I have just finished reading the 1994 Revised and Expanded version of this book first published in 1988. It analyses and challenges the ‘easy- believism’ that has tended to characterize certain parts of the evangelical and charismatic churches of the last forty or fifty years. The controversy of which this book was a part is not such a ‘hot potato’ in the twenty first century church but the underlying problems it exposes yet remain, the confusions of interpreting what really constitutes biblical salvation are still among us and to arrive at a true understanding and believe and preach the truth is essential to the health of the churches. The position set forth in this book is a statement of the doctrine of salvation as presented by men such as Luther and Calvin and the Puritan writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth century. The author takes up the gospel narrative, singling out the words of Jesus and systematically seeks to draw our attention to what Jesus meant by ‘salvation’. There can be no doubt that the message of ‘salvation through Jesus’ preached in the church today does appear to lure people into a rather easy set of beliefs, no mention of God’s wrath and judgment, only of His love, the plan of salvation omits repentance from sin or even a defining of sin by preaching the law of God and it mesmerizes with a rather selfish idea that God has wonderful plan for our lives and we will be saved for heaven without a changed life. The offence of the cross is frequently obliterated, the cost of following Jesus as Lord overshadowed and the results are all around us to see. God the Holy One is usually forgotten and God the Loving One replaces the fear of the Lord. This imbalance is prevalent in many circles and leads to sub Christian living for sure and in the Charismatic churches promises of health and happiness and material blessing are added to this rather sweetened gospel. All these imperfect emphases are addressed by John Macarthur but as I read the book I find myself not fully satisfied, I sense that only part of the truth is being presented, I realize it is a book of correction, I guess that necessitates leaning heavily on one side of the argument, emphatically stating certain truths, and truths they are too but there is a sense of the mystery of God and the wonder of His salvation missing, the word salvation becomes a ‘narrow’ word just as it is made ‘narrower’ by those against whose doctrine Macarthur was writing at the time. Perhaps it is inevitable that this will happen though. I welcome the challenge to easy believism and cheap grace that this book presents, please do not misunderstand me, but I know that there is need that we present more than the affirmation of the Lordship of Christ alone with the necessity of following Him and that justification is by faith alone and works will corroborate the genuineness of faith. There really is more to the gospel than these things. As a helpful antidote to a Christianity that is simply one of saying without doing this book does its job, and it is successful in showing us that to accept Jesus as Savior without His Lordship over our lives is not the Gospel according to Jesus but there is more to Christ and the salvation He has brought too.
