Yesterday evening I was telling Elizabeth that I’d read John Piper’s latest book, Spectacular Sins, on the plane trip to visit my Dad and brother this weekend. “Spectacular sins?” she queried in response. “Is John Piper still okay?”
So I explained the title — it is not that he is inferring that the sins in question are spectacularly wonderful, but that they are spectacularly great in their affront against God, but that God still uses them to accomplish his glory (as the subtitle — and their global purpose in the glory of Christ — indicates).
The book is important, for in just a few chapters and in a little more than a hundred pages, he addresses from several biblical passages the question of theodicy (from theos, meaning “God,” and dikaios, meaning righteousness; thus, the question of God’s righteousness in the face of sin and evil in the world).
Since Piper first preached this series in his church last year, I have recommended the sermon series several times, for I thought it to be one of the best sets of sermons I’d heard on the topic. And it is a topic that is significant in the minds of many people. And Piper’s approach is through a clear and precise interpretation of Scripture not to attempt to excuse God for the presence of sin, but to demonstrate that while God is not the author of sin, He does in fact use sin to accomplish His purposes.
And the most significant purpose He accomplishes is the great demonstration of His grace through the redemption of men by the work of Christ. And God would never be able to be glorified for those truths without the presence of sin — so He reveals His glory because of the very presence of sin, not in spite of the presence of sin.
Using the truth of Christ’s pre-eminence (all things were created for Him) and the stories of Satan, Adam, Babel, Joseph, the inauguration of the kingship of Israel, and Judas Iscariot, Piper demonstrates the purposes of God — and the glory of Christ — in and over sin:
My aim is to show that sin and evil, no matter how spectacular, never nullify the decisive, Christ-exalting purposes of God. No, my aim is more than that. These spectacular sins do not just fail to nullify God’s purpose to glorify Christ, they succeed, by God’s unfathomable providence, in making his gracious purpose come to pass.
I recommended the audio series many times. I will be recommending the book many times in the future as well.
[You may purchase a copy of this book from DG, or from the church book cart for $5.]
Words of Grace 