Jordan Peterson and the Gospel He Cannot Preach: A Reformed Analysis

🔎**The Philosopher Who Almost Believes:

Jordan Peterson’s Moral Maze**

Sheepfold Under Siege — Article 11

There are wolves who deceive through spectacle, wolves who deceive through softness, and wolves who deceive through spirituality. But there is another kind, more subtle still: the wolf who does not intend to deceive at all. He is earnest, articulate, brilliant, burdened, and even strangely reverent. He circles the truth, studies the truth, trembles before the truth, and yet never bows to it. He illuminates the silhouette of Christianity while refusing its substance. He preaches the order of Eden without the Lord of Eden.

This is where the danger of Jordan Peterson lies.

He is not a scoffer. He is not a mocker. He is not a militant atheist tearing down churches with profanity and arrogance. He is something far more appealing and far more disarming. He is the man who almost believes.

Peterson speaks with respect for Scripture, admiration for Christ, and awe for the moral architecture of Christianity. He defends truth against relativism, order against chaos, masculinity against decay, and transcendence against nihilism. He has spoken words about Jesus that bring believers to tears. His voice cracks when he contemplates Christ. His lectures revive imaginations dulled by secularism. He pushes young men to responsibility and self-sacrifice. In an age of cynicism, he speaks earnestly. In an age of confusion, he speaks meaningfully. And in an age of doctrinal drift, he speaks morally.

But morality is not salvation.

Awe is not faith.

Admiration is not repentance.

And reverence is not regeneration.

What makes Peterson compelling is precisely what makes him dangerous to a generation of Christian men who have grown weary of soft pulpits and sentimental clichés. They hear him call for strength, responsibility, courage, order, and meaning. They hear him defend masculinity rather than apologize for it. They hear him speak of Scripture with gravity rather than embarrassment. And because they have been fed spiritual milk watered down by cultural pressure, they mistake Peterson’s moral earnestness for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Yet Peterson himself is painfully honest about the reality that he cannot believe. His interviews are full of longing phrases like “as if God exists” and “I act like it’s true.” He analyzes the cross as a mythic center of meaning, a psychological archetype of redemptive suffering, a narrative container for heroism and transcendence. But he never speaks of the cross as the place where the Son of God bore wrath for sinners. He speaks of Christ as an ideal to imitate, not a Savior to trust. He speaks of resurrection as a symbol of meaning, not a historical victory over death.

The Christ Peterson approaches is magnificent, but not incarnate. Beautiful, but not holy. Helpful, but not sovereign. Archetypal, but not atoning.

This is the maze.

It feels close to Christianity but leads nowhere near the new birth.

Peterson’s moral vision demands self-discipline, responsibility, and self-sacrifice. Scripture demands repentance, rebirth, and the death of the old self entirely. Peterson calls men to carry their burdens. Christ calls men to carry the cross. Peterson urges them to imitate the moral ideal. Christ offers them the righteousness they do not have. Peterson strengthens the will. Christ crucifies it.

A man who tries to “become good” by following Peterson’s guidance will become more ordered, more responsible, more structured, and perhaps more outwardly noble. But he will not become new. Because no one becomes new except through union with Christ. No one becomes righteous except through imputation. No one becomes alive except through the Spirit. The gospel is not the refinement of the self but the end of the self. Not self-mastery but self-dethroning. Not bravery but brokenness. Not meaning but mercy.

This is why Peterson’s influence is so perilous for the Church. He offers Christian morality without Christian regeneration. A moral universe without a sovereign Lord. A cross without wrath. A resurrection without sin. He holds up the fruits of Christianity but not the root. And the young men who follow him learn to admire Christ without surrendering to Him. They learn responsibility without repentance. They learn order without obedience. They learn meaning without godliness.

And because Peterson touches emotional and intellectual longings deeply, many Christians excuse his unbelief as a secondary matter. They speak as though he is “almost there,” as though proximity to truth were the same as entering it. But Scripture does not say “admire the Lord Jesus.” It says “believe in Him.” It does not say “act as if God exists.” It says “repent and be baptized.” It does not say “carry your burden responsibly.” It says “deny yourself.”

One of the most dangerous lies in spiritual warfare is not the outright rejection of Christ but the belief that admiration for Christ is enough. The rich young ruler admired Jesus. Herod admired John the Baptist. The demons believe and tremble. Admiration saves no one. Proximity saves no one. Sincerity saves no one.

Only faith in Christ’s finished work saves.

Peterson rejects this foundational truth — not angrily, but intellectually. He cannot bring himself to confess Christ as Lord. And because he rejects the heart of the gospel, he rejects its implications. His entire framework rises on human strength, resilience, archetypal meaning, evolutionary psychology, and mythic transformation — but not divine grace. His worldview leads men to believe that the cure for chaos lies within themselves. Scripture says the cure lies outside themselves, in a crucified and risen King.

This is why the Church must discern Peterson’s influence carefully. He is not an enemy of Christianity in the sense of malice. He is an enemy of Christianity in the sense of misdirection. The man who almost bows still teaches others to stand upright. And the man who carries his burdens without the cross teaches others to do the same.

Yet we can and should honor what is honorable in Peterson. He is courageous. He is intellectually honest. He tells the truth even when it costs him everything. He honors Scripture more than many pastors do. He speaks to young men who have been abandoned. He confronts nihilism with uncommon force. But courage without Christ is still lost. Honesty without Jesus is still blind. Order without the Spirit is still dead. And admiration without faith is still unbelief.

The call for the Church is clear. We must not substitute Christian moralism for Christian doctrine. We must not mistake philosophical reverence for spiritual rebirth. We must not follow a man who almost believes when the Savior calls us to believe entirely. We may appreciate Peterson’s insights, but we must not drink from his well as though it were living water.

Young men especially must hear this clearly. You do not need a philosopher who almost believes. You need a Savior who truly saves. Responsibility is insufficient. Order is insufficient. Structure is insufficient. There is no hope apart from Christ. Not a Christ of archetype but a Christ of blood. Not a Christ of metaphor but a Christ of mercy. Not a Christ of meaning but a Christ who rose from the dead in history and will return bodily to judge the living and the dead.

Jordan Peterson points to many true things. But he does not point to the Truth Himself. He is a guide who approaches the gate and describes its beauty but does not walk through. And if we follow him too closely, we will find ourselves admiring the doorway while never entering the kingdom.

The Church must be kind but not confused, grateful but not gullible, discerning but not dismissive. And above all, we must proclaim the gospel Peterson cannot: not self-improvement but self-crucifixion, not heroic endurance but divine regeneration, not tidying your room but surrendering your soul.

Christ does not call us to carry our burden well.

He calls us to lay it down at His feet.

May God grant Jordan Peterson the gift he cannot reason his way into.

May the One he almost believes in convert his heart.

And may the Church refuse to trade the gospel of grace for the gospel of grit.

✒️ The Pilgrim’s Post