A bulk of the book is dedicated to “performing” theological triage—particularly in the chapters dedicated to second-and-third-rank issues. Drawing on his journey through various theological positions, Ortlund models what it means to define the faith from a posture of humility.

Gavin Ortlund wants to make you a better boxer—or at least help you pick better fights.
He opens his book with an observation about fighting: “It is easy to lose your balance when you’re standing on one foot. The strongest posture is one of balance between both feet: one of poise. That’s why boxers put so much care into their footwork.”[1]
Perhaps no other phrase embodies the task of Ortlund’s Finding the Right Hills to Die On than that of “theological poise,” and because of this, I think this little book needs to be bumped up to the top of your reading list. If it hasn’t come for your church yet, it’s likely on the way: doctrinal division lurks around the corner, and you’d be well-served to equip yourself with theological poise. Ortlund helps us do so.
A Tale of Two Impulses: Sectarianism and Minimalism
Finding the Right Hills to Die On begins with a section discussing the dangers of what Ortlund calls “sectarianism” and “minimalism.” Don’t get caught up in the vocabulary. What is suggested here is simple: doctrine is something we should divide over when appropriate; however, the church’s foundational call is to unity and peace with one another, secured by the blood of Christ. We should avoid both unnecessary division and unnecessary indifference.
Though a wide survey of healthy churches may find strong disagreements, “our love of theology should never exceed our love of real people, and therefore we must learn to love people amid our theological disagreements.”[2] Even in instances where healthy disagreement occurs, we must remember that our primary interlocutors are not flesh and blood but the cosmic powers over this present darkness, as Paul writes in Ephesians 6.
Again, it’s about poise. Avoiding sectarianism and minimalism is not about avoiding disagreements altogether—it’s about understanding when and how we ought to disagree.
But if only some hills are worth dying on, how can we know we’ve chosen the right ones?
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Written by David P. Cassidy |
Thursday, August 3, 2023
Overture 23, however, provides a unique opportunity to unite around language that avoids the unclear and potentially harmful while humbly and joyfully affirming the Biblical standards for sexual holiness we expect from the Officers of Christ’s Church. I was delighted to vote in its favor, will work with others for its passage in our Presbyteries, and hope for its adoption by the Fifty-First General Assembly.

For the past several years, the PCA has been embroiled in debates about, studies of, and Overtures concerning a whole array of issues surrounding human sexuality. That’s hardly unusual for ecclesiastical communions these days. After all, these are difficult and contentious matters, and our perspectives are often shaped by personal experiences and backgrounds as varied as the creatures in the sea – and sometimes just as frightening. Such debate and dissension can be an understandably wearying process to go through. That’s aggravated by the fact that we are by nature an impatient people, made even more so by the speed of technology. We stand in front of microwaves muttering, “C’mon already.”
Yet we really should rejoice in the debate and the process. Through it all, we can grow in our capacity to listen to one another, learn from each other, and – as we all wish to do – accomplish the work of the Church in such a way that her understanding, holiness, witness, and mission are strengthened for God’s glory. We need each other to free one another from the captivity of our lack of knowledge, our misgivings, fears, parochial prejudices, and even our wounds. In the end, attentive and patient work with one another can eventually yield peaceful fruit and deeper maturity. I think that’s the outcome we see in the success enjoyed by Overture 23 at our recent General Assembly.
By a vote of 1673-223, the Fiftieth General Assembly of the PCA overwhelmingly approved Overture 23 submitted by the Mississippi Valley Presbytery. There is much in it to commend to our churches, leadership communities, and Officers, and as a testimony to the wider communion of Christ’s Church. The Overture addresses the Biblical mandate for all of our Deacons and Elders to be above reproach in sexual holiness, not only in their conduct but also in their teaching and public declarations concerning the Church’s doctrine on sexuality.
The Apostle Paul was understandably concerned about Christians learning to follow Jesus in the path of holiness as his disciples. He emphasized it, especially with the fledgling churches in his mission in the Roman world. The Classical world was a society that displayed a sexual ethic vastly different than one reflecting God’s love and kindness. Rooted in power and often characterized by both brutality and hedonistic pursuit of mere pleasure instead of love, the Roman world’s views stood in need of a great sexual revolution. That certainly arrived with the Gospel.
The Roman view gave men free rein to explore their sexual appetites but greatly restricted and frequently denied a woman’s high place in marriage, giving them no authority in their sexual relationships with their husbands (and in virtually no other way either). Both male and female slaves, including young boys and even children, were viewed as degraded objects provided for the pleasure of owners and superiors. On the other hand, Christian teaching viewed all people as God’s offspring to be honored and loved. Sexual license, the abuse of power, and the dishonoring of any through sexual exploitation were steadfastly opposed by Christian teaching. Ancient Christians recognized every person as an image-bearer of God and acknowledged that a Christian’s body is a sacred space, the Temple of the Holy Spirit.
Our approach to sexuality originates in God’s good creation of all things and in his redemption of the world from our fall into sin, joining believers by the Spirit to his Son. Referring to creation, Jesus taught that our sexual union is a gift between men and women in a life-long covenant marriage bond protecting wives from abandonment and improper divorce by unfaithful husbands. He also upheld the Law, highlighting and emphasizing not only the necessity of our external conformity to it but also our need for cleansing from every internal disordered desire that does not submit to it (see Matthew 5-7 and 19).
The Apostles preserved and applied Jesus’ teaching, urging the ancient Christians to abandon their conformity to long-held cultural norms of power and pleasure and to be instead transformed by God’s grace, embracing mutual respect between husbands and wives, chastity as singles, and purity of heart in all things.
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While being a wise steward of what God’s entrusted to us is a virtue, increased wealth isn’t a sign of God’s blessing. It’s possible that we’re putting our identity in the wrong place, finding our value in what moths will destroy than in the One who provides for our every need.

At the beginning of 2022, my church began studying the book of James. This book is so helpful and practical in many ways. But one of the ways that it helps me personally is helping me to see when I’m focused on the wrong things.
Or maybe a better way to say it is, when I’m focused on what won’t last.
The Perennial Issue
James 1:9-11 introduces a perennial issue: our relationship with wealth. More specifically, it challenges the all-too-frequent assumption in a western society that wealth equates blessing or value. But James flips this assumption entirely, writing:
9 Let the brother of humble circumstances boast in his exaltation, 10 but let the rich boast in his humiliation because he will pass away like a flower of the field. 11 For the sun rises and, together with the scorching wind, dries up the grass; its flower falls off, and its beautiful appearance perishes. In the same way, the rich person will wither away while pursuing his activities.
The poor, he says, have cause to boast—to be proud in a godly sense, because they have a special place in God’s kingdom. They know that all they have is from God. They don’t hear the words of Jesus’s example of how to pray, saying “Give us today our daily bread,” as a truism (Matt. 6:11). It’s a way of life. Every day, every moment, is lived by faith. This is the faith of the majority church, not just throughout history, in places like Ethiopia, in Nicaragua, in Haiti, Honduras, El Salvador, China and dozens of other nations, it’s what faith looks like right now.
It’s the kind of faith that looks at their circumstances as an opportunity to boast in God, in His provision; glorifying Him with great joy in all things.
But to our cultural ears, that is strange.
When We’re Focused on What Won’t Last
In our society, the wealthy are exalted. They are our cultural icons whether they became wealthy through their ingenuity, abilities, or good old-fashioned dumb luck.
Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Elon Musk… While all have different stories of gaining wealth, they’re all primarily known to us today for one reason only:
They’re weird rich guys who built themselves spaceships.
But we still esteem them. We still exalt them. And, let’s be honest, if you were as insanely wealthy as them, you’d probably build yourself a spaceship, too.
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