core teaching. And “The Cross of Christ” refocused my ministry to cross-centered preaching. We have lost a great scholar, insightful apoplogist and caring Pastor. I look forward to meeting him some day by God’s grace in glory.
July 28th, 2011 | 7:16 am
This great servant of God will be missed but his legacy will continue until His return and after. Many of us owe our “grounding” to this man of God who challenged and mentored. Blessed be His name.
July 28th, 2011 | 7:56 am
I never met Stott or heard him speak in person. But his short book, “Basic Christianity” was an essential part of the 3-4 week period in the Fall of 1971 when I moved to an explicit conversion to Christ. In making my profession, sitting in a plowed field on an overcast, chilly day on a Swiss mountainside, I used the book’s concluding short prayer, which Stott wrote for that purpose.
A few years later I was listening to a tape of one of his bible studies on 2 Timothy. I was always struck by the simplicity of his approach, which used his knowledge and scholarship to illuminate the Truth gently. At the end, dealing with the passage 2 Timothy 4:13, he quoted from a letter from a prisoner in the 18th century (the name I no longer remember) who wrote as Paul did, asking a friend to bring him some books he longed to have.
Suddenly, and simply, Stott helped me to see Paul the man, near the end of his life, living in the shadow of what was to come, both in this life and the next; and to have some real sense of what it meant to be continually poured out as a drink offering to His Lord.
Well done, thou good and faithful servant.
July 29th, 2011 | 5:31 am
[...] via John R.W. Stott: Defender of the Faith » First Thoughts | A First Things Blog. [...]
July 30th, 2011 | 9:48 am
[...] myself, I’ll just encourage you to sample at least some of the many tributes that have poured forth since Wednesday. Or visit the Stott Memorial site and support the continuing work of John Stott [...]
July 31st, 2011 | 6:54 pm
[...] Multiple atonement theories: As explained by Anthony below, Stott prioritized substitutionary atonement. But the nuance with which he maintains that [...]
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