Sam Allbery spoke at Tim Keller’s memorial service and made this remark.
“Jesus is the truer and better Tim Keller.”
It’s one of those immediately quotable and therefore tweetable phrases and so of course people have been tweeting it and reacting to it. Now, there’s a risk of reacting to something out of context and stark statements can make us feel uneasy. So, some of the responses have expressed unease with the statement. I’m not quite sure what the exact unease is because I’ve not yet seen anyone take Sam’s quote apart and critique it. I suspect though that there is a fear that this is making too much of Tim Keller, putting him on a pedestal. Though if it’s just that, the words of an emotional mourner, seeking to express their gratitude to a mentor figure, then I hope we’ll give Sam some grace.
However, I want to suggest that what Sam says there is actually profound, sensitive, theologically correct and pastorally helpful. Let me explain why.
Context matters and so it’s important to know that the quote is a play on something Tim Keller used to say. Keller’s point was that all of the big name characters in the Old Testament were shadows and types pointing forward to Jesus as greater and better. Jesus was the true and better king, priest and prophet. He was greater than Abraham, David and Elijah. To take the exact, specific quote, “Jesus is the truer and better Adam.”
This is important because Keller’s point was founded in the kind of theology we find in Romans 5. There, we see that Jesus is referred to as the second or new Adam. In Biblical thinking Adam represents the human race, particularly in its fallen state. He is our “federal or covenant head”, we are in him, that’s where we look to for our identity and status. However, for believers, Jesus is now our head, our representative, we are in him.
It’s helpful then also to see how Old Testament Scriptures that talk about humanity are taken up in the New Testament. Have a look at Psalm 8 and the question “Who is man that you are mindful of him.” At one level, that passage applies to the human race generally and therefore includes each of us in it. However, without fail, the New Testament authors apply it to Jesus, not so that we are excluded from the promises but so that we are only included because they are first to him and then to us, in him.
What this means is two things. First, that my whole identity, status, satisfaction is found in and only in Christ. My life’s purpose is to enjoy him for ever. Second, it means that my calling, is to point towards him and away from myself. My life’s purpose to glorify him. I think it is fair to say that Tim Keller grasped both of those things and did them both.
That’s the sense in which Sam was right to say that “Jesus is the true and better Tim Keller”. It’s true because it is true generally of man or humanity. Jesus is the true and better man, the true and better human. This also means, I think that we can say it about each of us individually.
So, this helps us in two ways. First, it helps how we think of our heroes in the faith. Note, that Sam didn’t say it the other way round. As much as we might look to Tim Keller, John Piper, Augustine, Calvin or whoever, there is someone truer and better. Secondly, this helps us to put our own lives and identities into perspective.
Faithroots 