I have noticed from time to time Max Lucado books in LDS bookstores. I don’t agree with everything Max writes, but I am curious about your input on his latest book. I’m interested because of what the Lord has been teaching me about himself in John’s Gospel. Here is an excerpt from 3:16 – The Numbers of Hope (Thomas Nelson, 2007):
John 3:16 offers you an identical promise. The verse elevates Christ to thin-air loftiness, crowning him with the most regal of titles: “One and Only Son.”
The Greek word for “one and only” is monogenes, an adjective compounded of monos (“only”) and genes (“species, race, family, offspring, kind”). When used in the Bible, “one and only” almost always describes a parent-child relationship. Luke employs it to identify the widow’s son: “the only son of his mother” (Luke 7:12 ESV). The writer of Hebrews states, “Abraham . . . was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac” (11:17 NLT).
John enlists the phrase five times, in each case highlighting the unparalleled relationship between Jesus and God:
1. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
2. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known. (John 1:18)
3. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. (John 3:16)
4. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. (John 3:18)
5. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. (I John 4:9)
In three of the five appearances, the phrase modifies the noun Son. In the two cases it doesn’t, the Son was either “from the Father” or “at the Father’s side” (John 1:14, 18 ESV).
Monogenes, then, highlights the particular relationship between Jesus and God. Though God is the father of all humanity, Jesus alone is the monogenetic Son of God, because only Christ has God’s genes or genetic makeup.
The familiar translation “only begotten Son” (John 3:16 NKJV, NASB) conveys this truth. When parents beget or conceive a child, they transfer their DNA to the newborn. Jesus shares God’s DNA. Jesus isn’t begotten in the sense that he began but in the sense that he and God have the same essence, eternal life span, unending wisdom, and tireless energy. Every quality we attribute to God, we can attribute to Jesus.
“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!” Jesus claimed (John 14:9 NLT). And the epistle to the Hebrews concurs: “[Christ] is the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature” (1:3 NASB).
Jesus occupies the peerless “Christ the Redeemer” pedestal. He claims, not the most authority, but all authority. “My Father has given me authority over everything. No one really knows the Son except the Father, and no one really knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matt. 11:27 NLT).
Don’t hurry through those words. They’re either the last straw or the ultimate truth. They warrant deliberate thought (44-46).
Jesus in Idaho Falls 
I saw Max “preach” in 2003 at Third Day and Michael W. Smith’s Worship West Coast tour stop in Salt Lake City. While I don’t doubt his sincerity, or his knoweldge in most areas… his preaching did not speak to me very well at all. He came off as very commercialized and rehearsed, and while I am sure that is necessary, to a degree, when speaking to packed auditoriums night after night… It is very difficult to feel that a person is being genuine and about his words when they are so glossy… In comparision, while MWS doesn’t do much outright “preaching,” he does pitch Compassion International, and during the Worship tour would receite Psalm 139… both of these came off as more genuine, sincere, and real…than anything Max had to say. I remember them vividly, while I cannot tell you what Max’s topic even was.
Tate, my exposure to Max has left me frustrated at times, desiring that he would be more clear and precise in the midst of America’s vast empire of mass religious marketing.
So the blurb in this book pleasantly caught me by surprise.
On the back of one of his books (can’t remember which one), Max had praised RW for his works. Hummmmm
Interesting that his books are in the LDS Book stores though….
So…I’ve had concerns too. Is Max Lucado off base in some of his teaching? Do you have any idea why his books sell in LDS book stores, Deseree?
Is he, or was he ever, associated with the Mormon church?