Thoughts on John Piper’s “Coronavirus and Christ”
John Piper’s words will be in block quotation format. I can’t give page numbers because it is an ebook, and the pages flow differently on every device. It’s a very short book; it only takes an hour or two to read. I recommend reading his book first before reading my responses to it.
I would like to start by saying that I love John Piper. I have studied a lot of his work over the years and have learned much. I hope he will read my response here and read the book that I have just published, because I think there are a few things he is missing, things that will really bring him much peace and clarity. I myself have only recently learned the things written in my book. I spent years living with what I now see is a clearly corrupted understanding about many things.
Let’s start by looking at this section:
“Oh how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you” (Ps. 31:19). This reverence and faith do not earn God’s goodness. Finite, totally dependent sinners can’t earn anything from God. God’s goodness to sinners is always free and undeserved. Why, then, is God prone to show his abundant goodness to those who fear him and take refuge in him? It’s because such reverence and faith display God’s worth and beauty and greatness (Rom. 4:20). And, therefore, God’s righteousness inclines him to affirm such God-honoring attitudes.
Logically, this is false. Piper says: “God’s goodness to sinners is always free and undeserved,” which is absolutely true. Then He says that God’s righteousness “inclines him to affirm such God-honoring attitudes,” contradicting himself.
The thing that actuates God’s blessing is belief. This is obvious throughout the scriptures: the Israelites didn’t believe that God would give them the Promised Land so they didn’t get the Promised Land; their children did. The children still had to make the choice to believe God. He didn’t just give it to them. This is why those who believe in God are blessed, because they listen to what He says, directly to them, not just via the scriptures, and they do what He tells them to do. If you don’t believe that Jesus was telling the truth when He said He was going to send the Helper, who would lead us into all truth, and you believe that you can only ever know God’s will by some quote from the scriptures, then you are missing out on lots of what God is trying to give you.
This extends to health, which directly relates to COVID-19. When my family and I decided to surrender our lives to God, we told Him, as a family, “LORD, we believe you love us. We believe you are trying to lead us into the abundant life that you have designed us for. We will do whatever you tell us to do.” Do you know what the first thing He told us to do, as a family, was? He convicted us about the way we were eating.
Eileen and the kids watch a lot of science documentaries and they watched “What the Health” for some reason and were deeply convicted. When I got home that evening, I had gone by the grocery store and bought a lot of animal products: ham, chicken, yogurt, milk, cheese. I made dinner, like I normally do (it was a chicken dish of some kind), and the kids and Eileen were all a little weird during the meal. They told me, somewhat suspiciously, that they had watched a documentary that they really wanted me to watch. I said I would, and they uncharacteristically offered to clean up the kitchen so that Eileen and I could go watch it right after dinner. Shortly after it started, I looked at Eileen and said: “Oh no! We’re not becoming vegan are we?”
I had always been what you might call an anti-vegan. I ate animal products with pretty much every meal of every day of my life. I liked the worst of the worst: pepperoni, salami, ham, hot dogs. Preserved meats are probably the most carcinogenic thing you can eat. A grass-fed steak is much healthier than a hot dog. Anyhow, halfway through the documentary, I knew without a doubt that God was showing us a better way to eat and live. It was so clear.
That very day we threw away all of the non-vegan food, even the stuff I just bought. You may say “What a waste, you could have given it to the poor!” We thought about that, but honestly, after what we had just learned about the long-term health effects of eating such food, it felt downright mean to ask anyone else to eat it.
We became vegan literally overnight. The next few weeks were rough. We had to completely change the way that we think about food. We had to learn how to feed ourselves again, from scratch (or so it felt). We ate a lot of salad and pasta, cereal with almond milk, and Tofurkey sandwiches. Over time it became easier, and, in fact, our taste buds changed. In only a few months we didn’t miss meat or cheese and even found it a bit gross how much cow milk products we used to consume. Now, I will admit that we are vegan-ish. We occasionally eat salmon and goat cheese, and most of the chocolate we buy has milk solids in it (whatever they are). God was drastically changing the way we ate. He wasn’t saying that eating animals is evil, He was saying that the way we were eating was going to lead to a life less than what He wanted for us.
What is my point in telling you this story? John Piper asserts that we are blessed by God because we fear and honor Him. I’m telling you He is correct but not for the reason he is asserting. We are blessed because God loves us, and He is always trying to lead everyone into an abundant life, full of blessing, but most people are not interested in what He has to say. If you reject the notion of God speaking to you directly, guiding you in real time about even the seemingly mundane things, then you will miss out on the blessings that He has for you. This has been made super clear to my family.
Here is a quote from the first chapter of Piper’s Coronavirus and Christ:
“Now, let’s be clear. I don’t hear voices. At least I never have. My confidence that God speaks is rooted in the fact that the Bible is his word. (More on that in the next chapter.) He has spoken, once for all, and he still speaks in his word. The Bible, rightly understood, is the voice of God.”
I totally disagree. Here’s Jesus talking in John chapter 16:
12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
I’m gonna go with the words of Jesus over the words of John Piper on this one. It is very unwise to reject the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus died to give to all who will believe.
They [catastrophes] are wake-up calls to see the moral horror and spiritual ugliness of sin against God. Would that we could all see and feel how repugnant, how offensive, how abominable it is to treat our Maker with contempt, to ignore him and distrust him and demean him and give him less attention in our hearts than we give the style of our hair. We need to see this, and feel this, or we will not turn to Christ for salvation from the ugliness of sin. We may cry out to escape the penalty of sin. But will we see and hate the God-demeaning, moral ugliness of sin? If we don’t, it will not be because God has not provided vivid portrayals of it in physical misery—like the coronavirus.
Piper is speaking of how repugnant it is to treat our Maker with contempt, yet he just explained that he doesn’t even believe that God can speak directly to him, even though it happens all through the scriptures. If Piper believes that God is angry because we slander Him, he has good reason to be afraid. Amazingly, the truth is God poured out all of His righteous anger toward our sin upon Himself, in the person of Jesus. The penalty for all of our sin and slander has been paid. If you don’t understand that, then yes I can see why you would think God is sending Coronavirus to punish the world. But it’s a LIE. It’s slanderous, and yet God is still not angry, because that lie has been paid for.
Therefore, God is mercifully shouting to us in these days: Wake up! Sin against God is like this! It is horrible and ugly. And far more dangerous than the coronavirus.
So the assumption here is we need to “Wake up!” and do what exactly? Stop sinning? We are dead to the Law; it has been fulfilled. We who believe in Jesus are set free from the bondage of sin by living in the light of the truth. Our eternal inheritance as co-heirs with Christ makes most of the temptations of this world seem petty and toothless. But the goal is not to wake up and hate sin. Sin has been paid for. ALL SIN has been paid for. God isn’t punishing people via COVID-19, He already punished Jesus for our transgressions. YES, God is shouting, WAKE UP! via lots of things: Wake Up! See that you are loved, Wake Up, see that you are completely forgiven, Wake up! And know that this life is nothing. It’s but a breath, yet you are eternal, and you will either be with ME in My Kingdom forever, or you will be separated from me because you chose to be.
Piper kind of understands, but not fully. For example:
The coronavirus is, therefore, never a clear and simple punishment on any person. The most loving, Spirit-filled Christian, whose sins are forgiven through Christ, may die of the coronavirus disease. But it is fitting that every one of us search our own heart to discern if our suffering is God’s judgment on the way we live. If we come to Christ, we can know that our suffering is not the punitive judgment of God. We can know this because Jesus said, “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24). There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1). It is discipline, not destruction. “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives” (Heb. 12:6).
John Piper is fundamentally confused about the Gospel. He says that we need to search our own hearts, as if our assessment would be accurate, to discern if our suffering is God’s judgment on the way we live? Jesus came to prove to ALL that we are not holy. Read the Sermon on the Mount. Our righteousness must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees. In fact, we must be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. Translation: we have all failed. But the GOOD NEWS is that Jesus also came to pay for our sin debt. John the Baptist was the first to proclaim: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
If our suffering is punitive, then Jesus died for nothing. And if we are in Christ, then we are dead to the Law… There is therefore now NO condemnation. But we are being disciplined?
God teaches those He loves; it’s not punitive discipline, it’s all love. God doesn’t want us to destroy ourselves with sinful behavior because He loves us, not because He wants us to hate sin. Piper is missing the point. God is not waiting for us to realize how disgusting sin is and how slanderous we have been. We could never fully understand how awful we have been to Him, others, or ourselves. Does the father of the prodigal son give his wayward son a thrashing when his son returns? No, he humiliates himself by running with his robes pulled up, throws his arms around the wayward son (filthy as he is), and puts a robe on his back and a ring on his finger. The father throws a party to celebrate. Jesus tells us this story to explain the heart of the Heavenly Father. Please don’t miss this: God is not angry with you. He poured out His wrath upon Himself so that all who are willing to believe might be welcomed home, forever. If you choose to reject Him, then you will not be part of His Kingdom.
Yes, most sinful acts have real and meaningful consequences, regardless of the fact that Jesus has paid our penalty. If you step on a snake, you’re likely to get bitten; if you live a reckless life, you are also likely to get bitten. So I agree that for some COVID-19 is a wake up call to how they are living, but not because of their porn addiction or their covetousness. God isn’t punishing people in that way. The cause and effect of being a smoker or obese and having a higher death rate is clear. Likewise, the unhealthy practices of the wet markets in China giving rise to several of these dangerously contagious diseases are obvious. God has given Mankind great power over our lives and the world around us. We are constantly choosing convenience and selfishness over being wise stewards. This is indeed a wake up call. God is using it, in many ways, but God didn’t cause it, and He isn’t enacting punitive punishment through it. Piper fundamentally misunderstands the gospel:
This is what it means to repent: to experience a change of heart and mind that treasures God in Christ more than life. “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you” (Ps. 63:3). This was Paul’s faith. It was true in life and death. In life, because Christ is the sweetness of every pleasure, and better than them all. And in death, because “in [God’s] presence there is fullness of joy; at [his] right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Ps. 16:11). The coronavirus pandemic is the experience of loss— from the smallest loss of convenience to the greatest loss of life. And if we know the secret of Paul’s joy, we may experience the loss as gain. That is what God is saying to the world. Repent and realign your life with the infinite worth of Christ.”
Yes! Repent. Realize how sinful you are, (to the minor extent that you are able), but repentance is only the first half… Jesus said you must be born again in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Being born from above, or born of the Spirit, means that you are now a totally new creation. John Piper seems to think that we are the same creation but our desires have changed and we now hold up Jesus as supreme, that our goal is to desire Him above all else and cause others to do the same. This is bondage. I don’t think that being a co-heir with Christ is a life of trying to force ourselves to make Christ preeminent. He is preeminent, regardless of our beliefs or actions.
Yes, we obviously see that God / Jesus / Holy Spirit are beyond all comparison, and the astounding glory of the gracious love of God is what precipitates our spiritual resurrection, but we are not called to a life of trying to make much of Jesus. We are completely free, and we are eternal children of God. Speaking about our love for God flows as naturally as breathing; it’s not hard work, it’s not a call to great and rigorous discipline. It’s pure joy, and a simple fact to see God as far more than mother or father or even physical life on earth. You are eternal. This life means little compared to eternity with your Heavenly Father.
Christians are not afraid to serve the sick because this life means little and our eternity in the next life is secure. Fear of death is gone. Honestly, I can’t wait to get on with the next life. This life is full of pain and suffering and decay and hatred and bondage. I can hardly wait to see my King face to face, to hug Him and bow before Him, to walk and talk with Him.
On January 9, 1985, Pastor Hristo Kulichev, a Congregational pastor in Bulgaria, was arrested and put in prison. His crime was that he preached in his church even though the state had appointed another man as pastor whom the congregation did not elect. His trial was a mockery of justice. And he was sentenced to eight months in prison. During his time in prison, he made Christ known in every way he could. When he got out, he wrote, “Both prisoners and jailers asked many questions, and it turned out that we had a more fruitful ministry there than we could have expected in church. God was better served by our presence in prison than if we had been free.” This is often God’s way. The global scope and seriousness of the coronavirus is too great for God to waste. It will serve his invincible global purpose of world evangelization. Christ has not shed his blood in vain. And Revelation 5:9 says that by that blood he ransomed “people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” He will have the reward of his suffering.
The fundamental question remains: did God send the Coronavirus? Is God dictating everything that happens on earth? Is God deciding who believes or did He give that authority to Man? If God has scripted everything: Kulichev’s phony trial, and the conversions seen in prison, then what’s the point? If God has already decided everything, then all of Human existence is one elaborate play written with much self-indulgence. Faith is meaningless. But if human authority has been given, by God, to all men to decide if they will see Him and know Him and love Him, and God is not forcing or scripting Man’s behavior, then His love is perfect, Faith is real, and His ability to work within the confines of the choices of Man are astoundingly beautiful. You have to decide who God is, based on the evidence given in the scriptures and the revelation directly to your heart via the Holy Spirit.
God has either scripted everything or He is working within everything. Either all of this is a meaningless exercise because it’s all determined, or God is an active participant in His Creation, expecting all of us to deal with the ramifications for our actions. You must search the scriptures and decide which is true. They can’t both be true.
John Piper believes that because God is all-powerful, all things that happen are God’s decree. I find the scriptures completely contradict this. I’m not going to go into it here because I wrote an entire book about it. It is available for free, and I hope you’ll read it.
John Piper is just a man, trying to figure out the truth. There are some fundamental underlying truths that I think he does not understand about the Gospel and the New Covenant that Jesus instated. That’s ok. Everyone is learning and growing and the Holy Spirit is inside of all who will receive Him, and will guide us into all truth. I am just writing to testify that I see things differently. My book does a much better job of explaining it. Link
You need to search the scriptures and talk to God about it. He will speak to you (if you’ll let Him) and He will guide you. I felt called to speak out and say to any who might be willing to listen: There is another way to interpret what’s going on with the Coronavirus. You can ask Jesus directly:
“And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Luke 11:9-13
