Desiring God: Chapter 2

In chapter two of Desiring God, John Piper discusses one of the central doctrines of the faith -- conversion. He powerfully and successfully argues the necessity of being converted to Christ, and he presents a compelling case that to be truly converted is to become a Christian Hedonist. For Piper, the command of conversion is not simply "believe in the Lord Jesus" but rather "delight yourself in the Lord." The question is not "do you believe in Jesus?" but rather "do you treasure Jesus Christ more above everything else?"

There were a couple things that really stood out in my mind from this chapter.
One, I found it interesting that he spent so much time on the subject of conversion in a book clearly directed towards a Christian audience. He anticipated this, and offers this explanation:

We are surrounded by unconverted people who think they do believe in Jesus.

His second explanation, which I was pleasantly surprised to see, is that there are many direct commands Jesus (and other NT writers) gave to the question "what must I do to be converted?" besides "just believe." It is his belief that if a person is truly converted, they will have within them a "new taste" for the glory of God which will make them able to keep these commands.

The root of conversion is the birth of a new taste, a new longing, a new passion for the pleasure of God's presence.

I found his idea of the "new taste" to be a great description of how a converted person is changed. He didn't take this angle on it, but I think most of us could say that even though we can't live up to God's standards, when we became Christians we began to want to live up to those standards. I want to be a godly man, husband, and father. I want to treat people well, and be righteous. To think of it another way, my will and my character are pointed in a different direction.

Also intriguing was Piper's discussion of the motivation for conversion. He discounts the professed conversion that comes as a result of the fear of hell, or from a begrudging sense of duty. He says:

Could there be any holy motivation to believe in Christ where there is no taste for the beauty of Christ?

The answer is obvious, but who else is asking the question? Are we not surrounded by churches and pastors who are more than happy to "scare the hell out of people" to lead them to Christ?

He stated early in the chapter that his goals were to show the necessity of conversion, and to argue that conversion creates a Christian Hedonist (whether or not they use the label). I think he accomplishes these goals, and along the way, encourages the already converted to truly treasure Christ. There is a lot of meat in this chapter, including an excellent six-point discussion of our need for salvation and what God has done to meet that need. Overall, another excellent chapter laying the foundation for his ideal of Christian Hedonism.

Posted by JohnH at February 12, 2004 04:03 PM | TrackBack