Friday, June 12, 2009

Two Book Recommendations on this Important Theme of the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness in Justification

1. John Pipers excellent tome: Counted Righteous in Christ. This is a short, simple yet profound treatment of this subject that I found invaluable in my study. As only Piper can, he deals with this subject historically, theologically and most important--biblically. This is one of Pipes finest.

2. James White's landmark work: The God Who Justifies. Not since James Buchanan's "Doctrine of Justification" has there been such an exhaustive, expository and exegetical treatment as you will find on the most essential of all doctrines: justification by faith alone.

J.I. Packer sums it well when saying: “By Justification we mean – man’s acceptance with God, or his being treated as righteous in His sight – as the object of His favor, and not of His wrath; of His blessing, and not of His curse. The breach of the Law in its covenant form by the sin of our first parents, rendered it for ever impossible that either they, or any of their descendants, should be justified on the ground of their personal righteousness.”

That is why this subject is essential truth and doctrine that we must know--and know with certainty.

I highly commend both as valuable additions to your library and for your study.

Grace and peace,
Steve
2 Tim. 2:15

2 comments:

Mike Ratliff said...

I finished reading "The God Who Justifies" earlier this week. This was my first exposure to Dr. White. This book is a very well done exgetical study of passages in the New Testement that teach the Doctrine of Justification. Dr. White exposits nearly all of the passages in the study by parallelling the Greek with various English versions.

I believe we should all have this book in our libraries.

In Christ

Mike Ratliff

Gordan said...

Amen to the book recommendations. I found Piper's book especially surprising.

By that I mean, if you have been exposed to James White's ministry at all, you know White to be a studious and careful Greek scholar who is zealous to base his apologetic assertions on sound Biblical exegesis. On that count, White's book is quite consistent with all expectations; careful and exacting...so much so, in fact, I admit that it was a bit of a tough read for me at times.

But if you have been exposed to Piper's ministry, especially his preaching, you might be a bit surprised by this book of his. You might be expecting a very lively, popular-level, fast-paced introduction to the issues at hand. You'd be wrong about that. Piper is also a scholar although (thanks be to God) he doesn't preach like one. His book is also careful and exacting and scholarly. Oh, and brilliant.