Amazing Grace: God's Pursuit, Our Response (Second Edition)

I went to seminary and since wondered why I couldn’t find a balanced view between the extremes of Arminianism and 5 point Calvinism. Now we have it with R.O.S.E.S. Most recognize that God is sovereign and most also recognize that we have a free will and can resist grace. Amazing Grace is the first that really explains where the vast majority of Biblical Christians are; between the extremes. Chapters 3 and 4 are all you need to read.

This book does a great job explaining God's role in salvation and the responsibility man has to respond to God's invitation.

Grace. The word gets tossed around in Christian circles a lot. What exactly do we mean by it? Amazing Grace: God's Pursuit, Our Response is a great introduction to the biblical theology of grace. Dr. George explains in the introduction:"As wonderful as grace is, it has provoked some of the most heated controversies in the history of the Christian church. In this study, we shall look at some of these debated questions while never losing sight, I trust, of the reality we are discussing: God's free and sovereign favor to ill-deserving sinners. God's great ocean of truth is much deeper than our finite minds can fathom. I am keenly aware that there is much more to be said about grace than I am able to say in this brief study. My purpose throughout is more devotional than academic: God's grace should provoke wonder and worship among all God's children. This study is an exercise in theology in the sense that the great Puritan divine William Ames defined it-the knowledge of living in the presence of the living God". (p. 13)He points out that the word "grace" accurately sums up the entire message of the Bible. The old acronym "God's Riches At Christ's Expense" is actually a good way to put it. We shouldn't let the simplicity of this little phrase cause us to miss it's profundity-it tells us three essential elements to a biblical understanding of grace:It originates with GodIt is inexhaustible, irrepressible, and overflowingIt is at Christ's expense.In six short chapters, Dr. George unpacks these essential elements, showing how they apply to God's Providence, our salvation, the Great Commission, worship, and our everyday lives.He reminds us that:"...grace is not an impersonal force or even a divine quality to be analyzed and studied abstractly. No, grace means God himself is operating in love to the praise of his glory. As Martin Luther once said, grace is God's middle name!" (p. 32)Grace is not a substance or commodity that God bestows on us or gifts us with...it is God himself at work in us!! We experience this work at many different levels in our lives, including as:pardonacceptancejoypeacepowerhopelovegratitudeThe historic understanding of God's sovereign grace through church history is briefly covered, leading up to traditional Reformed theology. Dr. George prefers the acronym "ROSES" (Radical Depravity, Overcoming Grace, Sovereign Election, Eternal Life, Singular Redemption) to the controversial and often misunderstood "TULIP".The book wraps up with a brief discussion of the marks of a gracious Christian...a person "so thoroughly grasped by grace that he or she becomes a channel through which God's great love shines forth in relationships with others." (p. 136)"The more we see our own unworthiness, the more astounded we are at God's gracious favor and mercy toward us. And the more we realize that our life-purpose must be to glorify God, to please him in every way, the more others will notice the results of God's transforming grace in our lives. "(p. 136)As we're transformed, these five marks will become more and more apparent in us:A grateful heartA humble countenanceA forgiving spiritA life of loveA passion for soulsIn closing, Dr. George offers a benediction:The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Cor. 13:14)and exhorts us to "live the benediction"!The book is short and a fairly quick read, but it still manages to tackle some profound topics. The writing is clear and simple. I really enjoyed the devotional rather than academic tone. After all, how on earth can the subject of grace be discussed in simply academic terms?! I don't see how the topic can fail to produce wonder, awe, and worship of the God who IS grace!Although short, Amazing Grace: God's Pursuit, Our Response does much more than just skim the surface. There's so much here...from the nature of grace biblically, to church history, to how it all applies to our everyday lives. I think it will benefit any reader...from the newest believer with no knowledge at all to the seasoned student of theology. Definitely a worthy read!Thanks so much to Crossway for the review copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

I appreciate the effort of Timothy George in writing this book on the depths of salvation in Christ with such an irenic spirit. Truth is not compromised but is presented in a clear and positive way. Where George disagrees with others he is not argumentative, giving a fair treatment to differing views. There are also some genuinely strong insights in a book that is written in a celebratory, worshipful tone. George is happy about the truths of salvation he is sharing, but this doesn't devolve into a kind of empty sentimentality. Instead, George's joy is fueled by his understanding of theological truth, which he shares in an easy to understand way with his readers. I was challenged and encouraged by this book. Of special note is his Continuum of the Theology of Grace on page 27. This is a great framework for all believers trying to understand how God has unfolded His plan.

The new book Amazing Grace by Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divnity School, is a wonderfully clear and thought provoking presentation on the theme of grace in the Bible. Even more, Dr. George unpacks the doctrines of grace in a way that both those familiar to Reformed theology and those who are not can easily learn something. Dr. George starts out the book identifying what grace really is: God's Riches at Christ's Expense (20). He goes onto make the points that grace really begins with God, not just in the idea of grace but in the activity of grace, God is the one who initiates grace (20). Dr. George then goes onto posit that God's grace is both inexhaustible and at Christ's expense, for grace cost the Father his Son, even his Son's death on the cross (21). As Dr. George continues throughout the chapter entitled Our Gracious God he mixes church history, theological vision, and practical application in talking about grace. At the end of this chapter, the author calls the reader back to the heart of grace in saying, "God's sufficient grace radiates its adequacy to meet the deepest needs of the vilest sinner who ever lived" (32). God has gone to the uttermost depths of hell on Earth to save his people through his Son's work on the cross. Lastly, Dr. George realizes the need for practical application and applies the teaching of grace when he recognizes how we experience grace: as pardon, acceptance, joy, peace, power, hope, love and gratitude (33).In the second chapter Dr. George lays out for the reader the doctrine of God's providence. He starts out the discussion with four possible terms that many have used to describe God's relation to the world; contradiction, antimony, paradox and mystery (36). He opts to understand God's governing over the world through the word "antinomy" which is two thoughts or truths true in their own right that we cannot harmonize (36). George is careful to appropriate his writing to the Baptist context in which he lives, yet he is also aware of the concerns of the questions that all Christians have in regard to God's providence. Readers may well be familiar with the term "compatiblism" which relates the idea that although God is sovereign over the affairs of men and creation, humans are also responsible for their own actions. The beauty of Dr. George's analysis of divine providence is that he does not stretch the antinomy too far in explaining how everything melds together. At one point he says, "Note carefully that the Bible never explains how the sinful acts of men coalesce with God's sovereign purpose, but somehow mysteriously they do work together concurrently" (44). At the end of the chapter he lays open four possible roadblocks that run counter to the biblical message of God's divine upholding of all things and sovereignty over all events (Deism, pantheism, fatalism, process theism) (45-47).Chapters 3 and 4 are more explications of the doctrine of salvation from a Reformed approach, drawing insights from the historical debates between Augustine and Pelagius, Luther and Erasmus. In chapter 3, Dr. George makes a claim that many Calvinists should take to heart. He says in the debates about predestination that, "For them (Beza and Perkins) the doctrine of predestination became the starting point for theology. This was going to far beyond Calvin, for whom predestination was a fact of Scripture but not the controlling principle of all Christian doctrine" (71). Doctrines concerning decrees and God's election are good but can be used to overshadow other key teachings of Scripture. Dr. George lays out for the reader the historical situation in which the five points of Calvinism were formed. Lastly, Dr. George is careful not to typecast all Arminians in a derrogatory manner, by which he talks about the ministry of John Wesley and his relatinship with George Whitefield (73). On pp. 84-95 Dr. George addresses what the five points of Calvinism mean in context of God's grace, all the while phrasing the points differently (ROSES, 84). His discussion of these points is helpful and points us to passages in the Bible that sustain these arguments. Secondly, Dr. George points out two applications of Calvinism that run counter to gospel teaching (legalism and abuse of liberty, 95-99).Chapter five is devoted to the discussion of grace and the Great Commission or rather what does grace have to do with evangelism. Dr. George is wonderful at providing great missionary examples of people who held dearly to the doctrines of grace yet were also sold out to proclaim the gospel to the nations (William Carey 106-113). Carey, the father of modern missions was viewed as crazy by his peers, because they bought into a type of Hyper-Calvinism that said that God doesn't need messengers to proclaim the gospel, he can do it by himself. Carey, knowing the Scriptures was called to go to India to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. Dr. George notes that "Carey knew that Christian missions was rooted in the gracious, eternal purpose of the triune God-to call unto himself a redeemed people out of the fallen race of humankind" (110). Based upon this belief of the triune God, Carey was called to India.Chapter 6 looks at the application of grace to the believers life, causing us to live differently than those around us. Dr. George calls us to see grace as unexpected, undeserved, and inexplicable (125-128). Lastly, George notes how grace has a way to change our worship in saying, "Once we understand who God really is,...it will change the way we worship" (134). In reading this part, I was challenged to see God's gracious grace as compelling me to gratitude and service in his kingdom. If I could finally say one more thing about this book, it is that this work calls people to worship the truine God in a much deeper way. This work also calls me to see God's grace in all its facets, from creation to providence, from the cross to the second coming. This book is great resource for pastors, students, Calvinists and Arminians, and anyone wanting to know about grace.Much thanks to Crossway for this wonderful book to review.

The book does not address the theological inconsistencies and difficulties of Calvinism. The author does not take up the subject. He posits that there are two extremes; Arminianism and hypercalvinismHe misrepresents a non-Calvinist view by not even engaging it.For theology read Dr. Robert Shank.

Excellent