What is justifying faith?

Justifying faith is a saving grace,[1] wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit [2] and word of God,[3] whereby he, being convinced of his sin and misery, and of the disability in himself and all other creatures to recover him out of his lost condition,[4] not only assenteth to the truth of the promise of the gospel,[5] but receiveth and resteth upon Christ and his righteousness, therein held forth, for pardon of sin,[6] and for the accepting and accounting of his person righteous in the sight of God for salvation.[7]

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Book Review: By Faith Alone

Answering the Challenges to the Doctrine of Justification, edited by Gary L. W. Johnson and Guy P. Waters.

This is a book of essays—nine in all (ten, if you count the introduction by Guy Waters)—answering recent challenges to the historic Reformed understanding of the doctrine of justification by faith alone, concentrating on the New Perspective on Paul and the Federal Vision, but also engaging the classic Arminian position and Mormonism. Individual essay authors include

• Cornelis P. Venema
• T. David Gordon
• Richard D. Phillips
• C. FitzSimons Allison
• David VanDrunen
• R. Fowler White and E. Calvin Beisner
• John Bolt
• Gary L. W. Johnsons

As might be expected from a book that consists of essays by various authors, the book is a little uneven. Some essays seem to be written with the interested lay person in mind, and others assumed much more prior knowledge on the part of the reader. In addition, since the essays were originally intended to stand alone, there is a fair bit of repetition of ideas and arguments.

 

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Proving This is Not a Cat Blog

Copyright © 2007, Andrew Stark. All rights reserved.

Taffy looking out over Fish Lake. 

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All this pet posting is Kim’s fault.  Got a dog? Then why not join in the fun?