Redemption Accomplished and Applied
In addition to the Scriptures themselves, there are a few books which, because they so effectively illuminate biblical doctrine and bring it into focus, ought to be on every Christian's required reading list. Redemption Accomplished and Applied is one of those books.
In this 181-page paperback, John Murray has explored the very heart of the Christian faith -- the atoning work of Jesus Christ -- and has discovered and carefully laid out for his readers the depth of its riches. With a clarity of thought rarely rivaled among modern expositors of God's Word, Murray explains what God in His redeeming love has accomplished by the death and resurrection of Christ, and how He applies that redemption in the lives of those upon whom He has set His love.
Part one, "Redemption Accomplished," covers the necessity, nature, perfection, and extent of the atonement. Any one of these chapters is worth the cost of buying and studying this book. Especially helpful is Murray's brilliant explanation of the work of the atonement as a work of obedience: the obedience of Christ to His Father, in His perfect submission to both the positive demands of the Law and the negative penalties which He bore for us on the cross. In Murray's own words, "Christ's obedience was vicarious in the bearing of the full judgement of God upon sin, and it was vicarious in the full discharge of the demands of righteousness." Equally beneficial is his examination of the various biblical aspects of the atonement: as a sacrifice, propitiation, reconciliation, and redemption. And his treatise on the extent of the atonement is a necessity for anyone who desires to understand the biblical answer to the question, "For whom did Christ die?"
But part two, "Redemption Applied," is where Murray's exegetical genius truly shines. As a testimony to the glorious logic in the mind of God, Murray uncovers for us in plain text after plain text the scriptural order in the application of redemption: calling, regeneration, faith and repentance, justification, adoption, sanctification, perseverance, and glorification. These separate acts are clearly distinguished and fully examined, each new section built firmly upon the sections prior and supporting the sections which follow.
I found every page to be densely packed with truth, but especially helpful and delightful to read were the two chapters on God's work of calling and regeneration. I was overwhelmed at finally clearly understanding their proper relationship from such passages as this: "God's call, since it is effectual, carries with it the operative grace whereby the person called is enabled to answer the call and to embrace Jesus Christ as he is freely offered in the gospel."
In short, Redemption Accomplished and Applied is simply the best book I have ever read on the atonement. If you desire to understand how God saves sinners, this is the book for you.
Christianity and Classical Culture
It is common for religious antitrinitarians to represent the Council of Nicea as an early syncretistic step away from the purity of primitive Christianity. Because all evangelical Protestants concur that fundamental compromises were occurring during these centuries, it is easy therefore to paint with a broad brush and regard the formal defenses of the Trinity as further examples of the compromising tendency of the age. It was an age of compromise. But as Cochrane ably shows in this book, the fundamental attempts at compromise with classical paganism were thwarted by Athanasius in his battle against Arius, and by Augustine against Pelagius.
Trinitarianism represents the most definitive break with humanistic paganism that can be imagined. There were powerful forces seeking to make Christianity a lapdog of the state -- an attempt which failed (for a time) because of the courage of men like Ambrose and Athanasius. The fact that other important battles were lost later which corrupted the church should not cause us to overlook the importance of these early victories -- for victories they were. To this day we are enjoying the fruit of them.
As the subtitle proclaims, Cochrane's book is a review of thought and action from Augustus to Augustine. The book is particularly valuable because it does not detach military, political, philosophical, and theological history. All are dealt with together, and the very important interrelationships between them are examined in detail.
For example, the adoption of Christianity by Constantine, the reaction against it by Julian the Apostate, and its reestablishment under Theodosius, are greatly misunderstood by modern Christians. Far from the Empire coming to Christ as Lord, the effort was to get Christianity to "help out." The statist structure of the Empire had become so encumbered and overgrown that the anemic sophistication of classical paganism was unable to make it work. But because there was no civic repentance, the pagan statism was left intact and "Christianity" was tried as a means to make an unbelieving political system work. As events demonstrated, it did not work, and could not. When Julian reacted against this debased conception of Christianity (Constantine's sympathies were Arian), he was trying to resurrect a much more sophisticated Platonism.
Cochrane's work is also useful for the light it sheds on a modern debate among evangelical apologists. Far from seeking to "pave the way" into the faith to make transition easier for pagans, Athanasius fearlessly proclaimed faith in the Triune God of Scripture as the new starting point, upon which all subsequent rationality and thought depend. The application to the modern debate between presuppositionalists and evidentialists is an obvious one. Faith precedes understanding. Crede ut intelligas.
Speaking of which, the book does assume a knowledge on the part of the reader of a good deal of ancient history, as well as Latin and Greek. But even without this background, a modern reader can glean a tremendous amount of useful knowledge about this crucial period in the history of the church.
This book may be ordered for $12.95 from any bookstore which can order from Oxford University Press.
Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration
C. S. Lewis once remarked that great literature is the sort to which readers are drawn for its own sake. Lewis' observation could be extended to other arts, including music. Great music calls attention away from the listener and performer. It gathers audiences, not because it is entertaining, but because it is great.
Anyone who has seen a complete performance of George Frederic Handel's famous oratorio The Messiah knows what great music is like. He may have forgotten the concert hall, the person seated next to him, the soprano's dress, or the conductor's gestures, yet will forever remember The Messiah. To describe it as "entertainment" would be a grievous misrepresentation.
As the oratorio drives well into its second part, the hearer is confronted by the choir and Psalm 24: Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in. Pressed into his seat, the listener is deeply aware of his own finitude. As the text of Hebrews 1:6 comes forth -- Let all the angels of God worship him -- he doubts his worthiness to be present amidst such glory. Then, after two terrifying arias that deride sin, and an unrelenting chorus that scoffs at human frailty, his pride is decisively confounded by the choir, trumpet and orchestra. He stands with the rest of the audience as the transcendent condescends to meet him: Hallelujah: for our Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth. The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever (Revelation 11:15). The only thoughtful response is weeping, confession, and repentance.
But the oratorio doesn't end here. It moves the listener to reassurance. The soft soprano rings out Romans 8:31 -- If God be for us, who can be against us? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God who justifieth, who is he that condemneth? The merciful God has saved His elect from His own perfect and awful wrath. What shall we say to these things? The oratorio appropriately finishes with Revelation 5. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by His blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. Trembling, the listener departs the concert hall having beheld his greatest threat -- the anger of a just God who has stood against him, and this same God is his greatest security.
The Messiah was first performed in Ireland in 1742. A critic for the Dublin paper reported of the performance, "The Sublime, the Grand and the Tender, adapted to the most elevated, majestick and moving Words, conspired to transport and charm the ravished Heart and Ear." It has been performed and recorded many times since then.
The most loathsome version, Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration, hit the market last Christmas. It is a raked-together heap of jazz, rap, R & B, and gospel -- types of music which war against the sublimity of the lyrics to which they are set. To be sure, this disc does contain great soul music. But this is precisely its problem -- it is entertainment. Some listeners may even be compelled to don their baggy-crotched rap pants and start dancing. Imagine: Lift up your heads, O ye gates . . . performed over a packed dance floor with a driving backbeat and finger-snapping vocals! These great man-abasing lyrics are upstaged by happy, toe-tapping accompaniment. Where is the listener's attention drawn? The answer is to himself and to the performers -- and away from the music and the truth it represents (or rather, misrepresents). Something timeless and great has been retold in a fun and trendy manner. Unlike the great oratorio that was first performed in 1742, this recording is utterly base.
The artists in Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration have accomplished what I never would have thought possible: they have taken the soul out of The Messiah.
This booklet for young men is a treasure. It was written in the last century by an evangelical Anglican bishop. In short, it could not possibly be more irrelevant to the youth of today -- and is just what they need to hear.
The modern church has adopted the notion that to minister to young people we must mimic their immaturity, and must cater to their every faddish whim. The result is a wild and crazy Wednesday night at churches all across America, doing the pagan teens one better. They need alcohol to make them act stupid.
In contrast to this modern approach to youth, Ryle writes in a plain, blunt style, at the same time writing with a subdued eloquence. His exhortations to young men are rich with scriptural examples. He doesn't sugarcoat it; he just tells them. Basically, this totally out-of-touch nineteenth century clergyman (horribile dictu) is preachy and insensitive.
For example, on the problem of sin in general, Ryle writes, "Sin may go lightly from your hand, or run smoothly off your tongue now, but depend on it, sin and you will meet again by and by, however little you may like it."
Addressing the problem of a love of pleasure and entertainment, Ryle says this, "Remember what I say: if you would cleave to earthly pleasures, -- these are the things which murder souls."
In confronting the problem which young men have with sexual temptation, Ryle shows that he was not a typical Victorian. "I fear there is often a want of plain speaking on this part of God's law . . . I doubt whether the world is any better for the excessive silence which prevails upon this commandment. For my own part, I feel it would be false and unscriptural delicacy, in addressing young men, not to speak of that which is pre-eminently `the young man's sin.'"
I read through this booklet once, and was so struck by its rudimentary spiritual wisdom that I read through it again aloud at our family's reading time at dinner. This is wonderful exhortation directed at young men, although there is much edification for young women and adults as well.
Obtain a copy of this booklet, read and ponder it, and aggressively circulate it with your friends. If your church has a book table, make sure there is a stack of these booklets on it.
This booklet (64 pages) can be obtained for $2.50 from Calvary Press, 803 County Line Road, Amityville, NY 11701.
Obedience to the Laws of God: The Sure and Indispensible Defense of Nations
This is a small booklet worth getting. In it, Ashbel Green (1762-1848), a Presbyterian minister, argues that obedience to God is not merely the duty of individuals. It is also the fundamental duty of nations, and it is a duty connected to potential blessings and sanctions from the Lord.
Because the life of a nation does not extend beyond the grave, Green argues that the justice of God is revealed in the history of nations -- in short, in this life.
When Green wrote this, the long tragedy of American apostasy had been under way for just a brief time. We now live in an era where it should be easy to see the validity of his warnings, but unfortunately many Christians still do not think that our trouble is that serious. All is well.
But there is no way for a nation to reject God, as our nation has certainly done, and not incur His displeasure with us as a people. Yet for some reason, many Christians think that God will not chastise us. This publication provides us with a needed corrective.
This booklet can be obtained for $3.95 by writing Reformed Presbyterian Press/P.O. Box 402/Elmwood Park, NJ 07407, or by calling (201) 546-5113.
This is a very helpful book, particularly for those readers who own a set of Calvin's commentaries and the Institutes. The author has given a very apt summary of Calvin's teaching on various subjects, and following each basic point a reference is given. For just one example, Crampton says this: "In fact, writes Calvin, the immutable law of God is included in the covenant of grace (Institutes II:7:2)."
There are ten chapters. The first gives a brief overview of Calvin's life and ministry. The second chapter begins where Calvin does in his Institutes -- with epistemology. The remaining chapters summarize Calvin's view of Scripture, God, man, the covenant, Christ, salvation, the church, and eschatology.
There are several areas where the summary of Calvin's position is (of necessity) inadequate, as in the discussion of the Trinity and the two natures of Christ. But because references to Calvin's work abound, this book provides a good springboard to further study. In addition, Crampton frequently quotes the Westminster Standards and shows how Calvin agreed.
This book may be obtained for $7.95 from the Trinity Foundation /P.O. Box 700/Jefferson, MD 21755.
Preparation for Parenting: A Biblical Perspective
If I were to grade this book I would give it a P for provocative. Here's an example of the kind of declaration that could result in a schism of the young married Sunday School class. "Every normal, healthy baby is born with the ability to sleep continuously seven to eight hours through the night between weeks five and eight. Whether your child achieves that or not is determined by your feeding philosophy" (p. 73). Besides being provocative, the book is a well-organized, theologically sound, and incredibly practical course for young parents. Here are some of its features.
#1 Introduced in the authors' foreword and carried through the rest of the presentation is the firmly held and ably defended proposition that the decisive battles in the nurture and training of godly children are not the ones that you have with your kids, but the ones fought inside your head.
#2 The authors' presentation is divided into three sections, addressing the philosophy, physiology, and practical art of nurturing newborns. The philosophy section of the book takes little for granted. It begins with the chapter, "Establishing a Biblical Mindset," in which the Ezzo's present the following four fundamentals: newborns are not animals, but are rational creatures made in God's image; newborns are fallen creatures and have a natural predisposition to self-gratification and self-legislation; the husband-wife relationship is the priority relationship in the family; God holds parents responsible for the character of their children. These four fundamentals are then applied in the evaluation of other parenting philosophies and practices.
#3 The middle portion of the book addresses newborn physiology e.g. how babies eat, sleep, and digest their food, as well as some basic facts on nursing. The material in this section is clear, readable, and well-documented.
#4 The final portion of the book is called "Practice," and covers the art of orienting a newborn to your family routine, including some excellent help on responding to a crying baby.
I highly recommend this book to parents-to-be or parents of newborn children, and I have three suggestions for its use.
First, don't cheap out and just buy the book. You'll need the book and the tape set. Second, beware of making decisions and commitments about your childrearing practices on the strength of the Ezzos' convictions. Do your homework and be fully convinced in your own mind. Third, love your wife, train up godly offspring, and mind your own business as far as the decisions of other families on these matters are concerned. §
This book and tape series may be purchased from Growing Families International, P.O. Box 8073, Northridge, CA, 91327. $29.00 + $5.22 shipping
