Cornelius P. Venema. Getting the Gospel Right: Assessing the Reformation and New Perspectives on Paul. Banner of Truth, 2006. 92 pp.
A ‘New Perspective’ on Paul
The Reformation perspective on Paul’s doctrine of justification largely dominated Protestant biblical scholarship in the following centuries. However, the last two hundred years of critical biblical studies of the apostle Paul’s writings have witnessed a number of attempts to revisit the Reformation consensus. Within the orbit of the academic study of Paul, two particular questions have frequently surfaced in evaluating the Reformation view.
Continue reading ‘Getting the Gospel Right | Cornelius Venema’
Like this post? Subscribe to our feed 
.
D. A. Carson. How Long, O Lord? Reflections on Suffering and Evil. Baker, 2006. 240 pp.
A pastor is cutting his front lawn. He looks up from his task just in time to see a heavy dump truck back out of his neighbor’s driveway—right over the neighbor’s eighteen-month-old son, who had been squatting behind the huge tires. The pastor accompanies the hysterical mother and ashen father to the hospital in the ambulance. There is no hope for the little boy; he has been crushed almost beyond recognition.
Where is God?
Continue reading ‘How Long, O Lord? | D. A. Carson’
Like this post? Subscribe to our feed .
Rolland McCune. Promise Unfulfilled: The Failed Strategy of Evangelicalism. Ambassador-Emerald, 2004. 398 pp.
Biblical Inspiration and Inerrancy
Concessions concerning inspiration and inerrancy, especially inerrancy, are where the principal departures of some new evangelicals lie and where the deviations are most visibly pronounced, and destructive. Non-evangelicals have been quick to notice the concessions. L. Harold DeWolf, a liberal from Boston University, in 1960 noted “revisions” in the “fundamentalist” view of inspiration, as did John B. Cobb and William Hordern (neo-orthodox).
Continue reading ‘Promise Unfulfilled | Rolland McCune’
Like this post? Subscribe to our feed .
John Piper & Justin Taylor, eds. Suffering and the Sovereignty of God. Crossway, 2006. 256 pp.
Why God Appoints Suffering for His Servants
Why did God appoint for Paul to suffer so much as the prototype of the frontier missionary? He is sovereign. As every child knows he could toss Satan into the pit today if he wanted to and all his terrorizing of the church would be over. But God wills that the mission of the church advance through storm and suffering. What are the reasons? I will mention six.
Continue reading ‘Suffering and the Sovereignty of God | John Piper & Justin Taylor, eds.’
Like this post? Subscribe to our feed .
Randy Alcorn. Heaven. Tyndale, 2004. 516 pp.
Bookstores overflow with accounts of near-death and after-death experiences, complete with angels giving guided tours of Heaven. A few of these books may have authentic components, but many are unbiblical and misleading.
We Christians who believe God’s Word are partly to blame for this. Why? We have failed to explore and explain the Bible’s magnificent teachings about Heaven. No wonder a flood of unbiblical thinking has rushed in to fill the vacuum. Because the human heart cries out for answers about the afterlife, our silence on Heaven is particularly striking.
Continue reading ‘Heaven | Randy Alcorn’
Like this post? Subscribe to our feed .
Philip Graham Ryken. Galatians. P&R, 2005. 290 pp.
Galatians is a letter for recovering Pharisees. The Pharisees who lived during and after the time of Christ were very religious. They were regular in their worship, orthodox in their theology, and moral in their conduct. Yet something was missing. Although God was in their minds and in their actions, he was not in their hearts. Therefore, their religion was little more than hypocrisy.
The Pharisees were hypocrites because they thought that what God would do for them depended on what they did for God. So they read their Bibles, prayed, tithed, and kept the Sabbath as if their salvation depended on it. What they failed to understand is that God’s grace cannot be earned; it only comes free.
Continue reading ‘Galatians | Philip Graham Ryken’
Like this post? Subscribe to our feed .
David R. Rich. 7 Biblical Truths You Won’t Hear in Church But Might Change Your Life. Harvest House, 2006. 160 pp.
- God Doesn’t Grade on a Curve.
- Dead People Can’t Help Themselves.
- The Ten Commandments Were Not Given to Be Kept.
- What You See in the Mirror Is Not the Real You.
- Trying to Live for Jesus Will Only Frustrate You.
- Prayer Doesn’t Change God’s Mind.
- God Keeps Satan on a Leash.
Continue reading ‘7 Biblical Truths You Won’t Hear in Church | David R. Rich’
Like this post? Subscribe to our feed .
