Dear Mr. Friel,

I wish to be as irenic as possible in this letter. I am a former student of The School of Biblical evangelism. I’m not trying to pick a fight; I merely want to point out some things that I’ve noticed on WOTM Radio and now Wretched Radio.

First, I believe you point to man more than Scripture. I’m not saying you do not use Scripture. No sir, indeed you use Scripture. Yet you often appeal to Spurgeon. Now, Spurgeon has had a great influence in my life and I love his material, but the man was fallible. Moreover, while I do believe Spurgeon and other saints before him (Wesley, Augustine, Anselm, etc.) had great things to say about Jesus Christ, these men are fallible. When you start quoting man rather than Scripture to back-up your views, there is a serious problem.

Second, I must say that I am not a wretch. Sir, we have a new self, a new nature which is the righteousness of Christ. The Scriptures state,

2Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

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I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
(Gal 2:20-21)

We ought not identify with our sin nature, which is wretched. Rather, we should count ourselves as righteous in Christ Jesus. By calling yourself a wretch, you are demeaning our new identity. You’re a saint, I’m a saint, Ray is a saint — I think my point is clear. Wretch theology for the Christian is folk theology. Indeed, before I had my new identity, I was clearly a wretch. To call the nature of Christ, which you and I both have, “wretched” is very wrong. Christ is not a wretch; His nature is not wretched, either.

I appreciate your time for reading this.

In Christ,
Robb Lawson, MRS; ThD