Learning from the Prince of Preachers: Thomas Nettles opens a new window into the heart and soul of Charles Spurgeon (Jeff Straub)
One of the most recognizable names from 19th century British evangelicalism is Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the widely-read pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Southwark, London from 1854-1892. As a religious leader, Spurgeon left an immense mark on British life during his long tenure in London. As a pastor and a preacher, Spurgeon continues to influence succeeding generations of ministerial men, Baptist and otherwise, to excel in the work of the ministry. If the writer of the book of Hebrews were to add an addendum to his eleventh chapter, Spurgeon would be a prominent choice for inclusion. As such, it is fitting that he should be the continual subject of biographical research. Yet how to make a new biography of such a well-known figure is the burden Thomas Nettles takes up in this recently released Living by Revealed Truth: The Life and Pastoral Theology of Charles Haddon Spurgeon (Mentor), a book more than fifteen years in the making.
Biographies of the grand preacher have abounded since his meteoric rise and untimely death at the end of the 19th century. Most of them focus on Spurgeon and his many ministries—from the thriving inner city church, to the Pastor’s College, to his orphanages. So many were Spurgeon’s earthly accomplishments that the simple telling of the story generally is a sufficient task for the average biographer. Nearly all biographies deal with some aspect of his publications, most commonly the massive collection of sermons comprising the New Park Street Pulpit and its successor, The Metropolitan Pulpit, which continued publishing “new” Spurgeon sermons for more than a generation after his death when the exigencies of the First World War finally brought the series to a close. (Spurgeon’s early printed sermons, which he personally edited each Monday morning for weekly release, were his Sunday morning sermons. After his death, sermons from other services were offered to the reading public, though without his editorial supervision.) Also among the corpus of Spurgeon’s work beyond the sermons was his weekly paper The Sword and the Trowel, over which he provided the editorial supervision and contributed numerous articles, essays, and book reviews. Finally, Joseph Passmore and James Alabaster, the friends and publishers of most of Spurgeon’s material, also issued a number of titles from Spurgeon’s pen that were either a collection of selected sermons around a particular theme (The Saint and His Saviour) or devotional treatises (John Ploughman’s Talks).
Using this vast and abundantly accessible material, much of which has been overlooked in older biographical studies, Nettles, a veteran biographer, has given to lovers of Spurgeon a grand new window into the heart and soul of the great preacher. Nettles’ chief contribution to Spurgeon studies is his ability to shift the pages of Spurgeon’s writings, especially the Sword and Trowel, to lay bare Spurgeon’s pastoral ethos, something heretofore underappreciated in Spurgeon studies. This volume is not for the faint of heart as its massive six hundred plus pages of text imply. However, the reader who rises to the occasion to peruse this volume will be richly rewarded as he watches the author wade and sift, survey and analyze these writings of Spurgeon, especially during his latter years, to offer a new and fresh look at the inner man of the great Baptist churchman. By following this approach, Spurgeon’s theology is brought to light in a way not yet done by any previous biography. Nettles moves the reader beyond the pertinent facts of Spurgeon’s life to an analysis of his theological underpinnings and their impact on his life and ministry, especially focusing on Spurgeon the pastor. While Spurgeon was many things—editor, author, builder, controversialist, and preacher par excellence—he was first and foremost a pastor. His London congregation numbered more than 5,000 at the time of his death and he bore with the sheep God gave him, laboring long for their spiritual edification. Nettles captures Spurgeon’s pastoral heart in his opening chapter, citing Spurgeon himself, “I would have every Christian wish to know all that he can know of revealed truth. Somebody whispers that the secret things belong not to us. You may be sure you will never know them if they are secret; but all that is revealed you ought to know, for these belong to you and to your children. Take care you know what the Holy Ghost teaches. Do not give way to a fainted-hearted ignorance, lest you be great losers thereby.”
Spurgeon wanted the people of God in general and his London church in particular to be in full sympathy with the Word of God. It mattered not how he was personally viewed in the public eye, so long as he was faithful to the Scriptures themselves. For Spurgeon, “every aspect of his ministry was driven by a well-developed, clearly articulated systematic theology and by a commitment to a conversion ministry, both of which were consistent with revealed truth.” “His preaching, the development of institutions and services, his publications, his perception of church life, his evangelism, his suffering, and the controversies in which he played a part all reflect a commitment to a system of truth developed from the Bible and expressed most clearly in Puritans and evangelicals such as Owen, Charnock, Bunyan, Newton, Whitefield, Romaine, Brooks, Manton, and Sibbes.” Accordingly, Nettles declares “the fullness of Scripture and the finality of redemption through Jesus Christ governed Spurgeon’s understanding of all things and, in his view, should be the determining truth for all human thought and action.” Even in the Downgrade Controversy that saw Spurgeon and the Tabernacle break with the Baptist Union, Spurgeon held that believers who held “Holy Scripture to be the inspired truth of God cannot have fellowship with those who deny the authority from which we derive all our teaching.” According to Nettles, Spurgeon simply and systematically applied the Scriptures to his everyday life and service for the Lord. He could do little else as a steward of God’s calling.
In this marvelous book, Nettles reminds us again why the life of Spurgeon has been so often told and so long remembered. Internet websites are devoted to his thought, his sermons have never gone out of print and can be had both in paper and digitally, and his story is told again and again. Vestiges of his shadow continue to linger on the evangelical and Baptist landscape. This book will be a welcome addition to the lengthening of that shadow and the library of any minister who longs to be more biblical in his service for the Saviour. Nettles writes as a lover of Spurgeon who manifests a deep appreciation for Spurgeon’s unique and abiding life and ministry. Living by Revealed Truth will encourage and edify both those with only a basic knowledge of Spurgeon as well as the Spurgeon aficionado who is already thoroughly acquainted with Mr. Greatheart but wants to hear the story unfolded in a new and thoughtful way. This reviewer hopes that Living by Revealed Truth will be widely read and trusts that Spurgeon’s life will continue to bring glory to the God whom he served so faithfully.
Jeff Straub is Professor of Historical Theology at Central Baptist Theological Seminary
This book review is from the new issue of Credo Magazine. Read others like it today!
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Why Biblical Theology Should Matter to Every Bible-Believing Christian
When the sixteenth-century Reformation erupted, one of the alarming dangers that became blatantly obvious to reformers like Martin Luther was the pervasiveness of biblical illiteracy among the laity. It may be tempting to think that this problem has been solved almost five hundred years later. However, in our own day biblical illiteracy in the pew continues to present a challenge. Many Christians in our post-Christian context simply are not acquainted with the storyline of the Bible and God’s actions in redemptive history from Adam to the second Adam.
With this concern in mind, the current issue of Credo Magazine strives to take a step forward, in the right direction, by emphasizing the importance of “biblical theology.” Therefore, we have brought together some of the best and brightest minds to explain what biblical theology is, why it is so important, and how each and every Christian can become a biblical theologian. Our hope in doing so is that every Christian will return to the text of Scripture with an unquenchable appetite to not only read the Bible, but comprehend God’s unfolding plan of salvation.
Contributors include: Justin Taylor, Darian Lockett, Edwards Klink III, David Murray, Stephen Dempster, James Hamilton, T. Desmond Alexander, Stephen Wellum, Peter Gentry, G. K. Beale, Graham Cole, and many others.
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