Death by Love: Letters from the Cross

Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears have produced an immensely helpful and deeply theological book in Death by Love: Letters from the Cross. The book is formatted as a series of counseling scenarios in which Pastor Mark is hearing someone’s story and situation. Then, Mark writes them a letter, pointing them from their situation to Jesus, emphasizing a different aspect of the benefits of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Finally, at the end of each chapter there is a question and answer section, similar to other books Driscoll and Breshears have teamed up on like Vintage Jesus. While working through numerous life situations such as abuse, addiction, legalism, bitterness, and betrayal, Mark pastorally helps the people he is counseling see Jesus as their substitute, their victory, their redemption, their sacrifice, their propitiation, their expiation, their atonement, their ransom, their example, their reconciliation, and the perfect revelation of God. The first and main strength of this book is that it connects life situations to Jesus, and specifically to the theological implications of Jesus’s death and resurrection. This book powerfully demonstrates that deep theology need not be impractical. Simultaneously, the book makes a strong case for a robust understanding and appreciation of Jesus being the best remedy for many of life’s most trying situations. Driscoll excels at making complex theological issues accessible and relevant without watering them down. For instance, in explaining the Day of Atonement, Driscoll uses the two goats to explain the difference between propitiation and expiation. The first goat was slaughtered “as a substitute for the sinners who rightly deserved a violently bloody death for their many sins.” Its blood was sprinkled over the tabernacle, God’s dwelling place. This goat, then with its shed blood “represented life given as payment for sin.” This was so that “God’s just and holy wrath was satisfied.” Driscoll connects then this concept to propitiation, “whereby God’s wrath is propitiated, or taken from us, because of Jesus,” (21). Next, Driscoll used the second goat, the scapegoat, to teach on expiation. This goat had the sins of Israel pronounced on it before it was released into the wilderness to die. As such, the goat represents our sin being “taken away, so that we are made clean,” (21). Using the two goats to teach on propitiation (God’s wrath satisfied by a substitute’s shed blood) and expiation (our sin taken away by the substitute) was a good example Driscoll’s ability to put the cookies on the lowest shelf, without making cheap cookies! The only weakness I saw in this book was not with its content, but with what could not be crammed in the nearly 300 pages. As a counseling book, each chapter helped connect the person’s issues to Jesus and his death and resurrection. However, there was little to no further counseling. One could imply that to pastorally help those who are hurting or stuck in sin, all they need is to understand the theological benefits of the cross. While I wholeheartedly agree that this is the starting point for any faithful, biblical counseling, surely as pastors we must also help them to put sin to death and to put on the righteousness of Christ. I suppose it would be very helpful to have a companion or follow-up volume by Driscoll explaining how to help those under your pastoral care begin to change in a biblical sense. Quotes: • “Jesus’ death is not a tragedy perpetuated by oppressive Roman soldiers but a self-initiated sacrifice, an offering he came to make,” (34). • “Even evil that is intended to destroy us is used by our sovereign God for good and the saving of many lives. No enemy can stop God’s ultimate intent to do good,” (41). • “Jesus stepped forward and declared that he already paid the penalty for your sins on the cross, canceled any right Satan had to hold you captive, and defeated your Enemy along with his servants and their works a

In Death by Love the reader is treated to a little different Driscoll than they may be accustomed to. The comedic phrases and funny stories from his book Radical Reformission are notably absent here. And, as much as I enjoy Driscoll's comedy- that's a good thing. Mark and Gerry do a fabulous job of showing us what Christ accomplished on the cross. They prove four important things: 1. Theology and theological terminology is important and helpful to know. 2. Rich deep theological truths have relevant impact in the lives of Christians today. 3. Theological truth is accessible and understandable when clearly explained. 4. Learning the rich, orthodox, historic teaching on the atonement is not only not boring, it's quite exciting. Thanks Mark and Gerry. I pray your book will continue to help Christians for years to come.

Books on the cross - what it accomplished, the significance, etc. - seem to be a dime a dozen in Christian publishing. Safe to say it's a fairly saturated niche, so you may be wondering how any book on the topic could present a fresh perspective. However, that's exactly what Mark Driscoll does in "Death by Love". Using a modern day Pauline-type approach, Driscoll explains the far reaching power and significance of Christ's work on the cross by using examples of friends, family, and acquaintances. The result is a powerfully instructional work, which gives practical examples of the importance of the cross. Additionally, I loved getting a sneak peak at Driscoll's approach to counseling and evangelism. As with the other Driscoll/Breshears book, "Vintage Jesus", this book includes a Q & A section at the end of each chapter to address potential questions or problems that the reader might have after completing the chapter. The insight that Breshears brings to these sections is appreciated. Driscoll takes a lot of, in my opinion, often misguided heat for his preaching style and humor, but those elements are nonexistent in this book. "Death by Love" is just solid, challenging teaching.

The book is laid out as a set of twelve pastoral letters to people Driscoll has counseled, each section applying an aspect of the redemptive work of Jesus to their lives. With chapters like "My Wife Slept with My Friend," "My Dad Used to Beat Me," "My Wife Has a Brain Tumor" and "I Molested a Child," these letters are extremely heavy stuff. However, I found myself in tears more than once as I got to see the gospel given to broken, hurting people. I really loved this book for a number of reasons. Let me offer two. First, the format is extremely helpful. I remember hearing Bryan Chapell comment that "If we try to apply a text to everyone, we reach nobody. If we apply it to a single individual, we reach everyone else too." I've read lots of books about the ideas Mark is discussing here. I can't think of any of them which have made me feel the truths as profoundly. I was especially struck by the chapters on justification and redemption; both ideas are far from new to me, but hearing them through different ears made me even more grateful for them myself. Second, I really appreciate the breadth Driscoll assigns to Christ's work on the cross. He draws on twelve different aspects, ranging from the traditionally Protestant (justification, propitiation, imputation) to those which we often ignore (Christus Victor, Christus Exemplar, Jesus as the revelation of God). It is all too common to pit some of these "atonement theories" against each other in a way that the Bible, which teaches them all as an interconnected whole, does not in any way warrant. His chapter on Jesus as our example is especially helpful, drawing on all that goes into suffering with Christ and taking up our cross without thinking that this idea is somehow hostile to penal substitution or grace. Overall, Driscoll does a great job of showing the many sides of the jewel of the atonement without trying to insist that any one is better than another. There were a few quibbles some evangelicals might have with this book theologically, but they are secondary to its overall goal. There were also a few pot-shots taken which I thought were unhelpful. I agreed with his critiques for the most part, but it does break the sense of personal address which the letters provide. I think that there might be some who are turned off by an offhanded comment or two and miss the central truths Driscoll discusses. I also had one formatting complaint: at the end of each chapter is a set of common questions about the doctrine being discussed. While these were mostly helpful, I felt that they often shattered the tone of the book. I think they might have been better placed in an appendix, allowing further reading if necessary without breaking up the main text. However, this is more a tribute to the quality of the chapters themselves than a huge problem. Overall, I really enjoyed Death by Love, and I hope it gets a wide readership. I would especially encourage those of you who hate Driscoll for one reason or anothe

Death by Love is Mark Driscoll's fourth book (or eighth if you count the "A Book You'll Actually Read" series of booklets released earlier this year by Crossway) and the second to be released in the 2008 calendar year. It follows Vintage Jesus, Confessions of a Reformission Rev. and The Radical Reformission. Along with Vintage Jesus it is the second to be co-written with Gerry Breshears. Death by Love is unique among Driscoll's books in that it is serious in tone from the first page to the last; gone is the sometimes-irreverent humor and gone is the biographical theme. In place comes a deadly-serious look at deadly-serious theology. The book is written in quite a unique format. Following the model of the biblical epistles, Driscoll writes letters to his congregation--individuals who have come to him for pastoral counsel through the years of his ministry. He writes letters to address their issues in light of the gospel. "Our approach is an effort to show that there is no such thing as Christian community or Christian ministry apart from a rigorous theology of the cross that is practically applied to the lives of real people." By perusing the table of contents the reader can quickly see the themes of the book and the contexts in which Driscoll writes about them: Introduction We Killed God: Jesus Is Our Substitutionary Atonement "Demons Are Tormenting Me" Jesus Is Katie's Christus Victor "Lust Is My God" Jesus Is Thomas's Redemption "My Wife Slept with My Friend" Jesus Is Luke's New Covenant Sacrifice "I Am a 'Good' Christian" Jesus Is David's Gift Righteousness "I Molested a Child" Jesus Is John's Justification "My Dad Used to Beat Me" Jesus Is Bill's Propitiation "He Raped Me" Jesus Is Mary's Expiation "My Daddy Is a Pastor" Jesus Is Gideon's Unlimited Limited Atonement "I Am Going to Hell" Jesus Is Hank's Ransom "My Wife Has a Brain Tumor" Jesus Is Caleb's Christus Exemplar "I Hate My Brother" Jesus Is Kurt's Reconciliation "I Want to Know God" Jesus Is Susan's Revelation Appendix: Recommended Reading on the Cross Similar to Vintage Jesus (and the forthcoming Vintage Church), Mark Driscoll writes the bulk of the text while Gerry Breshears offers questions and answers relevant to the topic at the close of each chapter. The book is targeted at a general audience and is intended to share with these people a biblical theology of the cross. "We write this book not with the intention of pleasing all of the scholars who may find here various points about which to quibble. Rather, our hope is to make otherwise complicated truths understandable to regular folks so that their love for and worship of Jesus would increase as they pick up their cross to follow him. Additionally, we write in hopes of serving fellow pastors and other Christian leaders who bear the responsibility of teaching and leading people. We are heartbroken that the cross of Jesus Christ is under attack by some and dismissed by others. This book is our attempt to respond i

Mark Driscoll is accused of being many things. I would like to accuse him of being spot on in "Death By Love". His approach to this book is different than much of his previous writing - it is far more pastoral, with "letters" to people included. The goal of this book and these "letters" is to help people be transformed by the amazing grace that is Jesus Christ. Driscoll is Gospel centered in this book, and wise in his counsel. Jesus was victorious on the Cross, saving us from our sinful selves, and Driscoll does a good job of putting that into a perspective that applies to day-to-day living. While it is theological, it is not abstract. Driscoll doesn't shy away from tough or even potentially controversial subject matter. He approaches it head on and earnestly, giving his unapologetic style real world teeth.