30
Introduction
of the correspondents, an occasion within Newton’s personal milieu, or a
theme of immediate topical relevance.”
34
Hindmarsh is right; each letter
was situated within a particular context. At best, Newton’s most pastoral
letters are one-sided fragments of a conversation canvasing a broad range
of themes. But again, this is true of the New Testament Epistles, and it
does not prevent theologians from identifying prominent themes in the
letters of Paul.
Yet because personal visitors frequently interrupted Pastor Newton’s
solitude, his letters are filled with a variety of “desultory” thoughts, and
many of those thoughts seem to break off prematurely. However unfortu-
nate, this fact of pastoral life in eighteenth-century England does not hin-
der us from identifying a single core theme (or a cluster of themes) in those
letters. I believe Newton’s letters are bound together by a cohesive theology
of the Christian life, and as a result I believe it is possible to synthesize his
pastoral counsel and discover his core message on the aim of the Christian
life. This is my attempt:
John Newton’s vision for the Christian life centers on the all-sufficiency
of Jesus Christ. Awakened to Christ by the new birth, and united to Christ
by faith, the Christian passes through various stages of maturity in this
life as he/she beholds and delights in Christ’s glory in Scripture. All along
the pilgrimage of the Christian life—through the darkest personal trials,
and despite indwelling sin and various character flaws—Christ’s glory is
beheld and treasured, resulting in tastes of eternal joy, in growing secu-
rity, and in progressive victory over the self, the world, and the devil—a
victory manifested in self-emptying and other-loving obedience, and ul-
timately in a life aimed to please God alone.
35
To corroborate this thesis, I have combed through Newton’s thousand
published letters, complementing them with his sermons and hymns.
What I have found is that at the core of his pastoral theology radiates the
all-sufficiency of Christ. Christ is the comprehensive vision that unifies
Newton’s pastoral letters, his sermons, and the many hymns written out
of his own spiritual experience and personal devotional life.
36
The glory
of the ascended Jesus Christ is the North Pole magnet which fixes the
34
Hindmarsh, 250.
35
I wrote this thesis after studying Newton’s published letters and was pleasantly surprised to later
find it echoed by Newton in his summary of the Christian life in A Review of Ecclesiastical History (W,
3:295–96).
36
Letters (Dartmouth), 248.
Introduction
31
compass of the Christian life (Heb. 12:1–2). Newton’s Christ-centered vi-
sion of the Christian life embraces all the ultimate
aims of the spiritual
disciplines lived out in the local church, the family, and the marketplace,
whether in rightly handling religious controversy, developing friend-
ships, winning the battle over insecurity, overcoming weariness, finding
delight in God, or enduring all seasons of suffering. Every dilemma faced
and every joy embraced and every hope anticipated in the Christian life is
bound up with the glory of Christ. This is the driving theme of Newton’s
ministry.
Into Newton’s Heart
John Newton’s life “was stranger than the most improbable fiction.”
37
But
this book is not a biography. Jonathan Aitken has skillfully crafted a cap-
tivating narrative of Newton’s dramatic life under the title John Newton:
From Disgrace to Amazing Grace (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2007). In my debt
to Aitken’s masterful storytelling, I feel no need to duplicate Newton’s life
story (though I will rehearse some key moments from it).
And although this book is not a formal biography, we will pick up on
Newton’s phrasing, his writing style, his wit, and some of his mannerisms.
As we listen to Newton through the words he wrote, we will meet Newton in
a very intimate way because, as Spurgeon once said, “A man’s private letters
often let you into the secrets of his heart.”
38
This is true of Newton. In this
book I’ve sought to get into his heart and mind through the doorway of his
published letters. I have read and reread every letter with the goal of con-
densing his core message and collecting his most distinct contributions on
the Christian life into one book, in his own words, to serve readers who are
not inclined to labor through all the letters for themselves. And for those
readers who are so inclined, I have used extensive footnotes to cite (when
possible) primary sources in the public domain and editions you can find
online and download and read for free.
Finally, fitting to the legacy of Newton’s pastoral heart, this book
is not intended to be a laboratory specimen of his mind, sliced off to
be archived or filed away in a library. Newton was a man of utility, and
37
Grace Irwin, Servant of Slaves: A Biographical Novel of John Newton (Grand Rapids: Eerd mans, 1961), 7.
Irwin goes on to write of her novel, “The reader may be assured that if he finds anything unbelievable of
adventure or coincidence, anything excessive, either sensual or spiritual, anything improbable in emo-
tion or devotion, that part of the book is provably factual, even understated” (ibid.).
38
C. H. Spurgeon, The Sword and Trowel: 1868 (London, 1868), 108.