Not Tozer’s Introduction

It is difficult to analyze a work that never introduces itself.  As a result, the reader is forced to consider the words of another author as they introduce that work.  “For more than a year, Dr. Tozer preached weekly on the Gospel of John, one of his favorite books of the Bible. Although he never laid out the entire series of sermons, week by week the Gospel took possession of his mind and soul….  The Gospel captured his imagination, and he could not turn away from it (Tozer 2009, 7).”  What was Dr. Tozer attempting to accomplish in his sermons on the Gospel of John?  You cannot evaluate that accomplishment until you lay out and clearly understand his purpose.

James Snyder, in his introduction to Dr. Tozer’s work, argues that, “no matter where [Dr. Tozer] started, he was the shepherd searching for the lost sheep” and as a result, “more people acknowledged new life in Christ during this series of sermons than any series Tozer ever preached (Tozer 2009, 7).”  And this should be the passion of every preacher; to reach the lost.  Snyder also identifies some specific challenges presented by the Gospel of John.  Were a preacher to focus on the doctrines emphasized by Paul, he could find himself treading the road towards legalism and a dead spirituality (Tozer 2009, 10).  Conversely, were a preacher to focus on the mystical doctrines found in the Gospel of John, he could find himself, “so heavenly minded that he was of no earthly good (Tozer 2009, 10).”

Dr. Tozer’s understanding that doctrine first, “establishes truth and helps us to recognized developing heresies” and that second, doctrine “is [also] a path to intimate knowledge of God (Tozer 2009, 8)” is what allows him to maintain a healthy balance between legalism and mysticism that ultimately results in the development of a mature understanding and knowledge of God (Tozer 2009, 10); an understanding and knowledge that demands a response.

Dr. Tozer on the Gospel of John

Dr. Tozer organizes his work into thirteen chapters with each taking a passage from John as its central theme.  Chapter one, for example, starts with the very first verse in the Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Joh 1:1).”  In this chapter Dr. Tozer wrestles directly with the “mysticism” that is found in John’s Gospel.  “Whereas the apostle Paul presents Christ in a theological setting, John uses the mystical setting. In doing so, John does not disregard theology, for there is plenty of theology in his Gospel; rather, he uses theology as a ladder to climb to the heights of Christ’s nature (Tozer 2009, 15).”  And it was necessary for Dr. Tozer to start here.  In doing so he both establishes the presence of doctrine in John’s Gospel and sets a high view of God that will be maintained throughout his work.

Dr. Tozer concludes on a similar note alleging that the contemporary church’s view of god is a poor, anemic imitation (Tozer 2009, 206).  That church’s concept of God, “is likely to be down so that instead of our thinking about that high God, the God we know about or think about or conceive is a very much smaller God (Tozer 2009, 206).”  From beginning to end Dr. Tozer maintains a theologically sound concept of God that is high enough that at times even seem unapproachable.

For example, in Chapter Two, when Dr. Tozer expounds upon the passage, “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men (Joh 1:3-5)” Dr. Tozer takes his reader through a thought experiment.  In that thought experiment the reader is asked to think away time and matter until nothing remains.  Concluding on that experiment he writes, “by now, you are getting to the place where there is absolutely nothing in existence. But actually, you are only to the place that precedes time (Tozer 2009, 31).”  How does a being packaged in matter and bounded by time even begin to conceive of that which existed before matter and time?  Only by reminding ourselves of the high and loftiness of God.  “We are so smothered under the little dust of grains that make up the world, time, space and organized matter that we are likely to forget that God once lived and dwelt and loved and existed without support, without help and without creation (Tozer 2009, 33).”

Once Dr. Tozer establishes the high and loftiness of God, he begins a discussion about God’s decision to come close to mankind by entering the creation.  Chapter Four deals with the tragedy of the incarnation, Chapter Five deals with the mystery of the incarnation, and Chapter Six compares and contrasts the incarnation with the Old Testament revelation of God.  These chapters steer the reader towards the central question; why?  What really matters to God?  On this question Dr. Tozer expounds from John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Maintaining that high and lofty view of God Dr. Tozer writes, “this text has come under the tremendous pressure of the triune God to such a point that it has been crystallized into a shining diamond of truth.  A truth so powerful that its brilliance dazzles the believing heart (Tozer 2009, 108).”  And here is where we find one of the great geniuses of Dr. Tozer’s work.  He does not leave us dazzled.   He begins to unpack that truth in such a way that we can begin to understand it from a higher perspective than our own.  The great lie of Satan is that “you do not really matter to God… God isn’t concerned about you (Tozer 2009, 110).”  It is a hollow hope to think that God may care about you.  But it is the hope of all hopes to see in His very own actions that he does.  This is what it means to see it from on high.  I can see that the one who sits on high, by His very own actions, does in fact care about me.  “Contradicting this lie of Satan, the Christian message boasts, ‘God cares about you as an individual. No matter what the circumstances around your life at the present, God still cares about you (Tozer 2009, 114).’”  We find the proof of this truth described in God’s own actions in John 3:16.

The rest of Dr. Tozer’s work explores the consequences of the truth that God cares about you.  What is the personal application as found in John 3:17.  “He knows you individually as though there were not another person in the entire world.  He died for you as certainly as if you had been the only lost one (Tozer 2009, 136).”  Dr. Tozer writes on the balance between God the judge and God the savior, the mystery of God identifying with man, how we should live in the middle of two kingdoms, and finally he returns to why it is important to have a right understanding and a high and lofty view of God.

Can I really Critique Dr. Tozer

The strength of Dr. Tozer’s work is that it demands a response.  He presents the identity of God and the truth of the Gospel in such a way that you become aware of your position before God, the criticality and precariousness of your fallen status, and the necessity of not just the right response but a saving response.  For Dr. Tozer, the tragic aspect of Jesus’ incarnation is not that God lowered himself by becoming man, but that man would fail to respond.  “We ought to be ashamed of ourselves, and we ought to open the door of our heart and let Him in. ‘He came unto His own world and it received Him but He came unto His own people and they rejected Him (Tozer 2009, 76).’”  Dr. Tozer quickly deduces the problem, “our hard hearts say, “I want my money, I want that girl, I want that fame, I want that job, I want that pleasure. I want, I want.” Always “I want.” That the Son of God stands outside of this is the tragedy of humanity (Tozer 2009, 75).”  Dr. Tozer challenges the reader’s motivation not to respond in such a way that they are convicted by the drabness of that which they desire to hold onto in comparison with the glory that is God’s incarnation.

Another strength of Dr. Tozer’s work is his fearlessness in confronting the shortcomings of today’s church or what he terms liberal Christianity.  “I do not go to the modernist and apologize. I do not go to the liberal and excuse myself. I do not go to the philosopher and say rather apologetically, ‘I’m sorry, but I’m a Christian.’ Rather, I go to these and say, ‘I have what you’re looking for (Tozer 2009, 26-27).’”  For Dr. Tozer the good news of John’s Gospel is to be preached in the fullness of who God is and to the truth of who fallen man is.  “I do not ask for any patronizing concessions from liberal theologians… I believe… that my faith in God and Christ and all my hope for the world to come and all of Christendom should rest upon the simple fact that the Jesus of the New Testament is the Messiah of the Old (Tozer 2009, 100).”  Dr. Tozer’s boldness here is refreshing.

Perhaps Dr. Tozer’s only weakness in this work comes from his desire to retain a view of God that is most high.  In doing so he often presents aspects or attributes of God as beyond explanation.  For example, early in the work when he is writing about the time before time and matter, he states plainly, “this mystery defies explanation from a human standpoint (Tozer 2009, 39).”  While it is easy to agree with Dr. Tozer that it is hard to fathom Dr. Tozer himself explains this mystery which defies explanation.  “In pre-creation times, however, God was there, and God is all there is.  God is the triune God, and back in that pre-creation time, the holy Trinity was busy with eternal mercies (Tozer 2009, 139).”  Often in our intent to keep God mysterious we simply say that an aspect of Him is mysterious and beyond understanding.  However, while this mystery escapes us in that we have no experiential knowledge of the mystery we can understand and are aware of the concept intellectually precisely because the explanation doesn’t escape us.  It might seem like a trivial and insignificant point but if it is not attended to then false teachers will slip their fingers into the cracks of our understanding and can begin to separate us from truths that we can and do know about God.  “How can we explain a time when there was no matter, no law, no motion, no relation and no space and no time and no beings, only God (Tozer 2009, 39)?”  In asking the question it is almost as thoroughly explained as is necessary for the argument being made.

Conclusion

Dr. Tozer expounds on the theological principles and mystical realities of the truths found in the Gospel of John in such a way that they can be understood by every reader.  In his concluding chapter he begins to end his work with a question, “Would you think that God, the eternal Father, would give redemption to the world and then give it only to a few great minds (Tozer 2009, 210)?”  It is a rhetorical device that encourages all of us to consider what God has offered us because in the considering, each of us can grasp the answer.  It is the value of Dr. Tozer’s work in that he does just that.  He presents God in way that can be understood by every mind.  “The message of Christ is not directed to the learned…  God sent His message down to the plain people (Tozer 2009, 210).”  What Dr. Tozer has done in this work is to convey the high and loftiness of God, the fallenness of man, and the incarnation of God as it is found in John’s Gospel in such a way that anyone and everyone can understand and respond.  That should be the goal of every preacher.

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