To begin I want to start with a little timeline I constructed, based on John MacArthur’s posts as well as Mark Driscroll’s posts and his own words:

• September 30th, 2007 – JMac sends his letter to Mark
• November 18th, 2007 – Mark gives the Song Of Solomon lectures in Scotland
• March 9th, 2009 – Phil Johnson publicly attacks Mark during the Shepherds Conference in a message called “Sound Doctrine; Sound Words.”
  
• March 26th, 2009 – Mark posts “John MacArthur On Bible Teaching” in which he adds JMac to the growing list of those who are part of the “New Calvinist” movement. He also applauds JMac for his longstanding devotion to defending scripture.
  
• April 5th, 2009 – Mark posts “Spring Cleaning” in which he realizes that his lectures “out of the country” were inappropriate for the internet and were meant to be private. He shares that he wants the lectures removed and that he appreciated his critics bringing this to his attention.
  
• April 14th-17th, 2009 – JMac launches his attack on Mark’s lecture via “The Rape of Solomon’s Song”

So, I am going to base my conclusion based on those events.

1. Mark’s Scotland lectures, messages, sermons or whatever you want to call them were not intended for public use and for JMac to construct his 4 articles around those lectures was not the wisest idea. It seems to me JMac picked the most inflammatory example he could think of in order to paint and cast Mark into a filthy, vile and despicable preacher and in order to satisfy the demands of those that sent him the recordings in the first place. It also makes me think he was hard pressed to find other evidence that could not be easily defended by Mark or others who would question JMac’s objectivity in his writing.

2. Mark’s Scotland lectures, messages, sermons or whatever you want to call them were bad exegesis. Mark went too far in interpreting the various symbols and such into body parts and various kinds of sexual activities. I think his attempt to have them removed didn’t go far enough. He needed to state in no uncertain terms that those lectures were not appropriate and that he has since revised his understanding of the Song of Solomon. And if Mark thinks he interpreted those passages correctly in that lecture and that turning symbolism into commands is okay then that is a problem worth noting.

3. Over the past few months Mark has received tons of media coverage and I think that makes JMac nervous, and for good reason. Mark is a young, vibrant energetic preacher and lots of us young kids have enjoyed learning and growing from Mark’s teaching over the years. But Mark sometimes has a Peter complex: he speaks without choosing his words carefully and sometimes is to impetuous to think through what needs to be said rather then what he wants to say. From my own observations I’d say Mark has grown significantly in this area which is a real tribute to how the Lord can still grow and change even a pastor of a mega-church. However, JMac’s concern seems to be that Mark has compromised his qualification to be a preacher because of the things he has said and at any moment is going to launch a “cussing preachers” movement that will corrupt the minds of the folks at TMS and TMC. But JMac should know better. He has trained those who have or are attending TMS or TMC to hold scripture as the ultimate authority and that no one, not even JMac gets a free pass if they are doing preaching things that are contrary to scripture.

4. I think JMac’s approach in these articles was bad. He sounds like a grumpy, angry, uptight, legalistic Father that needs to take a Prozac. Instead, JMac should have taken the approach of a loving Father and rebuked Mark for being careless in allowing those recordings to be made and distributed as well as not being quicker to see that he had erred in his exegesis. JMac needed to show humility and gentleness in his understanding of the situation and instead of using a letter sent almost 2 years ago as a warning. He should have made further attempts to seek out Mark’s heart. JMac’s words sound like an exasperated father who has written off his son as irredeemable, especially with his “Enough is enough” comment in his final post. Does JMac realize his unChrist-like statement? Does God ever say “Enough is enough” to JMac? Will God ever say that to one of His children who struggles with their sin? NEVER! God shows us Grace! God even shows JMac Grace! So why is JMac exempt from showing Grace to this young son?

My final point is this, I am willing to believe that JMac can change. I am willing to believe that the next time some preacher or ministry has strayed from the narrow path (even if it’s JMac’s own narrower path) that he can and will adopt a tone of Grace and Humility but will remain firm in defending Scripture. I’m know that JMac can be a loving and gracious person and have seen that repeatedly in his interaction with TMC and TMC students. He loves them, shepherds them and even extends grace to them when they err. He even extends grace to them if the err again. So why should someone else only receive one, six page letter before he is mercilessly and publicly rebuked for twelve pages two years later? If JMac and his followers continue to rebuke minsters of the Gospel using this method, then they need to change the name of their ministry from “Grace To You” to “Grace To Some.”