Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 5 hours ago
What is our greatest need: healing our woundedness or receiving forgiveness of sins? In this episode of Critical Issues Commentary, Bob DeWaay examines John Mark Comer’s teaching in Practicing the Way and contrasts it with the biblical categories of being “in Adam” or “in Christ.”
Looking at Luke 5:17–25, 1 Corinthians 15:22, and the biblical doctrine of substitutionary atonement, Bob explains why forgiveness of sins is not merely one theory among many, but the greater need of every person. He challenges the idea that “naming your woundedness” can replace confession and repentance, and shows how removing forensic justification and the blood atonement leads away from biblical Christianity.
The discussion also examines Comer’s emphasis on spiritual formation, mystical practices, therapeutic processes, and the concept of becoming an “apprentice” of Jesus. Ultimately, the episode asks whether these teachings are compatible with the gospel revealed in Scripture.
Key Scriptures: Luke 5:17–25; 1 Corinthians 15:22; Jeremiah 17; Genesis 3
Learn more at CICMinistry.org.
This is part 56 of a thorough critique of "Practicing the Way" by John Mark Comer, WaterBrook, 2024.
Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
What is our greatest need: healing our woundedness or receiving forgiveness of sins? In this episode of Critical Issues Commentary, Bob DeWaay examines John Mark Comer’s teaching in Practicing the Way and contrasts it with the biblical categories of being “in Adam” or “in Christ.”
Looking at Luke 5:17–25, 1 Corinthians 15:22, and the biblical doctrine of substitutionary atonement, Bob explains why forgiveness of sins is not merely one theory among many, but the greater need of every person. He challenges the idea that “naming your woundedness” can replace confession and repentance, and shows how removing forensic justification and the blood atonement leads away from biblical Christianity.
The discussion also examines Comer’s emphasis on spiritual formation, mystical practices, therapeutic processes, and the concept of becoming an “apprentice” of Jesus. Ultimately, the episode asks whether these teachings are compatible with the gospel revealed in Scripture.
Key Scriptures: Luke 5:17–25; 1 Corinthians 15:22; Jeremiah 17; Genesis 3
Learn more at CICMinistry.org.
This is part 56 of a thorough critique of "Practicing the Way" by John Mark Comer, WaterBrook, 2024.
Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
