John Piper (theologian)

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John Stephen Piper
Born	January 11, 1946 Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States
Occupation	pastor, author
Religious beliefs	Christian (Baptist)
Spouse	Noël Henry Piper
Parents	Bill & Ruth Piper

John Stephen Piper (born January 11, 1946, Chattanooga, Tennessee) is a Reformed and Baptist theologian, preacher, and author, currently serving as Pastor for Preaching and Vision of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is the author of numerous books, including ECPA Christian Book Award winners What Jesus Demands from the World,^[1] Pierced by the Word,^[2] and God's Passion for His Glory,^[3] and bestsellers Don't Waste Your Life^[4] and The Passion of Jesus Christ.^[5] The evangelical organization Desiring God is named for his book Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (1986).

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Education 1.2 Ministry 2 Theological views 2.1 Christian Hedonism 2.2 Calvinism 2.3 Eschatology 2.4 Law and covenant 2.5 Spiritual gifts 2.6 Gender roles 3 Selected works 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Biography

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Piper was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Bill and Ruth Piper. When he and his older sister were still young, the Pipers moved to Greenville, South Carolina, where he spent the rest of his youth and graduated from Wade Hampton High School. His father was an itinerant evangelist who actively ministered through international radio and Bible courses until his death on March 6, 2007.^[6] Piper has written a tribute to his mother, who died in 1974, in the booklet, What's the Difference? (Crossway Books, 1990) which is also chapter one of the book Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (Crossway Books, 1991).

On January 11, 2006, Piper announced that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. According to a letter sent to his church,^[7] he and his doctors believed that the cancer was fully treatable. Piper's reaction to his diagnosis was: "This news has, of course, been good for me. The most dangerous thing in the world is the sin of self-reliance and the stupor of worldliness. The news of cancer has a wonderfully blasting effect on both. I thank God for that. The times with Christ in these days have been unusually sweet." Piper underwent successful surgery on February 14, 2006.^[8]

He married Noël Henry in 1968, and together they have four sons, a daughter, and several grandchildren.

[edit] Education

Piper attended Wheaton College (1964-68), where he majored in literature and minored in philosophy. Studying Romantic Literature with Clyde Kilby stimulated the poetic side of his nature, and today he regularly writes poems to celebrate special family occasions as well as composing story-poems (based on the life of biblical characters) for his congregation during the four weeks of Advent each year.^[9]

Following college, he completed a Bachelor of Divinity degree at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California (1968-71). While at Fuller, he took several courses from Daniel Fuller and through him discovered the writings of Jonathan Edwards.

Piper did his doctoral work in New Testament Studies at the University of Munich, Munich, West Germany (1971-74). His dissertation, Love Your Enemies, was published by Cambridge University Press and Baker Book House. Upon completion of his doctorate, he taught Biblical Studies at Bethel University and Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, for six years (1974-80).

[edit] Ministry

In 1980, after what he described as an irresistible call of the Lord to preach, Piper became Pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he has been ministering ever since. Piper was catapulted onto the evangelical scene after the publication of his book Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (1986) and has continued to publish dozens of other books further articulating this theological perspective. In 1994, he founded Desiring God Ministries,^[10] which today provides all of Piper's sermons and articles from the past three decades, and most of his books online free of charge, as well as offering for sale books, CDs, and DVDs and regularly hosting conferences.^[11]

Piper's motto in ministry, preaching, and teaching is: "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him." He calls those who live out this motto Christian Hedonists. Piper places a heavy emphasis on the objective and absolute nature of truth and is confident in the Christian's ability to grasp that truth through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

[edit] Theological views

[edit] Christian Hedonism

Main article: Christian hedonism

Piper calls himself a Christian Hedonist and teaches that "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him"^[12] and that God's highest pursuit ("his glory") and man's deepest and most durable happiness come together in one pursuit – namely, the pursuit of joy in God. He was awakened to this notion in the writings of Jonathan Edwards, Blaise Pascal, and C. S. Lewis, among others, and then found it throughout the Bible, for example Ps 16:11; 37:4; Phil 3:1; 4:4 among others.

[edit] Calvinism

Piper's theology is Reformed^[13] and Baptist.^[14] He also believes in double predestination, which includes "unconditional reprobation" as a corollary to the Calvinistic doctrine of unconditional election, and he subscribes to the Leibnizian view that God runs the universe in such a way that it will be the best of all possible universes.^[15]

Piper believes in justification by faith alone apart from works,^[16] and his teachings emphasize the need for the active perseverance of the believer in faith, sanctification, and enduring sufferings, as this is evidence of God's saving grace. A once-professing Christian who does not persevere in faith to the end demonstrates that he was never a true believer in the first place.^[17][18]

[edit] Eschatology

Piper holds a post tribulation view of the second coming of Jesus.^[19][20] He maintains that Romans 11 teaches that a mass in-gathering of ethnic Israel will be saved when the hardening of their hearts is removed at Jesus' second coming.^[21] He advocates the importance of hoping in the resurrection of the dead at Christ's return.^[22]

[edit] Law and covenant

Piper does not classify himself strictly as a dispensationalist, a covenant theologian, or a New Covenant theologian in matters of the Law and covenants.^[23] He says that the Law was meant by God to reveal sin and show man's inability to live up to God's righteous standards^[24]. Christians, living under the new covenant, are not under the old-covenant law but able to fulfill its intent through faith in Jesus Christ.^[25][26]

Piper teaches that God has only one covenant people, mostly believing Jews in the Old Testament, and now that relationship has been superseded by the church.^[27] Thus, the Church is rightful inheritor of all the promises made to ethnic Israel (land, kingdom, etc.), and Jews who reject Jesus as Messiah have no divine right of claim on those promises.^[28]

[edit] Spiritual gifts

Regarding spiritual gifts, Piper is a continuationist.^[29] That is, he believes that supernatural gifts such as prophecy, miracles, healings, and speaking in tongues have not ceased and should be sought by the church,^[30] in particular with regard to missions and evangelism. He does believe, however, that the office of apostle has ceased and that the gift of prophecy in the church is not infallible.^[31]

[edit] Gender roles

Piper holds to a complementarian view of gender roles,^[32] and was co-editor of Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood with Wayne Grudem.

[edit] Selected works

Main article: List of books by John Piper

• Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (Multnomah, 1986; 2nd edition, 1996, 3rd edition, 2003).
• The Pleasures of God (Multnomah, 1991; Expanded edition, 2000).
• Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions (Baker, 1993, 2nd Edition 2003).
• Future Grace, or, The Purifying Power of Living By Faith In Future Grace (Multnomah, 1995).
• Brothers, We Are Not Professionals (Broadman & Holman, 2002).
• Don't Waste Your Life (Crossway, 2003).
• When I Don't Desire God (Crossway, 2004).
• God Is the Gospel (Crossway, 2005).
• What Jesus Demands from the World (Crossway, 2006).
• The Future of Justification (Crossway, 2007).

The complete text of most of Piper's books can be accessed free of charge at Desiring God.^[33]

[edit] References

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[edit] External links

• Desiring God - 27 years of sermons for free (manuscript, audio, and video), plus articles, books, and more
• Desiring God Blog - where updates on new sermons, articles, and blogposts may be found
  • John Piper: God's Glory His Passion, by Tim Ellsworth (Southern Seminary Magazine)
• Desiring God Radio - Piper's official radio broadcast
• Piper's columns in WORLD Magazine