Review: Faith Alone by RC Sproul

 

RC Sproul. Faith Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, January 17th 2017. 262 pp.

4 out of 5

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Evangelical Christians would say sinners can be saved by placing their faith in Christ apart from their own works yet is this doctrine biblical and also important?  The late Christian theologian and apologist RC Sproul answered these two questions and other related to it in his book Faith Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification.  I received a copy of this book from Shepherd’s Conference for pastors, and then I saw a blogger friend shared a review of this book which prompted me to dig it up and read it.  I wasn’t disappointed; I was blessed to have read it!  What stood out to me is Sproul’s ability to handle with care what is Rome’s actual position and then accurately respond to its doctrines both biblically and theologically.  It is a good example of scholarship and also handling the opposition well.

The book consists of nine chapters.  There’s a strong flavor of historical theology in the book.  Chapter one looks back to the start of the Reformation with Martin Luther.  Chapter two then looks at the Evangelical and Catholic Together (ECT) controversy in the mid to late 90s.  Chapter three then goes back in history to Luther and all that transpired leading up to the watershed moment at Worms where Luther stood his ground for the sake of the Gospel.  Chapter four is titled “Justification and Faith” and chapter five looks at imputed righteousness and chapter six covers the Catholic doctrine of infused righteousness.  Chapter seven then examine the topic of merit and grace while chapter eight analyzes the relationship of faith and works.  This is one of the best chapter in the book by the way.  Finally chapter 9 is titled “No other Gospel” and here Sproul looks at the book of Galatians to make the argument that justification by faith alone is an essential Christian doctrine.

I learned a lot from reading this book especially concerning what is the actual Catholic position and also the historical theology of how the church have attempted to articulate the Gospel and also the doctrine of justification by faith alone.  For instance Sproul states that Rome doesn’t deny justification is by Christ’s righteousness contrary to popular opinion.  Instead the point of contention is whether the righteousness from God is either imputed or infused into us.  Sometimes it seems the best way to see Roman Catholicism isn’t biblical Christianity is to look at its doctrines in details.  While there’s some chapters in the book that I thought could have been more helpful by quoting more Scripture still I think chapter eight was the book’s strongest chapter.  Here Sproul examines the conflict between the book of James and the epistles by Paul and show exegetically why they are not contradictory and also how it does not mean that James is teaching works is required for our salvation.

Overall I recommend this book.