Category Archives: Stott, John

Thinking biblically about racial diversity

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John Stott argues from Paul’s celebrated Areopagus speech in Acts 17.

First, Paul affirmed the unity of the human race, or the God of creation. For God had “made from one every nation of men” (v. 26), and all human beings are therefore his “offspring” (28, 29). We evangelicals rightly reject the concept of “the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of men” if it is used to deny the special fatherhood and fellowship God gives to his redeemed people.…

Preachers and their preaching – John Stott

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John Stott (1921 – 2011) was rector at All Souls, Langham Place (London) from 1955 until 1975.  After that, he became Rector Emeritus, and was thus released more fully for world-wide ministry and writing.

Formative influences included his family background and education (he was son of an eminent London physician and was educated at Rugby School and at Cambridge University).  He was one of a number of talented young men to have been nurtured by Eric Nash at the so-called “Bash Camps”.…

Does the end of slavery spell the end of patriarchy?

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The argument goes like this: the Bible does not outright condemn slavery, but it sows the seeds for its eventual demise.  There is a ‘hermeneutical trajectory’; a ‘redemptive spirit’ that leads inexorably (if painfully slowly) to abolition.

The same is true (it is argued) with regard to male and female roles.  The Bible assumes, but does not prescribe, some kind of hierarchical structure.  But the same ‘trajectory’, or ‘redemptive spirit’ leads us to abolish that structure, and to treat men and women just the same.…

The unborn baby is a person

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John Stott:

‘The author of Psalm 139 looks back to the antenatal stage of his existence. Three words sum up what he affirms. First, creation. He seems to liken God both to a potter who “formed” his inmost being and to a weaver who “knit him together” in his mother’s womb (v. 13). Although the Bible makes no claim to be a textbook of embryology, here is a plain affirmation that the growth of the fetus is neither haphazard nor automatic but a divine work of creative skill.…

The Great Commandment and the Great Commission

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Is it possible so to emphasise Jesus’ Great Commission that we neglect his stress on the Great Commandment to love our neighbours (second only to loving God with our entire beings)?

John Stott thought so.  Here’s what he wrote about it:-

‘I venture to say that sometime, perhaps because it was the last instruction Jesus gave us before returning to the Father, we give the Great Commission too prominent a place in our Christian thinking.  Please do not misunderstand me.  …

Six aspects of the gospel

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Six aspects of the gospel stand out in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8:-

1. It is Christological. It centres on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ: these emphases are ‘of first importance’, v3.  Christianity is Christ: and it is Christ crucified and risen.

2. It is biblical. The work of Christ was achieved ‘according to the Scriptures, v3,4. Cf. Lk 24:25-27,44-46; Acts 2:25-31. ‘The first Christian evangelists made much of the fact that the death and resurrection of Jesus were corroborated by two witnesses – the prophets and the apostles, or, as we would say, the Old Testament and the New Testament.’…

Proclaiming the gospel

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In Acts 2, Peter ‘focused on Christ and told his story in six stages.’

      1. ‘he was a man, though divinely attested by miracles;
      2. he was put to death by wicked hands, though according to God’s purpose;
      3. he was raised from the dead, as the prophets had foretold and the apostles had witnessed;
      4. he was exalted to God’s right hand, and from there poured out the Spirit;
      5. he now gives forgiveness and the Spirit to all who repent, believe and are baptized; and
      6. he thus adds them to his new community.’
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The call to Christlikeness

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A. God wants us to be like Christ

This is his

  1. eternal purpose – we have been ‘predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son’ (Romans 8:29).
  2. historical purpose – ‘we…are being transformed [or changed] into his image’ (2 Corinthians 3:18).
  3. eschatological purpose – ‘we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him’ (1 John 3:2).

Here, then, are three perspectives: past (we have been predestined), present (we are being changed), and future (we shall be like him), which all point to the same thing: that God wants us to be like Christ.…

How does Christ rule his church?

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After his resurrection, Jesus declared that ‘all authority is heaven and on earth’ had been given to him (Mt 28:18).  As Christians, then, we confess that ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’ (Phil 2:9-11).

How does Christ exercise his authority in the church today?  Four possible answers have been given:-

  1. The Roman Catholic answer is that Christ rules his church through the magisterium, the teaching of the Pope and his bishops both in the past and in the present.
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The good shepherd

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‘The good pastor…models his ministry on the good shepherd,’ writes John Stott in The Contemporary Christian (pp 280-290).  As such, he has the following characteristics:-

  1. The good shepherd knows his sheep, Jn 10:3, 14f.  He will know them by name, and he will know them personally and intimately.
  2. The good shepherd serves his sheep, Jn 10:11.  This is in contrast to false shepherds, who serve themselves, Eze 34:2; June 12.  It may be unrewarding, sacrificial work, but he is following Jesus’ example in doing it.
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