Reviews for Christ the Lord: The Reformation and Lordship Salvation

The average rating for Christ the Lord: The Reformation and Lordship Salvation based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-12-10 00:00:00 Mary Chapel I found the book to be overall informative, and many of the negative reviews here and elsewhere (eg Amazon) dishonest and uncharitable. The context in which the book was written took place prior to later editions of MacArthur's "The Gospel According to Jesus" (TGATJ). The editor of the book, Micheal Horton, even kept MacArthur apprised of the content. So it's not like this book was an attack on MacArthur from out in left-field; pardon the idiom To my amazement, the book was actually less about John MacArthur's works and more about an ongoing controversy that predates the Protestant Reformation concerning the definitions of Justification and Sanctification, and the place of works in the Christian faith. John MacArthur, and to a lesser extent, Zane Hodges, were the initial focus of this work, but further along in the book, the various authors reach back in to history to uncover a greater controversy bigger than them. Being a collection of essays, it is easy to feel as though the book is fragmentary, but it seemed to flow quite well. Some authors were more aggressive than others, but they all maintained and honest appeal to history and a right representation of those whom they criticized. Anyone who's studied Christian historical theology to any meaningful depth should have already realized going in that MacArthur and Hodges (and Dispensationalists in general) are outside of historic Christianity in how they define faith in toto. This isn't a dig or an insult. Their Biblicism prevents him from approaching the text with what Craig Carter calls "The Great Tradition;" the pre-critical method of exegesis. Dispensationalists approach the text with the same modernist naivete as Higher Textual critics ' with the misleading notion of objectivity (actual textual criticism aside). I don't know how else to describe it, really. It's simply a break from the Christian tradition and an appeal to supposed lacking theological and philosophical presuppositions. I can understand why this would be upsetting to some, but it's the reality of the matter. The book was written by authors who subscribe to an altogether different system of Biblical interpretation and a framework akin to the Reformers and earlier Christians. Their criticisms were made in light of this, and historical definitions.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-12-27 00:00:00 Ashton Williams Excellent treatment of the Lordship Salvation controversy, showing the dangerous errors of Hodge, and the major misstep taken by MacArthur. Their middle-of-the-road view is well thought out and very kindly explained.