Book Review: The Purifying Power of Living by Faith in Future Grace by John Piper

Piper explains in his first introduction to the book that “one of the main claims of this book is that the Bible rarely, if ever, motivates Christian living with gratitude” (11). His purpose for writing the book is also “driven by the conviction that right thinking shapes right living” (12), which is why he wants to show that “the promises of future grace are the keys to Christ-like Christian living. The hand that turns the key is faith, and the life that results is called living by faith in future grace” (13).

In his second introduction, styled “For Theologians,” he explains again the goal of his book by quoting from a number of Reformation confessions. He believe that “It is faith alone which justifies, but the faith which justifies is not alone” (21). Piper does not wish to confuse justification with sanctification. “They are distinct” (26). But he does wish to show that faith is the “channel through which divine power and transformation flow to the soul,” that is, the channel of our sanctification (26).

He makes three assumptions: first, “that justifying faith is persevering faith” (26); second, “that justifying faith is not only a trusting in the past grace of God, but also a trusting in the future grace of God, secured by the past grace of Christ’s death and resurrection” (27); and third, “that the essence (though not the sum total) of justifying faith is being satisfied with all that God is (and promises to be) for us in Jesus” (27).

Concluding his introduction, he summarizes with the following two sentences: “This book is an extended reflection on the biblical underpinnings and practical spiritual dynamics of the sanctifying power of justifying faith. I call these dynamics living by faith in future grace” (27). We will look at a number of important chapters in this book, but due to time constraints we will not consider them all.

The Debtor’s Ethic and Gratitude

“Like most precious things, gratitude is vulnerable” (31). Piper is concerned that gratitude could slide into what he calls the debtor’s ethic, the idea that we should try to pay God back. He explains that “God meant gratitude to be a spontaneous expression of pleasure in the gift and the good will of another. He did not mean it to be an impulse to return favors” (32). Such a transaction, he believes, nullifies grace.

Piper seems to equate his understanding of future grace with “the essential role of hope” in the Christian life (33). Gratitude, though, can potentially endanger hope and future grace. If most Christians are asked what the biblical motive for obedience is, most would say gratitude. But, says Piper, the “Bible rarely, if ever, explicitly makes gratitude the impulse of moral behavior, or ingratitude the explanation of immorality” (34).

He goes on to show how when the Old Testament people of God sinned against him, the Bible does not attribute that sin to a lack of gratitude, but to a lack of faith. “’How long will they not believe in me despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst?’ (Numbers 14:11)” (34). He admits that disobedient people lacked gratitude, but that the Bible does not speak in such terms. It is not past-oriented gratitude, but future-oriented faith that is the “channel” for obedience.

Piper identifies other Old Testament motives for obedience, like love to God and the fear of the Lord. Concerning the fear of the Lord, he cites a number of passages showing it as a motive (Deut. 6:2; Eccl. 12:13; Neh. 5:9; Prov. 23:17). He says that “these expressions about fearing the Lord are probably the flip side of trusting the Lord’s future grace. [. . .] The obedience that comes from fearing God without faith in his future grace will not be free, but servile” (35).

God’s Law

“When Moses recorded what the Lord required of his people, he said it was ‘to keep the Lord’s commandments…for your good‘ (Deuteronomy 10:13)” (144). We are, therefore, to love God’s law, knowing that it is for our good. But God saved Israel from the Egyptians before giving his law to them.

But even the law itself has gracious aspects. When God came to speak with Moses, he described himself as “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished” (Ex. 34:6-7). Also, the law itself says that he “show[s] mercy” (Ex. 20:6). This spurs Piper on to say that “This future grace in the law of God is a forgiving grace” (145).

The law promised a “future grace that would give power for obedience” (146). And this is how the psalmists prayed—“open my eyes,” “incline my heart,” “make me to hear,” “create in me,” and “restore me to,” etc. Here is a dependence on God’s future grace of empowerment for obedience.

When Piper asks why “obedience aborted” and why those who heard the law failed to walk in it, one answer he finds in Scripture is that faith was missing—“what they failed to believe was the promise and power of future grace” (149). “The lesson of the whole Old Testament could be summed up in the words of Psalm 37:3, ‘Trust in the Lord, and do good’” (150).

Piper provides a good antidote to the antinomianism that arises from the thought that “the only righteousness that has any value is the imputed righteousness of Christ” (151). God does not want merely justified people who neglect the law altogether, but those who walk in the good works prepared beforehand for them—those like Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth, who “were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord” (Luke 1:6).

God does not call our good works “filthy rags” when done in faith and in conformity to his law. Like an earthly father, he accepts obedience even when not entirely unstained—because Christ our High Priest purifies these works. There is a distinction between the wicked and the righteous, and we are called by God to be righteous.

It’s Sanctifying Power

“[F]aith in future grace must always be a life of love”; it “inevitably ‘works through love’” (276). As already mentioned, this is just to say that “faith alone justifies, but the faith that justifies is never alone” (276). Piper is surprised that this connection is not probed into more. “The key to faiths power is that it embraces the future grace promised by God, and is more satisfied with this than with the pleasures promised by sin—even if it costs us our lives” (277).

All men swell up with a spring of desires. Many satisfy such desires by boosting their egos through works done in their own power. “The heart of faith is radically different” (278). It turns to God recognizing that only he can produce true love manifest in good works. And even then, the boasting is not in the works accomplished, but in the God that faith looks to.

“This is what faith loves—to experience all that God is for us in Jesus, including the power to love” (279). But the Holy Spirit does not bring forth the fruit of love when there is a no faith. Our lives do not merely begin in the power of the Spirit to later be perfected by efforts of the flesh—no, a continuous faith in future grace is the means of our sanctification.

“[G]uilt and fear and greed stand in the way of love” (282). Guilt leads to a self-centered depression and pity. Fear causes us not to approach God and others. Greed consumes our time by focusing on our possessions. Faith in future grace pushes all these hindrances to love out of our hearts. It enables us to give ourselves wholly to the Lord in love, which furthers our sanctification.

A Lust-fighting Faith

There are eight chapters that are designed to apply the teaching of the book directly to different forms of sin, and one of those chapters deals with the sin of lust. Piper begins this chapter with a true and gripping story of a man who had a tree roll onto his leg while alone, who reasoned that the only way to free himself to save his life would be to cut off his leg. Jesus himself used a similar story where a man gouged out his eye and cut off his right hand to escape his lust and hell.

Having taught high school students, and through experience in counseling adulterous husbands, he has been asked numerous times, “What, do you mean I can lose my salvation if I don’t stop?” He is concerned that Christians have such “a view of salvation that disconnects it from real life, and that nullifies the threats of the Bible, and puts the sinning person who claims to be a Christian beyond the reach of biblical warnings” (331).

He even says that “Jesus said, if you don’t fight lust, you won’t go to heaven” (331). The apostle Peter said, “Abstain from fleshly lusts that wage war against the soul” (1 Pet. 2:11). “In Galatians 5:19 Paul mentions immorality, impurity and sensuality and says, ‘Those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God’ (Galatians 5:21)” (332).

What is the answer to those who live in the sin of lust? Piper explains that the answer has already been given earlier in the book; namely, that we are justified by grace alone through faith alone. But we must understand that “those who give themselves up to impurity will be lost (Galatians 5:21), and those who forsake the fight against lust will perish (Matthew 5:30), and those who do not pursue holiness will not see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14), and those who surrender their lives to evil desires will succumb to the wrath of God (Colossians 3:6)” (332).

Our hope is in God, though—and a faith that delivers from hell will also deliver from lust. This does not imply a perfect flawlessness, but it does produce a persevering fight. Piper puts it this way: “the fight for purity is a fight for faith in future grace” (333). What is our duty? The answer cannot merely be, “Be holy!” It must be, “The life I live I live by faith” (Gal. 2:20) in the power of the Spirit.

“I have often told young people that they must fight fire with fire. The fire of lust’s pleasures must be fought with the fire of God’s pleasures” (336). We must not merely avoid the erotic, but embrace something excellent. Here is the confession of faith of one who live by faith in future grace, living for the future: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8).

Evaluation of Piper’s Book

I am concerned for how Piper has treated the topic of Christian gratitude. He is right in that gratitude has the potential to turn into a “debtor’s ethic,” but any number of right responses to the gospel (such as gratitude) may be twisted and handled according to the flesh.

The Westminster Confession of Faith, for example, is not silent when it comes to gratitude. Piper agreeably quotes the Confession on the subject of justification, but neglects what it has to say about thankfulness. Consider this sampling:

Of good works: “These good works, done in obedience to God’s commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith: and by them believers manifest their thankfulness [. . .]” (WCF 16.2).

Of assurance: “And therefore it is the duty of everyone to give all diligence to make his calling and election sure, that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience, the proper fruits of this assurance [. . .]” (WCF 18.3).

Of religious worship: “Prayer, with thanksgiving, being one special part of religious worship, is by God required of all men [. . .]” (WCF 21.3).

It appears that Piper has rather selectively chosen portions of the Reformed confessions to demonstrate his point, but at the expense of realizing that the church has always held gratitude with high regard for the Christian life. One need only read the Heidelberg Catechism to realize this, which is arranged such that sanctification, the law of God, and prayer are all taken up in the third section, “Of Thankfulness.”

Gratitude can be expressed for what God has done in the past, surely, but also for our present state and even those promises of the future that the Christian patiently hopes for. Piper has set up for us a false dichotomy, aligning gratitude with past grace and faith with future grace. But our faith must look to the past (what Christ has done for us) as well as the future (what he will do), and so must our thankfulness.

Nevertheless, Piper has done a service to the church by having written this book. What it really is about is Christian hope (a word he mentions in his introduction, but neglects throughout the book). Also, all the chapters that “apply the purifying power” are highly insightful, pastoral, and and provide God-honoring advice. The entire book militates against the antinomianism and easy-believe-ism that has swept throughout today’s American church.

Though the book is a bit tedious to read, and mistakenly casts gratitude in a bad light, the book is thoroughly edifying. Piper instills in us through this book a love for God founded on Christ with a hope for the future. God will bless his people as they strive, by his grace, to honor him with their whole being.