Hero worship: reading good authors and imitating good men

If you are Reformed, then you can most certainly relate to the charge posed in the title - "hero worship." And the reason I say that is because what I have found to be particularly characteristic about being Reformed is that we love to read. But not just any old author will do...we thrive on the writings of men like Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Owen, and Edwards. We devour the Puritans, the Westminster divines, the old Princeton theologians, and those Dutch Reformed dudes like Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck. We proudly bear the mantel of "neo-Calvinism" and the "young, restless, and Reformed," not because it's hip and on edge to do so, but because it puts us in the league of modern day giants like Piper, Carson, Dever, and Mohler. We love these men. They have produced insurmountable stacks of books, articles, sermons, and lectures on a variety of theological topics. We will pack our bookshelves with their many titles, our iPods with their podcasts, and our blogrolls with their daily musings. It delights us to fill our minds and our conversations with their thoughts and words. But here's the terrible snag - to people on the outside of this community of such rich heritage, we appear as if we are "worshiping" these great saints of the faith - that we are putting them up on a pedestal to be gazed upon like idols. What should we make of this charge? Is there any truth in it?

On the one hand, I think there most certainly is some valid concern we must have in our admiration of these fine men. Paul tells the Corinthians in his first letter about his grave disapproval of the divisions caused by their "hero worship" - namely, that they were claiming to be followers of Paul, or of Apollos, or of Cephas (1 Corinthians 1:12). If we in the same manner are canonizing the teachings of R.C. Sproul or Tim Keller, we should also repent along with the believers at Corinth. For in so doing, we idolize mere mortals and diminish the glory of our Lord.

And yet, on the other hand, Paul makes it clear that the gospel he preaches is to be listened to above all else (Galatians 1:11-12) due solely to the fact that the message he preaches was revealed to him. In reference to the word about Apollos above, Paul would expand on the fact that it is he that plants the seed and Apollos who waters - meaning probably that Paul initiated the work of the preaching of the gospel in a particular area, Apollos then expanded and ironed out the theological truths of the gospel, but ultimately, it was Christ who created life in his people through the message of his Word (1 Corinthians 3:6). Besides demanding that we heed his gospel preaching, Paul goes on to say that he is also worthy of imitation, but only because he is an imitator of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). The author of the book of Hebrews says that we should keep the leaders in our lives constantly before us, to consider the outcome of their godly lifestyles, and then to imitate their faith (Hebrews 13:7). 

Reflecting on these verses then, we can see that there is something fundamental we must keep in mind when holding our heroes up in our lives. We love reading Augustine and Bavinck and Carson, not because they are god-men and deserve some kind of misplaced worship, but because they have so clearly articulated the truth about the God of whom we read about in the Scriptures. Their words about the Trinity, the sovereignty of God, the doctrines of grace, and the "already - not yet" aspects of Christ's kingdom magnify the Lord we adore and worship. Furthermore, we hold up their lifestyles as worthy of emulation, because we have seen the patterns they followed, the sacrifices they made, the God they loved, and the outcome of their lives and deeply desire the same. We read their books and attempt to mirror the fierceness of their faith because both point us to Christ. And in pointing us to him, we all of the sudden find ourselves gazing upon the same glorious image, among a great cloud of witnesses looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.

So, no - we do not worship these men. We love them and honor them and respect them, to be sure. But we do not worship them. They would shutter at the thought. Rather, we hold them in high esteem because in them, both in word and deed, we can see the beauty of our Lord more clearly with them lighting the way.