One reason Christians today are losing the cultural battle is that they are fighting on yesterday’s front. Athanasius was fighting for Christology. Luther fought for soteriology. The fight today is over anthropology. Yes, all truth everywhere matters, but the battle today rages over what is a human. This issue has implications for sexuality, natural law, education, medicine, and more. The world does not know what a woman is, because it does not know what a human is or what a human is for.

The need of the day for American Evangelicals is spiritual maturity.

Much like teenagers, American Evangelicals adopt a new identity every year – quick to jump on board each new fad conjured up by the cool kid elites. Trendy worship styles, innovative theological claims, hipster preachers, and gimmicky programs all feature prominently in Evangelical church life. From the olden days of WWJD bracelets to the recent “He Gets Us” Super Bowl ads, the marks of immaturity are legion.

In his foreword to Leland Ryken’s book Worldly Saint: The Puritans As They Really Were, J.I. Packer addresses why one would even bother with the Puritans. His answer is timely. “[T]he suggestion that we need the Puritans…may prompt some lifting of the eyebrows… What could these zealots give us that we need? it is asked. The answer, in one word, is maturity. Maturity is a compound of wisdom, goodwill, resilience, and creativity. The Puritans exemplified maturity; we don’t.” Packer touches the problem with a needle.

Mike Sabo highlights this dynamic well in his recent piece about the cage-stage phenomenon. “Theological cage-stagers can become puffed up with an assortment of facts but have little wisdom… They spend their days in fruitless ‘debates’ in Facebook groups, hammering away on their phones as dust gathers on their Bibles.” With an abundance of knowledge at our fingertips, many are able to parrot and mimic the newfound argument. What they lack, in most cases, is what they need most – maturity borne from experience.

This was true of me. Unlike many, I never had the cage-stage Calvinist experience, but I did come down with this malady regarding presuppositional apologetics. From my earliest days in the faith, apologetics was a passion. It was not long before stumbling upon John Frame, and from there Cornelius Van Til and Greg Bahnsen. After a few Bahnsen debates and a few hours of Jeff Durbin on the streets, there was no stopping me. I will spare you the details, but prideful immaturity was abundant.

Over time, my outlook changed. Chewing through work by Augustine, Ambrose, Calvin, Luther, Edwards, etc. revealed the undeniable gap between my approach and theirs. Then came the beginning of lay ministry.

Read More