John MacArthur obit

“Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant”: Pastor John MacArthur Enters Glory 

He was not on the list.

John Fullerton MacArthur Jr. (1939–2025) — pastor, teacher, author, and a stalwart defender of biblical truth — has entered the presence of his Lord and Savior at 6:17pm PT on July 14th, 2025 after a lifetime of faithful ministry. With profound sorrow yet deeper gratitude, we at Protestia mourn the earthly loss of a man whose legacy towers across the landscape not merely of conservative, reformed evangelicalism, but the universal church as a whole.

MacArthur served as the pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California for over 50 years, beginning in 1969. His long and faithful expositional ministry through every book of the Bible became a model of verse-by-verse preaching, setting a standard for generations of pastors. Under his leadership, Grace Church was not merely a local congregation but a beacon of doctrinal stability.

He was the president of The Master’s Seminary and The Master’s University, shaping thousands of men and women for ministry and scholarship grounded in the inerrancy and sufficiency of Scripture. Through Grace to You, his global radio and media ministry, MacArthur’s teaching reached tens of millions in over two dozen languages.

His best-selling MacArthur Study Bible, published in 1997, remains one of the most trusted and widely used resources in the evangelical world. In both the pulpit and the pen, MacArthur’s hallmark was clarity without compromise.

A Voice of Courage in Controversy

MacArthur was a man unafraid to name names and take arrows for the sake of the truth. His Strange Fire conference and subsequent book (2013) marked a seismic moment in the charismatic–cessationist debate, boldly confronting the unbiblical teachings and spiritual abuses in the broader charismatic movement. His stand provoked fierce backlash, but also awakened thousands to the dangers of emotionalism untethered from Scripture.

Protestia has long chronicled and defended MacArthur’s public theology. When critics slandered his motives or distorted his statements, we were among the first to correct the record and/or offer support (see here, here, and here). Whether it was the charge of spiritual pride, false accusations surrounding financial matters, or attacks over his stance on social justice, we sought to bring clarity to the man, his message, and his mission.

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Pastor MacArthur’s decision to reopen Grace Church in defiance of California’s draconian orders became a national flashpoint. As we reported extensively at the time (here, and here for example), Grace Community became ground zero in the battle for religious liberty in the West. Though legal threats loomed, MacArthur remained steadfast, declaring, “Christ is Lord of all — and that includes the church.”

In the later years of his ministry, he became a leading critic of the woke gospel and social justice incursion into the church. His multi-part series on “The Gospel and Social Justice” and the Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel (2018), which he helped draft, clarified the biblical gospel against the creeping ideologies of the age.

A Life Marked by Faithfulness

Though he would often say, “I’m not a prophet or the son of a prophet; I’m just a Bible teacher,” few modern men have had as prophetic a voice. He did not seek the limelight. He did not soften his stance to broaden his reach. He did not pander to celebrity. He simply opened the Word, explained it, and trusted God to do the work.

Despite his flaws, MacArthur’s personal integrity, longevity in ministry, and fidelity to Scripture earned him respect across denominational lines. His opponents often accused him of being harsh, but even they could not accuse him of being inconsistent.

His influence extended beyond the pulpit. He played a pivotal role in defending complementarianism in an age of gender confusion, upholding the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement when many abandoned it, and calling churches back to reverent, God-centered worship. He never courted the evangelical establishment—he challenged it.

The Legacy He Leaves

Pastor MacArthur has now joined the great cloud of witnesses. But his voice continues — in the hearts of his congregation, in the pastors he trained, in the books he wrote, and in the lives transformed by his unswerving commitment to the Word.

For those of us at Protestia, his death is personal. Our own commitment to discernment, polemics, and the defense of the faith was shaped in no small part by his example. We wrote in his defense not because he was above critique, but because he was so often falsely maligned for standing where others refused to.

We thank God for the gift of John MacArthur. His race is run. His fight is finished. And now, he hears the words we all long to hear:

“Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.”

— Matthew 25:21