Celebrating the Glory of the Atonement by J. I. Packer and Mark Dever.
The publication of this book resulted from the collective reasoning of Ligon Duncan, Al Mohler, Mark Dever and C.J. Mahaney, who all agreed that it would be useful to have three classic essays on the atonement by J.I. Packer included in one book. These three pieces—The Heart of the Gospel, a chapter from the classic book Knowing God; What Did the Cross Achieve?: The Logic of Penal Substitution, originally a Tyndale Biblical Theology Lecture; and Saved by His Precious Blood, the well-known introduction to John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ—along with Mark Dever’s article, Nothing but the Blood, first published in Christianity Today, make up the heart of In My Place Condemned He Stood.
Since this book is a collection of essays, I’ve decided to go through it chapter by chapter, giving a short summary of each and, when I think it’d be useful, my evaluation of it.
- Foreward: The story and reasoning behind the publication of this book told by Ligon Duncan, Al Mohler, Mark Dever and C.J. Mahaney.
- Preface: A short discussion by both Packer and Dever of recent unorthodox thought on the atonement found in evangelicalism, an error they have dubbed anti-redemptionism. It is this error that makes these essays particularly useful as “a composite tract for the times.”
- Introduction: Penal Substitution Revisited. This is a slightly edited version of this piece, first published in UCCF’s supporters’ magazine, NB News. Written by J.I. Packer, it’s an overview of the doctrine of penal substitution, explaining briefly what it is, what are some of the reasons for viewing the atonement this way, and how embracing this view of the atonement should shape our personal faith. It’s a short piece, but valuable as an introduction for the essays that follow. It includes, by the way, that uniquely Packerish phrase, “smartypants notions.”
- The Heart of the Gospel by J.I. Packer. This is chapter 18 in the must-read Packer book, Knowing God. It discusses propitiation—what it is, where it’s found in the Bible, how Christ’s death accomplishes it, and how a proper understanding of propitiation is necessary for a proper understanding of many of the key elements of true Christianity. I’ve read this piece several times while reading and re-reading Knowing God, but I was surprised to find that my experience of it was different when reading it as part of a book about the atonement rather than a book about the nature of God. It’s always been my favorite chapter in Knowing God and I think it’s my favorite chapter here, too, so I’m glad it’s included in this book of essays on the atonement.
- What Did the Cross Achieve?: The Logic of Penal Substitution by J.I. Packer. The purpose of this essay
is to focus and explicate a belief which, by and large, is a distinguishing mark of the word-wide evangelical fraternity: namely, the belief that the cross had the character of penal substitution, and that it was in virtue of this fact that it brought salvation to mankind.
This is the only one of the four main essays that I hadn’t read through before, although I’d read parts of it in my research for a few posts on this blog. It is definitely the most difficult essay in the book, written on a more scholarly than popular level, but it’s worth the work it takes to get through it.
One of the more interesting point Packer makes is that there are three main ways in which Christ’s death has been explained in the church. The first way sees the cross as primarily dealing with humankind’s failure to understand God’s love for us, and thus sees the whole purpose of the atonement to work a change in our attitude toward God The second way of explaining Christ’s death sees the work of the cross as chiefly the defeat of hostile spiritual forces. The third way of looking at the cross sees it, first of all, as having it’s effect on God himself, propitiating him, and on the basis of that, turning humankind toward him and overthrowing the nasty forces-that-be. In other words, the third view, the one which includes penal substitution, incorporates the other views within it and gives a basis for them. The first two views, then, are wrong because they are incomplete, treating “half-truths as the whole truth” and “rejecting a more comprehensive account.”
- Nothing but the Blood by Mark Dever. This piece was included at the insistence of Packer. It’s probably not a timeless piece in the same way that the three by Packer are, but it is very helpful in that it places the defense of penal substitution within the context of the current criticisms made of it.
- Saved by His Precious Blood: An Introduction to John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ by J.I. Packer. At it’s core, this is a defense of Calvinism in general and limited atonement in particular. I read this many years ago, and, although the biggest factor in pushing me over the edge on that fifth and hardest point of the five points of TULIP was Hebrews 2, this essay was influential, too. This piece is well-regarded for very good reason: the explanations and arguments are impeccable. I can’t say much more than that. If you haven’t read this one, you really must.
- Epilogue: Christ-Centered Means Cross-Centered by J.I. Packer and Mark Dever. This is a short summary essay explaining the necessity of Christ-centeredness and cross-centeredness for healthy Christianity, and asserting that true Christ-and-cross-centeredness comes only “by facing up to the reality of Christ’s blood-sacrifice of himself in penal substitution for those whom the Father had given him to redeem.”
- Books on the Cross of Christ by Ligon Duncan. I’d pay full price for this book just to get these reading lists. Included are lists of recommended reading on Christ’s work: a top ten list, an introductory list, a list of sermons, a list of systematic theologies and more.
- Annotated Bibliography by Ligon Duncan. Here you’ll find background on the books and authors recommended in the lists above. I loved this almost as much as the book lists themselves.
The Book Report has an interview with Mark Dever and J.I. Packer about this book. [HT to Justin Taylor.]