“The Doctrines of Grace in the Gospel of John” by R. Bruce Steward

“The Doctrines of Grace in the Gospel of John” by R. Bruce Steward

This is a very personal Blog, not so much about the booklet, but about the man. It was my privilege to have Bruce Steward as my pastor at Englewood Baptist Temple from 1981-85. He was a great man, but very much overlooked while alive. And he was a wise and gentle man, shown not least in his using the Gospel of John to organize a presentation of the Doctrines of Grace.

The term “The Doctrines of Grace,” is synonymous with “The Five Points of Calvinism” and the acronym “TULIP.”

The genius of using John's Gospel to present “The Five Points of Calvinism,” and Pastor Steward organized his booklet using the TULIP acronym, is that John is often called “The Apostle of Love.”

An argument against Calvinism is that how can a loving God not plan to save everyone. But if the Apostle of Love so clearly presents these truths, then that argument is shown to be wrong. Pastor Steward shows that John's Gospel is actually a clear and systematic presentation of Calvinism, meaning, John was a Calvinist; well not really, we should say, Calvin was a “Johnist.”

Calvinism, The Five Points of Calvinism, The Doctrines of Grace, do NOT set forth a concept of God as mean and un-loving; how can grace, freely given salvation, be mean?

Pastor Steward clearly shows, that since all men deserve eternal punishment in hell, meaning no one has any grounds for heaven, if God saves anybody, he is being more gracious than he “needs” to be; he is not mean, he is good!

Many say they are “Four Point Calvinist,” and those who say that, generally mean they do not hold to “Limited Atonement,” or “Particular Redemption.” They do not want to say Jesus death only counts for the Elect: the it was limited to certain people, particular for them only. They want to say that Jesus died for all people who have ever lived, or will ever live. They want Redemption to be “Possible for All” but not “Actual for Some.” Pastor Steward addresses that position.

John's gospel is probably the most “doctrinal dense” of all the gospels. The other 3 gospels, are called The Synoptic Gospels, because they give a synopsis of Jesus life, of the events of his life, of what he did and what he said. While they of course have much doctrine in them, they do not present the depth of doctrine which John presents.

John's gospel is deep! He speaks on a different plane. The other gospels give you a tour around the shore line of the lake; John dives in, and takes you down. He looks at the foundation. Think of John's Prologue! How is that for foundation truth, that the Eternal Word, Wisdom of Proverbs 8, assumed human flesh; Jesus the carpenter from Nazareth, was really the co-eternal Son, with the Father from all eternity. Words fail!

I highly recommend Pastor Steward's booklet. I heard him preach these sermons at Englewood in 1982, they were great! The booklet is available in printed form from Chapel Library, who have many other excellent tracts, booklets, and books.

https://www.chapellibrary.org/

Link for the digital copy: https://www.chapellibrary.org/pdf/books/dogi.pdf

To return to the man, R. Bruce Steward.

It is not wrong to have heroes; that is one point of Hebrews 11. People whose path we are to follow, whose faith we are to emulate, whose hope we are to make our own.

Nor is it correct to think that if a man is overlooked while he lived, he cannot be a great man. Think of A.W. Pink and Roland Allen. One's greatness is not necessarily recognized during one's lifetime.

Greatness is tied to one's Legacy, what one gives to the future.

Bruce Steward labored at Englewood for a short 4 years, but out of that time, six (6) men, all of us only in our early 20s at the time, have gone on to labor faithfully for Christ these past 40 years. One of us has already gone ahead to glory, but the other 5 of us, continue on. I say that the Lord Jesus used R. Bruce Steward in our lives, and his Legacy was the 6 of us. Pretty good multiplication: 1 man produces 6; out of his 4 years of ministry, came our total of 240 years, and still going! We are: Paul (a pastor), Bruce (a pastor), Ron (an elder), Steve (an elder), Mike (a pastor), and me, Ray (a missionary).

He is now in heaven, one of the “cloud of witnesses” cheering us on.

1 August 2024

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The Gospel of John #2 = An Outline