Eric Metaxas' Letter to the American Church and the Rest of the Story

In October of twenty-two I wrote a book review of Eric Metaxas’ book, Letter to the American Church. I have since wanted to renew the review for several reasons. One reason is it has now been made into a documentary with footage that includes scenes of the horrific times of both Hitler and Stalin meant as a warning to American Christians that they can prevent such awfulness. The Documentary includes thoughts by Charles Kirk of Turning Point USA, an ultra-conservative organization. The documentary has been promoted on Epoch Times TV a branch of the news magazine Epoch Times which is affiliated with the religious group Falun Gong. 

There are two other important reasons. In the review I was attempting to counter Metaxas’ poor understanding of Martin Luther’s view of justification by faith alone. He believes Luther became obsessed with the idea that believers are redeemed by faith alone and that this caused the faithlessness of the German Church in the Nazi years. I have since found wonderful material in the Lutheran Formula of Concord which clearly disproves this. Metaxas does not understand the biblical scope of “by faith alone.” The other reason, I did not know at the time that I wrote the review that Metaxas was aligned with many in the New Apostolic Reformation movement (NAR) and even allowed guests on his show that hold QAnon beliefs.

 Both the book and the documentary have been shown widely among evangelical churches. This includes Calvary Chapels, Baptists, Nazarenes, and Assemblies of God churches. This doesn’t mean that all of those denominations accept what Metaxas has written but some of their churches have. 

 In my earlier review writing about Metaxas’ view of Luther’s biblical understanding of justification by faith alone I quoted Metaxas: 

But in his understandably giddy joy, Luther may sometimes have gone a bit farther than necessary, or at least opened the door for others to do so. For example, when he translated Romans 3:28 from the original New Testament Greek into German, Luther added the single word “alone” to the following sentence: ‘For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the law.’ Luther’s version was, ‘Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith alone without the deeds of the law.’ Luther felt the need to add that word to underscore what for him was essentially the central idea in the universe, and he may be forgiven for this.

 And also: 

 We might say that Luther had in his zeal made an idol of his idea of faith, so that the genuine faith to which God calls us was crowded out.

 Plus: 

The phrase ‘faith alone’ had made the Christian faith so simple—and ultimately so thin and one-dimensional—that over time it was easily and blithely assented to by nearly everyone in the German nation, so that Bonhoeffer wrote about it in the Cost of Discipleship.

 After this last quote I explained that Bonhoeffer, a martyr of the Confessing Church, did not refer to Luther as the cause of the faithlessness of the German Christians in his book The Cost of Discipleship. But as far as the seeming problem of "faith alone” The Formula of Concord (Second Part) quotes from Luther’s preface to Paul’s Epistle to the Romans: 

Faith, however, is a divine work to us that changes us and makes us to be born anew of God, John 1[12-13]. It kills the old Adam and makes us altogether different men, in heart and spirit and mind and powers; it brings with it the Holy Spirit. O, it is a living, busy active, mighty thing, this faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing good works incessantly. It does not ask whether good works are to be done, but before the question is asked, it has already done them, and is constantly doing them. Whoever does not do such works, however, is an unbeliever. He gropes and looks around for faith and good works, but knows neither what faith is nor what good works are. Yet he talks and talks, with many words, about faith and good works.

 Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake his life on it a thousand times. This knowledge and confidence of God’s grace makes men glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and all creatures. And this is the work that the Holy Spirit performs in faith Because of it, without compulsion, a person is ready and glad to do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer everything, out of love and praise to God, who has shown him this grace. Thus it is impossible to separate works from faith, quite as impossible as to separate heat and light from fire. [LW 35:370-71]

Metaxas in his failure to understand the biblical view of faith alone added to the problem in his book, by melding the two sides of the churches during the Nazi years into one body. He didn’t do this in his book on Bonhoeffer but for some reason he did in Letter to the American Church. Perhaps it made it easier to insist that the American Church was not standing against the evils of the culture. But as I pointed out in my first review there existed in Nazi Germany, both the German Christians who aligned with Hitler and the Confessing Church which would only confess Jesus as Lord and did not stand with the German Christians. Bonhoeffer and many others including the first pastor martyred, Paul Schnieder, were a part of the Confessing Church.

The problem with all of this is that everyone who Metaxas aligns with, including Metaxas, insists that if Christians do not stand with Donald Trump, they are part of the church that will fail God, causing a tragedy greater than the Holocaust. This is really what his book is about. It is what Charles Kirk insists on. It is what The Epoch Times and Falun Gong stand for. In fact, the people publishing the Epoch Times do not even believe in Jesus Christ as Lord so they do not understand what it means to confess Him.

For all of their talk about Hitler, fascism, Marx and socialism, all those I have named, Metaxas, Kirk, the Epoch Times, the political members of the New Apostolic Reformation and QAnon, are lifting Trump up as an Idol- they themselves are guilty of conforming to a loyalty that mimics the German Church as they lifted up Hitler. When they call out brothers and sisters in Christ who will not conform to their expectations about Trump and malign them, they are imitating the German Christians. This is not to call Trump or the Maga movement Nazis but their actions concerning those who disagree with them are not much different.

In all of this ideology that lifts up Trump as a savior for America the cross is missing. The followers of Jesus are not called to seek power or position but rather to take up their cross. The promises of Jesus are not rooted in this world or its kingdoms but rather in the Kingdom of Heaven. We have a King who endorses no one but Himself. The innocent, perfect Lamb of God, the eternal Son, begotten of the Father calls us to a hidden place in Him. I have on my bulletin board a program from my church with the words of Jesus, "I have not come to bring peace but a sword." Some might think that is a call for Christians to take up a sword against their enemies, but it isn't. It is a truth that the world will too often take up the sword against the disciples of Jesus. Metaxas and others have it backwards, do not seek power, seek instead faithfulness to Jesus.