So Great Salvation: What It Means to Believe in Jesus Christ [Paperback]

Charles C. Ryrie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1997

What is the Gospel? Confusion about the Gospel is a serious problem of tremendous magnitude. It's not just semantics. It's the eternal difference between heaven and hell. But there is Good News. Follow along in this scholarly yet readable work as Dr. Ryrie carefully explains what the Bible has to say about salvation, discussing man's hopeless state before meeting Jesus, God's grace in saving us, and our call to obedience as we walk with Him. In So Great Salvation, Dr. Ryrie also addresses many questions raised by those who hold to the lordship salvation position. Does Jesus have to be the Lord of every area of our lives before we are saved? What about backslidden Christians? What is 'easy-believeism?' Join Dr. Ryrie as he studies the important topic of salvation. Discover how God's grace is all we need to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

CHARLES C. RYRIE has written 30 books, including bestselling titles The Ryrie Study Bible, Balancing the Christian Life, and Basic Theology. He is professor emeritus at Dallas Theological Seminary and has served as adjunct professor at Philadelphia Biblical University, Bibelschule Brake, and The Criswell College.
4/06

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Moody Publishers (July 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802478182
• ISBN-13: 978-0802478184
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #87,118 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book, January 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: So Great Salvation: What It Means to Believe in Jesus Christ (Paperback)

Unlike so many of his critics, Charles Ryrie with grace and class demonstrates in "So Great a Salvation" why salvation is a free gift received by simple faith alone in Christ alone. He demonstrates this biblically and theologically. In addition, he explains why the terminology used in explaining the Gospel is so important.

Charles Ryrie also looks at the implications of "lordship salvation." He demonstrates convincingly in this book, that "lordship salvation" does not make sense biblically or theologically. He examines many of the straw man arguments that lordship teachers like to use with regards to Free Grace teaching and many of the misnomers used to label Free Grace teaching (eg. "easy-believism", "cheap grace").

Ryrie also brings up key questions for the reader to ponder. For example, when he once was interacting with those of a lordship persepective he asked this question to them about a hypothetical person who wanted to be saved but smoked and knew it was bad for him, "Can he not be saved until either he gives up smoking or is willing to give up smoking? (page 113)" The reader then can see that if the answer is "yes", then one has introduced a condition other than faith in Christ to receive the gift of eternal life. Yet, unfortunatley, this is what those of a lordship salvation perspective teach.

I found this book to be a great up in clearing up much of the confusion surrounding the Gospel.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Salvation in laymans terms, January 7, 2004

By 

Ian (Sydney, Nova Scotia Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: So Great Salvation: What It Means to Believe in Jesus Christ (Paperback)

This book was an excellent read and really clarified the issue of what it means to beleive in Jesus Christ. By no means an antinomian, Ryrie sets forth a clear exegesis of the issue of exactly 'what it takes' to be saved. He responds with integrity, balance, and grace to the Lordship salvation view.

Any serious born again Christian should ponder over this book. Most notable is his exegesis of the passage on the rich young ruler which lordhsip advocates take as a prime text for their view.

Very grateful for this work.

19 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lucid, Pastoral Response to MacArthur, May 17, 2006

By 

Chip Webb (Fairfax Station, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: So Great Salvation: What It Means to Believe in Jesus Christ (Paperback)

Charles Ryrie's So Great Salvation was first published in the summer of 1989 as a response to John MacArthur's bestselling 1988 book The Gospel According to Jesus. As a response, it will be of most value to people who have read MacArthur's work.

The fundamental issue that divides Ryrie and MacArthur is a major one: What must a person do to receive salvation? Other associated issues arise: To be in God's family, must you submit to Christ as lord? What does it mean to repent and turn to Jesus Christ in faith? Do Christians always show visible signs of their regeneration by the Holy Spirit?

On these issues, there are similarities and differences between the authors. Both believe that Christians must bear fruit and be sanctified; the difference between them lies in Ryrie's willingness to allow that some Christians' fruit may never be visible to others. A far more critical distinction revolves around the issue of salvation. Ryrie contends that a person must believe in Jesus' death for your sins and his resurrection from the dead. To Ryrie, this is not a simple acknowlegment of some facts; rather, belief involves a trust in Christ. MacArthur, in contrast, argues that there must at least be a willingness to submit to Christ as lord when you turn in repentance and faith to Christ; Ryrie argues that such willingness often comes later and may never come.

These are important issues, and whether you agree or disagree with him, Ryrie tackles them succinctly and with clarity. He also displays a warm, pastoral concern for people that is mostly lacking from The Gospel According to Jesus. (MacArthur is much more concerned with being hard-hitting in his points. That's not to say that MacArthur is unloving, just that he expresses that love by sounding warning bells, while Ryrie is much softer in temperament and, often, more nuanced with his prose.)

Whether you agree or disagree with Ryrie may well depend on how much of a dispensationalist you are. Ryrie's dispensationalism leads him to draw sharp distinctions in several areas: between salvation and the Christian life, faith and works, Jesus' gospel (which Ryrie, as a premillenialist, sees as applying to a millenial kingdom) and Paul's gospel (which Ryrie sees as applying to our time today, the period that some dispensationalists call "the church age"), salvation and discipleship, receiving the gift of eternal life and repenting of sins, and positional sanctification and practical sanctification. MacArthur, on the other hand, sees all of these issues as being interrelated and an essential part of the life of a Christian.

Personally speaking, I'm neither a premillenialist nor a dispensationalist, so Ryrie's strong lines of demarcation don't sit well with me. This is particularly true of his contrast between "Jesus' gospel" and "Paul's gospel," a distinction that seems way out of left field and even dangerous to me. Ryrie also is too quick to label something that God leads you to do, such as baptism, a means of grace, as a human work. Additionally, I believe that MacArthur's correct in saying that the call to salvation is also a call to repentance, submitting yourself to the lordship of Christ, and discipleship; you cannot separate these elements of the Christian life.

Still, So Great Salvation is an important contribution to what was termed the "lordship salvation" debate that attracted much attention in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and which is still relevant today. On the positive side, So Great Salvation is just about as breezy of a read as theology books go; Ryrie covers his points simply but effectively, and with an economy of words. Even if you disagree with him, as I do, Ryrie makes his points charitably and effectively.