It doesn’t get more R.C. Sproul-ish than How Can I Be Right with God?
Until his death in December of 2017, Sproul led Ligonier Ministries, based in Sanford, Florida. He wrote numerous books, articles, sermons, and speeches on Christianity, church history, theology, Calvinism, Reformed theology, and related topics. The Crucial Questions series includes some 30 topics which are free as eBooks, and this volume is a part of the series.
It’s the classic teaching of the Reformed faith.
Sproul starts in Geneva, Switzerland, at the Reformation Wall(or what’s officially known as the Monument to the Reformation). It’s a huge monument, with four figures depicted at the center – John Calvin, John Knox, William Farel, and Theodore Beza. With Martin Luther, these four articulated justification by faith alone, the main doctrine of the Reformers and the major difference with Catholic teaching.
He describes the three major crises in Luther’s life that led to his understanding of the biblical teaching of justification; how Luther and the reformers “understood the biblical teaching of justification in terms of forensicjustification;” the great exchange, or how mankind’s sin was imputed to Christ; how the reformers understood the means of salvation; and what happened at the Council of Trent when the Roman Catholic Church defended its doctrines, and how much turned for the reformers on a single word, sola, as in sola fide– justification by faith alone.
 |
| R.C. Sproul |
Sproul continues with the three major aspects of saving faith: notitia, the content of faith, or what you believe; assensus, agreement or intellectual assent; and fiducia, which has to do with trust. He covers the remission of sins and then concludes with a discussion of peace with God.
It’s a short work, easy to read in an hour or less. But How Can I Be Right with God?is bedrock Reformed teaching, and it succinctly describes the basics of the Reformed faith.
Related:
Top photograph by Joshua Earle via Unsplash. Used with permission.
No comments:
Post a Comment