Review: Sanctification: The Christian Pursuit of God-Given Holiness by Michael Riccardi

Note: Currently the book is not in stock with Amazon but Grace Books do have this book on sale.

Michael Riccardi. Sanctification: The Christian Pursuit of God-Given Holiness.  Sun Valley, CA: Grace Books, 2015. 78 pp.

This is a short book on sanctification by Michael Riccardi, the pastor of local outreach at Grace Community Church where John MacArthur is the Senior Pastor.  It is true that you shouldn’t just a book by its cover—nor by its size.  While it is only 78 pages long, the content of the book is packed with biblical truths that would sanctify readers.  Riccardi’s chief purpose in the book is to argue that beholding the glory of Christ is foundational and the motivation that fuel Christian sanctification.  His thesis is well argued and for the last two weeks since reading the book it has left me renewed and in awe of Christ’s glory and it’s connection with our sanctification.

It seems every page of the book was well use of space; even in the first page of John MacArthur’s preface, I was fed spiritually with the verses that MacArthur shared on the beholding the glory of God and Christ which would transform us.  In the introduction Riccardi briefly summarized the sanctification debate between Kevin DeYoung and Tullian Tchividjian, both who were a part of the Gospel Coalition back in 2011.  Riccardi’s book.  In the second chapter Riccardi establishes three truths concerning sanctification:  That sanctification is fundamentally internal and supernatural, that it is the sovereign work of the Spirit and that the Spirit employs means in believers’ sanctification.  Riccardi definitely reject the method of “Quietism,’ or the “let-go-and-let-God” approach towards holiness since there is a call for believers’ to respond with their volition and emotions (by the way a very nuance discussion of the role of emotions in sanctification is discussed quite beautifully in the questions and answers portion at the end of the book).  Chapter three discusses the means of sanctification which Riccardi states as Scripture, prayer, fellowship, providence and obedience.  I think the strength of the book is chapter four in which Riccardi argues that the means of sanctification aren’t just disconnected assorted ad-hoc tools, but rather all of them are means towards the end of beholding the glory of Christ.  Riccardi’s chief text is 2 Corinthians 3:18.  I loved how he connected the beholding of Christ’s glory with the prescribed means of sanctification.

I think many people would benefit reading this book.  I was recently in an event where the speaker showed the book to an audience of pastors and the speaker said this was the best book on sanctification that he has read in a long time.  The speaker made it clear he didn’t necessarily like MacArthur (he thinks MacArthur can be mean) but nevertheless the speaker liked the book and has benefited from it.  I imagine others that are outside the MacArthur camp would appreciate and benefit from this book as well.  After reading this book I look forward to future works by this author.  If I remembered correctly he’s currently working on his thesis for his masters of theology related to the topic of the face of God and if this book was a sample of things to come, I’m anticipating reading more from him.

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