The Doctrines of Grace: Rediscovering the Evangelical Gospel

By: James Montgomery Boice

While a simple, straightforward title, it could not convey more clearly the point of this wonderful book. More precisely, it is the subtitle that is critical, for the Doctrines of Grace are, indeed, the Evangelical Gospel. Evangelicalism, in fact, “stands or falls with” these doctrines (p. 18), and “their abandonment generally leads to liberalism” (p. 12).

I have studied dozens of books on these doctrines, and God has even been so gracious as to enable me to publish a short one of my own with another more complete one on the way. Boice’s book, however, is the best single volume I have seen that both clearly delineates these truths and convincingly answers the challenges that are leveled against them.

Boice makes a crucial and pivotal point early in the book: “It is perhaps more accurate to describe this theology as ‘Reformational’ rather than ‘Calvinist’” (p. 19). This is critical because those who attack what is commonly (and in a way regrettably) called “Calvinism” are usually ignorant of the Reformation and the understanding of theology that it brought back after 1,000 years of the darkness of Pelaganism and its siblings. It was through the preaching and teaching of the Puritans, in fact,

that England and Scotland experienced some of the greatest and most pervasive national revivals the world has ever seen. Among these Purtians were the heirs of the Scottish Reformer John Knox: Thomas Cartwright, Richard Sibbes, John Owen, John Bunyan, Matthew Henry, Thomas Boston, and many others. In America many thousands were influenced by Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mather, and George Whitfield. (p. 19)

While these doctrines are often accused of destroying evangelism, no statement could be more contrary to the facts. “the modern missionary movement,” Boice continues,

received its direction and initial impetus from those in the Reformed tradition. The list of those pioneers includes such great missionaries as William Carey, John Ryland, Henry Martyn, Robbert Moffat, David Livingston, John G. Paton, and John R. Mott. For all these men, the doctrines of grace mere not merely an appendage to Christian thought; rather, these were the central doctrines that fueled their evangelistic fires and gave form to their preaching the Gospel. (emphasis added)

Boice follows that statement by rightly pointing out that these doctrines “did not emerge late in church history, but find their origins in the teaching of Jesus, which has been preserved throughout the church in many periods.”

I was thankful that Boice mentions Charles Spurgeon several times, since Arminians often ignore (or at least explain away) the fact that he was “one of [England’s] staunchest defenders of the doctrines of grace.” Boice then quotes Spurgeon:

I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the Gospel . . . unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I think we preach the Gospel unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of his elect and chosen people which Christians wrought out upon the cross; nor can I comprehend the Gospel which allows saints to fall away after they are called. (p. 24)

All that and more is why Boice’s first chapter in Part One is titled, “Why Evangelicalism Needs Calvinism.” As he outlines in another section of that chapter, “Today’s False Gospel,” a whole plethora of trends have made today’s church weak, including: little emphasis on theology, casual Christian conduct, entertainment, group therapy, political activism, signs and wonders, personal happiness, secularism, humanism, relativism, materialism, pragmatism, and the general “dumbing down” of popular culture. In short, Boice submits, “evangelicalism has become worldly. . . . What has replaced the gospel of grace is a message that is partially biblical but ultimately self-centered” (pp. 20–23).

Also in Part One is the chapter, “What Calvinism Does in History,” which recounts four noteworthy periods in history that underscore how these doctrines have had “a salutary influence on the life of the church” (p. 40). Boice then goes on to demonstrate how setting these doctrines aside led to liberalism and the state of the church today.

In Part Two, Boice then outlines and carefully delineates these doctrines from Scripture. Avoiding the traditional TULIP acronym (which we agree has weaknesses), Boice wisely chooses instead to speak of radical depravity, unconditional election, particular redemption, efficacious grace, and persevering grace.

Finally, in Part Three, Boice puts all this into practical perspective, such as how these doctrines change how we think and serve the Lord. “What is most on the Calvinist’s mind,” Boice insists, “is the glory of God” (p. 180). This principle, in fact, is what most puzzles me about those who get upset (and even angered) by these doctrines. Why get upset when it is God alone who is getting the glory? To alter or weaken these doctrines literally robs God of glory. God alone is to receive glory, and these doctrines of salvation are the only ones that give Him alone that glory. That is why Paul wrote three times in Ephesians 1, “To the praise of His glory” (vv. 6, 12, 14). The one who embraces these great doctrines “has seen this,” Boice writes, “and thus keeps God at the center of everything he does. God is the center of his worship, for in true worship attention is drawn away from earthly things and reverently fixed upon God and His glory. God is also the center of [his] thinking. . . . His vision of sovereign majesty shapes his entire mindset, filling his mind with thoughts of God and His glory, and in this way the God of grace becomes the center of his whole life” (p. 183).

While Philip Graham Ryken is the co-author and finished the book when Dr. Boice was too ill to do so, half the book was already written and the rest outlined with extensive notes (p. 11). This book, in combination with Boice’s Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace? (which we reviewed in our previous post), provides today’s Church with one of the best introductions to the historical Christian faith available. We should thank God for these two gems left behind by a true man of God.