Philip Yancey

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So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most (Hebrews 4:16, NLT).

I woke up one morning last week to see this headline splattered across the various Christian newsfeeds I receive:

Author Philip Yancey Confesses Affair, Withdraws from Ministry

Yancey had sent an email statement to Christianity Today containing the following…

To my great shame, I confess that for eight years I willfully engaged in a sinful affair with a married woman. My conduct defied everything that I believe about marriage. It was also totally inconsistent with my faith and my writings and caused deep pain for her husband and both of our families … I have failed morally and spiritually, and I grieve over the devastation I have caused. I realize that my actions will disillusion readers who have previously trusted in my writing. Worst of all, my sin has brought dishonor to God.

For those unfamiliar with Philip Yancey, he is a Christian author who has written many books and sold over 15 million copies during his writing career, which began in 1971. His book titles include: What’s So Amazing About Grace, Where Is God When It Hurts?, The Jesus I Never Knew, and Disappointment with God.

I have read most of his books and have all of them in print or on Kindle®.  

My reaction, along with that of many other bloggers, social media people, and those who have read his books, was a collective “What!?” I quickly asked (and I suppose everyone else as well), “How does such an influential believer not only stumble but continue to write, speak, and engage in influential international Christian teaching for eight years while engaged in an affair?”

Honestly, it was a gut punch to me. I don’t feel like I can read or quote his books again. And while others in the media have broadcast their reasoned explanations, I haven’t been able to (or will I try) to understand why Philip Yancey stumbled. One of my early mentors said, “Sin is insanity, and it’s insane to try to understand insanity.” 

So, giving up on my ability to offer an explanation, I do have several reflections.

Faulty Foundation… 

Jesus concluded His “Sermon on the Mount,” teaching that if we keep our lives built upon the Rock (Jesus), the rain can fall, the floods come, and the wind blow, but we will withstand the storm. Christians stumble by allowing their foundations to be weakened through small sins, which lead to denials with self-justification, to increasingly larger sins, and finally a deadness of conscience.

Our foundation is loving Jesus more than sin.

Stricter Judgment 

Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly (James 3:1).

One principle taught in my discipling book, First Steps Conversations, is that we should magnify the consequences of potential sin, not being caught in the lies of “no one will know,” “just this one time,” or “God will forgive me.” We must realize that the consequences of our sins will exceed our imagination. 

Yancey was correct when he wrote, “I realize that my actions will disillusion readers who have previously trusted in my writing.”

Grace Survives

Our sins and Yancey’s sins can’t overcome God’s grace. Yancey’s public letter of confession and withdrawal from ministry were the right actions. But his confession, though allowing God’s grace of forgiveness, won’t quickly restore trust in his ministry. 

God gives mercy, but those who confess should never insist on returning to public ministry. God may or may not open doors to public ministry, but a too-quick restoration of ministry demeans the justice owed to those offended.

One speaker whom I heard at a large conference (a speaker who never stumbled in his lifetime) once said, “But for the grace of God, there go I.” I agree, but I would add, “But for the grace of God, accountability, and loving God and others more than self — there go I.”