John F. MacArthur

John F. MacArthur (2013)

John Fullerton MacArthur, Jr. (born June 19, 1939 in Los Angeles ) is an American pastor, preacher, theologian and author. He became known through his work of faith Grace to You (German: Gnade für dich ) and his appearances on the talk show Larry King Live . He became a formative figure in the evangelical world; This was due not only to his study Bible (with more than one million copies sold worldwide. As of 2008) also to his numerous Bible commentaries and theological publications. Within evangelicalism , it can be assigned theologically to the Calvinist current.

Life

John MacArthur is the son of Pastor Jack MacArthur (a cousin of US General Douglas MacArthur ). At the age of 29, he took over the Grace Community Church in Sun Valley in 1969 , which he still leads today as a pastor. In 1969 he founded the work Grace To You to distribute his sermons in the form of cassettes . The radio program of the same name followed later (first broadcast in 1977). Grace To You now serves as a platform for the worldwide multimedia distribution of MacArthur's resources. Since 1985 MacArthur has also been President of the Masters College in Los Angeles (formerly Los Angeles Baptist College and Seminary ). A year later he founded the Master's Seminary , which is located on the grounds of the Grace Community Church . In October 2018, McArthur announced that he would be stepping down with effect from May 2020.

In his youth, MacArthur was a talented athlete and American football player; according to his own statements, he was facing a career in college football . After a serious car accident, however, he decided to concentrate on theological training and not pursue the sporting career any further. Today he is a passionate golfer .

John MacArthur is married with four children and fifteen grandchildren.

theology

sermon

John MacArthur is an advocate of the "Interpretative Sermon." In this form of sermon , shorter or longer passages of the Bible are interpreted continuously, often in series. The main focus of these sermons is the actual Bible word and its meaning. MacArthur has interpreted the entire New Testament for 43 years since beginning his pastoral ministry. The result has also been published in the form of his Bible commentaries. MacArthur is of the opinion that this form of preaching is the only permitted form according to the Bible.

John MacArthur is a prominent critic of the " gospel of prosperity, " the view that material prosperity is predetermined as a favor from God or would be granted in return for religious merit. He expressed himself negatively against the television preachers popular in parts of the United States , whom he accused of greed and impostor. For example, he accused Joel Osteen of the mega-church Lakewood Church for twisting the gospel into its opposite by making false promises of wealth.

politics

MacArthur takes the position that Christians should not be actively involved in politics, as this is not the biblical and Christ-appropriate way to change the world. He attributes this primarily to Jesus, who was also not politically active and who pointed out a kingdom that was not of this world ( In the truest sense, the moral, social, and political state of a people is irrelevant to the advance of the gospel. Jesus said that His kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36) ). Still, according to MacArthur, a Christian should exercise his right to vote. McArthur publicly supported Donald Trump in the 2016 election campaign . He said he would not vote for the candidate, but a worldview.

In the US media, John MacArthur is often invited as an evangelical-conservative voice. In this role, among other things, he made some controversial statements. For him, the death penalty is biblically justified ( When Jesus told Peter, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword” (Matt. 26:52), he was reminding His disciple that the penalty for his killing one of Jesus' enemies would be to perish himself through execution, which the Lord here acknowledges would be justified ). MacArthur also regards any homosexual inclination and practice as a sin.

With regard to global warming , MacArthur quoted 2 Peter 3:12 in a sermon , where the heavens are supposed to go up in flames, and commented: “but you not gonna do that with your hairspray - so spray away, walk on the grass, kill a deer and drill for oil! ”(German:“ You can't do that with your hairspray - so spray, kill game and drill for oil! ”).

Works (selection)

Bible commentaries

• 1 Corinthians . 1984
  • The 1st letter to the Corinthians . CLV , Bielefeld 2006, ISBN 978-3-89397-680-5
• 2 Corinthians . 2003
  • The 2nd letter to the Corinthians . CLV, Bielefeld 2008, ISBN 978-3-89397-686-7
• 1 Timothy . 1995
  • The 1st letter to Timothy . CLV, Bielefeld 2001, ISBN 978-3-89397-624-9
• 2 Timothy . 1995
  • The second letter to Timothy . CLV, Bielefeld 2003, ISBN 978-3-89397-643-0

Study Bibles

• The MacArthur Study Bible . 1997
  • MacArthur Study Bible . CLV, Bielefeld 2002, ISBN 978-3-89397-045-2

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Grace To You website . Retrieved November 13, 2013.
2. ↑ YouTube clip . Larry King video interview with John MacArthur.
3. ^ Website of the Christian Book Expo . Retrieved November 13, 2013.
4. ^ Personal Interview with John MacArthur . Retrieved November 13, 2013.
5. ↑ Grace To You Ministry ( Memento of the original from October 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved November 13, 2013.  
6. ^ Website of the Master's Seminary . Retrieved November 13, 2013.
7. ^ Samuel Smith, John MacArthur to Step Down as Master's University President; Transition Announced , Christian Examiner, October 25, 2018.
8. ↑ John MacArthur Tells How He Met His Wife
9. ↑ Expository Preaching in a Postmodern World, Part 1
10. ↑ A Historic Moment
11. ↑ Expository Preaching in a Postmodern World, Part 1
12. ↑ John MacArthur, Gospel of Prosperity is “the worst kind of blasphemy,” May 23, 2010
13. ^ A Colossal Fraud .
14. ↑ BloombergBusinnessweek, May 22, 2005
15. ^ Christians and Politics, Part 3 . Retrieved November 14, 2013.
16. ↑ Joshua Peace, John MacArthur Says He's Not Voting for Trump, He's Voting for a Worldview , ChurchLeaders.
17. ^ National Government and War
18. ↑ John MacArthur on Homosexuality . Youtube video, June 20, 2008
19. ↑ Minute: 8:27: John MacArthur: Why Does God Allow So Much Suffering and Evil? In: Youtube. Ligonier Ministries, May 12, 2015, accessed March 27, 2020 .