John F. MacArthur

In Christ alone are the barriers and dividing walls between people groups broken down.

John Fullerton MacArthur Jr. (born 19 June 1939) is an American theologian and clergyman.

Quotes

[N]o one is a victim. We are all perpetrators of open rebellion, scandalous, blasphemous sin against God. We are all rebels, we are all obstinate, we are all stubborn... From God’s viewpoint, no one is a victim.

• You go to Japan. Japan had 250 missionary boards at one time, ministering in Japan. All kinds of Christian institutions, Christian ministries all over, and it is a totally Pagan culture. On the other hand, you go to China and you're going to find several hundred million Christians in a country where Christians were massacred. Why is that? Because that's a purifying process. Hypocrites all abandon religion; they're not going to be phony for something that costs them their life.
  • "Persecution: A Price to Pay for Being a Christian?", Grace to You

1990s

• The world will accept you changing your style for them, but pretty soon they’re going to demand that you change your substance. They’re going to demand that you – well, they liked the fact that you’ve taken their method, but they're going to demand you change your message.
  • Ashamed of the Gospel: When the Church Becomes Like the World (1993)

2000s

• [P]eople who say, “I am an agnostic,” proudly. From the Greek, “one who doesn’t know.” They do, “I’m an agnostic.” You hear people say that. You know what the Latin word for “agnostic” is? Ignoramus. You hear anybody say, “I am an ignoramus”? Really?
  • "God’s Own Defense of Scripture, Part 1" (26 August 2007), Grace to You

Saved or Self-Deceived, Part 2 (2007)

"Saved or Self-Deceived, Part 2" (11 November 2007), Grace to You, California

• You would be better off, frankly, to use the name of Jesus Christ or God in an occasional curse word than to live an ongoing, hypocritical life that blasphemes His name from beginning to end.

• The sinner must feel far worse before he ever has a right to feel any better.

2010s

• You hear people say, “Well, I’m an agnostic.” Really? You shouldn’t be proud to be an agnostic because the Latin equivalent is ignoramus. It’s the same word. I’ve never heard anybody say, “I’m personally an ignoramus.” But if you don’t know, you don’t know. That’s what an ignoramus is. If you have an open mind close it, would you please, before you destroy yourself. Close it.
  • "Scripture Is Sufficient" (1 March 2015), Grace to You

• I deplore racism and all the cruelty and strife it breeds. I am convinced the only long-term solution to every brand of ethnic animus is the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Christ alone are the barriers and dividing walls between people groups broken down, the enmity abolished, and differing cultures and ethnic groups bound together in one new people... It is a startling irony that believers from different ethnic groups, now one in Christ, have chosen to divide over ethnicity. They have a true spiritual unity in Christ, which they seem to disdain in favor of fleshly factions.
  • "Social Injustice and the Gospel" (13 August 2018), Grace to You

• In God’s eyes – listen – no one is a victim. We are all perpetrators of open rebellion, scandalous, blasphemous sin against God. We are all rebels, we are all obstinate, we are all stubborn... Here we have the critical fundamental principle of the gospel; no one is a victim. From God’s viewpoint, no one is a victim.
  • "Social Justice and the Gospel, Part 1" (August 2018), SJ&G

External links

• Encyclopedic article on John F. MacArthur on Wikipedia