Book Review: The Justice & Goodness of God by Thomas R. Schreiner

The idea of a final tends to be overlooked in some Christian circles. Some Christians do not want to address it because it sounds like God is going to the boogeyman who is waiting for us when we die. Non-Christians cannot comprehend a God, who is supposed to be loving, to be judging people.

According to Thomas Schreiner, the reality of the final judgment is central to the gospel message. Schreiner unpacks this doctrine and its application to modern day believes in his latest book, The Justice & Goodness of God. 

Schreiner beings with looking into the holiness of God and how serious our sins truly are. In His holiness is pure justice and pure wrath. When we sin, violate that holiness that deserves the judgment of God. In the end, God will bring about a final judgment to all who have rejected God and not asked for His forgiveness.

For three chapters, Schreiner takes a look at the final judgment in light of the New Testament. He looks at the Gospels and Acts which deals with final judgment more than what people think. Jesus taught it in His parables. Next, he looks at through the Epistles which do teach that all of us will stand before God and give account. Finally, final judgment in light of the book of Revelation.

In the climax of the book, Schreiner talks about what Christians should do in light of the judgment. One thing is to fear the Lord, not because He is going to judge us, but we have been brough from death to life and promised to be delivered from the troubles of this life. Also, to summon people to repent and come to faith in Christ who will save us from our sins so when we stand before God, we are righteous because of Christ. 

One thing that Schreiner hopes for in this book is for Christians to rejoice in judgment. Not because they want to see others punish, but the fact that judgment shows the holiness and goodness of God. Schreiner writes, "Without judgment, God would not be good, and life on earth would be without meaning since our moral decisions would not ultimately matter. They might matter to us personally, but there would be no final reckoning for our lives, no ultimate accountability for our actions, and thus no significance to our lives- and that would be bad news indeed."

One final note, he does not address final justification, which he does mention briefly in this book saying it was not the purpose of this book to mention that. Final justification is this idea that God will look at our works to see if we are justified to go to heaven which it does seem, based on another book Schreiner wrote, he believes will happen. I knew that going into this book, but Schreiner seems really spot on regarding final judgment. Final justification is another matter which I just might have to read his book on that subject and compare it with this one. 

I received this book from Crossway in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: Paul, Apostle of God's Glory in Christ by Thomas R Schreiner

One of the most studied men in the Bible outside of the Lord Jesus Christ is the Apostle Paul. I can understand why. His story is well known in the Bible. He was a persecutor of the church that was responsible for the death of Christians including Stephen as told in the book of Acts. He because an Apostle commissioned by Christ to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. He planted churches and appointed elders in everyone of them. He wrote majority of the letters we have in our Bibles that make up the New Testament today.

Paul's theology is often studied especially when one is about to study one of his epistles. There are many commentaries, study Bibles, and resources that help give us an idea what was the theology and context behind what Paul was writing. Thomas R Schreiner has added another resource to this collection in his book titled, Paul, Apostle of God's Glory in Christ.

In this book, Schreiner goes in great detail about the theology of the Apostle Paul as we see his inspired words in the pages of the Bible. Schreiner addresses Paul's God-centeredness and how he was always centered on God in communicating to his readers. Schreiner takes a look at Paul's mission, which was to preach the good news to the Gentiles because there was no Jew or Gentile under Christ.

Schreiner continues on with a look at Paul's teaching regarding sin, justification, and living the Christian life in a secular society. Schreiner does his best to give the reader an insight into the theology behind the Apostle who wrote inspired scripture. There was a lot of information in this book that it might take me a few more time to get all the information down.

I am delighted to recommend this book to all Bible teachers and pastors as great study tool to use in their research for sermons or Sunday School lessons.

Thanks InterVarsity Press for letting me review this book.

Thomas Schreiner on the Dominate Theme of the Bible

By now it is common consensus that no one theme adequately captures the message of the Scriptures.

It is not my intention to dispute that hypothesis here, for almost any center chosen tends to domesticate one theme or another. I maintain that there are a number of different ways to put together the story line and theology of the Scriptures that are legitimate. We should not insist, therefore, that one theme captures the whole.

Indeed, the word ‘center’ is ambiguous. Are we talking about the central theme of the story or the ultimate reason for the story?
Here my focus is on one of the major themes in the narrative. I have argued elsewhere that the ultimate reason and purpose for the story is the glory of God, and hence I will not focus on the reason for the story. Here the intent is to focus on the story line as it unfolds. The theme pursued must be flexible enough to comprehend several different interlocking themes in Scripture so that it summarizes the fundamental message of the Bible. I intend to argue that the ‘kingdom of God,’ if that term is defined with sufficient flexibility, fits well as a central theme of the entire Bible.

Let me hasten to say that such a thesis does not rely upon a word study approach, for it is quite obvious that the kingdom of God cannot be a central theme if we count up how many times the word ‘king,’ ‘kingdom,’ or ‘rule’ and ‘reign’ appear, for in many books of the Bible they do not appear at all. Instead, the contention here is that the phrase ‘kingdom of God’ thematically captures, from a biblical theology standpoint, the message of Scripture. Now I would immediately add that God brings in the kingdom for the glory and praise of his name.

Read the entire post here.

Book Review: 1 Corinthians by Thomas R Schreiner

The book of 1 Corinthians has been the church's go-to guide when it comes to the holiness of the church. In this book, we see issues dealing with marriage, church discipline, and spiritual gifts. It also shows us that we use to be like those who live in the world and we have been bought with a price.

Thomas R Schreiner has written a commentary on 1 Corinthians that breaks down all the historical settings of the book and how it applies to Christians in modern times. He does go over the major theological issues of 1 Corinthians in the beginning of the commentary such as who God is, how salvation is received, and also the church. Schreiner also goes over Paul's relationship with the Corinthian church and why he wrote this letter to them. He spends about five chapters introducing us to 1 Corinthians before we get to the meat of the commentary, which is the text itself.

Schreiner goes through the text of 1 Corinthians and helps the reader understand the points that Paul is addressing. I have to confess that one of the reasons I was interested in this commentary is that Schreiner is one of the leading voices of cessationism, which is the belief that the apostolic gifts have ceased when the Biblical canon was closed. As he was addressing the gifts of 1 Corinthians, I did not see anything on cessation in this commentary unless I missed it somewhere or it was written in between the lines.

To review a commentary is very tricky. Cannot go over a great deal of length over the book, but I do have to say that Schreiner does handle 1 Corinthians very well and should be on every theologians bookshelf whether you agree with his conclusions or not.

Thanks InterVarsity Press for letting me review this book.

Book Review: Spiritual Gifts by Thomas R. Schreiner

Spiritual gifts are one issue that Christians will mostly agree and disagree on. There is one movement that has claimed the Apostolic gifts, such as speaking in tongues and healing, have ceased, which is called cessationism. Then there is the other camp that believes they are still among the believers, which are called continualists. There have been books written from both sides of this argument, two of which I have reviewed. Spiritual Gifts by Thomas Schreiner is another book on the side of cessationism.

Before he dives into spiritual gifts, Schreiner addresses the strengths and weaknesses of the Charismatic movement. I thought it was odd at first to address this issue but Schreiner does indeed mentioned the positives that came out of the Charismatic movement, which most Christians would not deny. He then deals with basic truths about spiritual gifts while addressing the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is one thing, among others, the Charismatic movement and other Christians, have gotten wrong.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not where we ask the Spirit to come on us and gives us tongues to speak or the Spirit comes on a believer who starts speaking in tongues. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is when the Spirit comes into a believer at the moment of conversion. The Spirit also gives us a gift to be used in service in the body of Christ which most believers agree on.

Schreiner answers some basic questions regarding spiritual gifts. Remember he is coming from a cessationalist point of view, so those in the continualist front will disagree with some of Schreiner's conclusions. Speaking of conclusions, Schreiner ends his book with an argument for cessationism which he did say this is what this book was all about. I did appreciate what he said about miracles. Cessationism does not mean that miracles don't happen. Schreiner confesses that he still prays from miracles. It also does not mean that prayers for healing cease as well. The gift of healing is when someone places their hands on someone to be healed. Cessationists believe that gift has ended after the Apostles.

Schreiner is a gifted New Testament scholar is worth the time to read his books and listen to his lectures when you get the chance. This book is another good read for those who want to dive into Spiritual Gifts whether you are a cessationalist or not.

Thanks B&H Publishing Group for letting me review this book.

Schreiner And Thomas On Can A Christian Lose Their Salvation

Many Christian struggle with the assurance of their salvation. Many look at verse that make it seem salvation can be lost. Can salvation be lost?

I hope these two videos will help you answer that question. The first features Thomas Schreiner from Southern Seminary, who also talks about the warning passages. The next video features Derek Thomas from Reformed Theological Seminary

Recommended Reading:

Kept for Jesus: What the New Testament Really Teaches about Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Security by Sam Storms