Introduction
As a Biblical Counselor I was shocked to find Gentle and
Lowly by Dane Ortlund at the top of the 2020 Association of Certified Biblical Counseling
(ACBC) list. I’ve lost Facebook friends and been banned from a
popular—albeit less helpful than it used to be—group of biblical counselors
merely for questioning whether anyone agreed with Dane Ortlund’s treatment of Hebrews 5 and stating that I saw merit in the Grace to You (GTY) article which raised red flags concerning the book's helpfulness. Originally I began to write a review in mid-2020, but deemed the GTY article sufficient
enough of a warning, and I did not intend to finish this article, but since the
GTY article has been inexplicably removed, I felt it necessary to declare a
warning against this book: This book is unhelpful and heretical and should not be used in counseling, Bible study, counseling classes, or church.
There is strange affinity towards this book from people who otherwise could be considered solid; my
expectation is that this affinity is to remain on good terms with Crossway and the Gospel
Coalition (TGC), or more likely because the community as a whole has been seared to biblical discernment by decades of drivel coming from celebrity pastors. My initial cursory reading of this book led me to completely reject it on biblical grounds. In order to write this review I’ve accomplished an
in-depth read-through, knowing that I may lose more friends and/or never be
published by Crossway and/or never be invited to write or preach for TGC (which
looks like it’s closed down anyways), it seems prudent to compile and post my warnings.
There are plenty of cautions out there concerning the author's father, Ray Ortund, but there is a great warning in this quote
regarding the nepotism that perhaps has made this book so popular, “If you
disparage one of my sons’ books, I might mute you. You are sincere, I’m sure.
But I need solidly uplifting voices in my life.” Not biblical, but uplifting;
not uplifting Jesus, but uplifting Ortlund. It’s no surprise then that Dane
Ortlund would follow such error, “[My father] taught my siblings and me sound
doctrine as we were growing up…” (p100) For all reading this, but especially for Ray Ortlund, I implore you to read Psalm 2:12 and consider which son you should be defending, if their opinions differ. Consider also Proverbs 5:12 and it's context.
My editing is far from complete, and this is not meant to be
a comprehensive rebuke and warning of the entire book, but to give the main
points of contention and support them with quotes from the book. After working for far too long to
produce a piece full of paragraphs and transitions, I finally decided that the
facts are here, and while it’s not the most readable thing I’ve written, I
trust it will sufficiently warn the flock and the under-shepherds of this wolf
in Shepherd’s clothing.
I’ve grouped my concerns into five categories. First, I want
to look at the foundation of the book, Puritanism versus biblical exegesis,
second is the gnostic (think secret/mysterious/code reading of the Bible)
language it is written in, third is how Ortlund pits the Bible against itself, fourth
is a rejection of responsibility for sin by emphasizing victimhood of sin, and fifth
and finally is a nearly complete lack of the biblical gospel.
Not all that is Puritan is Gold
Halfway through the book I had the thought, “No one could
ever come up with this book by reading their Bible,” and Ortlund agrees,
pointing out that the book was birthed from Puritan writings (p14). Granted,
there are many great Puritans, but the title of Puritan carries far more weight
than the actual writings of the Puritans. I once said in a class on the
Puritans, “John Owen takes forever to say nothing.” Puritanism is as wide and
varied as 1600’s Christianity; the modern equivalents might be Southern
Baptists where an overview would give you Albert Mohler and Adrian Rogers on
one side and Ed Young Jr. and Steven Furtick on the other; in four hundred
years I wouldn’t be surprised to see Charles Spurgeon and John MacArthur lumped
into Southern Baptist quotes, though neither hold that affiliation. In
Puritanism you have undeniable heretics like Richard Baxter, controversial
figures like Isaac Watts, and you have solid ministers like John Bunyan and Jeremiah Burroughs. Just
because someone lived during the time of the Puritans doesn’t make them a solid
Bible teacher; and they shouldn’t be quoted on par with scripture (Ortlund
addresses this on page 14, but the rest of the book brings serious doubt to the
authority of scripture in his life). Now I’m not saying that John Owen and
Thomas Goodwin are the equivalent of Steven Furtick or Richard Baxter, but
they’re certainly not on par with John Bunyan or Alistair Begg.
But Ortlund doesn’t even rightly represent the Puritan’s
correctly, for example Jonathan Edwards said, “There is no love so great and so
wonderful as that which is in the heart of Christ.” But Ortlund gives
this commentary, which Edwards certainly would have thrown out, “The first thing
out of Jonathan Edwards’s mouth, in exhorting the kids in his church to love
Jesus more than everything else this world can offer, is the heart of Christ.”
(p96) Do you see it? Edwards was focused on the person and work of Christ but
Ortlund twists this quote to press his agenda.
And even when he rightly represents the Puritans, he quotes
them when they’ve misrepresented scripture; for example Goodwin holds to the
heresy that God hates the sin but loves the sinner (consider Revelation 21:8, among
others), which Ortlund latches onto, “Yes, God has hatred, Goodwin says—toward
sin.” (p168)
In our age, there is a strange magnetism towards the
Puritans, and while we can certainly learn from the writings of godly men, not
all Puritans are godly or correct. Richard Sibbes, who I have gleaned from in
the past, makes this error, “Christ is nothing but pure grace clothed with our
nature,” (quoted p177) when Christ is much more than grace, he is truth and
righteousness and Saviour and Judge and an entire Bible full of attributes…compound
that to the language of Sibbes is far from clear on what our nature is.
So beloved, reject Gentle and Lowly on its authority
alone; anything that elevates the teachings of men over the teaching of God
should be rejected immediately. Even if this misattributed authority were orthodox
(consider Revelation 19:10)—which Gentle and Lowly is far from Orthodox—the
reader should be exhorted by scripture and the man of God to worship God and
listen to the testimony of Jesus! But Gentle and Lowly is not orthodox,
instead it teaches an unconcealed Gnosticism.
Gnostic Leanings
Gnosticism is the idea and
teaching that there are secret things in the Bible that should receive special
attention, require special revelation, or specific prophets to see. Dane Ortlund unapologetically
makes this error by using Matthew 11:29 as his hermeneutical key to the entire
Bible. The problem with using one verse to interpret the entire Bible is that
this verse wasn’t around for the writing of the majority of the Bible.
Scripture should interpret scripture, but from the clear to the unclear; A
great question to ask on every passage you study is, “What would be lost if
this verse weren’t in the Bible?” This is a serious question to ask of thousands
of years of believers who trusted God for salvation before Matthew penned what
we now call Matthew 11:29. If this verse is truly the key to knowing Christ
like Ortlund proposes over and over, then why wasn’t it recorded closer to
Genesis 1:1? Rather, the gospel does not stand or fall on a single verse,
compare from the beginning (cf. Genesis 3:15, Deuteronomy 18:18, 1 Samuel 2:25,
Psalm 34:6, Isaiah 53:3-12, Zechariah 13:1, and thousands more) that God is not
hiding the need for a Messiah or the salvific nature of the Son of God and Son
of Man to be the propitiation for sin and the righteousness which are both
required for reconciliation with God.
Instead of falling on scriptural promises or the exhortations
of two-millennia of church history since Matthew penned his gospel, Ortlund
takes a deep dive down the rabbit hole of a hidden, secret, deep magic of one
verse (that I (and Jesus) would say doesn’t even say what he says it says.) The
context of the keynote verse of the book is Matthew 11:29, which is in response
to rejecting the Son of God. As I reread Ortlund’s book, I said incredulously
and made a vocal outburst in a café, “No one who likes this book knows the
context of Jesus’s statement.”
Consider this gnostic language from quotes from the book. I
disagree with all of Ortlund’s conclusions; I’ve included some commentary:
“As we zero in on the
affectionate heart of Christ, how do we ensure that we are growing in a healthy
understanding…?” (p28, emphasis mine)
“…who God actually is.”
(p14, emphasis mine)
“Do you know his deepest heart for you?” (p16 emphasis
mine)
“There’s only one place where Jesus tells us about his own
heart.” (p17, A very large and very real reason Jesus came is expressed in John
1:18, “the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” That Jesus
is showing exactly who he is—and who is Father is—through his actions, not through
one verse misapplied)
“In the one place in the Bible where the Son of God pulls back the vail
and lets us peer way down into the core of who he is…” (p18, emphasis
mine, compare again: John 1:18, 17:17, Heb 12:1-2)
“Only as we drink down the kindness of the heart of
Christ…” (p22, emphasis mine)
“What he is, he does.” (p25, Consider elsewhere that what he
does is flip tables, cleanse the temple, curse a fig tree, berate Pharisees, and hide the truth in parables… amongst many other things, and what he is, he
surely does, cf. esp. Revelation 19:11)
“The leper was asking about Jesus’s deepest
desire. And Jesus revealed his deepest desire by healing him.” (p25, emphasis
mine, Jesus deepest desire is to glorify the Father, not every desire is
his deepest, cf. Matthew 6:33)
“Simply seeing the helplessness of the throngs, pity
ignites.” (p26, Jesus was driven by completing his mission, not by an internal
instinct or whim)
“The Jesus given to us in the Gospels is not simply one who
loves, but one who is love; merciful affections stream from his innermost heart
as rays from the sun.” (p27, Jesus came to seek and save the lost)
“Deep into the heart of Christ” (p46, emphasis
mine)
“He cannot bear to hold himself at a distance…His heart is
too bound up with yours.” (p50, Jesus is not blown about by his emotions)
“Nothing can chain his affections to heaven; his heart is too
swollen with endearing love.” (p55, Jesus is not at the mercy of his emotions)
“As we go down into pain and anguish, we are descending ever
deeper into Christ’s very heart, not away from it.” (p57, emphasis mine,
While I agree completely that God is redeeming pain and anguish for his glory
(cf: Romans 8:28-29) my question for Ortlund would be should we seek out
suffering for the benefit of knowing Christ better?)
“IT IS PROBABLY IMPOSSIBLE to conceive of the horror of
hell…that will sweep over those found on the last day to be out of Christ.”
(p67, EMPHASIS ORIGINAL, Further, what is “out of Christ”?, it sounds like
something someone who has heard about the Bible would say, not someone
who has read it (cf. esp. Ephesians 1-2), see also page 68, 143)
“When we come to Christ, we are startled by the beauty of
his welcoming heart. The surprise is itself what draws us in.” (p98)
“…he approaches us on our own terms and befriends us for
both his and our mutual delight.” (p119, He does not need anything, if he were
hungry or lonely or needing delight, he would not tell you.)
“If you catch God off guard, what leaps out most freely is
blessing.” (p140-141, So many problems with providence and sovereignty, but
especially that God is going to exude blessing in a startled state…consider the
only two verses I know of that remotely hint that God may be caught unawares
speak of the terror of his wrath and his rebuke: Psalm 73:20 & Mark 4:38-41)
Pitting Bible against Bible
Because Ortlund derives so much of his hermeneutic not from
the scriptures, but from his own interpretation of one verse, it is no surprise
that he finds contradictions throughout the scripture.
“But in only one place. . .do we hear Jesus himself open up
to us his very heart.” (p18, many other authors have noted that the incarnate
Jesus’ first and last command are, “Repent” (Mark 1:15, Revelation 3:19), as
well as reiterated throughout the gospels and New Testament; if Matthew 11:29
is so important for understanding the rest of the Bible and who Jesus is, then
it is extremely odd that John, Mark, Luke, Paul, Peter, and the Holy Spirit chose
to omit)
“The posture most natural to him is not a pointed finger but
open arms.” (p19, compare Matt 23, and find a place in scripture where Christ
was able to welcome someone with open arms. If we want to play some sort of
middle-knowledge game and assume men could humble themselves and seek Jesus
apart from his cleansing and intercession them, then perhaps men could be
welcomed, but then we run into the problem of Jesus never coming to earth if
men could save themselves (Cf. Galatians 2:21)…so his most natural (to use this
heretical language) posture is that of Suffering Saviour)
“If we are asked to say only one thing about who Jesus
is, we would be honoring Jesus’s own teaching if our answer is, gentle and
lowly.” (p21, emphasis original, again, scripture is clear that this
is not his only attribute)
“He can’t un-gentle himself toward his own…” (p21, Jesus is
in the posture of wounding and binding (Isaiah 30:26, Hosea 6:1, et al); so what
about discipline? We know that the reproof of the Lord is not pleasant at the
moment, but it does produce a fruit of righteousness and peace that are not to
be repented of, my prayer is that Jesus would not be gentle, but that he would
be efficient, measured, purposeful, and skilled, and he is! We’ll talk about “his
own” more as we consider the gospel-lite nature of the book.)
“It is what gets him out of bed in the morning.”
(p23, emphasis mine, God doesn’t sleep, his purpose is his glory.)
“This is the one whose deepest heart is, more than
anything else, gentle and lowly.” (p24, emphasis original, compare
Isaiah 63 and those who will face Christ scorned and receive his wrath for eternity.)
“We are apt to think that he, being so holy, is therefore of
a severe and sour disposition against sinners, and not able to bear them. ‘No,’
says he; ‘I am meek; gentleness is my nature and temper.’” (p23, This same Jesus
also said, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the Wrath to Come”
(Matthew 3:7))
“Twice in the Gospels we are told that Jesus broke down
and wept.” (p26, emphasis mine, Never in the gospels are we told that
Jesus broke down)
“It is impossible for the affectionate heart of Christ to
be overcelebrated, made too much of, exaggerated.” (P29, emphasis
original, Jeremiah disagrees and despises those who declare “Peace, Peace!”
when there is no peace, not on earth, not between man and nature, not between
man and man, not between nation and nation, and certainly not between God and
man)
On page 52, Ortlund is so desperate to find a proof text that
he quotes Hebrews 5:1-4 as about Jesus, when it is not, it only begins to be
about Jesus in verse 5.
“Jesus Christ was sinlessly weak (cf. 2 Cor. 13:5).” (p57,
see 2 Cor 13:3, Jesus Christ is not weak, meek does not mean weak, it is a
faithful saying that in order to be meek you have to have real power to maim,
kill, destroy, coerce, and rule, otherwise you are not meek, you are weak)
“It’s the only way he knows how to be.” (p57, compare
Revelation 1-3 and the entirety of the Bible)
“a rare glimpse” (p73, unless you’re reading your Bible)
“Should we envision the Son as gentle and lowly but the
Father as something else?” (p127, This eisegesis of forcing one verse to drown
out 31,101 other verses is troubling and dangerous, if the Father is gentle and
lowly only then we have no need to read verses like Proverbs 1:7: The
Fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom)
“But at the theological bull’s-eye of the whole book, we are
told that God does not bring such pain ‘from his heart.’” (p138, then where
does pain come from, and is there supposedly joy to come out of being afflicted
some other way?)
“God is rich in mercy. He doesn’t withhold mercy from some
kinds of sinners while extending it to others…his heart gushes forth mercy to
sinners one and all.” (p177, What about those it doesn’t? Are all saved? Are
all victims of some historical sin that they themselves are not a part of? Or is
God just in holding sins against sinners?)
Victimhood Versus Sin
The most dangerous, if I could pinpoint the most dangerous
part of the book, is that it rejects that sinners—in their very nature—are not
deserving of gentleness or restraint, but are deserving of the full, undiluted,
infinite and eternal wrath of God.
If we aren’t in immanent danger because Jesus loves us so
much and is doing everything possible to save us, then of course a jesus who
just wants to give us a hug makes sense, but the truth is: we aren’t victims, we’re
perpetrators, we’re not witnesses to the crucifixion, we’re orchestrators.
Consider some quotes that would make Charles Finney wince
for their heresy.
“Open yourself up to him. It is all he needs.” (p20, why the
cross? Poor little Pelagian Jesus who has done his best and now needs you to do
the rest)
“Jesus Christ’s desire that you find rest, that you come in
out of the storm, outstrips even your own.” (p21, The question then, of course,
is why so many are lost and why Jesus has a small, difficult path that leads to
Heaven and a broad well-paved well-marked highway leading to Hell?)
“Your very burden is what qualifies you to come.” (p20, This
is bordering on Works Righteousness, and a painful misunderstanding a very
astute Jonathan Edwards quote)
“But for the penitent, his heart of gentleness is never
out-matched…” (p21, Cf. two verses earlier: Matt 11:27, “whom the Son chooses
to reveal him.” Penitence doesn’t open eyes or hearts, and it is not how you
participate in the propitiated gentleness of the Father and the Son)
“He never tires of sweeping us into his tender embrace.”
(p23, Cf. Jeremiah 3 and the divorce of Israel)
“We cannot avoid the conclusion that it is the very
fallenness which he came to undo that is most irresistibly attractive to him.”
(p30, If we can’t avoid that conclusion, then why would we avoid the conclusion
that he could have stopped the fall but didn’t?! But the conclusion is false,
because what is most attractive to Jesus is the joy and glory in being both Righteous
and Saviour (cf. Isaiah 45:21-22))
“The same one who reached out and touched lepers puts his
arm around us today when we feel misunderstood and sidelined.” (p32)
“He wants us to draw on his grace and mercy because it is
who he is.” (p36, he is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29) and a jealous God
(Deut 4:24))
“Jesus Christ is comforted when you draw from the riches of
his atoning work, because his own body is getting healed.” (41, Jesus isn’t
broken, compare Acts 7 and Stephen)
On page 63-64, concerning the fictitious exchange between Christ and a
generalized seeker, every reader should be screaming: ‘Where is the cross?!’; While the cross does
appear sporadically throughout the book, it is clear that Orlund does not
understand its power, and here describes a sinner saved by a sympathetic jesus who
is willing to take a sinner just as he is without any atonement or
righteousness or propitiation or blood-shed.
“To those who do belong to him, sins evoke [in God] holy
longing, holy love, holy tenderness.” (p70, [Clarification Added], A
cursory reading of Revelation 2-3 would say otherwise, him seeking not to
coddle the sinning believer, but to sanctify him)
“We all tend to have some small pocket of our life where we
have difficulty believing the forgiveness of God reaches.” (p83, Ortlund’s
hermeneutic can only promise half a gospel, that God forgives, but not to the
uttermost)
“The only qualification needed is desire.” (p89, If this is
true then Jesus spoke very deficiently when he said things like, “Repent and Believe
the Gospel.” This quote of Ortlund's is similar to, but so much less powerful than, Joseph Hart's Come Ye Sinners Poor and Needy, “But to feel your
need of him”, because Ortlund is so mired in victimhood that he ignores that
Christ is the source not only of forgiveness, but of righteousness and
fellowship as well)
“embraces the penitent with more openness that we are able
to feel.” (p99, because your greatest need in Ortlund’s universe is a divine
hug)
“…Romance the heart of Jesus…Allow yourself to be
allured.” (p99, emphasis original, As I read this section, I thought
about the fruit of this book; this sort of language will NOT produce glorious
older saints who seek the will of God from the scriptures and exhort with all
authority those they encounter, but who lean (if they lean on Jesus at all) on
platitudes and “Jesus-is-my-girlfriend” language gleaned from secular Christian
radio rather than the heart of God)
“Jesus wants to come in to you—wretched, pitiable, poor,
blind, naked you---and enjoy meals together. Spend time with you. Deepen the
acquaintance.” (p116, Except Jesus is actively rejecting this church quoted
from Revelation 3:14-22)
“Christ not only heals our feelings of rejection…” (p118, Here
is my sarcasm: because feelings of rejection are our greatest need and what was
in the cup that Christ pleaded with his Father to remove if there was any way?
You’re not a victim of sin, you’re a sinner rejected by the Living Christ)
“It looks like a Middle Eastern carpenter restoring men’s
and women’s dignity and humanity and health and conscience through healings and
exorcisms and teaching and hugging and forgiving.” (p169, this jesus is spelled
with lower-case because he does not exist, cf. 2 Corinthians 11:3-4, and is
certainly not the Carpenter described in the Bible)
“It means the things about you that make you cringe most,
make him hug hardest.” (p179…not sanctify or reprove or justify or glorify…hug)
“Maybe you have been deeply mistreated. Misunderstood.
Betrayed by the one person you should have been able to trust. Abandoned. Taken
advantage of. Perhaps you carry a pain that will never heal till you are dead.”
(p179)
“Paul’s deepest burden is our present security…” (p193,
Paul’s deepest burden is the glory of God)
“His heart was gentle and lowly toward us when we were
lost.” (p194, Alistair Begg has a wonderful quote stating without a read anger,
a real wrath, the cross is robbed of it’s meaning.” Was Jesus gentle and lowly
towards us when we were “children of wrath”? See Ephesians 2:1-10)
“Only a soul in Christ would be troubled at offending him.”
(p194, what about 2 Corinthians 7:10, what about millions who think their good
deeds are keeping them in God’s good graces?)
Lack of the Gospel
It could probably go without saying that a book so
antithetical to scripture would not provide a way to enter into Heaven or the
good graces of God, but if you’ve read this far, let me prove it to you. Are these
coming from the heart of Christ revealed in the scriptures, or the heart of Dane
Ortlund?
“You might know that Christ died and rose again on your
behalf to rinse you clean of all your sin…” (p15-16 emphasis mine)
“generally avoiding deep fellowship with him, out of a
muted understanding of his heart.” (p22, emphasis mine, did Jesus
die for misunderstood people even while they were muted (Compare Romans 5:8))
“This book is written. . .for those of us who know God loves
us but suspect we have deeply disappointed him.” (p13, this person doesn’t
exist, despite some saying that this book has a niche readership, this person
does not exist in the scriptures, as the problem is that a person who knows God
loves them will be transformed by the love (Cf. 1 John 4:18 where this is a
test of salvation))
“He was reversing the Jewish system.” (p31, missed the cross
entirely)
“Christ as our heavenly mediator-that is, the one who clears
away any reason for us to be unable to enjoy friendship with God…” (p37, while
there is some truth in this statement, this is NOT what a mediator does)
“What keeps him from growing cold? The answer is, his
heart.” (p66, The answer is the cross!)
“No such thing as grace” (p69, Gentle and Lowly is a
weird Pelagian, oft Roman Catholic (RCC), book that claims that there is no
such thing as grace because that’s RCC stuff? Grace abounds, and while it may
be intangible, there certainly is such thing as grace and it’s amazing, and I
hope someday Ortlund is able to taste it, feel it, and be saved by it!)
“What does it mean that Christ is a friend to sinners? At
the very least, it means that he enjoys spending time with them…What he is
really doing, at bottom, is pulling them into his heart.” (p114-115, except
that they all left him.)
Chapter 12, titled “A Tender Friend” doesn’t even consider
that a friend will die for another friend. If there is an easier place to tie the
gospel together than Jesus, the Friend of Sinners, and his accolades of a man
who lays down his life for his friends, I haven’t found it; but Ortlund didn’t see
fit to include it. My written note on the last page of that chapter reads in
bold red pen, “How dare he not touch on John 15:13!”
There is an assumed Christianity throughout the book,
especially on page 167 that if you think you’re in Christ, you definitely get
all of his blessings, there is no clarion call for repentance and faith or
making your calling and election sure. “You’re that safe.” (p178, and you are
that safe if you’re in Christ, but if you trust in the promises rather than the
Saviour, you won’t meet a gentle and lowly jesus on the final day and you’ll be
outside of his safe graces (cf Matthew 7:21-23))
“Do you know what Jesus does with those who squander his
mercy? He pours out more mercy.” (p179, potentially, but should we then sin all
the more? Or not trample his blood underfoot?)
“Repent and let him love you.” (p170, is this a quote from
Pelagius, Arminius, Finney, Osteen, or Ortlund?)
“It means that our sins do not cause his love to take a hit.
Our sins cause his love to surge forward all the more.” (p180, Our sins cause a
separation between us and God; run to the cross, go reconcile with your
brother)
“rinse muddy sinners clean and hug them into his own heart”
(p191, You could reject the whole book on this one sentence alone…I think it
was my second most angry moment reading this book; the first being the quote in
the conclusion below)
“Open yourself up to him. Let him love you…Go to Jesus”
(p216, a biblical invitation may have been in order here?)
“Whenever you feel stuck…most defeated…” (p216, because
Jesus came to seek and save the victims?)
Conclusion
I’ll let Dane Ortlund close us with the most ridiculous
sentence in the entire book: “This is a book about the heart of Christ and of
God. What are we to do with this? The main answer is, nothing.” (p215)
Beloved, from Matthew 11:29 the answer is: “Yoke Yourself to Jesus!” Trust
Christ! Know Christ! Enjoy Christ! Link your eternity with his!
What should you do with Gentle and Lowly? Toss it, read
your Bible!
