T o L i V e I s c h r I s t

30 

Introduction

of the correspondents, an occasion within Newton’s personal milieu, or a 

theme of immediate topical relevance.”

 34

 Hindmarsh is right; each letter 

was situated within a particular context. At best, Newton’s most pastoral 

letters are one-sided fragments of a conversation canvasing a broad range 

of themes. But again, this is true of the New Testament Epistles, and it 

does not prevent theologians from identifying prominent themes in the 

letters of Paul.

Yet because personal visitors frequently interrupted Pastor Newton’s 

solitude, his letters are filled with a variety of “desultory” thoughts, and 

many of those thoughts seem to break off prematurely. However unfortu-

nate, this fact of pastoral life in eighteenth-century England does not hin-

der us from identifying a single core theme (or a cluster of themes) in those 

letters. I believe Newton’s letters are bound together by a cohesive theology 

of the Christian life, and as a result I believe it is possible to synthesize his 

pastoral counsel and discover his core message on the aim of the Christian 

life. This is my attempt:

John Newton’s vision for the Christian life centers on the all-sufficiency 

of Jesus Christ. Awakened to Christ by the new birth, and united to Christ 

by faith, the Christian passes through various stages of maturity in this 

life as he/she beholds and delights in Christ’s glory in Scripture. All along 

the pilgrimage of the Christian life—through the darkest personal trials, 

and despite indwelling sin and various character flaws—Christ’s glory is 

beheld and treasured, resulting in tastes of eternal joy, in growing secu-

rity, and in progressive victory over the self, the world, and the devil—a 

victory manifested in self-emptying and other-loving obedience, and ul-

timately in a life aimed to please God alone.

 35

To corroborate this thesis, I have combed through Newton’s thousand 

published letters, complementing them with his sermons and hymns. 

What I have found is that at the core of his pastoral theology radiates the 

all-sufficiency of Christ. Christ is the comprehensive vision that unifies 

Newton’s pastoral letters, his sermons, and the many hymns written out 

of his own spiritual experience and personal devotional life.

 36

 The glory 

of the ascended Jesus Christ is the North Pole magnet which fixes the 

34

 Hindmarsh, 250.

35

 I wrote this thesis after studying Newton’s published letters and was pleasantly surprised to later 

find it echoed by Newton in his summary of the Christian life in A Review of Ecclesiastical History (W, 

3:295–96). 

36

 Letters (Dartmouth), 248.

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Introduction 

31

compass of the Christian life (Heb. 12:1–2). Newton’s Christ-centered vi-

sion of the Christian life embraces all the ultimate aims of the spiritual 

disciplines lived out in the local church, the family, and the marketplace, 

whether in rightly handling religious controversy, developing friend-

ships, winning the battle over insecurity, overcoming weariness, finding 

delight in God, or enduring all seasons of suffering. Every dilemma faced 

and every joy embraced and every hope anticipated in the Christian life is 

bound up with the glory of Christ. This is the driving theme of Newton’s 

ministry.

Into Newton’s Heart

John Newton’s life “was stranger than the most improbable fiction.”

 37

 But 

this book is not a biography. Jonathan Aitken has skillfully crafted a cap-

tivating narrative of Newton’s dramatic life under the title John Newton: 

From Disgrace to Amazing Grace (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2007). In my debt 

to Aitken’s masterful storytelling, I feel no need to duplicate Newton’s life 

story (though I will rehearse some key moments from it).

And although this book is not a formal biography, we will pick up on 

Newton’s phrasing, his writing style, his wit, and some of his mannerisms. 

As we listen to Newton through the words he wrote, we will meet Newton in 

a very intimate way because, as Spurgeon once said, “A man’s private letters 

often let you into the secrets of his heart.”

 38

 This is true of Newton. In this 

book I’ve sought to get into his heart and mind through the doorway of his 

published letters. I have read and reread every letter with the goal of con-

densing his core message and collecting his most distinct contributions on 

the Christian life into one book, in his own words, to serve readers who are 

not inclined to labor through all the letters for themselves. And for those 

readers who are so inclined, I have used extensive footnotes to cite (when 

possible) primary sources in the public domain and editions you can find 

online and download and read for free.

Finally, fitting to the legacy of Newton’s pastoral heart, this book 

is not intended to be a laboratory specimen of his mind, sliced off to 

be archived or filed away in a library. Newton was a man of utility, and 

37

 Grace  Irwin,  Servant of Slaves: A Biographical Novel of John Newton (Grand Rapids: Eerd mans, 1961), 7. 

Irwin goes on to write of her novel, “The reader may be assured that if he finds anything unbelievable of 

adventure or coincidence, anything excessive, either sensual or spiritual, anything improbable in emo-

tion or devotion, that part of the book is provably factual, even understated” (ibid.).

38

 C. H. Spurgeon, The Sword and Trowel: 1868 (London, 1868), 108. 

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