The grace and truth of John Stott – Grace & Truth

This week marks a 100 years since the birth of John Stott (27 April 1921 – 27 July 2011) the eminent Church of England minister and theologian. In 2005, Time magazine ranked Stott among the 100 most influential people in the world.

Paul Blackham. Grace & Truth. 30 April 2021

1 thought on “The grace and truth of John Stott – Grace & Truth”

  1. John Stott got a lot of big things right. But he got a big thing wrong: his view that annihilation might be right and eternal retribution wrong.

    What happens to those who at the Day of Judgment are not saved from their sins? Isn’t it at this point we all draw back from telling the terrible truth? As I see it retribution inflicted by God on the unsaved and the atonement doctrine of penal substitution go together. If one is true the other must be true. If one is not true then the other must not be true. Also it really matters whether that retribution is eternal. If it stops followed by annihilation, well, then (not to trivialise a dreadfully serious and sensitive personal subject) – that might not be a very fearful prospect. Also, if, as Travis asserts ‘The outcome of being unsuccessful at the judgment is exclusion from relationship to God’ and, quoting Tillich, ‘Judgment is an act of love which surrenders that which resists love to self-destruction…’, then that might not be a very fearful prospect either. At stake is what is the terrible warning the Church needs to proclaim, alongside the wonderful message of deliverance. I see this as the most important disagreement in the Church, and an area where those who agree with me should be much more forthright in challenging those who disagree with me.

    Phil Almond

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