R. C. Sproul


Robert Charles Sproul was an American Reformed theologian, Christian apologist, and Presbyterian pastor. Being the founder and first chairman of Ligonier Ministries, Sproul could be heard daily on the Renewing Your Mind radio broadcast internationally.
Working as a staunch defender of Protestantism, Sproul saw emerging modern technologies as an opportunity to disseminate teaching on Reformed theology. Faced with an increase in ecumenical activity between evangelical and Catholic figures in the 1990s, Sproul engaged in polemics to defend the evangelical doctrine of justification by faith alone. He has been described as "the greatest and most influential proponent of the recovery of Reformed theology in the last century."

Education and personal life

Sproul was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as the second child of Robert Cecil Sproul, an accountant and future veteran of World War II, and his wife, Mayre Ann Sproul. Sproul was baptized as a boy at Mount Washington Methodist Church. His family later joined Pleasant Hills Community Church, a congregation of the [United_Presbyterian_Church_in_the_United_States_of_America|United Presbyterian Church]. He was an avid supporter of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Pirates as a youth, and at the age of 15, he had to drop out from high school athletics in order to support his family.
Having become a Christian in 1957, Sproul met with his childhood minister to share his conversion. During the meeting, the minister stated, "If you believe in the resurrection of Christ, you're a damn fool!" stunning Sproul, left wrestling with "feelings of betrayal."
Proceeding with study, he obtained degrees from Westminster College, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and Whitefield Theological Seminary. He taught at numerous colleges and seminaries, including Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando and in Jackson, Mississippi, and Knox Theological Seminary in Ft. Lauderdale.
One of Sproul's mentors was John H. Gerstner, being one of his professors at Pittsburgh-Xenia Theological Seminary. The two of them, along with Arthur Lindsley, another of Gerstner's students, co-authored the book Classical Apologetics in 1984. Sproul's ministry, Ligonier Ministries, made recordings of Gerstner teaching various courses on theology and the Bible. John M. Frame records that Gerstner was Sproul's "main intellectual influence."
Sproul recalls encountering theological opposition inside a liberal environment during his early studies:
Gerstner convinced Sproul to study under G. C. Berkouwer at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in Holland, where he initiated study in 1964. Sproul was granted leave in 1965 due to his wife's second pregnancy and mother's illness, and later resumed study at distance. He returned to Holland in 1969 to receive a doctorandus degree.
He married Vesta Voorhis in 1960 and had two children, Sherrie Dorotiak and Robert Craig Sproul.
Sproul was a passenger on the Amtrak train that derailed in the 1993 Big Bayou Canot train wreck, and sometimes gave firsthand accounts of the story.

Career

Under Sproul's direction, Ligonier Ministries produced the Ligonier Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, which would eventually grow into the 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. Along with Norman Geisler, Sproul was one of the chief architects of the statement.
Ligonier Ministries hosts several theological conferences each year, including the main conference in Orlando, FL, at which Sproul was one of the primary speakers. Sproul served as co-pastor at Saint Andrew's Chapel, a congregation in Sanford, Florida. He was ordained as an elder in the United Presbyterian Church in the USA in 1965, but left that denomination around 1975 and joined the Presbyterian Church in America. He was also a Council member of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. Being a staunch critic of the Catholic Church and Catholic theology, Sproul denounced the 1994 ecumenical document Evangelicals and Catholics Together.
Sproul was an advocate of Reformed theology in his many print, audio, and video publications, and advocated the Thomistic approaches to Christian apologetics, less common among Reformed apologists, most of whom prefer presuppositionalism. A dominant theme in his Renewing Your Mind lessons is the holiness and sovereignty of God. Sproul taught that headcovering should be practiced in churches as the ordinance is "rooted and grounded in creation".
Sproul was a critic of postmodern philosophy. He considered postmodern thinking as a seduction to the church. This seduction originated towards the end of the cultural revolution of the 1960s and produced "the most narcissistic generation in the history of the human race." Sproul saw churches responding to that cultural change by "adopting the use of sound bites, entertainment, and that sort of thing" in replacement of using biblical teaching directly. Further, he found that this infiltration of postmodernity led to a "revival of ancient Gnosticism" with a "wide spread rejection of rationality" within the Christian church. He believed that many churches, as a result of this rejection, now teach that "biblical revelation is only intelligible by intuition or by a particularly sensitive poetic imagination". Sproul stated that this "intrusion of irrationality coming from existential philosophy, neo-orthodox theology, and the resurgence of mysticism set forth in neo-Gnosticism" stood in opposition to the "coherence and intelligibility of God’s divine work".
Stephen Nichols records that Sproul's quote "Sin is cosmic treason," found in his book The Holiness of God, was incorporated into an edition of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations:
In 2003, a Festschrift was published in his honor. After Darkness, Light: Essays in Honor of R. C. Sproul included contributions from Robert Godfrey, Sinclair Ferguson, O. Palmer Robertson, Michael Horton, Douglas Wilson, John F. MacArthur, and Jay E. Adams.

Teaching

In Sproul's 1983 teaching series Developing Christian Character, he discusses the issue of assurance of salvation, considering topics of human psychology, attempts at self-justification, and Martin Luther's torment in rigorously applying God's law to himself, prior to discovering the doctrine of justification by faith alone:
In 1996, Sproul gave a lecture on irresistible grace, titled Divine Sovereignty and Man’s Helplessness. During a Q & A session, he misattributes to Jonathan Edwards an analogy regarding the "holy rape of the soul," claiming that "some people are violently offended by that language—I think it's the most graphic and descriptive term I can think of, to how I was redeemed," taking into consideration theological themes surrounding total depravity and being in a state of spiritual death prior to conversion. With regard to the terminology "rape", a key topic in debate between Arminian and Reformed theologians is the hermeneutic employed to understand the meaning and strength of the verb "draws" in John 6:44, where Jesus states, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day." Sproul first uses the analogy in his 1984 novel Johnny Come Home, where Scooter, the main character, designed to be a "composite of John Guest, Jim Boice, and ," converts to Christianity in "a docile submission to the holy rape of the soul." Sproul also uses the analogy in his 1989 teaching series A Shattered Image, where discussing the Pelagian controversy, Sproul states that "the only way you will ever choose Christ is if God melts your heart, if God softens that stone cold recalcitrant heart, if God the Holy Spirit rapes your soul and puts in you a desire for Christ." By 2002, Sproul had abandoned the analogy for a revised perspective:
At Ligonier's 2000 National Conference, Sproul gave a message eponymously titled Upsetting the World. Near the end of the message, Sproul draws attention to Paul's polemic in Philippians 3 against the Judaizers, arguing that English Bible translators had not precisely translated the meaning of the Greek word skybala, a New Testament hapax legomenon found in verse 8:
With regard to the word in question, Daniel B. Wallace states the following in a word study of skybalon:
At the 2008 Together for the Gospel biennial conference, Sproul gave a message titled The Curse Motif of the Atonement. The message details the theological significance of the crucifixion of Jesus from an expository perspective. The message contains some content originally presented in his 1995 teaching series The Atonement of Jesus. Tim Challies, who attended the conference, recounts that "there is no doubt this was one of the most earnest, one of the most solemn sermons ever heard by that audience. I was there that day, I can tell you, there was a holy hush over that room as we were all forced to consider the sheer horror of what Jesus Christ endured on our behalf." Kevin DeYoung praised it as "one of the best sermons I’ve ever heard."
On April 3, 2016, Sproul gave a sermon titled Betrayed. Preaching from Luke 22:1–6, Sproul considers the personal relationship between Jesus and Judas, comparing themes of friendship and betrayal with his own life:

Health and death

Sproul struggled with a 40-year smoking addiction. In a personal interview, Sproul recounts the difficulty of stopping:
On April 18, 2015, Sproul suffered a stroke and was admitted to a hospital. Five days later, on April 23, Sproul went home from the hospital, suffering no ill effects. He was, however, diagnosed with a diabetic condition "that be addressed through diet and regular medical attention."
Sproul had long suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and was hospitalized on December 2, 2017, because of difficulty breathing, the result of an apparent infection, an “exacerbation of his emphysema due to the flu”. After a twelve-day period of intermittent fever, and sedation and ventilator-assisted breathing, with effort given to restore his respiratory function, Sproul died on December 14, 2017.

Publications

Some of Sproul's best-known books are The Holiness of God, Essential Truths of the Christian Faith, and What Is Reformed Theology? He is also well known for Chosen by God, a book about predestination and the sovereignty of God.
Through Ligonier Ministries and the Renewing Your Mind radio program and conferences, Sproul generated numerous audio and video lectures on the subjects of history of philosophy, theology, Bible study, apologetics, intelligent design, and Christian living. In addition, Sproul wrote more than 100 books and many articles for evangelical publications. He signed the 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, which affirmed the traditional view of Biblical inerrancy, and he wrote a commentary on that document titled Explaining Inerrancy. He also served as the general editor of the Reformation Study Bible, which has appeared in several editions and was also known as the New Geneva Study Bible. In addition, Sproul was executive editor of Tabletalk magazine.
The following publication lists are primarily derived from R. C. Sproul: A Life by Stephen J. Nichols.

Published books

  • The Symbol: An Exposition of the Apostles' Creed
  • The Psychology of Atheism
  • Discovering the Intimate Marriage
  • God's Inerrant Word: An International Symposium on the Trustworthiness of Scripture
  • Soli Deo Gloria: Essays in Reformed Theology
  • Knowing Scripture
  • Objections Answered / Reason to Believe: A Response to Common Objections to Christianity
  • Explaining Inerrancy: A Commentary
  • Stronger than Steel: The Wayne Alderson Story
  • In Search of Dignity
  • Who Is Jesus?; Effective Prayer; God's Will and the Christian; Ethics and the Christian
  • Classical Apologetics
  • Johnny Come Home
  • The Holiness of God
  • Chosen by God
  • Lifeviews: Make a Christian Impact on Culture and Society
  • One Holy Passion: The Consuming Thirst to Know God
  • Pleasing God: Discovering the Meaning and Importance of Sanctification
  • Surprised by Suffering: The Role of Pain and Death in the Christian Life
  • Abortion: A Rational Look at an Emotional Issue
  • The Glory of Christ
  • The Mystery of the Holy Spirit
  • Essential Truths of the Christian Faith
  • The Soul's Quest for God: Satisfying the Hunger for Spiritual Communion with God
  • Romans
  • Not A Chance: God, Science, and the Revolt Against Reason
  • Ephesians
  • Faith Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification
  • Mighty Christ: Touching Glory
  • New Geneva Study Bible
  • Choosing My Religion
  • The Invisible Hand: Do All Things Really Work for Good?
  • Ultimate Issues
  • The King Without a Shadow
  • Now, That's a Good Question!
  • Grace Unknown: The Heart of Reformed Theology
  • Willing to Believe: Understanding the Role of the Human Will in Salvation
  • The Priest with Dirty Clothes
  • The Last Days According to Jesus: When Did Jesus Say He Would Return?
  • Getting the Gospel Right: The Tie That Binds Evangelicals Together
  • In the Presence of God: Devotional Readings On the Attributes Of God
  • A Walk with God: An Exposition of Luke
  • Justified by Faith Alone
  • Growing in Holiness: Understanding God's Role and Yours
  • The Consequences of Ideas: Understanding the Concepts That Shaped Our World
  • Loved by God
  • What's in the Bible: The Story of God through Time and Eternity
  • Five Things Every Christian Needs to Grow
  • Saved from What?
  • When Worlds Collide: Where is God?
  • The Dark Side of Islam
  • Running the Race: A Graduate's Guide to What's Important in Life
  • Defending Your Faith: An Introduction to Apologetics
  • Scripture Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine
  • The Lightlings
  • A Taste of Heaven: Worship in the Light of Eternity
  • Truths We Confess: A Layman's Guide to the Westminster Confession of Faith
  • The Truth of the Cross
  • The Prince's Poison Cup
  • The Prayer of the Lord
  • The Barber Who Wanted to Pray
  • Unseen Realities: Heaven, Hell, Angels and Demons
  • The Donkey Who Carried a King
  • Are We Together?: A Protestant Analyzes Roman Catholicism
  • God's Love: How the Infinite God Cares for His Children
  • The Work of Christ: What the Events of Jesus' Life Mean for You
  • The Promises of God: Discovering the One Who Keeps His Word
  • Everyone's a Theologian: An Introduction to Systematic Theology
  • The Knight's Map
  • ''The Legacy of Luther''

    Books published posthumously

Posthumous works are derived from prior teaching content, sometimes with additional aid from Vesta Sproul.
  • Moses and the Burning Bush
  • Luther and the Reformation
  • Hard Sayings: Understanding Difficult Passages of Scripture
  • The Advent of Glory: 24 Devotions for Christmas
  • Joseph: From Dreamer to Deliverer
  • The Power of the Gospel: A Year in Romans
  • ''Holy Week: The Week That Changed the World''

    ''Crucial Questions'' series

  • Who Is Jesus?
  • Can I Trust the Bible?
  • How Should I Live in This World?
  • Can I Know God's Will?
  • Does Prayer Change Things?
  • Can I Be Sure I'm Saved?
  • What Does It Mean to Be Born Again?
  • What Is Faith?
  • What Is Baptism?
  • What Is the Trinity?
  • What Can I Do with My Guilt?
  • Can I Have Joy in My Life?
  • Who Is the Holy Spirit?
  • Does God Control Everything?
  • What is the Church?
  • What Is the Lord's Supper?
  • How Can I Develop a Christian Conscience?
  • What Is the Relationship between Church and State?
  • What Is Repentance?
  • Are These the Last Days?
  • What Is the Great Commission?
  • Can I Lose My Salvation?
  • How Should I Think About Money?
  • How Can I Be Blessed?
  • Are People Basically Good?
  • What Do Jesus' Parables Mean?
  • What Can We Know About God?
  • How Can I Be Right with God?
  • ''Was the Reformation Necessary?''

    ''Crucial Questions'' books published posthumously

  • Does God Exist?
  • How Does God's Law Apply to Me?
  • What Is Predestination?
  • ''Why Should I Join a Church?''

    ''St. Andrew's Expositional Commentary'' series

  • John
  • Romans
  • Acts
  • Mark
  • 1–2 Peter
  • ''Matthew''

    ''Tabletalk Magazine'' compilations

  • Before the Face of God
  • Doubt and Assurance
  • ''Right Now Counts Forever''