Josh Buice: A Doctrine on Sin
By: Deji Yesufu
“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” (Galatians 6:1, KJV)
When the history of our world in the 21st century is written, a prominent feature of that story will be the influence of America on all of us. It is impossible to list everything that America does for us, but we can mention a few: they give us the internet; they gave us modern democracy; they give us freedom; they are a great influence on our education and culture; etc. In the world of theology, those of us in Africa are indebted to America. Our libraries are filled with American authors, and our theological debates are influenced by American Reformed thinkers. In other words, when America sneezes, most of the of the world catch cold. It means that America influences the world in a good, bad, and ugly way. Therefore, when the story of the “fall” of Josh Buice was first published, it became news. The responses to the news have been healthy: Christians have generally been careful about commenting on the subject. We know enough on the subject of sin to understand that any one of us could be a Josh Buice tomorrow. The very sin of slander that he has confessed to is quite common among reformed people everywhere. At some point, we tend to lose sight of the fact that our calling is to reach the lost with the gospel and to edify the saints. And we suddenly shift our attention to becoming a kind of theological policeman, where we must ensure that everyone fits a certain theological mold that suits our fancy. In this essay, I wish to offer a glimpse of light to a very dark subject. I hope to remind us that our Lord Jesus Christ died for sin, and when sin rears its ugly head amid the saints, we have all the resources to combat it.
There is a part of the statement that was published on Josh Buice’s sin that gives me the impression that the board of trustees of G3 may be minimising the enormity of the sin of Pastor Josh. It reads thus: “… While Josh has acknowledged with the elders that he is presently disqualified from serving as an elder, we do not believe at this time that his sin is necessarily permanently disqualifying…” A few people who have investigated the social media accounts Buice operated as a parody, reveal that he used those accounts to slander John MacArthur, Voddie Bauchum, Tom Ascol, and others. While what he published on those accounts may not necessarily have been lies, they were statements he wished to make public, which he did not want connected to him. He also continued to lie on the matter until the board showed him irrefutable evidence that he was the person behind those accounts. I find that the same God who stated that “…thou shall not commit adultery…” in the seventh commandment, also told us not to “…bear false witnesses…” in the ninth. It appears to me that the G3 board is minimizing the enormity of Buice’s sins; it appears that only when ministers are found to have been in sexual sins are they considered disqualified enough for their materials and contents to be removed from public access, as we found was done with Steve Lawson. It might be good we remind ourselves of the damage that slander does to the body of Christ.
It was Peter Masters in his book, God’s Keys to Holiness, that showed us that to slander a man is akin to killing him. When we make efforts to pull down the work or ministry of another person so that ours can be upheld, we are sinning against a holy God. Jesus Christ has intentionally liberalised the Christian religious space, and has given every person the freedom to listen to any minister they wish to, read any book they wish to, attend any church they want to, and go to any conference they wish to. Long before we appeared in the space, our Lord had been building his church, and long after we leave, our Lord will continue to build his church. None of us has the right to turn ourselves into theological police men, monitoring everything everyone is saying in the public space. We have the right to comment on any issue, but even such a comment must be done gracefully, and we must give our hearers the freedom to reach their conclusions. Now, if one were to examine what Josh Buice did deeper, it would be safe to conclude that the practice of having alternate social media accounts is not uncommon among reformed thinkers. It appears that many Christians, who have “a name to protect”, also publish opinions on other social media accounts that do not carry their names. This is what the anonymous nature of the internet has made possible in our day and age. This is sinful, to say the least. We should understand that if men do not see what we are doing, the Lord does. If your words cannot bear the weight of your name, please do not put those words in the public space. Some of us have suffered in Christian ministry because we took unpopular positions in the Reformed communities, and we put our names right next to those positions. It is called integrity. And when leading Christian leaders do not do this, and we conclude that their actions are not disqualifying enough, we may be reaching conclusions that are not biblical. The practice of pulling down other reformed thinkers so that we alone could be upheld as the only orthodox voice in the land is very common among reformed people. If Josh Buice was found doing this, it would not be far-fetched if he were made a scapegoat to deter others. He was involved in a grave sin indeed.
Now, having said the above, I believe that the board of G3 have the right to come to whatever conclusions they wish to come to on Josh Buice. Many times, when things like these happen, a man should usually not be judged by that one mistake he made. A minister should be judged in light of all that he has done for the body of Christ, and it is common knowledge that G3 was the brainchild of Pastor Josh. He has worked extremely hard to make the conference an international one, and if his colleagues conclude that he and his ministry can still be salvaged, so be it. When Paul said in Galatians 6:1 that we should consider ourselves while restoring an erring brother, this is what that apostle of Christ was talking about. Every one of us lie; every one of us have slandered a brother or sister at one point or the other, and before a holy God, our sins are no less grievous than Josh Buice’s sin. Nevertheless, sin is not seen from the perspective of God alone; it is also seen from men’s perspective. And certain sins are more grievous than others. I hope to uphold my earlier point, which is that Josh Buice’s sin is as grievous as the sin of adultery; but I believe that the board of G3 have the freedom to reach whatever judgment they wish on the matter.
For the rest of the reformed world, we have the words of Paul to still contend with: “consider yourself”. I think if there are Christians who hold alternative social media accounts, and they use those accounts to express opinions other than what they normally would in person, those accounts should be shut down forthwith. It is sin. We serve a God “that is” – he is real: our God sees all that we do in private as well as in public. How dare we think we can be one thing in one space, and be another in another space? I also think that we should “consider ourselves” by looking honestly at the subject of divisive comments. If we have learnt anything at all from reformed theology, it should be that opinions on doctrine could be as diverse as human faces. And because we must be wary of dividing the churches further than they are today, we want to give liberty to people to hold opinions on secondary issues. I think this is why John MacArthur keeps his relationship going with John Piper despite their differing opinions on charismatic gifts. And I think this is the reason why many of us Reformed Baptists work with our Presbyterian brethren despite differing opinions on baptism. There can be no end to opinions on issues, and that is why it is incredibly infantile to continue to divide on secondary matters. So, we must “consider ourselves” in the light of Josh Buice’s sin by reaching that position that a brother has the freedom to hold to a secondary matter, while we all pray for each other to reach a unity of faith in this life.
When sin occurs in the Christian church, and it becomes widely publicised, it should be an occasion for us to remind ourselves of the gospel of Jesus Christ. One practice that I find many of our reformed fathers did, but which is dying in our churches, is the act of confession of sins in public prayer. I hear prayers by reformed people these days, and I notice a reluctance to confess sin. The biblical position, according to the Lord’s prayer and 1 John 1:8-10, is that every time we pray, we should ask God for forgiveness of sin. Also, every time we lead public prayer, we should ask the Lord to be merciful to our sins as a collective. What confession of sin does is that it humbles us – it reminds us that we are not righteous; that we are sinners. It tells us to be charitable to a brother whose sins have been made public. It reminds us that Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again to save us from our sins (Matthew 1:21). It tells us that we are blessed by God because our sins have been forgiven. While Jesus Christ and his redemption are the centre of the gospel, negatively, God has made sin the centre of the gospel also. If there were no sin, there would never have been redemption. It is the reason why we saints are higher than angels – we have sins that have been forgiven; they do not.
In the light of the foregoing, we can receive all erring brothers, and ensure that they are restored first as Christians and subsequently as ministers – if the local church where they serve chooses to receive them. We are all sinners – the difference between us and Josh Buice is that God has mercifully ensured that our sins have not been made public, yet. May God grant that we find forgiveness for our sins; may God grant that we forgive the sins of others, also; may God grant that we find grace to forsake our sins. May the Lord grant that the churches grow in grace and knowledge, abounding in charity towards one another, and growing in practical holiness. Sin is never a good thing, but sin is a kind reminder of redemption and also a call back to holiness. Amen.
Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church, Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY. He can be reached at [email protected]
Share this: