I'm always on the lookout for a certain type of book- a book that explains the gospel (or critical parts of it) that isn't overly scholarly, isn't too simplified, and most of all, is short enough that someone who wasn't planning to read a book like that would choose to read it upon request.
R. C. Sproul's name comes up automatically in such a search, as he has empirically shown over 40-plus years that he has a gift of making difficult and controversial topics simple and understandable. The effect of his ministry on my own life is hard to measure, as his books and audio/video sermons and conference messages have increased both my understanding of and love for the gospel, the bible in general, and evangelism as a whole.
When I saw this book become available, I quickly requested a PDF copy from Ligonier.org for review. (FCC note: the publisher provided me with a free copy of the book for review purposes; no other benefit or payment was or is forthcoming). I wanted to know if this book fit the bill as a book I could hand to folks who don't have a good understanding of need for the substitutionary atonement of Christ on the cross (whether new believers or old ones who really haven't heard much gospel preached in their lives).
It does.
The book is short (167 pages), has a lot of good stuff in it, and is accessable by the new believer. Anyone with a high-school education can understand it, as the more complex theological arguments are, typical of Dr. Sproul, made accessible in terms and word-pictures that are easy to understand. There are nine chapters plus a chapter at the end called, 'Questions and Answers'. I have learned over time that the Q&A sessions at the Ligonier (and other) conferences can be some of the best teaching times, so the Q&A chapter in the book is particularly helpful. And, Dr. Sproul is really at his best when dialoging one-on-one with students.
In chapter one, 'The Necessity of an Atonement' Dr. Sproul moves the reader's view of the cross from a religious symbol to a necessary response to the seriousness of sin (that we usually underemphasize). He describes the three basic views of historic Christian theology (Pelagianism, Semi-pelagianism, and Augustinianism) and how the mindset found in each pre-determines one's view of the cross.
In chapter two, 'The Just God' Sproul talks about the holiness of God and how it would be unjust (and therefore un-God-like) for God to ignore sin rather than deal with it.
Chapter three talks about our place (nature) in the debate about sin, and Dr. Sproul uses his idea of Cosmic Treason that he has developed previously to describe the seriousness of sin before God.
Chapters four and five describe Christ as a ransom and a substitute (respectively). Here the importance of substitutionary atonement is developed.
Chapter six is on the humanity of Christ, and the importance to us of his perfect, sinless obedience to God. Without this, his substitution wouldn't mean much to us.
Chapter seven, 'The Suffering Servant' is a development of the old testament view of the messiah. It ties together the two testaments and serves to show the plan of God from the beginning was a salvation by faith alone.
Chapter eight is on the crucifixion itself. Importantly, Sproul points out the curse of God, not the pain of the cross itself, should be the focus of the passion event. Many people were crucified in this era, but only one suffered the full wrath of God at the same time.
Chapter nine is on the limited nature of the atonement (how the atonement applies to the elect). Sproul does an excellent job of communicating that the atonement wasn't a potential atonement actuated by the sinner, but an actual atonement initiated by the savior.
In summary, I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for an overview of the cross and its meaning to the Christian and not wanting a highly technical, seminary-intended-audience coverage of the subject. I've never given a bad review to an R. C. Sproul-authored book, and this one is no exception. I've bought several to hand to folks who are interested. I'll probably make an outline of it for a series of Sunday School lessons for my adult SS class; it is small enough and inexpensive enough to be purchased as 'notes' for such a study. You won't be disappointed in this book.
Five stars.
.
Showing posts with label bible study. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bible study. Show all posts
14 July 2010
06 January 2010
The Battle for Scripture- The Right Flank
It appears to me the battle for scripture has shifted in concentration from the left flank (liberalism) to the right flank (sufficiency of scripture). Consider this quotation from David F. Wells,
"The Church is, therefore, awash in strategies borrowed from psychology and business that, it is hoped, will make up for the apparent insufficiency of the Word and ensure more success in this postmodern culture. Today, the issue is not so much the inerrancy of Scripture but its sufficiency and this at the very moment when a robust confidence in its sufficiency is precisely what the Church needs to have if it is to live out its life in proclamation and service effectively." (Wells, D., http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/rejection.html)
The battle for the left flank was critical. Without the inerrancy of scripture, the Christian faith has little objective meaning and no power (Rom. 1:16). While we still need to guard the left flank from attack (most of the attacks come from within the ranks, by the way), the bigger attack from the culture is on the sufficiency of scripture. Is the gospel, as given in the Word of God, sufficient to meet the needs of our present-day postmodern culture, or not?
I say it is, but it won't unless we teach it and preach it effectively, shying away from our fears about offending others with God's message. Too many people don't know what a believer needs to believe to live the Christian life, so they don't do a very good job living a Christian life. We've had too many years of fluffy Sunday School literature with little or no doctrinal meat in the weekly lessons, and as a result we are Mark Noll's worst fear- a scandalized evangelical church. And instead of a reactionary return to doctrine, we see a lurch in the opposite direction, toward experientialism, in the so-called Emergent Church. Unfortunately, our response to pressures from this emergent movement (no more than a postmodern form of liberalism) is to make our worship a bit more postmodern and "culturally relevant" rather than a return to a strong emphasis on doctrine. People are desperate for something to believe, and we give them more pietism. It won't work.
J. I. Packer, in a recent Modern Reformation article, says it thusly- “It has often been said that Christianity in North America is 3,000 miles wide and half an inch deep. Something similar is true, by all accounts, in Africa and Asia, and (I can testify to this) in Britain also. Worshipers in evangelical churches, from the very young to the very old, and particularly the youth and the twenty- and thirty-somethings, know far less about the Bible and the faith than one would hope and than they themselves need to know for holy living. This is because the teaching mode of Christian communication is out of fashion, and all the emphasis in sermons and small groups is laid on experience in its various aspects. The result is a pietist form of piety, ardent and emotional, in which realizing the reality of fellowship with the Father and the Son is central while living one’s life with Spirit-given wisdom and discernment is neglected both as a topic and as a task. In the Western world in particular, where Christianity is marginalized and secular culture dismisses it as an ideological has-been, where daily we rub shoulders with persons of other faiths and of no faith, and where within the older Protestant churches tolerating the intolerable is advocated as a requirement of justice, versions of Christianity that care more for experiences of life than for principles of truth will neither strengthen churches nor glorify God.”
What is Packer's answer to this? Teaching of the truth of the gospel, of course! He says, “The well-being of Christianity worldwide for this twenty-first century directly depends, I am convinced, on the recovery of what has historically been called catechesis—that is, the ministry of systematically teaching people in and coming into our churches the sinew-truths that Christians live by, and the faithful, practical, consistent way for Christians to live by them. During the past three centuries, catechesis as defined has shrunk, even in evangelical churches, from an all-age project to instruction for children and in some cases has vanished altogether. As one who for half a century has been attempting an essentially catechetical ministry by voice and pen, I long for the day when in all our churches systematic catechesis will come back into its own.”
I agree.
"The Church is, therefore, awash in strategies borrowed from psychology and business that, it is hoped, will make up for the apparent insufficiency of the Word and ensure more success in this postmodern culture. Today, the issue is not so much the inerrancy of Scripture but its sufficiency and this at the very moment when a robust confidence in its sufficiency is precisely what the Church needs to have if it is to live out its life in proclamation and service effectively." (Wells, D., http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/rejection.html)
The battle for the left flank was critical. Without the inerrancy of scripture, the Christian faith has little objective meaning and no power (Rom. 1:16). While we still need to guard the left flank from attack (most of the attacks come from within the ranks, by the way), the bigger attack from the culture is on the sufficiency of scripture. Is the gospel, as given in the Word of God, sufficient to meet the needs of our present-day postmodern culture, or not?
I say it is, but it won't unless we teach it and preach it effectively, shying away from our fears about offending others with God's message. Too many people don't know what a believer needs to believe to live the Christian life, so they don't do a very good job living a Christian life. We've had too many years of fluffy Sunday School literature with little or no doctrinal meat in the weekly lessons, and as a result we are Mark Noll's worst fear- a scandalized evangelical church. And instead of a reactionary return to doctrine, we see a lurch in the opposite direction, toward experientialism, in the so-called Emergent Church. Unfortunately, our response to pressures from this emergent movement (no more than a postmodern form of liberalism) is to make our worship a bit more postmodern and "culturally relevant" rather than a return to a strong emphasis on doctrine. People are desperate for something to believe, and we give them more pietism. It won't work.
J. I. Packer, in a recent Modern Reformation article, says it thusly- “It has often been said that Christianity in North America is 3,000 miles wide and half an inch deep. Something similar is true, by all accounts, in Africa and Asia, and (I can testify to this) in Britain also. Worshipers in evangelical churches, from the very young to the very old, and particularly the youth and the twenty- and thirty-somethings, know far less about the Bible and the faith than one would hope and than they themselves need to know for holy living. This is because the teaching mode of Christian communication is out of fashion, and all the emphasis in sermons and small groups is laid on experience in its various aspects. The result is a pietist form of piety, ardent and emotional, in which realizing the reality of fellowship with the Father and the Son is central while living one’s life with Spirit-given wisdom and discernment is neglected both as a topic and as a task. In the Western world in particular, where Christianity is marginalized and secular culture dismisses it as an ideological has-been, where daily we rub shoulders with persons of other faiths and of no faith, and where within the older Protestant churches tolerating the intolerable is advocated as a requirement of justice, versions of Christianity that care more for experiences of life than for principles of truth will neither strengthen churches nor glorify God.”
What is Packer's answer to this? Teaching of the truth of the gospel, of course! He says, “The well-being of Christianity worldwide for this twenty-first century directly depends, I am convinced, on the recovery of what has historically been called catechesis—that is, the ministry of systematically teaching people in and coming into our churches the sinew-truths that Christians live by, and the faithful, practical, consistent way for Christians to live by them. During the past three centuries, catechesis as defined has shrunk, even in evangelical churches, from an all-age project to instruction for children and in some cases has vanished altogether. As one who for half a century has been attempting an essentially catechetical ministry by voice and pen, I long for the day when in all our churches systematic catechesis will come back into its own.”
I agree.
18 August 2009
The Truth Project
I have recently begun a "bible study" series with a group from my church. I put 'bible study' in quotes as this isn't a traditional bible study. In fact, we haven't opened our bible yet. Worthless, some would say? I can hear them now.
But it isn't worthless. In fact, this material is the best new material I've seen the evangelical community produce since Francis Schaeffer's work in the 60s and 70s. No, it isn't exegetical bible study, but rather a look at worldviews and what is happening in (Western) culture with the influx of post-modernism. Schaeffer provided answers for modernity and prophesied (accurately) the influence on the faith that post-modernism would have. This new study, called the Truth Project, looks at the decay of culture as a result of post-modern influences, and the answers we need to be salt and light in this relativistic culture.
The progenitor and teacher (I almost called him a 'discussion leader'...evidence of the influence of the emergent folks, I suppose) is Dr. Del Tackett. I've not run across Dr. Tackett's work in the past, and that is unfortunate. He is a lucid lecturer with a fantastic ability to make complex philosophical ideas manageable by average laypersons. His ability to do this rivals that of great teachers like R. C. Sproul and John Piper. In fact, Dr. Sproul makes a number of cameo appearances in the Truth Project to explain important philosophical concepts. As Dr. Sproul is one of my heroes of the faith, this only raises the value of the series in my opinion.
There are some eighty thousand folks who have gone through or are going through the Truth Project, on every continent except Antarctica and almost every nation of the world. If a group is available in your area, DO NOT PASS UP THE OPPORTUNITY to participate in this life-changing study. It will show you just how much post-modernism and emergent thought has influenced you (it has me, and I'm not in any way socially progressive); it will strengthen your concepts within the Christian worldview; and it will energize you afresh for the task before the church- to take the gospel to a fallen culture and world.
To steal a line from a beer commercial, "It doesn't get any better than this."
But it isn't worthless. In fact, this material is the best new material I've seen the evangelical community produce since Francis Schaeffer's work in the 60s and 70s. No, it isn't exegetical bible study, but rather a look at worldviews and what is happening in (Western) culture with the influx of post-modernism. Schaeffer provided answers for modernity and prophesied (accurately) the influence on the faith that post-modernism would have. This new study, called the Truth Project, looks at the decay of culture as a result of post-modern influences, and the answers we need to be salt and light in this relativistic culture.
The progenitor and teacher (I almost called him a 'discussion leader'...evidence of the influence of the emergent folks, I suppose) is Dr. Del Tackett. I've not run across Dr. Tackett's work in the past, and that is unfortunate. He is a lucid lecturer with a fantastic ability to make complex philosophical ideas manageable by average laypersons. His ability to do this rivals that of great teachers like R. C. Sproul and John Piper. In fact, Dr. Sproul makes a number of cameo appearances in the Truth Project to explain important philosophical concepts. As Dr. Sproul is one of my heroes of the faith, this only raises the value of the series in my opinion.
There are some eighty thousand folks who have gone through or are going through the Truth Project, on every continent except Antarctica and almost every nation of the world. If a group is available in your area, DO NOT PASS UP THE OPPORTUNITY to participate in this life-changing study. It will show you just how much post-modernism and emergent thought has influenced you (it has me, and I'm not in any way socially progressive); it will strengthen your concepts within the Christian worldview; and it will energize you afresh for the task before the church- to take the gospel to a fallen culture and world.
To steal a line from a beer commercial, "It doesn't get any better than this."
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