From Insightful to Concerning: Reassessing John Mark Comer's Practicing the Way
I first learned about John Mark Comer from This Cultural Moment, which was simply brilliant. I had not heard anyone talk about culture from a Christian perspective the way Comer and Mark Sayers did. It was smart, insightful, and down to earth. When I saw The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry being released by John Mark Comer, I was excited for that same insight into the spiritual disciplines.
For years, I’ve studied the spiritual disciplines and their ability to deepen discipleship. I wasn’t disappointed. I still think Comer’s insight on the practice of rest or sabbath is some of the most helpful I’ve read. I equally enjoyed Comer’s book Live No Lies and called it one of my favorite books in 2021.
I write all that to buffer what I’m about to write. Hear me out as someone who has enjoyed and benefitted from Comer’s past work. I was excited for the release of Practicing the Way. I read it in the summer of 2024, and… it just didn’t sit right. I didn’t write a review at the time.
What Changed? A Shift in Theology
After reading Tim Challies’s article on Practicing the Way and Trevon Wax’s article on the fourth wave of evangelism, I felt like I needed to share my concerns. My reviews of Comer’s books are some of my most viewed posts. I feel like I need to update my assessment. Basically, I got it wrong. I was wrong about John Mark Comer. Maybe I didn’t do enough research into his underlying theology. Maybe his theology has become more problematic through the years as he went down the rabbit hole of eastern mysticism. Or maybe I simply grew more spiritually mature myself.
I agree with Tim Challies’s concerns with Practicing the Way and don’t want to repeat those here. You can read his article.
I’ll be honest. I’ve known since This Cultural Moment that Comer and I differ on certain aspects of theology. Up until now I would consider them second or third tier issues. For example, Comer has always leaned more charismatic than I would. I just chewed the meat and spit out the bones, as they say. However, I’m now afraid Comer’s teaching leads to Christian Gnosticism and unhealthy spiritual formation.
Redefining Sin & the Gospel
Practicing the Way begins with concerns over various aspects American evangelicalism. Comer challenges traditional understandings of sin, discipleship, and the gospel. None of this is really new. Comer essentially refurbishes 90s Rob Bell. He calls Jesus a rabbi, discipleship apprenticeship, and Christianity “the Way.” This isn’t that problematic. Of course, the purpose is to demonstrate that this isn’t your grandmother’s stuffy Christianity. It’s a marketing ploy to say this is new and fresh and exciting.
Referencing Rob Bell should be a red flag in itself, but Comer goes on to claim that “sin” means “missing the mark.” He writes:
What if the mark is union with God? What if it’s the healing of your soul through participation with the inner life of the Trinity? What if it’s adoption into the father's new multi-ethnic family through the saving work of his son Jesus? What if it’s becoming the kind of person who is so pervaded by love, wisdom, and strength that we have developed the capacity to eventually rule with Jesus over the cosmos itself…If so, this gospel is an inadequate foundation on which to build the life of an apprenticeship that is conducive to deep inner healing and overall transformation of body and soul.
Richard Rohr, one of Comer’s key influences, is a known heretic who also redefined sin in a similar way. Comer goes on to say that understanding the gospel is crucial. He writes, “Because how you understand the gospel is the linchpin of how you approach (or don’t approach) discipleship. ‘Saying yes to Jesus’ does not an apprentice make.” Yet, Comer’s explanation of the gospel and salvation is somewhat abstract, and he denigrates “repent and believe or you’re going to hell.”
He seems to eschew Peter saying in Acts 2:38 “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” And Paul saying in Romans 10:9-11 “…if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.’”
It sounds like Comer is saying faith isn’t enough. He is more focused on this method he calls apprenticeship: be with Jesus, become like him, and do as he did. That sounds good and admirable. We should want to be disciples of Jesus. Yet, scripture clearly says our salvation does not depend on us, our actions, or an apprenticeship program. We cannot save ourselves.
The Rise of Mysticism in Comer's Teachings
Jesus came to live a perfect life, die for our sins, and rise from the grave, so that we may be saved from sin and death. As is often said, the only thing we contribute to our salvation is the sin that makes it necessary. Comer seems to suggest that it is not enough to repent and put your faith in Christ, which is what scripture tells us. However, Comer goes on to suggest that scripture isn’t sufficient to tell us how to know God.
Comer writes:
It’s just that you reach a point in any relationship, but especially with God, where words and even thoughts no longer carry you forward toward intimacy. They bring you so far, but not all the way, and may even hold you back.
What is his solution? How do we go beyond words and even thoughts to know God and grow in our relationship with Him? Comer's answer is eastern mystic practices, especially inward contemplation.
This simple, uncomplicated act has the potential to transform our inner lives and heal our deepest wounds in ways that more Bible study, church attendance, and even therapy (as good as those are) cannot possibly touch.
In an essay on the enneagram, Comer quotes panentheist Karl Rahner saying, “The Christian of the future will be a mystic or he will not exist at all.” Yet, scripture never says anything remotely similar. Jesus says He will build His church on Peter’s confession that Jesus is the son of God, and the gates of hell will not overcome that church. (Matthew 16:18) In fact, the Apostles warn against anyone preaching a different gospel other than what they preach and write in scripture. Mysticism is certainly a different gospel.
In Comer’s spiritual disciplines the study of scripture has gradually slipped to somewhere in the middle of the apprenticeship path, while sabbath (rest), contemplative prayer, and fasting moved to the front. In fact, as I write this he still hasn’t released study material on his website for the practice of studying scripture. It says it is coming in January 2025.
Think about that for a moment. Practicing the Way is blowing up and gaining traction. They released material on practicing rest, prayer, fasting, generosity, and solitude, but haven’t released studying scripture in a program for apprenticing under Jesus—the Jesus the apostle John calls The Word, the Jesus who repeatedly rebuked the Pharisees by asking “Have you not read?,” the Jesus who said in Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”
Comer calls these other elements of his rule of life “ancient practices” and would argue that they are orthodox, but he quotes far more Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Quaker mystics to support his claims than he does the Bible in Practicing the Way. I find this odd, because his previous book Live no Lies is all about 1 John 2:16, which will seem even more ironic in a moment.
Mysticism or Gnosticism? The Ancient Heresy Resurfacing
What’s the problem with all of this? I’m afraid the mystical practices and theology Comer is advocating lead to Gnosticism, which ironically is also an “ancient practice.” It is an ancient heresy the Apostles and early church father’s repeatedly warned against, especially the Apostle John who Comer quotes in his previous book.
The Apostle Paul satirically calls gnostics “super-apostles” who think they know more than God. He warns Timothy to guard what has been entrusted to him and avoid opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge” by people who have strayed from the faith. (1 Timothy 6:20-21)
In short, Gnosticism believes that faith in Christ, studying scripture, and practicing the sacraments are not enough for salvation or living out the Christian life. Gnostics believe they must avoid and overcome the physical, driving their desire to go beyond the physical written Word, the physical sacraments, and a physical savior dying a physical death and physically rising from the grave.
They emphasize spirit over matter and God’s nearness rather than His holiness and sovereignty. Many of the people Comer calls mentors and often quotes in Practicing the Way emphasize the heretical concepts of “Christ consciousness” and panentheism. These argue that God is more a universal person or universal spirit, not a particular person. Because of the emphasis on spirit over matter, they are anti-institutional, which often means anti-church. Comer left his local church and has advocated for monestery-like communities rather than traditional local churches.
Gnosticism advocates for finding personal secret knowledge outside of scripture and orthodox Christian practices by using special techniques. This is what Comer means by going “beyond words and even thought.” They believe that the path to redemption and transformation is through self-realization and contemplative practices. This leads to a very individualistic, subjective spirituality based on personal experiences, feelings, and impressions. The techniques they say accomplish this are the ancient eastern mysticism that Comer strongly advocates.
The Appeal of Comer's Teaching: Meeting Felt Needs
It’s not difficult to see that this belief system and the mysticism associated with it are really no different than secular new age practices and self-help programs. Gnosticism views Jesus as an enlightened man who better realized His oneness with God. He is therefore just a good example to follow, someone to apprentice under. As Comer says, be with Jesus, become like Him, do what He did.
Gnosticism became a problem in the early church because it appealed to “felt needs” in Greek culture and the innate desire in humans to find purpose and meaning in life. However, from Genesis 3 on we have wanted to be like God. We want the secret knowledge that allows us to bypass the need for a savior and climb a ladder of our own making to heaven.
I fear that John Mark Comer is currently popular for the same reasons. He is meeting the felt needs of our culture. Unfortunately, his pathway points them more to mysticism instead of their need for a savior. We are not saved through finding God, apprenticing under Jesus, obtaining secret knowledge, or ancient practices. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross for our sins.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)
Biblically Grounded Resources on Spiritual Disciplines
If you are looking for biblically grounded resources on the spiritual disciplines, check these out:
The Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney
Praying the Bible by Donald Whitney
Habits of Grace by David Mathis
Whenever I read about Christians in America and their genuine fear of “eastern mysticism” I wonder how much of that ideology is formed through genuine understanding of what true “eastern mysticism” is. I believe many American Evangelicals (I don’t know if you consider yourself as one), but folks like Challies (who I respect) probably have at the very least a lack of deep understanding of eastern mysticism and often use it as a straw man or a prop in their “apologetics.” To be frank, I wonder if some of that is rooted in a very passive form of discrimination or racism toward Asian people that has been deeply rooted in American culture (which has pervaded its way into the American Church).
That being said, I find it interesting that you write about this mysticism and you directly link it to “inward contemplation” as if contemplation was singularly an “eastern mystic” principle? Did not the Greek philosophers contemplate? Did not even Jesus contemplate in the times of prayer and reflection on the Word? Perhaps the conflation of Comer’s Practicing the Way to eastern mysticism and contemplation is not as accurate.
I agree with the comment above that Comer’s work is better categorized as neo-monastic or a blend of American Protestantism with a contemplative charismatic Catholicism — at best. I completely disagree that his work and theology is full blown Gnosticism. In all of my readings of Comer’s books and being a participant in Practicing The Way, never did I ever hear about “secret knowledge” or an individualistic way of attaining this knowledge. In fact, many times, I find him or others on his teaching team talk about doing these spiritual practices in community.
I for one, find Comer’s work invaluable to the body of Christ and find pieces similar to yours popping up on the internet fascinating because there is such a delayed allergic reaction. Why do you think this is?
this was really helpful. But the gnostic bit feels like “overstating the data” as Heiser used to say. Do I see what you’re saying? Yes. Do I think it’s an 100% accurate depiction of Comer’s theology and thoughts? Not really.. Just thought I’d share my perspective