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The Gospel According to the Apostles

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Clear, concise, compelling affirmation of just what constitutes saving faith in Scripture. A powerful follow-up volume to Gospel According to Jesus. Because of the rampant confusion in today's church/society regarding the Gospel, this book is a welcome addition to the contra-easy-believism arsenal. In equation form, the book can be summarized: Faith= Salvation+Works. Not to be confused with what some perceive: Faith+Works=Salvation. Also defines the nature of what is included as a precondition for true faith:Repentance. Not just a change of mind about Who Jesus is; not just sorrow or remorse over sin or recognition of need, but U-turn, 180 degree about face turning from sin and turning to Christ. Tony Evans says it best: You're driving South on the interstate, going the wrong way, away from God. Take the next exit/off-ramp - repentance!. Take the overpass of grace and head for the next on-ramp going North - restoration/recovery! Now, merge onto the interstate by the Holy Spirit's power heading North as a disciple following Jesus to the Father. That's Biblical Repentance, Saving Faith and Discipleship. If there is a Root, there must be Fruit. No Fruit? No Root! Excellent resource for Sunday School, Home Groups, personal study.

First, I should point out that one of my all-time favorites--The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonoeffer--is in the same mold as MacArthur's book. I highly recommend it. As far as The Gospel According to Jesus, I was impressed with his exegesis. I believe that he is right on. Christians ought to understand that they have been provided a gift, and the idea of sanctification is not just an option but imperative. Certainly we cannot earn the grace of God, but neither do we prove God's grace by sinning like hell. This is the message MacArthur effectively communicates in this book.

Dr. MacArthur's book is without a doubt one of the finest books on the relationship between faith and works. While Christians are saved by grace; "solo gracia" and by faith alone "solo fide" this in no way exempts them from living a life of holiness.

Dr. MacArthur, through a masterful illustration using numerous scripture references, shows how that the grace that saves is an active, vibrant grace that is efficacious in the life of the believer, that even though we are saved by "faith alone," it is not a "faith that is alone." The Holy Spirit is at work mightily within the life of the undeserving, hell-bound, but redeemed person, "to will and to work of His own good pleasure."

Those that have trusted on human merit, a dry-eyed confession, and simply walking an aisle to shake hands with a minister for a salvation experience should read this book carefully and "examine themselves to see if they are in the faith." Dr. MacArthur's work will go a long way in the edification of the Body of Christ, and combatting the rampant apostasy regarding the study of salvation.

At the end of Appendix 1, "The Gospel According to the Apostles," in his bestselling book The Gospel According to Jesus, John MacArthur lamented the brief space he gave to the appendix's subject matter and spoke of his desire to write a book on the topic. That dream became reality with the publication of The Gospel According to the Apostles (originally titled Faith Works) in January 1993, over four years after the release of The Gospel According to Jesus. In the intervening years, much debate had been caused by the original work, and full-length book responses had been written by Charles Ryrie and Zane Hodges. Now, with this sequel, Word's marketing department made a bold claim: "The Gospel According to Jesus began the debate. This book ends it." Well, the debate didn't end, and while The Gospel According to the Apostles has many elements worthy of commendation, it suffers from a misplaced focus: Despite MacArthur's stated intentions to the contrary, the book is structured in such a way as to place primary emphasis on MacArthur's responses to his critics, not the subject matter promised by the title.

The Gospel According to the Apostles' focus becomes clear as early as Chapter 2, "A Primer on the 'Lordship Salvation' Controversy," with its multitude of citations (complete with page references) to Ryrie's and Hodges' books. While I had read The Gospel According to Jesus twice (the two readings separated by an over 15-year time period) and Ryrie's book once before coming to The Gospel According to the Apostles, and so was familiar with the issues, others who do not have this background may get lost quickly. MacArthur does write more clearly than he did and is better organized than he was in the original edition of The Gospel According to Jesus, but it's a lot to throw at someone unfamiliar with the controversy.

Beginning with Chapter 3, the structure of the rest of the chapters becomes plain. MacArthur begins each chapter by discussing a theological issue related to the controversy, often covering the historical background of the topic, and then mentions or tackles his critics' position(s) on the subject matter. Next, he conducts a Bible study on the given topic taken from one of the New Testament epistles; even here, MacArthur keeps responding to his critics. The chapter always ends with a strong restatement of MacArthur's argument.

Since each chapter covers a different theological topic (as even a quick glance at the chapter titles reveals), MacArthur's fine, careful definitions of terms that may be unfamiliar to some of his readers are greatly appreciated. As in The Gospel According to Jesus, MacArthur shows a praiseworthy concern for the wisdom of Christians throughout the ages. (Being Reformed himself, MacArthur naturally leans toward Reformed theologians for his support.) The Bible studies of the apostles' teaching are good as far as they go.

Unfortunately, they don't go far enough. One of the primary strengths of The Gospel According to Jesus was that it essentially was a Bible study of Jesus' evangelistic methods. Theological issues were discussed as they arose in Scripture, but the book centered around a study of a different passage in Scripture in each chapter. A reader of the first book might assume that MacArthur would continue the same style in the sequel. That is not the case. Because MacArthur centers the chapters around different theological issues and responses to his critics' views on those issues, the Bible studies get short shrift. In Chapter 5, for example, MacArthur spends only the last 3 of 13 pages on a Bible study of the apostles' view of repentance. And in Chapter 6, MacArthur correctly notes that several chapters could be written on the apostles' view of justification, but that's all the more reason to puzzle over the brevity of a Bible study that only takes up 7 pages out of an 18-page chapter.

As a result, The Gospel According to the Apostles sadly does not stand well on its own; instead, it is in many ways dependent upon The Gospel According to Jesus, So Great Salvation (Ryrie's response), and Absolutely Free (Hodges' response). What's missing here is a book consonant with the original vision of The Gospel According to Jesus: A detailed, exhaustive Bible study of the apostles' handling of the gospel. The relevant sections in each chapter whet the reader's appetite for more, but are not enough in and of themselves.

This book, then, is not the clearest (much less the final) word that MacArthur would make on the "lordship salvation" controversy. (Even 2003's Hard to Believe returns to this issue.) If you can read only one book on this topic, pick up the 1994 revised and expanded version of The Gospel According to Jesus. It offers MacArthur's most clear, compelling, and complete coverage of this important issue. I am glad that MacArthur really did clarify some things in The Gospel According to the Apostles; I just wish for an approach more in line with the book's predecessor.

First, I would like to say that John MacArthur does not add legalism to grace as a requirement for salvation (as I have heard some accuse). He does, however, combat the popular notion that one simply has to say a "sinner's prayer" to be saved. If all you do is say a sinner's prayer and attend a church that has a "practical" message every week, you may well think that you are saved simply because one time you said, "Lord, Lord" but you can say "Lord, Lord" all the way to Hell and that IS in the Bible. (Read Matthew 7).

The sad and simple truth is that in our selfish society with our microwave mentality (I want it fresh, I want it hot, I want it now, and I don't want to wait or work for it), easy-believism is the great apostasy of the modern church. Oh, sure, there are plenty of other heresies and apostasies running rampant, but the wide gate that is ushering the most people into the pit in our day and age is the one whose sign reads "cheap grace". An unrepentant and unregenerate soul may "claim the Name", but the truth of the matter is that if the old man does not die, there is no "new creation". (2 Corinthians 5:17)

The Apostle Paul never said that mere obedience to the law could ever say anyone. He argued irrefutably that any who sought their salvation in the law were damned. (See Romans 1-16. And the rest of his epistles). However, I can not find in any epistle the Apostle Paul ever wrote that gives any indication that someone who continues in sin after being called by Christ is destined for salvation. Nor in Peter's, nor in John's or James', and certainly not in Jesus own words. And the evidence of grace in those great mens' lives were the works that were accomplished through "bondservice" to THE LORD.

If you really read the four gospels and compare what Jesus actually said and taught about Himself, you would see that John MacArthur does not twist or distort anything. In fact, I don't think that someone coming to the gospels for the first time and actually reading them for themselves--without any preconceptions or preconditioned ideas--would find anything there that seems to suggest that all one has to do is call on the Name of Jesus to be saved. True believers experience a changed life.

Jesus said that by their fruit you would know them, and that a bad tree does not produce good fruit; nor a good tree, bad fruit. James, the Lord's brother said that faith without works was dead, just the same as works without faith is dead. The problem is that some modern teachers want to separate works and faith (and grace) as if they could be approached independent of one another. However, I dare say that those three things are no more separable than the three persons of The Trinity! While it would seem absolutely ludicrous for most Christians to invalidate any one or combination of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, there are yet many who seem to think that faith, works, and grace can be separated and dealt with distinctly as concerns salvation. THIS IS ERROR. In the same way, trying to make two distinct offices out of our high priest (that is, that He can be your Savior without being Lord of your life) is just as preposterous. THAT is unbiblical, and it is good that there are expositors who love the Word of God enough to teach the truth. Though many of today's shepherds may blindly lead the blind down the wide road to destruction, John MacArthur is not one of them.

Think of the parable of the seed, and of the wheat and tares from Matthew 13. Or even the prodigal son. In that story, the son repents and turns away from the old self. Would the father in that story have held his prodigal son in such high regard had he only come back home for more money to carry on drinking, gambling, and pursuing a sinful, selfish life? Some will probably argue yes, but that is not the parable that Jesus told. The son in the story Jesus spoke of was truly repentant, and that was the key to the forgiveness of the father.

However, the best suggestion that I have is not to just read this book by John MacArthur to see whether or not you want to believe the things it says, but rather read THE BOOK, that is the Word of God. Read the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and see what Jesus Himself says. Read the epistles to the early churches, and contemplate the exhortations therein. Was anyone told to stop doing good because it threatened their salvation? Ridiculous! But time and time again, we see the exhortation to stop doing evil, to put sin and the power of the devil behind, to worship God, and to die to oneself daily. And those who taught incorrect doctrine, or who lived sinful lives, they were PUT OUT of the church because they were harmful to her. Oh, that more congregations were willing to purge the cancerous members of the body in this day and age, but for far too many "shepherds" what matter is not the health of their stock, but the size of the flock.

In any event, if you care to truly follow Christ and you call Him Lord and desire Him to be the one in control of your sinful, meaningless life, I would wholeheartedly recommend this book as well as The Gospel According to Jesus (and anything by James Boice) to start building the walls of your faith on a solid foundation.

May the Lord bless you and keep you, lest you be thrown into the fire. Romans 10:16-17 says, "But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, 'Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?' So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. "

Peace & Blessings

Once again, the master preacher does not disappoint - this is exactly what we in the Evangelical church ought to be hearing today. Christopher Catherwood, author of CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS AND ISLAMIC RAGE (Zondervan, 2003)

My wise pastor once told me, "When two people take diametrically opposite, incompatible positions on a subject, one of them is right and the other is wrong, or they are both wrong, but they cannot both be right." John MacArthur's view of the Gospel is diametically opposite and incompatible with the gospel of Charles Ryrie, Zane Hodges, et. al. When it comes to the subject of salvation, one had better figure out who or what is right, since his or her eternal destiny is at stake.

John MacArthur Jr. masterfully expounds and defends the Gospel of Jesus Christ (as revealed in the Gospels), the Gospel proclaimed by the Apostles, the Gospel of the Bible.

If you've read or are considering reading a book by those of the so called "free grace" position, you owe it to yourself to read this book.

Then read the New Testament and decide for yourself which "gospel" is the true, biblical Gospel.

I actually read this book before it's prequel (The Gospel According to Jesus), and it was this (then titled Faith Works) that opened my eyes to the true nature of faith and the essence of the Christian gospel. I was a believer, but confused in some aspects of doctrine. MacArthur's penetrating analysis of such topics as faith, repentance, justification, sanctification, perseverance, and assurance was extremely helpful to me. This book exposes the fallacy of easy-believism. It is biblical and balanced. It is not legalistic. It is a modern defense of ancient Biblical truth.

The chapters on Romans 6 (Free from Sin, Slaves of Righteousness) and Romans 7 (The Death Struggle with Sin) are some of the best I know of.

I highly recommend this book!

What does having Faith mean? What does it mean to say I have accepted Jesus as my personal savior? One is making a claim to an intellectual consent that Jesus existed and Jesus is God, but to believe in Jesus has to be so much more. To have, to believe in Jesus has to acknowledge, has to consent to the words taught, to the lessons given as recorded in the New Testament are true. If an individual does so, does that person have a saving faith in Jesus? To be saved does an individual need an emotional response to the message in the New Testament in addition to the intellectual one? The emotion need to come forth from the realization that one has rebelled against God's authority- that one is a sinner. In other words does someone have to recognize the Lordship of Jesus Christ to be saved? John MacArthur argues that no man can truly have Faith in Jesus Christ without repentance for ones sins. That such repentance does effect a persons Christian walk. That a true Christian will bare fruit. This fruit does bring salvation but comes forth from salvation because one has a honest Faith in Jesus Christ. John MacArthur goes into great detail about the theological details of recognizing Jesus as lord and Savior.

In this book John lays down further evidence for his conviction of Lordship Salvation. He discusses such subjects as sin, backsliding, easy-believism, eternal security etc...I would recommend anyone read this book that is interested in finding out exactly what Lordship Salvation is. It is not a system of works as has long been said but a system by which we see the holiness of God through our sin. I would tend to agree with John on some of his points that you cannot go on and live your life the way you want to when you become a Christian. You must realize that your old self has died. That being said, I vehemently disagree with his assesment of non-lordship salvation holders. He classifies those holding such views as teaching a false gospel. I really think him and Charles Ryrie ought to sit down and discuss some of their issues. My feeling is that they wouldn't be too far off from each other! I think what needs to happen is a Celebrity Death Match between John MacArthur and Zane Hodges. This book really seems to refute what Zane wrote in his book Absolutely Free.

John makes the point that we know for certain that someone is not saved if we take them all the way through the disciplinary process outlined in Matthew 18 and then they do not repent. Well, the verse states that if they do not repent treat them as a Gentile or a tax collector. It does not say that they are not saved it says that we are to treat them as if they are not praying that they will come back to us. My feeling is that you cannot say who is and who is not saved. That is not for me to judge. What is for me to judge is their lifestyle. If someone's lifestyle is not living up to biblical standards then I, as a Christian, need to call them on it.