The Whole Christ

By Sinclair B. Ferguson

The Whole Christ by Sinclair Ferguson, subtitled “Legalism, Antinomianism, & Gospel Assurance – Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters,” is an unusual book.  On the one hand it involves a theological controversy in early 18th century Scotland, and an obscure pastor by the name of Thomas Boston.  But the writer, Sinclair Ferguson, an able scholar, shows that it has implications today for the gospel, for legalism, and for antinomianism.  The Marrow Controversy in 18th century Scotland is in some ways a place to begin the study.

Certainly this is a book for the serious student of theology, for the topic matters are important.  What is the nature of the gospel?  What is the relationship between grace and works?  What is the relationship between law and grace?  How can we avoid the twin errors of legalism and antinomianism?

In the enthusiastic foreword to the book, Pastor Tim Keller gives four things that he learned: 

The first and inarguable conclusion is that legalism and antinomianism are much more than doctrinal positions.  Neither side in the Marrow Controversy was saying, “You can save yourself through works,” or, “Once you are saved, you don’t have to obey the law of God.”  Neither side subscribed to overt, explicit legalistic or antinomian doctrine.  Nonetheless, legalism and antinomianism can be strongly present in a ministry.  Each is a web of attitudes of heart, practices, character, and ways of reading Scripture.  At one point Sinclair even says, rightly, that a legal spirit consists in part in how you feel toward God.

The second thing I learned was that the root of both legalism and antinomianism is the same.  My guess is that most readers will find this the best new insight for them, one that could even trigger a proverbial paradigm shift.  It is a fatal pastoral mistake to think of legalism and antinomianism as complete opposites.  Sinclair says that, rather, they are “nonidentical twins from the same womb.”  He traces both of them back to the “lie of Satan” in the garden of Eden, namely, that you can’t trust the goodness of God or his commitment to our happiness and well-being and that, therefore, if we obey God fully, we’ll miss out and be miserable.

Therefore, the third thing I learned was that to think the main problem out there is one particular error is to virtually put one foot into the other error.  If you fail to see what Sinclair is saying – that both legalism and antinomianism stem from a failure to grasp the goodness and graciousness of God’s character – it will lead you to think that what each mind-set really needs for a remedy is a little dose of the other.  In this view, it would mean that the remedy for legalism is just less emphasis on the law and obedience, and the remedy for antinomianism is more.

Finally, this book showed me that the cure for both legalism and antinomianism is the gospel.  Sinclair writes:

The gospel is designed to deliver us from this lie [of the Serpent], for it reveals that behind and manifested in the coming of Christ and his death for us is the love of a Father who gives us everything he has:  first his Son to die for us, and then his Spirit to live within us … There is only one genuine cure for legalism.  It is the same medicine the gospel prescribes for antinomianism:  understanding and tasting union with Jesus Christ himself.  This leads to a new love for and obedience to the law of God.

Since the root of both errors is the same, the cure is the same – to lift up the essential goodness and love of God by recounting the gospel, thereby making obedience a joy.  The remedy for both is a fuller, biblical, and profound understanding of grace and of the character of God.

Though the book can be tedious at times, overall it is a helpful, stimulating work on the gospel.

Saving My Assassin

By Virginia Prodan

This is Virginia Prodan’s autobiographical account of growing up in Communist Romania under the rule of Nicolae Ceausescu.  She was raised somewhat mysteriously by an unloving aunt, then  made her way to law school before becoming a believer in Jesus Christ.  She began to represent repressed churches and pastors and gained a national and international reputation for her work under the repressive Ceausescu regime.  President Reagan enabled her to obtain religious asylum along with her family.  She settled in Dallas, Texas, where she again went to law school and established her own practice.

She could easily have been killed or thrown in jail many times, but God protected her and she eventually made her way to the United States, where she still lives today.  A thrilling story.

Augustine of Hippo

By Peter Brown

Augustine of Hippo by Peter Brown is considered the standard biography of Augustine.  I attacked it with considerable excitement, but I was a bit underwhelmed.  I don’t think it gave the insights into his spiritual life and even life as a pastor that I was looking for.  It is a scholarly work with copious notes, just about all of which are in Latin.

Clouds of Glory The life and Legend of Robert E. Lee

By Michael Korda

Robert E. Lee is known in history as the leading Confederate general in the Civil War.  He was so much more and his sterling reputation and legacy pay tribute to his remarkable life.  Michael Korda has written a major biography of Robert E. Lee.  This man is a paradox in many ways.  How could the losing general of the Civil War be so loved and lionized after that war, not only by the South but also by much of the North?

Lee was a lifelong soldier, a brilliant military engineer who led the mission of the Army Corps of Engineers to make sure that the Mississippi River did not bypass St. Louis.  In the Mexican War of the 1840s, he fought brilliantly and fearlessly as a soldier.  General Winfield Scott considered him the finest soldier in the U.S. Army.  Later, he would become the superintendent of West Point.  When the Civil War broke out, President Abraham Lincoln offered him the command of the Union Army in 1861.  But he turned Lincoln down because he could not “draw his sword” against his own children, his neighbors, and his beloved Virginia.  Shortly after that Jefferson Davis offered the post of General of the Army of Northern Virginia.   He would become the leading general for the Confederacy.

With far fewer resources and far fewer troops than the Northern generals, he gave them fits.  He was a daring, bold, aggressive, fiercely determined general.  He had no qualms about attacking a much larger opposing army.  He was considered a brilliant military strategist.

Personally, he was fearless in battle.  He had no concern for his own life.  He felt that his life was in God’s hands and he had complete peace.  He would expose himself to dangerous situations just as his close friend and fellow general Stonewall Jackson would do.  Both were men of deep Christian faith and conviction.

In fact, his faith shaped his life.  He was influenced by his wife Mary Lee, and his wife’s mother, Mary Custis, and their devotion to Jesus Christ.  He was fully surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and trusted God deeply in times of peace and in times of war.

He was a man of deep and genuine humility, which is not an easy matter when you command 100,000 soldiers in battle and you are revered by millions.  But he seemed to be free of all desire for acclaim and recognition.

Paradoxically, his father was considered a scoundrel when it came to character.  He was a military hero in the Revolutionary War, a close friend of George Washington, but he mismanaged money terribly and he lacked moral integrity.  However, despite this lineage Lee had incredible integrity and character all his life.  He was a devoted husband and father.  He loved being with his family even though he had to spend long stretches away from them while with the U.S. Army.  Along this line, it is interesting that Lee continually questioned his choice of profession as a soldier.  Should he have taken a different route?  In fact, until the Civil War broke out he would have considered himself a failure in life. 

It should be noted that Lee was no fan of slavery.  He did not oppose it as the abolitionists did, but he was no fan of it either.  He thought it was a moral evil and that it would pass away in God’s good time.  But he did not want the country to split apart and he would not oppose his native Virginia when it left the Union.

Why did Lee live such a remarkable life, and make such an impact on the people of his day and on subsequent history?  The only explanation is God’s hand upon him.  He was a flawed man, a man who chose the wrong side in the war.  And yet a man deeply devoted to Christ and perhaps the most brilliant general that the United States has ever had.

The Puritans

By D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

From 1959 to 1978, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones hosted a conference on the Puritans assisted by J.I. Packer and others.  This is the compendium of the messages he gave for each of those years.  Some are better than others, of course.  Some of the best ones included:  Revival, Knowing God, George Whitefield, Sandemanianism and the Nature of Faith, Calvinistic Methodism, History of the Puritans, John Knox, Howell Harris (a Welsh Preacher), and Jonathan Edwards.  His biographical studies of Whitefield, Knox, Harris and Edwards were especially superb.

How Lloyd-Jones loved Edwards!  He considered the Puritans in general to be the Alps, with Luther and Calvin being the Himalayas, and with Edwards being Mount Everest.

In general, Lloyd-Jones was an amazing preacher.  He was amazing for many reasons but the chief one in this book is his breadth of learning.  He was so well-read, not just in theology but also in church history, and particularly with the Puritans.  He believed that there was so much that we could learn from church history, especially from the Puritans in the 1600s.

Lloyd-Jones unfailingly inspires the diligent reader.