Errors And Heresies Taught By John McArthur

John Fullerton MacArthur Jr.

 John Mcarthur is a very popular figure in Christianity today, however I would argue that his influence is not a good thing.

Error 1: A Nestorian view of the atonement

John Mcarthur denies that the blood of Christ can be called the "blood of God", this was taught by the 5th century bishop "Nestorius", who argued that whatever Christ does in his human nature cannot be applied to God. To put it simply, Christianity has always confessed that whatever Christ does as a man can be said to be done by God, thus we say "God the Son died in His human nature". We must remember that Christ is one person, Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians 2:8: "which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.".

However in contrast, John Mcarthur says "It’s heretical to call the blood of Jesus Christ the blood of God, and it demonstrates a failure to understand what theologians have called the hypostatic union, that is the God-man union in Christ."

No, the failure is in John's part to understand the Hypostatic union, even Ignatius of Antioch (who wrote in 102ad) and may perhaps have seen the apostles, declared: "Being the followers of God, and stirring up yourselves by the blood of God" (Epistle to the Ephesians)

Error 2: The blood wasn't a part of the atonement

Mcarthur says: "There are others who say that there’s something magical in the blood, there’s something in the blood itself that washes sin away, when the Scripture teaches it was the death of Christ that atoned for sin, and He shed His literal blood in sacrificial evidence of the pouring out of His life for sin. But there was nothing magic about that blood itself that could wash sin. And so, this heresy has begun to develop, strangely enough." 

However in contrast, scripture declares:

Matthew 26:28 

For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Hebrews 9:14 

How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Hebrews 9:22 

Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Ephesians 1:7 

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

Error 3: We are saved by submitting to Christ

McArthur teaches that our salvation is achieved by submitting to Christ, instead of mere trust. However, submission is a work of the law, which cannot save. John Mcarthur teaches that the sermon on the mount was Jesus preaching the gospel, however the sermon mainly just includes commandments to obey. For example Matt 5:22: "But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire." Is Christ condemning the righteousness of the Pharisees, he is giving them commandments they all have failed, to show that they deserve condemnation, yet McArthur is doing the opposite.