Key Takeaways

• Philip Yancey’s books profoundly shaped many believers, making his fall even more devastating
• Sin will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay
• Adultery is a sin against the body of your life, not just your physical body
• Practice total transparency with your spouse through shared access to phones, emails, and location
• Never discuss marital issues with someone of the opposite sex
• Every leader needs someone they can be brutally honest with about their struggles

When Books That Shaped Your Faith Become Tainted

Philip Yancey’s book Disappointment with God about Job had a significant impact on me in the 80s. Then in the 90s, his books What’s So Amazing About Grace and The Jesus I Never Knew did the same. These were not casual reads. They were formational works that shaped how I understood suffering, grace, and the person of Christ.

Now he has trashed his legacy. He confessed to an eight-year adulterous relationship with a married woman and announced he is stepping down from public life. This was not a momentary lapse. It was eight years of living a double life.

An immortal proverb comes to my mind when I think about this sort of situation.

Sin will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.

I mean, eight years of deception and lies. I wonder if he was inventing stories like “I need to go away for a week’s writing retreat” or “I have that meeting in New York City with my publisher this weekend.” How many cunning schemes did he and this woman run for eight years?

A Failure at the Deepest Core of Character

This is a complete moral failure. Beyond the sexuality of it all, it is a failure at the deepest core of his character.

One of the legends of faith in my eyes is Jack Hayford, the Foursquare pastor in America who had a significant impact on my life through the 80s and 90s and beyond. He preached an incredible two-part series on sexual sin where he said that immorality and adultery are different to other sins.

I agree.

Adultery leaves a different mark on our soul. You can steal a loaf of bread from the local shop and pay a fine. That is sin. You commit adultery with a woman for eight years. Do not tell me those sins are on the same level.

There are different sins and different consequences to sins. We need to understand this and incorporate it into our theology of sin, redemption, forgiveness, and restoration.

Jack Hayford references Paul when he says it is a sin against the body. But Hayford explained it is more than just your physical body. It is the body of your life. It is the body of, if you like, an author’s work. Yancey’s eight-year run of hypocrisy is just disheartening and disappointing.

I know some people will feel shattered by this. Others who do not know him will just think, “My goodness, what on earth is this?”

The Yancey We Never Knew

I reckon Yancey must have known the day of reckoning would come. It comes for all of us. Yet he persevered over eight years. You can tell the eight years has had an impact on me.

Ed Stetzer said this in a sadly ironic twist from the author of The Jesus I Never Knew: we were all encountering a Yancey who we really did not know. And Stetzer knew the man personally.

This leads to other questions I have:

Was Yancey’s confession prompted by being found out?

By the risk of being found out, by declining health, by fading public relevance?

Will he continue to earn royalties from his books on grace and integrity?

What does genuine repentance and appropriate consequence look like in this situation?

Even if the confession is genuine, I think these circumstances invite this sort of scrutiny. I would like to see him dedicate a portion, if not all, of his royalties over the next number of years to a nonprofit.

Personal Safeguards Every Leader Needs

When a leader falls into moral failure, it gives all of us an opportunity to take stock of our own holiness and walk with Christ. My wife Dianne and I have been married for nearly 48 years, and by God’s grace, we have not committed adultery. But let me be completely honest with you. I have been tempted. I am as human as the rest of them. I have thought about it, of course.

The first safeguard we practice is total transparency with each other. Dianne has full access to my phone, my emails, and my location through Google Maps. I have the same access to hers. This is not something we demand from each other. It is something we want to do for each other. It is a way to protect each other.

Any mentoring, coaching, or meeting I have with a woman leader requires Dianne’s awareness and approval. Whether the meeting happens online or in person at a cafe, it always takes place in a public setting. When I leave any appointment to come home, I send Dianne a text so she knows where I am and what is going on.

Keeping Short Accounts and Finding Accountability

The second safeguard is keeping short accounts with God. This means regular confession of sin, not just your actions but also temptations and thoughts. Taking time regularly to acknowledge your failings before the Lord keeps your heart soft and your conscience sharp.

Let me ask you a direct question.

If you were sorely tempted, deeply tempted in this area, beginning to wade in some dangerous circumstances, who could you go to? Who could you approach and say, “I really need to own up. I need some help. I need some intervention. It is not about the other person. It is about me.”

Every leader needs someone they can be brutally honest with. Someone who knows your struggles and asks you the hard questions. If you do not have that person, I suggest you search them out pretty quickly.

The Devastating Ripple Effect of Moral Failure

One of the most powerful safeguards for me has been considering the immediate and eternal consequences.

What if I got involved in adultery with another woman?

I think about the devastation I would bring to my wife Dianne, my children, my grandsons. Oh my goodness, I think about my friends who trust me and the pastors I coach and mentor. What would this do to them? The ripple effect of moral failure extends far beyond you and me.

Here is one more critical tip.

A boundary I have in my life is I will never discuss marital issues with someone of the opposite sex unless it is in the context of a pastoral or therauptic session. This is where so many moral failures begin. If you are having struggles at home with your wife and you start telling another woman about it, emotional intimacy precedes physical intimacy. When she says “poor you,” suddenly there is a link, a connection that is unhealthy. If you are struggling in your marriage, talk to a counselor, a same-sex mentor, or your pastor. Never allow someone to become an emotional substitute for your spouse.

My Personal Response to Yancey’s Fall

I have not read Philip Yancey for years, and now I would never go back to his material. But I recognize this is a personal decision everyone needs to make for themselves. For me, his work is now tainted. Not everyone has that position, but for me, the body of his work has a stain that I just cannot ignore.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Let him who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall.”

No one is beyond falling. If Philip Yancey, the renowned author, could live a double life for eight years, so can any of us. Safeguards are not legalism. They are wisdom. But the baseline foundation for me is a walk with Jesus that is up to date, fresh, and wholehearted.

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