Book Review: What's So Great About the Doctrines of Grace?

As I've previously noted, I've been trying to read lots of books on grace. So when I spotted this book on special offer for the Kindle, I loaded it up and took it on holidays. However, it wasn't quite what I had expected. Instead of dealing specifically with grace, it turns out that the book is a point-by-point defence of the five points of Calvinism. So what's the problem, I hear you ask. Aren't you a Calvinist? While I do hold the doctrines of the Church of Ireland on election, predestination and all that, I didn't really enjoy the book.

Richard D Phillips states that he has two purposes in the book. 'The first is to explain the doctrines of grace, also known as the "Five Points of Calvinism" through the exposition of Scripture... The second purpose is... to help believers feel the power of these precious truths in their lives. In other words, I aim not merely to teach the doctrines of grace, but to show what is so great about them.'

There are five points of Calvinism, but six chapters. The opening one deals with the theme of God's sovereignty as standing over and above the rest of the doctrine. It's a helpful chapter, which then focuses on Isaiah's vision of God, with the four hallmarks of response to the sovereign God: 1. A readiness to serve - which he claims only comes after the vision. But surely this fails to take account of the fact that the vision comes in chapter 6. Isaiah has already been a prophet. 2. Humble, trusting obedience. 3. Holy boldness. 4. Reliance on sovereign, saving grace.

It's here in this subsection that I really didn't like the book. He describes the dithering King Ahaz, who refuses to ask for a sign in Isaiah 7:

This is seen in the sign Isaiah gave to King Ahaz. Isaiah urged this sign on Ahaz to enliven his faith. It was a sign that was foolish in the eyes of the world, but glorious in the eyes of God: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." In the presence of Ahaz's apostate unbelief, Isaiah laid his hand on the greatest sign of sovereign grace of which he could think: the virgin who would be with child.

As he continues, he makes it clear that he's jumping immediately to Jesus, without thought of original context, or of what that might have meant for Ahaz in the first place. Instead, the scripture becomes flat with no context or contours. I'm afraid, coming so early in the book, it didn't make me want to go much further, if this was the way he was going to handle the scriptures.

But I persisted. The remaining chapters cover the five points of Calvinism, with fairly standard defences of total depravity (How bad am I really? Much, much worse than you have dared to think.); unconditional election (which promotes humility and not pride); limited atonement (we find solid ground for our assurance of salvation); irresistible grace (it glorifies the saving work of the Holy Spirit and demonstrates the saving power of God's Word; and perseverance of the saints (we look not to ourselves, but to the faithful God's sovereign, preserving grace).

All in all, I liked much of the book, but at times was concerned with his handling of the text. I'm not sure it would be overly convincing to those who were enquiring, but for those who are convinced Calvinists, there will be something to help ground you more surely in the doctrines of grace.

What's so Great about the Doctrines of Grace? is available from Amazonand for the Kindle.

Book Review: Connected

If there was one doctrine of the Christian faith that would be the hardest to understand and explain, what would you think it was? Having dealt with the resurrection in his first book, Sam Allberry is back with his second, Connected, on the Trinity. As with his first, so with his second - it's a great book, and essential reading to help get to grips with an important part of our faith - who God is in himself, and what that means for us. As he acknowledges, 'Writing on the Trinity has been both an enormous joy and an enormous struggle.' It was well worth the struggle, as you'll discover when you read and profit from the book.

One again, Allberry writes in a very accessible and easy to follow style, with lots of illustrations and humour, which help to communicate the message. While dealing with some complicated stuff, his explanations and illustrations provide insight.

In the introduction, he declares that the Trinity used to be filed in the 'Things that all good Christians believe' file, without any exploration of what it meant. However, as he read the Bible, he discovered the Trinity is there, for example in Jesus' farewell discourse in John's gospel. 'Understanding the Trinity helps us make sense of what we hold dear,' because, as he goes on to point out, 'very few passage are 'about' the Trinity... Most of the time when it comes up, the Trinity is an essential background to the main point.'

The rest of the book is divided into two main parts: The Trinity and God; and The Trinity and Us. In a number of chapters, the Bible is explored and explained.

Part one focuses in on God, who is one, a divine integrity, three in one, and the party that never ends. In contrast to the polytheism all around, the foundation of the whole Bible is that God is one. It's declared in the Old Testament and affirmed in the New, especially as Jesus is asked which the most important commandment is. Rather than launching directly into a command, he gives the full quotation: 'Hear O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one...' As Allberry comments, 'Doctrine comes before ethics; confession before commandment.' The fact that God is one applies in may ways, of which two are: 1. God deserves our total devotion. 2. There is one God for all, idols are nothing, so mission is vital.

In the divine integrity chapter, he helpfully makes the point that there is more to God than we realise. He is undivided, so you can't have one 'person' without the others (e.g. a Jesus church or a Father movement or a Spirit obsession), nor can you play one off against the others (e.g. as you might with your mum or dad when you were looking something). This is applied to the cross - that it's neither a reluctant Father who is won round by the Son; nor an unwilling Jesus forced to go to the cross.

The One who is Three looks at the Bible in a bit more depth, tracing some of the occasions where the Trinity is in view through creation, the visitors coming to Abraham, and various other incidents. The humanity and divinity of Jesus is also examined, before a useful reminder of some of the things the Trinity is not.

The last chapter in this section explores the Party That Never Ends - the internal relationship of the Trinity, with the reminder that God is love because love has always been a part of the giving and receiving of the Trinity. Therefore, God is not dependent on us - we were not made because God was lonely, but rather, God invites us in to share with him.

Part Two shifts from God to people, and explores what the Trinity means to us and for us. In 'You: an introduction' he explores the notion of going on a gap year to 'find yourself', because 'we are easily confused about who we are.' The simple truth is that 'God made us to image him: the more we understand him, the better we will understand who he has made us to be.' This leads to a reflection on being made in God's image of relationships, serving, and in marriage, where the 'one' flesh is the same word as the Lord your God, the Lord is 'one' - unity in difference, not sameness.

It's based on the Trinity that Allberry (whose same sex attraction has been well documented on his blog) affirms that marriage is only between one man and one woman - 'Sex is for marriage. Jesus makes this clear in other places where he lists among other sins that of 'secual immorality.' It is a catch-all term for any sexual activity outside of marriage: pre-marital sex, extra-marital sex and all same-sex sexual activity. While none of these is named specifically, they are all covered by the general term Jesus uses. To suggest Jesus did not teach on these matters, as some claim today, is simply untrue. Jesus upholds the biblical ethic that the only moral context for sexual activity is marriage... We need to keep coming back to our Creator's design for us. The kind of union that finds its fullest human expression in marriage is itself a reflection of what we see in God's own eternal nature: unity in complementary difference.'

From there, the next chapter explores gender and the potentially controversial topic of male headship. With a great illustration of how McDonald's ensures that all their fries are always all the same, whereas God is 'unity not in sameness but in difference' he points to the musical theology of Islam and Christianity. Islam's monotone call to prayer is a musical pointer to their unitary God; whereas Bach's polyphony illustrates (in what I think is a brilliant phrase) 'Theological harmony.' On gender, while it may be controversial, he asks which you would rather be out of step with - culture or God? Learning from the Father and the Son being equally God but distinctive, he points the way ahead for the gender war, as we follow the persons of our God who are 'equal in divinity; submissive in role.'

God's three-in-one diversity is also reflected in the life of the church, with a variety of people and gifts and experiences, all coming together and building each other up as the body of Christ.

In what was perhaps the best chapter, Allberry explores the role of the Trinity in prayer. 'Scripture doesn't do technique, but theology.'
He goes on to say that 'Prayer takes its cue not so much from what we do, but from who God is' as he spells out the role of the Spirit as he helps us pray through the Son to the Father. 'Prayer is essentially evangelical: as we pray, we are re-enacting the gospel to ourselves.'

As I've said, the Trinity may not be an easy subject to think about, but Sam Allberry presents the doctrine from Scripture in a clear and engaging way. It could be a useful book for pastors and teachers as they seek to communicate the Trinity (with a mine of helpful illustrations which will be recycled!). But it's not just for pastors. Ordinary Christians will also find it a good introduction to the Trinity, and to thinking about the way God has revealed himself to us. It might even be good for non=Christians exploring Christianity to see who God is in himself. Connected(Amazon) can also be downloaded as an ebook from IVP.

Orthodoxology?

In perhaps coining a new word, I want to think for a moment or two about orthodox doxology - or as I've put it, orthodoxology. What I'm trying to get at is the oft neglected subject of our hymn singing and praise of our Heavenly Father - is what we sing correct, sound doctrine; in other words, are we orthodox in our doxology?

The presenting reason came about last week at the clergy conference. During one of the sessions, we were being led by the American team from our partner diocese. We were about to sing the Getty Townend classic 'In Christ Alone', but the lady playing the keyboard drew our attention to an alteration to the well known words, asking us to be careful to sing what was in the powerpoint screen words.

What had changed? As suspected, the second verse had been changed from:

'Til on that cross, as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied...

Instead, the new version stated:

'Til on that cross, as Jesus died,
The price of sin was satisfied...

Several thoughts crossed my mind. First of all, is it ethical / legally permissible to change the lyrics of a copyrighted song?

But more importantly, what are the altered lyrics really saying? Had Getty and Townend written 'the price of sin was satisfied' it would have been fine - but given that they didn't decide on that option, but affirmed the wrath of God which had to be satisfied to make atonement for our sins, what is being said when the words are changed?

Is it an attempt to ignore or brush over the wrath of God? Are we trying to deny one of the essential attributes of the character of God? Is it to be more politically correct?

The price of sins was being paid on the cross as Jesus died - but at the same time, the price of sin was so that the wrath of God against those sins could be satisfied. Isn't that what Romans is showing us - that 'the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men' (1:18), but that wrath is satisfied, turned away from us because it has been borne by the Lord Jesus on the cross - 'whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith' (3:25) - so that we are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is it Christ Jesus.

Or as that great wee chapter from Isaiah puts it:

I will give thanks to you, O LORD,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
that you might comfort me. (Isaiah 12:1)

The wrath of God is not something to take lightly. It took the death of the Lord Jesus to deal with it. We can't quickly ignore it. It is both vital for understanding what the Lord Jesus has done for us (orthodoxy), and also to respond appropriately with praise (doxology) - or in my new favourite made-up word, Orthodoxology!

[Update: having written this last night, I came across a good cover version of In Christ Alone recorded by Adam Young of Owl City - in which the whole second verse is missing! H/T Pizza Preacher]