Sunday, May 09, 2010

Run To Win The Prize

For several years I have recommended Schreiner and Caneday's The Race Set Before Us as the best treatment of the Bible's teaching on assurance and perseverance.

Contrary to what others say, I don't think it is an easy topic to come to grips
with, if we are going to be faithful to all the Bible's data.

Some Christians emphasise that God promises salvation to all who believe, but do not account for the many passages which urge us to persevere, threatening us with God's judgment if we don't.

Other Christians notice all the passages that say that only those who endure to
the end will be saved, and that God will judge us according to our works, and so
emphasise continuing to follow Christ, but do not account for the many glorious promises that when we believe in Christ, our salvation is certain.

A few Christians try to factor both in, and so teach that our salvation is
certain AND that we must persevere.

I thought the best treatment of this was in Caneday and Schreiner's The Race Set Before Us, but it is rather long and unfortunately I'm not so sure that everyone will endure to the end of it!

But now, Tom Schreiner has produced Run To Win The Prize, a shorter, more popular treatment of the topic, in which he responds to concerns of those who read the earlier book and seeks to provide a fresh and different angle to the questions explored.

I've already ordered my copy and look forward to being able to share this shorter book more enthusiastically with others.

1 comment:

Bob McCabe said...

Dear David,

Thanks for reading my article on the Elihu speeches. I spent a few years of my life studying Elihu for my doctoral dissertation at Grace Theological Seminary. My article is a condensation of my dissertation along with some significant clarifications.

Bob