Customer Reviews

Unleashing God's Word in Your Life

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
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2 star:		(2)
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John MacArthur is the gold standard for Biblical exposition in the 21st century church. But this book is one of the weakest of his I've read. Two problems: it doesn't do much to live up to its subtitle - How to Understand, Study and Apply God's Word. There's very little of that here, just one chapter on study methods and none on application. Second, it may just seem like he plugs his study bible in every chapter. But he doesn't miss many. It's jarring to see someone you respect so much as a teacher selling another book in one of his books.

What is here is a solid and profound defense of the Bible as the Word of God. It would have been worth five stars if it had been titled properly and not fashioned into a sales tool for his study Bible.

This book is very good for Christians to help point out the key Bible verses that confirm Biblical authority in the Christian's life. John MacArthur is very good at showing the scripture locations and combining them into a book format, useful to assist any believer in their own Bible studying.

One interesting point that MacArthur writes is that, "One way to tell a saved person from an unsaved one is that one listens to the Word of God and the other doesn't," from Chapter 2 of "Unleashing God's Word in Your Life." MacArthur quotes John 8:47 to back that up.

MacArthur backs up similar statements with scripture throughout this book. In Chapter 4 MacArthur writes, "The Scriptures are the Word of God, not someone's opinions, ideas, or philosophy." He also writes, " If you believe there are errors in the Word of God, then you become confused and don't know what to believe."

"Unleashing God's Word..." won't win any new converts to Christianity, though. MacArthur points out many Scripture verses that tell us that only a true Christian can understand and accept the Word of God, because the Holy Spirit gives the true believer understanding of the Bible, while unsaved, non-believers CANNOT understand the Bible because they do NOT have the Holy Spirit working in their lives. MacArthur points to 1 Corinthians 2:14 among many other references from the Holy Bible.

MacArthur's book also shows us what the Bible says about itself and what Jesus said about Scripture.

I have been an avid Bible student for years, but I found it very interesting to read MacArthur's tips about how to study the Bible for yourself. I have implemented his recommendations and techniques, and I am already reaping better retention and comprehension of the Bible because of John MacArthur's tips.

MacArthur also shows how the Word of God changes your life, and how that brings you better understanding of God's will and purpose in your life, via Scripture.

I recommend this book for believers and anyone who is already aquainted with John MacArthur's Bible teachings in print and on his nationally broadcast radio programs.

The subtitle of the book is how to understand, study and apply God's word. The book really doesn't do that. It is mostly about the Bible, in general, and why Christians should trust it to be the word of God. I was hoping for something to use with new believers to help them study the Bible for themselves and this book isn't very useful for that.

The first part of the book contained information similar to what I had read elsewhere. But the second part gave some excellent ways to approach Bible reading that have been a big help to me the past 7 months.

Johnny Mac is awesome. That needs to be stated up front. The title is a little misleading. The book tends to focus more on the Bible's authority and actually counter attacks many common statements made against the Bible's authority. It is a good read and worth the time. It however devotes a total of one chapter to actually showing how to practically dig into the Bible. It does not cover literary styles nor does it discuss any theory. It is practical in content and like I said before, worth reading.

I was honestly was completely able to get past the continuous times that MacArthur plugs his own Bible in this book. The first time it annoyed me, and I thought I could make it through after three or four, but after awhile I just couldn't do it anymore. Shameless self-publicity for me ruined a decent book otherwise.

The title is also very misleading, since the book deals little with the effects of Biblical study or methods of study. Instead, expect more of a textbook writing style with information on what the Bible is and different views of its prominence and readings.