Tullian’s concern over sin and guilt in the Christian life falls under the topic of progressive sanctification, but Tullian intentionally gives only one solution for progressive sanctification within the Christian life: “the law can instruct, but only grace can inspire,” “grace and grace alone carries the power to inspire what the law demands.” He eliminates the law as an option for motivation in the Christian life: “Telling people to change can’t change them,” “Nowhere does the Bible say that the law produces love. Nowhere.” 

Tullian Tchividjian posted strong words against Jen Wilkin’s TGC article, “Failure is Not a Virtue.” He says the article contains “theological muddiness,” but he intends to “dive beneath the surface and explore her post at a deeper theological AND existential level.” According to him, it reveals “deep theological confusion” and she “fails to deliver the real bad news which prevents the reader from hearing (and being relieved by) the real good news.” The article (or something like it) may be “theologically AND existentially simplistic and naïve.”

Regarding his particular response post to Jen, two distinct but related questions arise: 1) Does Jen Wilkin’s article display all the weaknesses that Tullian claims? and 2) Does Tullian understand Jen’s article?

Mike Kruger of RTS Charlotte addressed those two questions in a superb analysis of Tullian’s post. He walks us through Tullian’s post and demonstrates how Tullian focuses only on the second use of the law, ignoring its third use. And Mark Jones has openly asked Tullian to debate these points at a forum of his choosing.

In most of his writing, Tullian demonstrates clear concern for the believer through his or her struggle with sin. He knows many Christians who have experienced real pain from ongoing guilt, and from the crippling shackles of legalistic thinking. For anyone who has witnessed and ministered to believers who fight every day to shake the heavy burden of legalism off their back, we can stand shoulder to shoulder with Tullian’s concern to lead believers to Christ-centered joy.

In response to Jen’s article, Tullian says he has “never encountered a Christian who ‘celebrates failure.’” I have no reason to suspect otherwise, so point well taken, but I’m not sure Tullian understands the spirit of Jen’s phrase “celebratory failurism.” “Celebratory” may be hyperbolic. Granted. Let’s go with “sanctioning failure,” because Tullian himself says on many occasions that Christians are “free to fail.”

“Fail.” Tullian has mentioned that we are “free to fail” here, here, and here again where he re-posts his identical previous post, “Does Grace Make You Lazy?” Tullian can mean two different things by this word “fail”—he either means failing at something amoral, like doing a cartwheel or mastering calculus, or he means failing to keep God’s law, which is by definition sinning. If he means the former, his point becomes moot, because Christ did not die for our amoral failures at particular skills and abilities, he died for our sins. If by “fail” he means “sin,” he has quite a bit of explaining to do.

“Free to sin” sounds foreign to Scripture’s teaching on sin. “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!” (Rom. 6:1-2), to quote one verse out of several that says the exact opposite of Tullian’s phrase. Though he quotes Rom. 8:31ff to support his overall argument, that passage speaks about believers from the standpoint of their election and their justification. Paul does not discuss sanctification in that section; he focuses on Christ’s accomplished work, and on trials that are thrust upon believers. Tullian’s misunderstanding of the passage misses Paul’s pastoral punch.

So how did Tullian get there if Scripture communicates in such a clear way that we are not free to sin? Tullian perpetually posts on the topic of “law and gospel.” He quotes Beza on law and gospel in his response to Jen (and has used that same quote three times previously on his blog here, here, and in an interview with Mike Horton here). He also quotes Machen (again, a quote he has used three times previously (here, here, and here). On the Machen quote in particular, Tullian cuts and pastes selectively from Machen’s What Is Faith? The quote rings true on its own (part of the reason for its perpetual reappearance on twitter), but has a broader context necessary for understanding its full meaning:

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